21 months old

Ok. Let's do a little catching up. We've had alot going on but nothing real blog-worthy. I have gotten hooked on Facebook and have had some other projects going on so I've been neglecting my blog. Sorry. I just got to where I loathe it so I took a break. Maybe getting this post up will revive my excitement for it. I have a feeling though this will be a long one since I'm catching up...again.

This month Charlie turned 21 months old. He has a few words like dada, papa, baba (which is mama) and has his own sounds for things like light, truck and car. If you ask him to say a particular word, you'll get the right amount of syllables but it is said in uh's or ah's. However, he has gotten his animal sounds down quite well but without consonants.

Charlie is gaining speed every day with his walking. No running yet but he sure tries sometimes. We've also been climbing lots of stairs, which has always been a favorite pasttime. I'm so longing for the weather to warm up so that I don't have to keep telling Charlie it is too cold to ride his tricycle. He will go and push buttons on it and has recently started climbing onto it every time we get out of the car. Luckily, the terrible two's haven't fully set in because I can just tell him to hop off and come on and he'll climb off and wave and say bye to his tricycle. I know my days are numbered though. I've seen glimpses of the terrible two's already. Charlie can throw a good two-year-old tantrum...including screaming with the head thrown back and if you're holding him, the arched back. I haven't gotten the kicking yet but I'm sure it won't be long. I mentioned Charlie waving bye to his tricycle. He waves and says bye to everything and everyone. It's so cute, most of the time, but can get annoying considering 5 minutes later he's still saying goodbye to the car that passed by the house. The other day we left Publix and he said bye to the buggy and was still saying bye to the buggy after buckling him in, leaving the parking lot and started down the road. He has a particular sound for bye so you know it right off. If Daniel or I head downstairs...Charlie's bye sound and waving. It's the same if you walk out of the room.

Charlie's routine right now is he wakes up around 8:30 am. Eats breakfast, which is cheerios and a banana. He normally walks to the pantry and points to the cheerios box. This is followed by his notorious "uh uh uh" sound. He'll take his cup of milk to the table as I carry his bowl. He eats great for breakfast. The other day he had three refills of cheerios. Breakfast is followed by playing. First, though, you have to open the blinds for him. He fusses until you do. Charlie loves to watch out the windows. One of the delights of his day is seeing the mailman drive up and down the road. Charlie waves to him/her as they drive by the house and as he/she drives out of his sight and about five minutes after he/she disappears. You just have to say, "Ok, Charlie. That's enough." Sometimes, that works. Books are still his favorite thing. I think he would keep bringing you books all day if you sat in the rocking chair in his room.

Lunch is around 12:00 or 12:30. Sometimes, he eats good. Sometimes, not. I'm actually at a loss as to what to feed him for lunch. I usually give him Gerber's meat sticks, a veggie and either apple sauce or yogurt. I learned a while back that if you put his veggie in his apple sauce or yogurt, he gobbles them right up. Otherwise, he won't touch them. So, any moms out there, I'm open to suggestions for lunch time. I put Charlie down for a nap around 2:00. He'll normally sleep 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Snack time is just as soon as we wakes up. He's normally signing "eat" while I'm changing his diaper after getting him up. This is usually animal crackers, goldfish, or something along those lines. He would eat a carton of yogurt or apple sauce at every eating time if I would let him. I limit those to one a day.

It's playtime until Daddy gets home! Then it's even better playtime! Charlie gets so excited to see Daniel come in. Daniel can barely put his stuff down before Charlie is dragging him back to his room to play. This gives me time to get dinner ready though. Charlie spends a good amount of time in the kitchen with me too though. He's learning to stay away from the stove. We just have to say, "Hot." and he holds up his hand like Gram does and says, "aht". He also does this with the food on his plate. This is usually holding his hand over the food and saying "aht". He's known to blow on a bite before he takes it, even cold stuff and bread. It's quite funny. Charlie normally eats great at dinner. He eats whatever we're eating, most of the time. I normally give him a fruit as well though. Our eating habits don't always include a veggie though. Bad, I know. So, I make Charlie eat them even though we aren't! We've started doing a family Bible study time right after dinner so since Charlie takes FOREVER to eat, this has given him extra time to finish. This has made it easier on us too because we're not sitting there impatiently trying to get him to finish eating. He eats more now because he has more time to eat. I think he's about to go through a growth spurt because that boy can eat! Charlie knows how to tell you "more" so seconds and thirds are becoming regular things, especially on milk. I have to limit this too.

Depending on what time dinner is ready, Charlie gets a little playtime after dinner until bathtime. This is usually at 8:00. Charlie will normally tell you he's ready for a bath by signing it. He loves his baths! If he could sprint, I think he would to go take a bath. After bath is brushing teeth and off to bed. He gets his lovin' and one of us reads him a book or two, sings a song or two and says a prayer. Then, lights out. We've taught him to "sign" I love you by pointing to your eye and saying "I"; putting your hand on your heart and saying "love"; and pointing to the other person and saying "you". He's still working on the love part but the other two he's got!

Charlie had his first ear infection a couple of weeks ago. He didn't really show that he felt bad other than sleeping a little more and being a little more clingy. He developed a cough and it wasn't getting any better so I took him in to the doc. She said he had an infection in the left ear and the right was almost there. So, antibiotics. He finished those yesterday. I felt pretty good that he didn't get an ear infection until 21 months old. Guess that one's of the benefits of not going to daycare.

Charlie is all boy in that he's the sweetest thing one minute, giving kisses, etc. to hamming it up and being such a character (he gets this from his daddy) to just getting into everything the next. Luckily, he's not destructive yet, but like any kid, loves to pull anything and everything out of drawers, his toy box, etc. and drag them all over the house.

I know all you want are pictures but I've been slacking in that dept. as well. I'm hoping when it warms up the end of this week I can get outside and take some pictures. Maybe my beautiful daffodils will have recovered by then from the snow we had a couple of days ago. We spent a week in AL a couple of weeks ago and I have a bunch of pics and videos from that trip but have yet to do anything with them. I'll try and let that be my next post. Until then...I hope this post will suffice! :)