Charlie just had his first real phone conversation! A fly got into our house and provided hours of entertainment. We called GrandMommy (my Mom) to tell her all about it, and Charlie gave her every detail!

Filed under: Family | Post a comment

I’ve fallen down on my job to post more often and give more Charlie updates for family and anyone else who is interested.

SOOOoooo, here are some of Charlie’s latest shenanigans…

1. Charlie and I play a one-sided hide-and-seek. He hides, while I pretend to look behind every door/surface/piece of furniture trying to find him. All the while I’m singing a little song:

“Where, oh where, oh where is Charlie?” (repeat 3 times)
“Where could Charlie be?”

He loves our game, and regularly shuts himself in bathrooms and closets until I find him. This might be a problem one day if I’m not paying attention, because he can’t yet get out. Plus we suspect that he’s developing a fear of the dark.

Thanks to my little song, he has started asking for things by saying “Where ____ be?” Like “Where blanket be?” or “Where juice be?” Stuff like that. It’s SO DARN CUTE that I don’t try to correct his grammar. He’ll say it correctly soon enough. (What is not so cute is that John ends all of his location questions with that nasty preposition “at.” Where are my shoes at? BLARGH! I still can’t get him to stop after 12 years.)

2. This child will climb on anything – the higher, the better. And once he gets there, he wants to jump off. STRESSFUL! He likes to jump off the couch and land directly on his booty. HOW that doesn’t hurt, I’ll never know. We’re trying very hard to discourage it.

3. He’s saying full sentences most everyone can understand. It must be much easier for all those random people that he passes now that he’s decipherable. He just loves talking to everyone! If there is a panda nearby, he will have an in-depth discussion about it with the man standing next to him.

4. He knows all his colors, how to count to ten, most every musical instrument and even some alphabet letters.

5. He l-o-v-e-s animals, just like his Mom. I swear I will not have another pet, I swear I will not have another pet…
He can imitate almost every animal sound, like when we were at the zoo recently. He jumped out of his stroller and ran back to the lion exhibit twice, roaring all the way.

6. He has started pretending and role playing. He fed John pretend yogurt the other night, he loves to stir and he makes his food become different animals that he brings to life. Or in this case, share crackers with the stuffed jack-in-the-box monkey.

7. There is no doubt that this kid will be an athlete. He almost always has a bat/club in one hand and ball in the other. And the jumping and endless energy. He watches baseball and golf regularly with his Daddy and will love football this fall…
…you can say that with more than one inflection in this family:
He will LOVE football this fall.
He. Will. Love. Football. This. Fall.
He WILL love football this fall.
…But I have a feeling that he’ll love it without any brainwashing prompting.

8. He is the BEST hugger! So affectionate. He makes an excellent Charlie Sandwich by squishing two people against him.

9. His favorite show is still Jack’s Big Music Show, and my parents, John and I have every single episode memorized. Seriously. I’ll never get sick of it – it was created by one of Sesame Street’s old writers and has that strong Jim Henson Muppet influence. One of my favorite things in life is Jim Henson’s Muppets. Charlie gives me strange looks when I laugh and go nuts over old Sesame Street clips. One day soon he’ll be introduced to The Muppet Show. Bliss!

**I’m interrupting this list to beg, plead, implore, BESEECH the Jack’s Show peopleguys to make more episodes! PLEASE! You’re so brilliant. The world needs more.**

Charlie also LOVES Blue’s Clues and it is starting to wear on our nerves. But it’s pretty cute, pretending to have his own “Thinking Chair” and imitation Steve/Joe.

10. Mom and child both love the MOMS Club that we joined. We have a regular playgroup every Monday morning and lots of activities throughout the week. Charlie has made many friends and gets to do tons of activities. And I’ve made some good friends too! We also get together with other friends as much as possible. It has been an uber-busy summer! We’ve gone to the Atlanta Children’s Museum, Atlanta Zoo, Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Yellow River Game Ranch, Kennesaw Southern Museum, many of Gwinnett county’s amazing parks, Monkey Joe’s, and more. Talk about some great experiences!

It’s hard to believe that he’ll be two in a little over a month! Where has the time gone? I need to post some slide shows soon, so stayed tuned for that.

Filed under: Family | Post a comment