My Boy

There are countless things I love about Charlie that other people don’t know or get to experience quite as intimately, so I thought I’d do a little sharing.

Charlie is a snuggler.  He asks for hugs all the time.  After naps I get to hold him and snuggle with him until he’s warmed up to the waking world.  I love that he frequently lays prone on anything soft (carpet, blankets, stuffed animals, our fabric ottoman) for the seemingly sole purpose of snuggling.  Today he reinitiated laying on the floor to snuggle with my feet…even on the hardwoods of the kitchen.  While this is odd in many ways (particularly if you’re not a toddler!), I love it.

Charlie is taking his stuffed animals to the Charlie-sized potty on a regular basis.  We’ve noticed that he fairly consistently takes one to sit on it when he has to poop, so maybe he’ll be ready to use the potty sooner than later.  He’s very used to potty talk from our daily cleaning of his cloth diapers.  He’s got the “bye bye” poopy part down pat.

Charlie has started to talk (yes, with his mouth open- although he is still the king of closed mouth talking).  This kicked in to high gear last week and it’s been so much fun.  Most of his words are food related: pasta, cheese, tortilla, avocado, etc… He has been requesting “Baa Baa Black Sheep” on our piano by saying something like “Maa Maa Buh Sheese.” Harry joked that it sounded like “Mama Butt Cheese,” which I hear is also a classic children’s song.  Charlie heard us laughing about this and upon seeing blue cheese on our dinner table that night he exclaimed, “maa maa buh sheese!”

Speaking of blue cheese, the boy loves cheese.  He’ll eat just about any kind, as long as it’s the real deal.  In fact, he’ll eat just about anything.  Asparagus, bell peppers, onions, tofu, hummus, spicy thai peanut sauce, balsamic vinegar, pesto, etc…  Despite his adventuresome palate, I think mac & cheese is still the fave.  I can’t blame him.  I’d eat it every day if cholesterol and waist lines didn’t cry out.

Charlie is silly.  He loves to laugh, be tickled, be chased, make faces, make & listen to silly noises, etc…  He receives no encouragement in this whatsoever.  Check out this recent adorable video clip that Harry Sr. took of Charlie while we visited he & Jody at a cabin near Estes Park.

Charlie is pretty amazing at building block towers, putting together train tracks, and completing puzzles.  He’s building really high towers before they fall.  The boy is patient.  He’s also careful and cautious (except in the swimming pool, for some odd reason!).  And while I sometimes wish he’d throw himself down the slides like some other kids his age do, I’m thankful we’ve avoided lots of rough tumbles and spills.

Charlie loves music.  He likes to sing, play piano, and strum guitar.  Along with Baa Baa, the song of choice in the past few days has been the Alphabet Song.  His version is incredibly cute.  Everyday, often more than once, we tickle the ivories together (dad, that was for you). Currently this involves him sitting on my lap while we go through about 20 music books.  I get to play two measures before Charlie tells me to move on… unless it’s “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “Old MacDonald,” “Pop Goes the Weasel,” or “The Chariots of Fire.”  Yes, one of these is not like the others.  The sheet music rendition of Chariots that I have has a picture of the runners on the beach and is composed with an intro of consecutive eighth notes.  While playing these notes I joked with Charlie that my fingers were running.  Now he can’t get enough of it.  Of course, he doesn’t mind pounding the keys without me there, either.  Especially if I’ve been talking on the phone too long for his liking.

More fun to come, no doubt!