A Little Chatterbox

Charlie has been talking more and more lately, and it is so much fun to see his little personality grow and develop along with his growing vocabulary. His first and favorite word is "Dada." He now knows exactly what it means and yells it every time he sees Clint. Since Clint has been sleeping at home at odd hours due to his new night/day schedule, he also has started yelling "Dada" every time we walk in the bedroom--regardless of whether Clint is in there or not. I told Clint about it and he was horrified. Since Charlie isn't really aware that Clint has been working nights, he's afraid Charlie is going to think "Dada" is exceedingly lazy. :)

Much to my satisfaction, Charlie has also started saying "Mama" with more regularity. He is pretty cute with it--he loves to say "Mama" over and over in the car so that we have "conversations" back and forth (they generally go somewhat like this: "Mama." "Yes, Charlie?" "Mama!" "Yes, Charlie?" "Mama." "I love you, Charlie." Mama.") He also says it when he has woken up and needs me to come get him. The other day, he was saying "Mama" in bed and I, making his breakfast, didn't get him up quickly enough. Pretty soon, "Mama" switched to a very insistent "Dad!" :)

Aside from Dada and Mama, Charlie says "ball" (his real first word), "tractor" (sounds more like "cracker" and refers to anything bigger than a car), "car," "dog" (although he prefers to just bark), "uh oh" (another favorite), "apple" (sounds like "ah-poo"), "hot," "all gone," "bye bye," "Papa" (he likes to whisper this for some odd reason), "Ahhh" (for "Ali"), "Dede," and "Auga" (for Audra). He has all kinds of new sounds this week, and is starting to string them together in ways that sound much more like sentences. He is also starting to try mimic me more and more. Charlie loves copying not just words, but also sounds--he particularly loves imitating my sneezes or coughs, which always makes both of us giggle.

Charlie hasn't gotten to the stage where he is saying funny things yet, so I have to rely on bigger kids for that. For example, Charlie and I ran into a 4-year-old boy at our apartment building today. He remarked that Charlie has an "amazing nose." I thought, "What a brilliant child! Even at just 4 years old, he can tell what a beautiful nose my baby has." Then, looking closer at Charlie, I realized he was blowing a huge snot bubble out of his "amazing nose." Certainly burst MY bubble. :)