Charlie: 18 Months Old

 At 18 months old, Charlie continues to be the funniest, quirkiest, most amazing little guy, and I just can't believe how he continues to worm his way deeper and deeper into our hearts.  He is just exploding right now with new tricks, new ideas, new words, and new ways of doing things.  It is so fun to watch him develop right now.  Some of our favorites:
* Charlie's standard greeting for people is "Big Truck!" rather than "hi," or something else typical.  I think he believes that this is his best conversation topic, so he likes to start things off on an exciting note. :)

* Charlie now says "Chargie" if you ask him his name, and "one!" when you ask him how old he is.

* Charlie loves to perform, and as a result, is learning a lot of words (and silly faces and noises) just by observing people.  He has a "silly" face, a "surprised" face, a "happy" face, and a "mad" face.

* Charlie loves nothing more than family.  He seems to know the difference between friends and family and treats family like they are something special.  He knows the names of all of his "people" and talks about them constantly (randomly, he also likes to keep people in pairs--if someone shows up without their other half, he always inquires after the other person and seems a little agitated that they are not together).  I have never seen anyone love a big crowd of people more than Charlie--especially when it's his family!  [As a result, Evie's birth and the resulting mass of visitors has pleased him immensely.]

* Charlie's biggest loves right now are trucks, construction vehicles, and driving, followed closely by trips to the park (referred to by Charlie as "Big Bop"), picking up sticks, and playing outside.  He is also a big fan of hats and boots--we rarely leave the house without a hat these days.

* Charlie LOVES to read.  He reads all the time, either by himself or cuddled up in one of our laps.  He gets very attached to certain books, and will read a certain book or two almost exclusively for a few weeks, and then he moves on to something else (at which point he is so tired of the previous favorite that we can't read it to him for a quite a while again).  The big favorites right now are "Go Dog Go," "Curious George and the Puppies," "Cars, Trucks, and Things that Go" (this book is so quirky and fun.  Charlie gets really excited about it, and I will hear him screaming "big truck!" "big bus!" "a BUG!" (when he finds goldbug) from across the room when he's reading it.), and "The Nursery Rhymes of Mother Goose," particularly Hickory Dickory Dock.
 
* Charlie's favorite adjective right now is "big."  He thinks anything is more impressive if preceded by the word "big," and so he adds it to everything he likes in order to impress his audience ("big truck, big car, big bus, big trash truck, big bop, big nana (banana), big cheese, and big toast").  So random!

* Charlie loves animals and making animal noises.  He knows quite a few noises right now, and cracked us up the other day with one of his newer ones.  My mom was feeding him his snack and I asked her to try to get him to eat a bit more.  She replied that she didn't want to "stuff him like a Thanksgiving turkey."  Upon hearing that, Charlie turned to us and smiled and said "gobble, gobble, gobble."  We just about died laughing. :)

* I cannot say enough good things about Charlie right now (which probably means that he is about to go through a difficult phase :).  He is so sweet and loving, and has adjusted so quickly and well to having Evie around.  He gives the sweetest hugs and kisses and has even started saying "love you" to me and Clint before we leave the house or before he goes to bed.  He cannot go to bed without giving (or getting) kisses from everyone in the room, especially his sister.  He kisses Evie about 20 times a day, and always seems so pleased about it (I'm not sure that these kisses are wholly benevolent.  Charlie loudly announces "I kiss!," and then scans the room to make sure everyone is looking before he plants his mouth on Evie's head.  He then looks up immediately to hear how adorable the kiss was. :).  One of my favorite times with Charlie is bedtime.  I love snuggling up with him in his rocker, reading his favorite books, and then saying prayers and singing songs as we settle down for bed.  He now says "Ayyyyy-men!" at the end of prayers, and then requests his favorite songs [as a side note, Charlie just loves singing (and has started humming short portions of his favorite songs).  He's the only person who just loves for me to sing.  Anytime I sing a few lines of anything, I immediately hear an enthusiastic little "again!" :)].  There is nothing better than seeing his happy little smile behind his paci (while we're putting him down; don't worry, paci doesn't come out of the crib :), and hearing his little giggles while we sing to him.  I love this age!

Charlie was sweet enough to pose with his Mama and his Ahhh, two of his biggest fans. :)

Papa gave Charlie the "Big Truck" towel pictured below, and it has been a huge hit.  He insists on wearing the towel with its matching belt (see below), and we always have trouble getting him to move on to pajamas. :)

Snuggles with one of his all-time favorite people...

This is one of my favorite recent pictures of Charlie.  He was thrilled with his new winter hat, and showed his enthusiasm with his "cute" face.  Unfortunately for Charlie, he didn't realize that the matching mittens were still attached to the hat. :)

Charlie's 18-month appointment went great, although his new-found fear of doctors (we haven't broken it to him that his dad is one) made it a pretty wild outing.  But he rocked ages & stages and our pediatrician was very impressed with his crazy growth spurt (apparently most 18-month-old don't eat much.  Charlie has not gotten this memo).  His new stats are:

Weight: 25 lbs., 14 oz. (50%)

Height: 33.5 in. (80%)

Head: 19.5 in. (85%)

Love you SOOOO much Big Charlie!

So Much To Be Thankful For...

 I feel like I have so much to be thankful for this year...Exhibits A and B, above and below. :)

 I am also thankful for Clint's mom (Mimi), who came to help out a few days before Thanksgiving.  We all loved getting some special time with Mimi, and she made my life SO much easier.  I feel very blessed to have such a sweet mother-in-law!

Charlie is very thankful for this tricycle (his "bike").  One of our neighbors passed this down to him after their kids grew out of it, and it has been such a hit.  Charlie wanted to be on his bike (showing off a bit) when Pawpaw (Clint's dad) and Sarah (Clint's grandmother) arrived for our holiday celebration.

Evie also came outside to play and greet Pawpaw and Sarah.  We tried to keep the little mouse warm!

We are all thankful for sweet Sarah, pictured here with her SIXTH great-grandchild!  Sarah was so much fun to have around for Thanksgiving.  She is so spunky and fun and full of life.  Charlie quickly became quite attached to "Sawah," and Evie loved all the extra cuddles she got!

We are also very thankful for Pawpaw, who arrived with a truck full of beef for us (yum!), and spent tons of time playing with Charlie and Evie.  Charlie could not wait to see Pawpaw every morning--he always greets him with a loud exclamation of "Big Truck!!"  Who knows what goes through that head... :)

I am thankful for all the help I had in the kitchen!  Thanks to Pawpaw, Mimi, and Sarah, we ate well this holiday. :)

Evie loved getting to visit and bond with her great-grandmother.  She looks like she's telling her some big stories. :)

Pawpaw quickly jumped in and helped out with some little jobs we had around the house (another thing I am very thankful for).  Dada and Pawpaw were lucky to get the assistance of another little helper. :)

Helping wrap/un-wrap presents...

Charlie especially likes any chore that involves an "up-down" (more commonly known as a ladder).

Charlie was desperate to wear his "boots" on Thanksgiving morning.  After a trip outside with his still-too-big boots falling off, he came back inside grudgingly requesting his "shoes."

I am also very thankful that my brother, Sam, and sister-in-law, Audra, got to join us for Thanksgiving.  They were great helpers, so much fun with the kids, and a great addition to our Burrus-family gathering.  Audra's delicious apple pie was also a very welcome addition. :)  [And I know I only have a picture of Sam here.  The picture of Audra and I is terrible, and out of consideration for both of us, I'm not posting it. :)]

VERY thankful for my sweet husband, who ended up getting Thanksgiving day off at the last minute.  [Also thankful for the upper-level resident who let him off!]

Very thankful that Clint's sister, Sally, and her family were able to drive down and spend a few days with us.  They are so much fun and Charlie was ridiculously excited about his cousins.  We are having to do a slow detox now that they're gone.  Charlie quickly became used to VERY high levels of excitement.  Since I don't have quite the stamina they do for running wildly around the house playing chase, we are both missing those kids terribly! :)

The Dohertys brought Charlie this alligator ("ah-goo"), which was a huge hit.  He spent lots of time wresting the ah-goo to the ground and getting chased by it.  At one point, Charlie stopped wrestling just long enough to tell me that he was "happy, happy, happy." :) 

Meredith, Will, Sarah Beth, and their very spoiled, very happy little cousin.

Sweet Audra and Miss Evie, who dressed in her Thanksgiving best. :)

Such a sweet little turkey. :)

There were four generations of Field/Burrus women in the house over the holiday.  Three pictured here. :)

High excitement! [Don't worry, I was aware that Evie was on the floor, and I was watching out for her. :)]

Evie managed to sleep through a lot of it (maybe a defense mechanism??).

On the day after Thanksgiving, we got up bright and early to get ready for more family time.  Charlie was quite pleased with his camo pants and orange vest.

And Evie was quite pleased with the snuggles she got from her big cousins.

We took a long walk to our favorite park ("Big Bop"), and burned off some energy there.  SB was such a good sport about playing with Charlie there.

Our walk along the lake to the park was gorgeous--it was a perfect fall day!

Charlie carefully inspected the big slide before deciding to give it a go.

Races down the hill...

More excitement at home (somehow a shirt was lost in all the action...), and then Charlie went down for some much-needed rest.

We capped off Friday night with some delicious steaks from Pawpaw and Mimi's ranch (Clint's dad allowed us to eat turkey on Thanksgiving, with only a few cracks about the evils of poultry :).  What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Charlie was so befuddled when his family left, and has been requesting their return already.  I am so glad Evie's first holiday was so much fun, but the others have a lot of live up to now! :)