End of Summer

 

 

Here we are at the end of summer - sigh. It went by way too fast. I think the fact that it rained most of June made it go by even faster. We have already had mornings sub 50 degrees. Now we have football season to look forward to. This was a great summer with Charlie. We have had lots of fun since the last post. The most recent pictures are on the bar on the right. Let's see... Sami and Julia came for a visit. Charlie *loved* seeing them both and still talks about them going to the beach with us and he even says it is "Julia's turn" on the slide from time to time. Our trip to the beach with Sami and Julia was to celebrate Charlie's cousin Hailey's 1st birthday. Charlie says Hailey "Hwee-hwee" which we think is the cutest thing ever. Still trying to catch it on the camcorder but no luck so far. He sort of freezes up when I turn it on.

We went to the Marshfield fair with Uncle Jason, Aunt Michelle and Morgan and Hwee-hwee. Charlie had so much fun on his first rides. It took him awhile to understand that you had to get off the rides. Every time it would stop, he would say "again!" We visited Grampy, Patty, Chris and Sam and did another beach trip. Charlie loves the beach - the sand, the water, everything. It was on one of these trips that he acquired his much loved backpack. He had been asking for one for awhile, from seeing the kids at day care with them. Chris was nice enough to dig an old toddler backpack up and give it to Charlie. It's adorable - it has a little frog in the front pocket. I'll have to get a picture of him with it on. He loves to wear it. We've spent lots of time with Uncle Matt, Aunt Nicky and Caroline. Charlie is smitten with Caroline and now thinks that it is totally appropriate to tickle random baby's feet. He's very sweet with her though. He says "gentle" every time we go around her.

He has a great vocabulary now and can communicate very well. He can repeat about anything you say to him. That did come back to bite us already as he shared his first curse word (s*&t) with his friends at day care. It was when he spilled some water though so we are taking some comfort that it was said in context. He's starting to talk in sentences too. Just yesterday he spit out his apricot chicken and told me "I don't like it." He is pretty obsessed with the potty and can tell us when his diaper needs to be changed, but hasn't managed to do it in a preemptive way just yet. He loves reading stories and doesn't totally understand pictures just yet. He tried to ride a bike in one of his books the other day and looked at a flash card with a ball on it and said "ball....throw it" and then chucked the card across the room. He knows who his favorite football team is and says "Go Bucks", "O-H-I-O" and "I'm a Buckeye." He seems to remember who got him each gift and says the person's name when he grabs it (ex. books from Aunt Edie). Oh and he's taken to a new comfort item. He randomly decided he wanted to sleep with a giraffe that my parents got him for Valentine's Day when he was 2 months old and now is enamored with "Mr. Giraffe" and sleeps with him every night. Behaviorally, he's focused on sharing, which is a concept he's not taking too naturally. He's so big and strong to that he can really come off as a bully, pushing and pinching other kids. So we are practicing with him quite a bit.

That's the big summary but I'll end with two quick funny stories. First, this morning I went in to get Charlie and he looked at me and said, "Daddy working" and I said "no" and he said, "Daddy golfing" and I said "no" and then he said "Shhh. Daddy sleeping." I like that he already knows that those are the most likely options. Second, we were at a block party on Labor Day weekend and Charlie grabbed a ball that belonged to a younger boy. He didn't want to give it back and the mother of the little boy said it was fine because her son was easily distracted. Immediately after they walked away, a little girl and her mother walked up and Charlie held out the ball to the little girl and said "here you go" and then looked at the mother and blew her a kiss! I'm afraid we have a little Don Juan on our hands over here...

Sorry for the long update but it has been awhile. We are excited for Papaw to visit this weekend. Charlie has been saying "Papaw coming on a plane."