Two and a Half!

Charlie too has met a big milestone - he's officially two and a half now!  This guy makes us laugh all the time.  He's such a silly goose.  He is quite the Chatty Cathy these days too - just talking up a storm.  He loves his big brother and likes to copy Jack in everything that he does and says.

The latest development in Charlie's world is that he's potty trained!  A few weeks ago I took a Friday off work and just put him in underpants.  The day started off slow with lots of accidents, but something clicked after his nap and he started going pee pee on the potty like a champ.  It was a different story for #2; it was the following Tuesday before he finally did that on the potty.  He had a few accidents the following week, but by the week two mark the accidents were few and far between.  We are so proud of how quickly he picked it up, and he's pretty proud of himself too.  Many nights he wakes up to go potty (and calls for us to help) and then wakes up with a dry pull-up.  Pretty impressive considering it took Jack about 6 months after potty training before he ever woke up dry.

Charlie is really into singing these days.  The favorite has been "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which he's mastered.  He also likes singing "Following the Leader" from Peter Pan and "Wheels on the Bus."  He was a little camera shy in this bathtime video, but you get the idea.  (Side note: I think Jack's extreme pronunciation was for the benefit of Charlie, but not sure...)

The big guy also graduated to a big boy bed in March.  We had the bed set up for a few days and still had his crib in his room and when given the option, he was generally choosing to sleep in his crib.  I was a little worried, but when we took the crib apart, he switched over to the big boy bed with no problem.  We've told him to stay in bed and so far he's only gotten out on his own once.  Generally he just calls for us when he wakes up.  This guy is still a very good sleeper.  Bedtime is generally pretty easy and he still takes a solid two hour nap every day.  He's a sweater though; we can't ever use his comforter, and even with just his sheet on, he's often drenched in sweat (even when it's cold outside).  We've gotten in the habit of leaving his ceiling fan on, which seems to help.

Contrary to his big brother who must always still have his favorite loveys in bed (and the collection is growing), Charlie could really take it or leave it when it comes to his loveys.  He does, however, insist on taking toys to sleep at night; usually he requests a golf club or baseball bat and ball, or a volleyball, which brings me to my next point...

The boy is obsessed with all things sports.  He loves to play baseball and can hit balls that are pitched to him.  He also loves to play basketball, soccer, golf.....basically any sport.  His teachers always tell me how impressed they are any time they play games throwing balls into baskets.  Miss Malorie says "he's definitely going to be an athlete."  He also has started requesting to watch sports when he's at my parents' house.  My mom pulls up You Tube and he says "I want to watch......tennis."  She pulls up a random clip of people playing tennis and he sits there and watches.  Then he says "I want to watch....golf."  The other day when I picked him up he was engrossed in a video of a Little League home run.  Funny guy.

Here are some videos from a few months ago of his baseball skills:

And his graduation after his final Kickaroos class:

With his buddy Tyler

Here are some of our favorite things that Charlie says these days:
-"What you guys talking 'bout?"  Usually in the car when Jack and I are mid-conversation
-If we call him anything other than Charlie (i.e. silly goose, buddy, etc), he responds with "I not XXXX, I Charlie Brown."  Another example was a few months ago when he told Grandma Lang he didn't like something (bananas, maybe?) and she said "Since when?!?" and he said "I not Since When!"  Of course she laughed, so he said it over and over again.
-He's started saying a very dramatic "bummer" when he's disappointed
-If you ask him something he doesn't know the answer to (i.e. Where's Daddy?), he says "I didn't know"

Charlie can say his ABCs but doesn't quite recognize all the letters yet.  He has a handful of them down pat, especially C (for Charlie) and loves to point those out when he sees them on random signs.  He's a good counter and knows his colors with no problem.  Basically, he's on track.

We look forward to each new day with our little man - you just never know what kind of silly thing he will do or say next!

Traumatized by Fredbird

Just a quick post this time...

Last Friday we had a Cardinals celebration at work and Fredbird came to visit.  Since it was a day care day, I decided to bring the boys over to see him before I dropped them off at school.  We talked about it the night before and on the way there, and even saw a commercial with Fredbird Friday morning before we left.  Turns out that was not enough preparation for my poor baby.

We walked down the hall after someone directed us where to go, and I saw him right away (he's tall - I could see his head over the cubes).  He saw us and came around the corner and Charlie immediately started screaming "NOOOOOO!" and backing away whimpering and crying.  He was beside himself!  "Mommy hold me!  Mommy hold me!  Nooo! Nooo!"  I wish I had my video camera going!

This was Fredbird's reaction:

Jack got a kick out of it.  We showed him this picture and he said "that's me waiting to talk to Fredbird."  While I tried to calm Charlie down, Jack got to give Fredbird a high five, knuckles and then posed for this picture:

Poor Charlie has not stopped talking about this.  Literally EVERY day since then he has said at least twice (usually more like 5 or 6 times) "I not see Redbird any more" and "Redbird at home taking a nap" (which I had to tell him when I picked him up Friday to calm him down).  The poor child is truly traumatized.  He's even scared of his Cardinals 101 book which we were previously reading nightly, but of course has a picture of Fredbird in it.

We're planning a family outing for the boys' first Cardinals game later this year; hopefully Charlie forgets about this experience before then because as of now he's saying "I not go to Dardinals dame."