Charlie at Two

Charlie is like a good wine (or so we hear)--he gets even better with age. When this spunky little guy made his way into our lives (and hearts) in December 2010, we had no idea what a fun, sweet, entertaining little person we'd be enjoying two years later!

Eating

Though he is constantly hungry (he greets us every morning with something like, "Goo mowning! He's awate! I want eat food.") Barles is a pickier eater than his sister was at this age. He definitely has his favorites, though, and would be quite happy to subsist on a diet of milk and bananas. (His favorite jammies have bananas and monkeys on them.) He also enjoys the addition of graham crackers, cranberries, and almost any fruit, and will usually eat beef or other salty meats (such a guy, right?). He also loves our Saturday dinners at Firehouse Subs ("I yike! Fire! Howsubs!") and sharing cereal with us while he sits on our laps.

Songs

Charlie loves to belt out a good tune. His favorites right now are Queen's "We Will Rock You" (as you saw/heard here), the Hot Dog song, "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers, Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" (he heard it at a hotel, rocked out, and said, "I LIKE this one!!!"), "Life's a Happy Song" and "Man or Muppet?" from the new(er) Muppets soundtrack, and the ABC's, which go "ABCD HIJ HIJK Now I know my ABCs (mumble) sing with MEEEEE!"

Michael Buble still calms him when he starts fussing, though now we only have to Buble him on long road trips.

Books and Such

He's just barely starting to care enough about books to sit still for short ones. His favorites right now are mostly Sandra Boynton, with Hippos Go Berserk topping the charts followed by The Going to Bed Book and Barnyard Dance. Dr. Suess's ABC's are another fave, but he usually can't endure a full reading before he slips off our laps to explore.

He is also a big fan of the TV. He likes to watch Super Why (because Gracie loves it, and he wants to be just like her), Duck Tales, those Christmas claymation movies (Rudolph, etc.), and, most especially, the Muppets.

Playtime

I love this age. Charlie is so sweet and cute and cuddly. He likes to tell me what he is doing ("I playing cups, Mama.") and to be sitting near us. Whenever I sit down on the floor to fold laundry I know I will have to do it around his cute little self, because he plants himself right in my lap. (Today at church he asked to sit on Steve's, and then said, "Thank you for my lap, Daddy.") He recently discovered the joy of tickles and will come up to me at random times of the day and say, "I want tickles," very seriously and then giggles mirthfully when I follow his directions.

With Gracie in preschool, we get at least one morning a week when it is just the two of us. He likes to go o "dates" with me to Target or the grocery store, and when I ask him where Daddy or Gracie is, he yells, "All gone!"

He loves semi trucks, and construction equipment and playing with matchbox cars. His biggest love right now is cooking play food, and he can spend a good 40 minutes playing with his new pots and pans at their little kid kitchen. (Right now he has found some plastic cups and is filling them with (pretend) water or milk and feeding them to me.) He tells us, "Be careful! It's hot!!!" before he hands us our food.

He is also starting to show a little more interest in the nurturing play that Gracie did, putting his "doggy" (a fox) or tiger (just named "Tiger") to bed or taking him for walks in the doll stroller. I recently heard him putting Tiger to bed. He tucked him in and said, "No, all done ABC's. No yelling." He is a very firm parent. :) (We also play "where's Tiger?" at bedtime).

He is still an explorer and loves to figure out how things work--this has caused us a few minor parent heart attacks (yesterday he locked himself in a bedroom and we couldn't find him or figure out where he'd gone, and he also decided to start with unplugging and replugging some Christmas lights). We love to watch his little mind work, to see him engineer stacks of anything from blocks to ketchup bottles (he's been doing that at restaurants since at least April).

He likes to tell me he's going to work or "to hah-pital" (to work there like Daddy does) and sometimes says, "Bye! I miss you!" or gives me a kiss goodbye before he leaves (into the hall).

He and Gracie are starting to find more common ground now that he's a little older. They love to shut the doors to the closet between their rooms and play with flashlights--I often hear them giggling in there--and now and then they will play a good chasing game with his blanket as a tether or he'll climb into the doll stroller and allow himself to be pushed around for a while. They have trouble sharing, but they really love each other a lot.

Language

He's still got an awesome vocabulary and loves to talk. Right now one of his most common phrases is, "Dat needs batt-ries." Anything that doesn't light up or make sound when he presses a button needs batteries. Broken lights in the airport, kitchen, grocery store, or anywhere else? He will find it, and recommend new batteries. He also tells me, "I very okay" when he falls down, usually before I can even ask him if he's hurt. (If he is hurt, he tells me which part of himself he "bonked"--we started asking him if he bonked his head, but now he will tell us, "I bonk finger!" or wherever to indicate an injury.)

He's started to get good at conversation, too. He asks us how we slept when we get him up in the morning, and can recall and tell us things he did when we were apart. (Today he told me he ate goldfish crackers at Nursery). He and his cousin Adelaide (2 months older) have even started conversing with each other. I LOVE toddler conversation. I'll have to catch some and write it down. :)

We love this kiddo and can't wait to see what the next year will bring. We suspect even more adventure, and probably more snuggles.