Charlie at Three

Our goofball boy is three! This year was full of changes and milestones for him--potty training, a big boy bed, a new house, and becoming a big brother to name a few. But the things I love recording are just the little Charlie-things that define his everyday self right now. He is spunky and passionate, loving and sensitive, and above all he loves to goof around. Here's a little about Charlie at three:

Eating

We never thought this day would come, but Charlie does occasionally eat vegetables now! Due partly to some great PBS children's programming that spent an entire episode encouraging him to "try new foods 'cause they might taste gooooooood" he is now more open to at least trying a bite of suspicious things on his plate. We're pretty stoked that he will try (and sometimes enjoy) new stuff now. So far he has established that he (really) doesn't like raw carrots, but that cooked carrots and green beans are okay. So. Charlie's future wife: your husband eats vegetables. You're welcome.

His favorite things to eat (besides candy/cookies/sugar, obviously) are peanut butter & honey sandwiches (and he actually prefers the chunky peanut butter!), pretty much any kind of fruit but especially grapes and watermelon, yogurt, granola, pancakes/waffles/anything you can dip in syrup, bacon, and Raisin Bran Crunch (or the store knock off), which he calls "Raisin Graham." He is also still pretty obsessed with drinking water from his water bottle, though that is currently on hiatus because he's not great at regulating how much water he drinks. :) And since he's home alone with me and Juliette a lot, he usually wants to have a bite of whatever I eat for breakfast after I get Gracie to school.

Music

...is still a big part of his life. He is just as likely to be singing "Five Little Speckled Frogs" as he is to be belting out Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive." He also likes several songs on the latest Taylor Swift album (this is my fault), and the Frozen soundtrack (this is Gracie's fault), as well as Rainbow Connection, the Ben Kweller cover of the Chordettes' Lollipop, and, most of all What Does the Fox Say. (He has shouted this out in the middle of church before.)

Literature

He has finally gotten really into books in the past year, and will sit next to me on the couch for multiple readings of his favorites. Right now the rotation includes books like Little Blue Truck, his Harry the Dirty Dog treasury, Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night, anything by Mo Willems but especially the Elephant and Piggie books, Darth Vader and Son, Are You My Mother, Go Dog Go! and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site. I also read him one book before "Quiet Time" every afternoon (its the motivating factor for him to go into his room) and he almost always chooses Richard Scary's Busy Busy Town, which is the LONGEST BOOK IN THE WORLD. I have never actually had the patience to read it, but we do look at the pictures and discuss things like the myriad different construction machines, the bear who is about to have water spilled on him, etc. It is one of his all-time favorites.

He also likes to sit in his bed and read by the light filtering in from the hall light at bedtime. It melts my heart to find him asleep on top of Busy, Busy Town. He never has less than five books in his bed, usually it is more like ten.

Movies & Television

This summer we took the both the kiddos to see Monsters University. It had been over a year since Charlie's last visit to the movies, and he was pretty concerned about sitting in the dark--until Mike Wazowski appeared on-screen. When it comes to movies, he also likes the original Monsters, Inc., as well as Tangled, and occasionally Cars or Finding Nemo. And, of course, Star Wars.

He has one true love when it comes to television: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. (The show that has gotten him to try new foods!) He loooooves Daniel Tiger. He even named one of his stuffed tigers "Tigey"after Daniel's stuffed animal.

Born in 2010, photobombing since 2011.

Playtime

When Gracie started school in the fall, we were surprised to discover how much Charlie likes playing by himself. He spends most of his mornings puttering around near me (he has always been such a little buddy), building "tall tall towers" or "crane trucks" with his Duplos or pushing one of his many construction trucks around. (Sometimes the trucks carry the Duplos!) He is also starting to do a lot more imaginative play--I'll often hear his small dump truck talking to its "daddy" dump truck about when he is going to work.

During his afternoon quiet time I often hear him in his room hammering with a wooden tool set he got for Christmas, playing with his train & train cars (who have lots of conversations with each other), or rolling Matchbox cars down his plastic garage.

Mr. Personality stole the show in our Christmas card pics this year. :)

He and Grace are getting more into playing together (though when she crosses the line we often hear a telltale shout of "GWWWAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!") and especially like to take lights into the dark recesses of her closet. Since she's a pretty avid reader, we sometimes find them sitting in one of their rooms as she reads to him about dump trucks or excavators. They're still learning the nuances of sharing but the older he gets, the more they seem to enjoy one another.

He is just starting to take an interest in the alphabet, and he likes to hang out in front of the fridge with me and talk about his ABC magnets. He also likes to go all the way to the front door and then run to me, sitting in the family room, and fling himself into my arms. (We do this a lot.) And when Steve and I sit down to play a card game with Grace after dinner, he likes to collect all the used cards into a stack and hold them. He loves organizing, sorting, and building things.

Sometimes he turns into something else. Lately he has been a "dump truck" (holding his big LEGO bin on his back) or R2D2. Because he prefers to be an accurate R2D2, it can be a little challenging to the schedule when he decides to play that game: he gets down on his knees and knee-walks at a reliably slow R2D2 pace, to wherever we have sent him, beeping and whooping appropriately. Let me tell you, there is pretty much no point in asking R2D2 to hurry to the potty before you take him to the grocery store.

Other Things

We've been impressed with how much Charlie has grown up this year. He gets frustrated sometimes when he can't get something right the first (or second or third) time, but we've noticed that over the last few months he's really been trying to ask for help and keep his cool and try again when he's learning things. He's also gotten much better at talking to us when he's upset. And while he still has moments when he absolutely refuses to do something (sometimes just because) we're learning that TLC is really a big deal, even in those moments. He appreciates hugs and affection and being heard.

He thinks its pretty funny to "make a MAD face."

Other things I love about Charlie right now? His ambulance sound (Wee-hoo wee-hoo!). That he loves hugs, and giggles when I kiss him goodnight because, "Mama your hair tickles!" How he strokes Juliette's head or tells me, "Mama, I want to help take care of Juliette" which means he wants to hold her on his lap for a minute. That he asks Gracie how her day was when she gets in the van after school. How he runs to me when I get home on a day Steve has let me run errands on my own. How he loves to help me fold laundry or press the buttons on the dishwasher and washing machine. (Sometimes, though, I do come in to the dishwasher re-washing itself after I've already set it... I thought I was losing my mind until I figured out Charlie was turning it on when I wasn't looking!)

And I love, love, love it when he gets on a goofy streak. He will sing songs, shout jokes at us ("What does the BOX say?!" instead of "What does the fox say?"), or just pull ridiculous faces until he has us in stitches. In fact, he is so expressive that Steve made this emotion gauging poster for his dad for Christmas this year:

Which Charli-e-motion are you feeling?

This kid is a blast to be around, and, lets be honest, he's also pretty much a minor celebrity in some circles. Love this child!