Charlie at 19 months

Updated with a couple pictures...

This is what happens when you turn your back on this boy.  He stacks his toys on the couch and then climbs on them.  Climbing on the couch just isn't exciting anymore but now this added a whole new element of exciting for all of us!

Charlie is so inquisitive and happy these days.  He's learning at a quick rate and while I'm biased, I think he's just so smart and loving.  He's quite a charmer too.  He gives the best hugs and loves to give them after he has warmed up to you.  His favorite game is to go back and forth between Mommy and Daddy to give hugs.  Of course, I think he loves his Mommy's reaction who's heart melts and may or may not make over him.  He gets our full attention these days and would have it no other way.  :-)  Speaking of which, back in Thanksgiving, I held a friend's baby and Charlie started full out crying.  It was so funny and odd that he had such an opinion.  Can you say spoiled?  Maybe so but that's ok.  Daddy and Mommy are loving giving him our full attention. 

He has a little bit of stranger anxiety or a lot of it.  He is very reserved and likes to observe most situations before jumping right in.  He's the quickest to make friends with children and he tends to need a longer period of time to warm up around adults.  He tends to be a little shy and doesn't really talk too much around strangers.  He's started opening up a little more and I can typically at least get him to say "bye" to the nice grocery bagger who gives him a balloon or whatever else nice strangers do for him.

Back in November, I estimated that he could say about 20 words and he's well beyond 50 I think.  He's loving daycare and his teachers.  His teachers tell me that they used to try to get him to talk but now they have to try to get him to be quiet because he tends to like to talk at nap time.  He says the cutest things and has even starting putting two words together.  Some favorites are "It's a ball" or "It's a .... (fill in the blank) or "Taking a bath".   He will repeat just about anything we say and it's amazing how fast he gets it.  He knows about every animal sound there is (duck, dog, cat, sheep, horse, pig, snake, frog, monkey, lion, bear, etc.) and loves it when I go through all of them so he can make the sounds.  (It's a great game for the car when he's getting bored.)  He says Dadda, Momma, Grandpa, not yet saying Grammie but he does try, Kneeknee, Pops, Mim, and I think he said Mer for Meredith but only once.  Meredith is a little disappointed but he absolutely loves her being around so it won't be long.  She just has a hard name for little mouths to say.  He has loved to talk about all the things related to Christmas and has really increased his vocabulary to say most of the words that go along with the season.  Our two least favorite words are "No" and "Me" which can be said defiantly and with the best whine I've ever heard at times.  "Me" is normally only negative these days and while "No" can be helpful, most of the time it's not. 

I have some cute stories I feel are worth documenting below for my own memory sake: 

Charlie is loving his friends and his daycare.  Mommy and Daddy also like it.  There are some excellent staff there that take great care of him.  Charlie proudly walks in instead of me carrying him in the mornings.  He says several of his friends names and his teacher's name.  He particularly loves the director of the daycare, Ms. Jenn and he says often "Jenn Bye-Bye" at home so I think he even misses her when he's not around her.  Most mornings, she greets him and requests a hug.  One morning, she was talking and Charlie didn't want to go to his room without giving a hug so he patiently waited until she was done.  It was so cute!  He love the fish at daycare and is pretty much deemed the feeder in the morning.  He's been bitten a few times at daycare and while it's not fun to experience even as a parent, I'm glad he's not the biter.  I recently learned that he told the kid who bit him "NoNo" for the rest of the day.  He's a jokster at daycare and recently played a good trick on his teacher.  He was bent over in a bucket and not moving.  She happened to notice this while changing a diaper and was very concerned that he has passed out or something.  She kept, saying his name and trying to get him to stand up or move and he wasn't.  She told me that she hurried and grabbed the other child to run over to Charlie who proudly stood up and smiled at her.  :-)  He still loves his teacher from the infant room and I think he goes and visits her for a few minutes every day.  I recently saw the hugs that he gave her and I told her that I was officially jealous and it was an all around bear hug like he hadn't seen her in weeks.  Ms. Belinda loves him just as much though, and I will always hold a special place for her in my heart. 

Charlie loves Wally or as he says "Wall". He says "Bye Wall" pretty often on our way out the door. He's in charge of feeding Wally these days. I used to have to help him but he can do it all on his own without any help these days. 

He's always been obsessed with kitty cats and loves to see them and talk about them.  We don't have a cat and will not have one due to Wally, who is not good at all around cats.  Anyways, the cat that he is around the most is his Aunt Kneeknee's cat, Coco.  She has another cat, Boo, who won't come out so Charlie only knows about Coco.  Anyways, every cat is Coco so any picture or other cat he sees, regardless of their resemblance, he will immediately exclaim "Coco".  My reaction remains the same. I will say "No, this cat's name is ... (fill in the blank).  Coco lives at Aunt Kneeknee's house."  Now, he will say, "Coco at Kneeknees".  I will think he gets it and 2 seconds later the conversation repeats and we go through this over and over and over. 

Charlie loves to point to the Christmas tree and talk about the ornaments.  One day, he was pointing to the sporting ornaments.  So, I asked him what the different balls were.  He said "basketball" and then "football" and then when we got to the baseball, he said "Daddy's ball".  I'm not sure where he came up with that one and now he says "baseball" but it was pretty cute even if this year baseball wasn't always Daddy's favorite sport to watch on tv.

I think that at daycare, Charlie must have been taught to cheer after they sing or maybe he came up with it on his own.  Anyhow, in early December, one Sunday morning we were at church.  I normally go pick Charlie up from the nursery after offering has been taken up so he can come back and enjoy the last couple of songs in church.  Well, this particular morning, immediately after the song, it was quiet and the preacher was ready to start the benediction and Charlie exclaimed "Yay" and clapped.  Everyone in the church laughed.

Every day, when Matt picks him up from daycare, and puts him in his car seat, the first things he says is "nack" which is snack and let me tell you, we do not forget the snack.  It can turn a good night to a bad one quickly.  That boy is hungry in the evenings.  If daycare didn't tell me any differently, I would think they didn't feed him but they say he's a pretty good eater for them.

Charlie eats well most of the time these days.  It's not always so true and he actually had a pretty rough month in November which I was almost worried that he was going through a difficult phase of being picky.  Luckily, as his sickness went away, his appetite came back.  He's hit or miss sometimes and pretty horrible in restaurants most of the time these days.  It's hard to sit still and be so busy.  I don't think others around us mind him as much as I am worry about it.  His favorite foods are meatloaf, meat balls, peas and carrots (canned preferably), and just about anything sweet!  He has no issues with the reflux, thankfully.  Although he does tend to easily throw up, but at least it's centered only around being sick which I have decided it one of the things I passed on to my child and is just payback for all those nights when my stomach was upset or all those times that I got car sick and did the same to my parents.
 
As for sleep, I'm very proud of my good sleeper.  He was so bad for the first year and I still haven't forgotten how crazy sleep deprived I felt.  I have often said over the last few months that I can look back and remember how tired I was last year and how hard working and taking care of him was.  However, that's not the case these days.  He sleeps about 12 hours every night.  He is ready to go to bed about 7:30 but will push it back to about 8-8:30 if allowed and will sleep until 7:30 or 8 in the morning.  During the work week, he has to be up no later than 7:15 for us to get to work on time.  While he's been up at 6:30, most mornings, he waits until 7ish or later.  He's fallen into a little better routine for nap time at daycare and consistently takes about an hour and a half nap.  Unfortunately, he still fights them at home.  Sometimes, he will go down for about 2 hours and anything beyond that is rare.  However, there are times when the best we get is 45 minutes.  He always goes down for a period of time though right after lunch.

Well, I don't know that I'm much for giving advice to others on parenting as it all just seems to work out and you figure out what works for you which may not be the same for the next.  I will say that what I've learned is surround yourselves with good friends and good family.  Also, I'm lucky enough to have a very loving and involved husband who adores my boy as much as I do.  I certainly have a new found respect for single parents.  I recently was discussing this age with a friend of mine who said she found this to be the most difficult.  I don't know if it was the reflux or lack of sleep or if it's just this boy, but I'm absolutely loving this age and sometimes wish I could freeze time so I could enjoy it just a little longer. 

Pictures from family Christmas coming soon but we are still busy celebrating right now!  Happy New Year's.  I'm so thankful for everything that 2012 brought and look forward to 2013.  My thoughts and prayers continue to be focused on all of those who suffered loss this year and especially those whose children were taken away from them in early December in Newtown, CT. 

Merry Christmas

 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Happy Birthday Jesus! 

Months of November and December...where did you go?

Where do I start?....

November was a great month that went all too quickly.  We made 2 trips to Grundy.  The first was just a trip for Ali and I with children and no husbands for a fast weekend.  We had a good time and it was a tease for our trip at Thanksgiving.  Here are some pictures from the visit.  Charlie enjoyed the big truck that was parked across the road from Mim's house.

He also enjoyed all the toys that they had and chasing Kaiser around.

We took a trip to the fire station so that Charlie and Wyatt could see the fire trucks.  Wyatt's Papa Bill is a fireman so we got to get up close to the trucks and play for a few minutes.

 

But before Thanksgiving, Charlie turned 18 months and I had another birthday all in the same week. It was a great week and I actually spent the day of my birthday off from work due to Veterans Day. Matt took the day off and we had such a nice day together. We had a very nice dinner over at Dick and Debbie's.  While I think they know this, I can't say how extremely blessed I am to have such wonderful in laws and a 2nd sister who always make me feel so special.  Charlie got a great report all in all for his 18 month check up. His stats were:  26 pounds 11 ounces (85th percentile), 33.75 inches (75th percentile) and head circumference in the 85th percentile.. The doctor was pleased with his developmental skills. He really showed off while he was there making every animal sound he knew and talking up a storm. I guessed at the appointment that he could say about 20 words. His weight was a little off due to a good round of sickness, having lost about 2 pounds in that last week or so. (In one month, he had the stomach virus x 2, RSV, ear infection, and strep.) It was a little bit of a bad month due to that but honestly, it's already a blur. I don't know that I've seen him that sick for so long with the RSV. He really worried me with the not eating and drinking. The other hard part of the month was that since he was sick, Matt and I were really juggling working and staying home with him. We found this excellent place that takes sick children which we had to use because his grandparents who always help out as much as possible were not available. As I write this, I realize some may frown about taking your sick child to a place that they don't know anyone and not staying home with them, but you do what you have to do and I loved this place. The nurses took such good care of him and he loved it too! He was quite spoiled. Ok, moving on, my Mom and Dad offered to keep Charlie for the week of Thanksgiving so we met them on the Saturday prior and joined them late Wednesday night. It was so nice since he still probably wouldn't have been well enough for daycare but he was on the mend. Also, he loved being spoiled by his Mim and Pops. He also got to go to the high school and visit with some of Mim's friends and go to children's hour at the library which I understand he loved. It gave Matt and I time to get the Christmas stuff up and out and I took full advantage of it. :-) Thanksgiving in Grundy was super nice.

It's too bad we didn't get any pictures from the trip and only one picture where we went to the park. Grundy has a huge nice park and I can't wait to go back this summer. We met my friend Anne and her children as well as here sister and her children. It was so cold but it was fun.  Charlie loved the choo choo at the park.

We had a great visit but I'm not so sure that others could recall it the same.  Pops got the stomach virus.  While I can't say for certain, I think Charlie may have been the culprit.  Bless his heart.  It struck Pops Thursday evening and he was very sick.  So sick that for the first time ever, he couldn't work Black Friday!  Matt and I decided to drive home on Saturday night so that Charlie could sleep in the car and within hours of leaving his Aunt Meredith, she became ill as well.  Luckily, Mom, Matt and I were safe from that round.  Sunday after Thanksgiving, we joined Matt's family for another Thanksgiving feast.

December has gone way too fast but I enjoyed every minute of it.  I learned last year that Christmas was a little more work with a baby and so it was last year that  I vowed I was going to stay on top of things so I didn't have to stress out and feel like I was missing family time and I did exactly that.  I was annoyingly (if I do say myself) ahead of schedule most of the month when it came to buying presents, sending out Christmas cards, wrapping presents, making goodies, etc.  But, I'm not a good procrastinator and it meant that I was able to spend more time with Charlie.  I realize I'm sounding a little sentimental and emotional but I don't want to look back on my time and think I wish I had done more with him. It all goes by too quickly and I absolutely love this stage.  He's exhausting and busy but so much fun and is learning something new all the time.  If I had to pick something that has fallen behind, it's the blog, yet again.

Charlie has loved the Christmas tree.  We have a large one in our breakfast nook and a smaller one in the den.  He tells them hi every morning and bye every night before bed.  He quickly wants them turned on as soon as we walk in the room and he loves to point at the ornaments.  He has taken some off the tree but been kind to them.  I think of note, he loved his Daddy's choo choo, a star with a picture of his Daddy on it, other stars or snowflakes which are stars to Charlie, some of the candy canes, and all of the balls.  We did take a few pictures of his first reaction to the tree.  I have always loved the decor but to see Charlie admire the tree and his eyes light up the first time he saw it, my heart melted again and I couldn't have imagined at that moment that tree would ever bring me so much joy.

Ok, so quickly, here's everything that we did for the month aside from another stomach virus that hit our entire family (minus Wally) in 24 hours.  Matt and I took Charlie to a few houses to see the lights one night during the week.  It was super nice and low key.  I think we even managed to take some pictures.

He loved the houses and was especially taken with the trains and cars.  We did pictures at a studio which were absolutely crazy.  He was so awful.  I got one or two good pictures which is fine since the deal was only for one pose.  However, it took us like 30 minutes to an hour to get it.  Ugh!  We celebrate Courtney's birthday with another feast at Dick and Debbie's.  We did another tacky light tour with friends on the weekend.  It started by everyone getting together at our house and the kids had so much fun playing together.  Charlie was slightly overwhelmed with so many kids playing with his toys but did a great job practicing sharing his toys.  We also had Breakfast with Santa.  Wow!  That was so much fun. 

Charlie loved him from a distance, saying "Ho Ho" but was apprehensive the closer he got and was just plain not happy on this lap.  I asked them to snap a photo for memory.  What a different a year makes!  His breakfast that day was pancakes with whip cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles of course. 

All in all, I think he thought it was a successful morning.  We enjoyed a feast at the Hamrick's which allowed us to get the annual kid photo. 

And as Charlie goes flying off the sofa head first.  Don't worry.  He recovered nicely and even took a few more pictures.  :-)

My goodness.  I can't describe how much joy these children have brought to all of our lives and they are getting cuter playing with one another and excited over partying together.  We had a few activities at church and some wonderful services to attend. 

I think that quickly wraps up the month in just one quick post.  I will post separately about Chirstmas but in case that doesn't get up in time, I hope everyone has a joyous one.  We have sang Happy Birthday to Jesus a lot around here and read the Christmas story (thanks to the book from his Mim and Pops) so many times.  I want him to always know that the true meaning of Christmas and to know about the birth of Jesus who would later die and rise to save us.  Hearing Charlie say Jesus may be one of the sweetest words I hear. 

Merry Christmas.  With much love, Stephanie

Serious thoughts

I realize I am yet again behind on blogging but tonight I am taking a break from posting about sweet Charlie and our crazy fun life to post some serious thoughts. My heart felt a little broken when I learned of the shooting massacre in Newtown, CT as it has with many other school shootings over the last 15ish years.  I can't fathom what would go into anyone's head to harm a child whether it be abuse or killing, but in this case kill 20 children and 6 adults. I will never understand this evil. I know many pastors had their work cut out for them today because many needed their hearts lifted and some reassurance that the Lord does know what he is doing.  Thanks to social media, it seems that many are feeling a little better. I know I couldn't have been happier to hug my little boy Friday night when I saw him and today at church, I found myself emotional. I don't want to use social media or my blog to post my political or social views and while I think we can all do better, I don't think there is one single thing that will fix this evil (i.e. gun control, mental health, christianity is schools, security in schools, etc. which are most popular that I have seen mentioned inthe last couple days). It gives me hope that we can all be a little nicer to one another and love mankind, God's most proud making, a little more.  It seems there are several heroes as the story unfolds that deserve praise as they spared more lives in the wake of the tragic event.  I can't imagine how they had the wisdom and courage but thank God for every one of them.  My prayers are with all of those who can't hug their loved ones a little tighter this weekend, no matter how they were taken, but especially the parents of those 20 children. God bless!

Prayers for one sick little boy

Charlie has been sick since last Friday. He has had a fever on and off for the last 10 days.  Strep and RSV have been no fun and now he has an upset stomach. My poor baby needs to feel better real soon.

A month of thanksgiving

As an effort to blog more, I decided that I am going to post a months worth of thanksgiving.

Backtracking to yesterday...
November 1-
I am thankful Hurricane Sandy spared us from damage. My prayers are with those that lost loved ones, their homes, or are without powear and water.

November 2-
I am thankful for my best friend Ali and that we enjoyed a beautiful drive to Grundy with 2 other great travelers. So thankful that Wyatt and Charlie had a great day, making the trip under 6 hours.

Happy Halloween

Charlie got to do his first trick or treating. We had such a good time with the McGreevy's. Hailey was a poodle and Charlie was a puppy. They had a very good time riding in the wagon around the neighborhood.

Blog Hiatus

I tend to get so behind on the blog and being the particular person I am, I can't just start in and blog, I have to do it in order which keeps me further and further behind.  I think when I left off from the blogging world, Charlie was only 15 months so I'll start there and try to catch up in one post.  Now he's 17 months and if I don't start blogging again, I'm never going to catch up.  One day, I'll look back and vaguely remember this time and won't have the documentation to support it so I better get to it. 

So, as for catching up, August was a little bit of a blur.  It was a fine month.  Matt and I celebrated our anniversary.  We went to a couple wineries and stayed on the downtown mall in Charlottesville.  It was a lot of fun.  Charlie was sick that weekend.  He stayed with his Grandpa and Grammie.  They gave him lots of love and so did his Aunt Knee-Knee (Courtney).  By the time we got back, he was doing significantly better.  As I remember it correctly, the whole month was HOT.  Today, as I type this blog, it's in the 30s but I'm not complaining.  This summer was hot and it was much worse that I remember as far as the mosquitoes.  They were all over Charlie and I every time we went outside. It didn't stop Charlie though.  He loves to play outside.  Here he is with the water table that his Grandpa and Grammie got him to play with over at their house.

Ok, so backing up, Charlie turned 15 months on August 10th

 

and he had his 15 month appointment and because I need/want to remember his stats, I'm going to include them below:

Weight:  25 lbs. 4 ounces (70th percentile)

Height:  32 inches (80th percentile)

Charlie also attended his first birthday party for his friend Henry. It was at Romp and Roll and he really had a great time.  I didn't get any pictures.  I know, bad mommy.  (I really have no excuses now because I have a smart phone.)

Lastly we went to the Children's museum for the first time.  It was good that we had Wyatt and Ali to introduce us.  However, Charlie felt right at home very quickly which led to us getting a membership.  We've been back several times.  He loves it!  His favorite thing at the Short Pump location is the train or as Charlie says "choo choo" and at the Richmond location is the Carousel.

In September, we went to the beach for a week.  We had a blast and I actually do have pictures to prove it.  But, that post will have to be separate so it's coming soon, I promise!  Also, Matt and I got smart phones.  The phone is much smarter than me.  I love having a nice camera to take pictures quickly of Charlie. 

Charlie and I started going to the park a lot more.  He loves the park and the swings. 

 

Also, football season started.  Ugh!  It's not been a good season for the Hokies.  I honestly can't keep track of it.  I'm busy following Charlie around most of the time.

Charlie had his first dentist appointment.  He has a couple of teeth where the enamel is missing so his pediatrician reccomended that he be followed by a pediatric dentist.  Charlie has full out stranger anxiety so letting the dentist stick his finger in his mouth wasn't fun for him or us but the dentist was really quick.  Anyways, as we already thought from discussing it with one of our friends who is a dentist, Charlie may have had a high fever/virus when those teeth were forming.  The dentist said it could have been in my 3rd trimester before he was born up until he was a year old.  It's actually on 3 teeth.  It's not a big deal and is pure cosmetic.  (I don't even think it's that noticeable.) I guess depending on the severity it could increase his risk for cavities but we'll go back every 6 months so they'll keep a close eye on him.  It has no effect on his permanent teeth.

Charlie went back for a test Romp and Roll class.  He had a good time playing in the gym. 

 

He is close to doing a somersault and it very obsessed with climbing on our ottoman and couches at home. 

 

Moving on to October which is close to being over.  Seriously, the months are flying by!  We have been busy. It's been very warm with only a few days of colder temperatures.  Charlie got to spend a week with his Mim here at home.  Matt had to go out of town and I was working.  Well, I was planning to work more than I did but I came down with a stomach virus.  I would have rather been working, trust me!  Charlie got to go to his 2nd birthday party for his friend Wyatt.  It was such a fun birthday party at the SPCA.  They had so many cute activities including going and seeing the cats and dogs.  This was perfect for this age group. 

 

 

I think I could tear up over Wyatt already being 2.  Where does time go?  He was just a baby and I was jumping at any opportunity that Mark and Ali gave me to come over and give him snuggles.  He's such a sweet child and has a great personality. I hope that he and Charlie find themselves to be friends as long as Matt and Mark have and Ali and I have. 

Well, I'm typing this today as I'm off from work due to Hurricane Sandy.  Although, in reality probably won't get this posted until tonight so I can get all the pictures loaded on. Luckily we were spared from damage as a lot weren't.  I was as prepared as I will ever be for no electricity.  I didn't actually have to find out how prepared I was, thankfully.  I stockpiled water and worried about not being able to find D batteries (even though all flashlights were working well). My parents are in the midst of a lot of snow at the moment and are in much worse shape than we were. 

A little more about Charlie over the last couple months...

Charlie's personality is coming through more and more these days.  Matt told me just the other day that he loves this stage that Charlie's in.  He really can't get much cuter. 

It seems that he did have a hard time for a couple of months right around 14-15 months as he just was having a hard time communicating with us and it was causing a lot of frustration on both ends.  He had a long drawn out period of tantrums every.single.night.  However, he's picking up words like crazy lately and is really starting to be able to communicate with us more.  We also taught him a few signs like more, all done, etc. which helped around the dinner table to make all of our lives easier.  We also noticed that he had a hard time transitioning from daycare to home so we tried adding in a little Seasame Street when he first got home.  I can't really explain it but 15-30 minutes of Seasame Street helps his mood and allows us some time fix dinner and get things straight when we get in from work.  We also started 1 minute time outs which is more of a punishment for Mommy and Daddy right now but he's starting to understand the consequence of his actions and we really don't have to do time out very often.  I don't think it's stopping him from tantrumming but I think it does seem to help.  Lastly, I've come to the realization that he's just at the age of tantrums unfortunately.  With that being said, it's getting better as far as the tantrums in the evening. 

There are so many cute things that I just don't want to forget about during this age. Charlie is such a laid back, quiet child. Don't get me wrong, he can be very loud when he wants but he's not a sqealer like a lot of children. Unless he is in the middle of a tantrum, he hardly ever whines or cries. He is starting to try to give us kisses and will give the best bear hugs. He laughs a lot. It's music to my ears. He loves to talk and babble but only when he's comfortable around you. He can be a little shy. I love him talking. I love that an apple is a papple and a banana is a nanna and Elmo is Melmo and a pumkin is a Kaka.  He can now tell you almost any sound that an animal makes. He's been saying "quack quack" the longest and just starting hissing for a snake recently. When he says Wally, it kind of sounds like Lollolly. It's a lot of L's. He just started saying ice cream which sounds nothing like ice cream. :-) This may be why he started saying ice cream.

 

I would guess that he's at least up to 20 words...some of which he uses consistently, others which may have not been said within the last month. He loves giving high fives. Even when he's being shy, he'll sometimes not be able to resist the high five. He's really into being independent and doing things all by himself like brushing his teeth, combing his hair, etc. He's started taking an interest in helping you put his clothes on. He's fine with running around the house in only his diaper but is very obsessed with socks and shoes so most of the times, we have to keep them on. He wants to wear his shoes which is one of his favorite words to say and also wants you to wear yours. He will bring us ours when we take them off. We have found him putting our shoes on as well.

Just today, he wanted to put my socks on me. As for other things, he's very particular about making sure that his toys are picked up at the end of playing with them. He's likes everything to be in it's place. I wonder where he got that! I love it.love it. love it. that he thinks everything should go in it's designated spot. That is so not his Daddy! Charlie loves balls, choo choos, cars, trucks, and playing outside, especially at the park.

He loves his wagon rides and being in the stroller.

He's into bounce houses as he's been into them a couple of times. 

He just runs and laughs the whole time. Charlie is running everywhere. He goes so fast.
He's tumbling and climbing on everything, including Wally.

He loves Wally and wants Wally to be whereever he is. For the record, Wally's pretty into being around Charlie especially when food is involved.

He also loves kitty cats and in fact just started saying kitty cats when he sees them.  Before, he would call them Coco (his Aunt Knee-knee or Courtney's cat).

He loves looking at pictures of family and friends.  That makes me so happy because I truly value my family and friends.  Charlie and I sat down one night this week and looked at pictures from Matt and my wedding.  It brought a tear to my eye as I was showing him pictures of his great grandparents who are no longer here.  I know they were looking down from Heaven and smiling at us.  I know Charlie already feels the same way that I do about my grandparents.  While he doesn't see my parents as often, he gets excited when he does see them or even sees their picture.  He sees his Grandpa and Grammie regularly and he loves going to their house and equally gets excited when he sees them in pictures.  Here he is hanging out with Grandpa earlier this month.

Charlie absoluately loves his Daddy.  I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it.  It's so sweet and at times can be extremely hurtful to me when he gets angry that I have to hold him instead of Daddy.  That being said, Matt is such a great father and I'm very lucky to have a partner that is so hands on all the time.  Matt is truly special so I understand how Charlie feels about his Daddy.  Lately, Charlie's been in a "Mommy" phase.  Not sure why but I'll take it and not complain.  :-) 

Tomorrow is Halloween and I think this is a good place to wrap up this post as it's time for me to go pick Charlie up from daycare.  Charlie had a Fall Festival at daycare this weekend.  His Grandpa and Grammie came to see the cutest boy in the world all dressed up and his Mim, since she was in town, got to see it as well.  Grandpa helped provide some pictures as I didn't bring my camera (big surprise) and couldn't take pictures on my phone because the battery was dying.  Ugh!  The number one problem I have with my new phone.  Anyways, here is the daycare and some pictures from the festival.

Mrs. Jenn, the director is always so sweet to Charlie!

Charlie is overwhelmed by crowds and wasn't quite sure what all was going on.  However, he managed to do quite well by winning the cake walk on his first and only time playing.  He also won the Halloween contest.

 

I'm pretty sure he's the cutest puppy I've ever seen.  He got his first trophy which is proudly being displayed in our living room.  It has created a little jealousy though as his Daddy's trophy for winning a decathlon (that's another post) was up in the attic (I may have taken it down a year or so ago) so they are now both being proudly displayed.
 
I'm hoping I haven't lost my loyal followers and readers.  I'm sorry for the long post but once I got started, I wanted to get everything written before I forgot it; I know family will be happy to see some pictures.  I promise and I'll do better and pictures from the beach are coming soon.  I'll leave with a picture of our little pumpkin who was on the move fast tonight, making it hard to take a picture.