Charlie at 18 and one-half months…

Physical Dimensions:

• 36 inches tall (Our doctor says if he keeps this up he could end up being 6’4” when he is full grown!!!! yikes! )
• 32.25 lbs ( he has gained one pound a month since his last checkup)

Preferences:

• Outside (instead of inside)
• Running
• Food: peas, blueberries and strawberries, smoked salmon, rice and peanut butter
• To see: Construction equipment, tractors, trucks, visitors/friends
• To do: Balls, kicking, throwing, reading books, coloring, bike riding, swimming and wrestling
• Toys:  soccer ball, stuffed moose, cars, crayons

What we are working on: (And oh boy, could we ever use your prayers for wisdom here!)

• mastering stairs, recognizing colors and shapes, drinking with a regular cup, brushing teeth
• saying the ending consonant of words
• sleeping past 5:30 am (he used to sleep until 7 or 8—and we are not sure what changed)
• saying “please” instead of grabbing, whining, pushing or yelling “NOOOOOOO”
• saying “please” or “more” instead of whining out “eye-wanda” (I want that) over and over again at increasing volume.
• waiting, sharing, listening and obeying

Best Parlor Tricks (or the things he has done all on his own that make us drop our collective jaw in amazement):

• When we have visitors who take their shoes off at the door, he finds them, picks them up and invariably brings them to their correct owner.  This has happened even with somewhat large groups of people.  I certainly don’t pay that much attention to people’s feet!
• We had Jonathan’s parents in town this last week.  One afternoon, after they had eaten several meals with us, Charlie walked around the table and named each chair, telling me who had sat there.  He got them all right, from memory!
• Charlie often tells me he is drawing something.  For instance he will be scribbling furiously and then announce, “ca” (car).  Since we often draw objects with him,  I can only assume that means that he was drawing a car.  That’s cute and all, but then he took it a bit further.  One day, he woke up early while Jonathan and I were still having our devotions.  So I set him up with the easel and crayons, while we finished.  I was distracted from praying, by him making stipple marks with the crayon.  And I was about to tell him to be more quiet/gentle, when he murmured his word for “rain” as he worked.  He was making little dots of rain!  No one had ever drawn rain for him….he came up with it all by himself!!!  I was shocked, and let’s just say the rest of my “quiet time” that morning was spent with a crayon in my hand too!  
• Imitation:  He looks around and notices peoples actions and positions and copies them.  You can see him focus in for several seconds, and then he arranges his body accordingly.  My favorite instances are when he sits next to me on the couch and arranges his legs carefully to be just like mine.  Also, I wondered why Charlie had started “talking” for long animated stretches of time, while waving both arms in large circular gestures and then ending it all with a booming laugh --- until I saw him watch his Grandpa  do the exact same thing across from him at the dinner table! 

We are just gobbling up this fun time of Charlie’s life.  More pictures soon!