Living the Country Life: Charlie-2.5

Charlie is closer to 3 than 2 years old (although according to him he is 6). He's a lot of fun & has quite the personality. He can get so emotional & bent out of shape in an instant and sometimes we dance the fine line of trying not to set him off.

Right now he continues to be obsessed with anything outside. We can get him to do just about anything if a tractor ride might be involved in the future. He likes pulling his wagon around, watering the flowers, pushing his mower & fixing things in the shed. He's also still obsessed with farms & has enjoyed watching all of the balers lately. His latest thing he kept mentioning was "alligators" which is an elevator.

It seems like he always has something he has to tell Cheri in the mornings. Last week he ran into her house and said, "Cheri, it smells like cow poop outside!" It was actually just the Seneca ponds, but stinky! He's really starting to talk about his friends at daycare more too and talk more about his day with us. When I was dropping him off one day there were a lot of people coming & going. Charlie couldn't get the door open fast enough so he rolled down the window and was yelling, "HI, JILLIAN!" to his friend. He talks non stop from the time he wakes up until he finally crashes and we can understand most of what he says.

His absolute favorite toy right now is probably a skid loader that he brought back from his stay at Grandpa & Grandma's. He sleeps with it and we always know he's awake in the morning from the bucket rattling. He likes to put his magnet letters in it and then dump them into things.

Our nightime routine continues to be successful. He doesn't mind us brushing his teeth anymore, which is a relief. We read a lot of books and he's out around 8pm, after insisting that we cover him up completely with a heavy quilt. He is sleeping until around 6:30. Sometimes we have to wake him up but usually he gets up on his own and we HOPE he's in a good mood. Even if he's not, usually a couple bowls of cereal or pancakes will turn him around.

Sometimes we have a hard time getting him to stop long enough to eat supper at night. The biggest problem is that he's so impatient and just gets bent when we get home and supper is not instantly available. On weekends he is just fine waiting. I would say a majority of his meltdowns are between getting home & supper and they are usually either over 1.) us not letting him snack or 2.) us not using the right plate or cup. We bought a booster seat and finally just forced (bribed) him to sit in it and now he does a pretty good job at the big table & doesn't make as big of a mess. He also likes to sit at his little table and always eats breakfast there but at supper time he won't stay there, he wants to get up and wander around. His favorite foods remain the same: cheese, sandwiches, pizza, fruit, and any sort of pasta which we call either spaghetti or macaronni. The only thing he will gag on and spit out is peanut butter -- even trace amounts he will detect.

We are also seeing him test the boundaries. For example, I will tell him to stay in the kitchen with his sandwich and he will start inching closer and closer out of there.

He is almost always really happy & fun. We have had a lot of fun with him this summer. His reactions are awesome & he says the funniest things. He likes to help and he likes to do a lot of things by himself. He's a little Mr. Independent which is fine but sometimes annoying when I know right now he just can't get the zipper started on his jacket but he will refuse to let anyone help him. It's the little things that I know he'll get but are super frustrating when I'm trying to hurry in the mornings (also, getting into the carseat and buckling himself up). Speaking of the carseat, he loves trying to buckle up with big seat belt and thinks he is so cool when he's sitting in the front seat. Sorry bud, you've got a long of carseat time ahead of you yet! He does a good job picking out his clothes & getting dressed and we have finally taught him that pants with pockets are for Cheri's house, not for sleeping in :)

One other random thing, I noticed the other night that top & bottom molar on his right side have poked through. I couldn't feel anything on the other side. He has never complained about them hurting. This is probably a good thing because he likes to fix all of his owies with butt cream (coconut oil) because we have used it on his dry skin & bug bites. I can just hear him telling Cheri he needs some butt cream for his teeth...

Of course, we think he is the most awesome and smartest 2.5 year old around! And he is the best big brother, Levi just lights up whenever Charlie rolls in.