Dan & Tara: Charlie: 17 Months

Today Charlie turns 17 months old! He is such a joy and the source of much laughter in our house. We love watching his little intense face with furrowed brow as he learns about the world around him. We love his ~~little~~ big belly and chunky thighs he still has, despite his new love for running. We laugh at the way he puts his hands on his hips while deep in thought. He is such a character!

Here are some new developments:

Charlie's new words include:"Cha" (Charlie), "cup", "lie" (light), "ma-men" (amen), "breh" (bread), "bear,"and "Nana" (his great grandma!).
He regularly says about 20+ words and has formed 2 sentences: "Bye bye, car" and "Hi, kitty" It's fun to see him start to group them together to communicate!
Lately we have been getting a kick out of the newest babbling Charlie has been doing. It sounds like he is calling someone who isn't answering: "pickuppickuppickuppickup!" :)
He can run pretty fast now and does not like to hold anyone's hand.
He is beginning to be picky about his food. Bleh. He used to eat any and everything we'd give him, but now he started sticking his tongue out so that whatever he dislikes falls out of his mouth. Other times he will simply shake his head no and close his eyes really tightly refusing to take a bite. He has decided his favorite foods are bananas and bread. Wonder where he got that from, DAN. We are working on veggies.
We are also working on listening to and obeying Mama and Daddy. This has been a great challenge in the last few months especially. We know he understands much of what we ask him to do, but he's started deliberately disobeying now, which is hard. He also throws tantrums any time he doesn't get what he wants (which is a lot). We pray everyday with Charlie for the Lord to give him an obedient heart. Pray with us and for us in this, would you?
Charlie absolutely loves books. He would rather "read" than play with any of his toys. He brings us two books in particular to read to him, multiple times a day: "Most of All, Jesus Loves You" by Noel Piper, and "Just the Way I Am" by Krista Horning (a beautiful book of pictures of disabled children with corresponding Bible verses about God's sovereignty, plan, and love for them.) He always points to Pastor Kempton and his son Christian on the front cover and smiles :)
We can't open the front door without Charlie immediately crying to go outside. When we play outside in the yard or at the park he just laughs and laughs and the sights and sounds... except when we're at the park and he apparently looks grumpy (it's his serious look). Ha. A little boy the other day passed him and said, "Hey, Grumpy Face!" We love our little grumpy face.
He went down a kiddie slide the other day all by himself! I admit I was nervous to let go and not support him, but he did great, and laughed all the way down.
He now consistently stays in the nursery throughout the church service! Hooray! It's been about a month now that we can safely sit inside the sanctuary without worrying we will be interrupted to go get him from nursery. This is such a blessing after about 9 months of refusing to stay in the nursery! He still cries at first, but settles down pretty quickly after we leave.