a little late, but that's ok...
13-month highlights:
- Charlie loves his brother! Anything that Henry does he wants to copy. Today Henry ran around the house, so Charlie ran around the house too. Henry read books, so Charlie read books. Henry played with cars, Charlie played with cars. Henry cried for mom, Charlie cried for mom too :)
- Charlie LOVES to read books. He will spend quite a bit of time sitting on the floor and turning the pages of any book he can get his hands on. He especially loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Anytime he comes across it on the bookshelf or on the floor, he will bring it directly to me so that I can read it to him. It's very cute. This was a favorite book of Henry's at this age as well.
- Cars are starting to become a favorite of Charlie's. He likes to take them and make a "vroom" noise and push them around the floor. He is also starting to enjoy lining them up on the ottoman. Henry's not such a fan of this new development...this means he has more sharing to do :)
- Playing outside is always a highlights for Charlie. He pretty much likes to toddle around from one place to the next: patio steps to sandbox to garden beds to swingset to flowerbeds to...
- He loves to get into my closet and bring me a pair of shoes so that I can put them on. He starts whining loudly if I don't take them and put them on right away. Again, Henry had this same obsession with shoes around this age too.
- I would say that Charlie's first official word is "a ba" (a ball). It's the first word that he's used for communication purposes. I guess sports are on our boys' brains right from the very beginning.
- Charlie is still a champion eater. He is starting to really enjoy drinking smoothies in the morning, but while Henry is content with just a smoothie for breakfast, Charlie drinks his smoothie and then wants what we've affectionately called his "second breakfast". He likes to eat fruit, meat, yogurt, pretzels, and most everything really.
- I'm still nursing Charlie 3 times/day...when he wakes up, at naptime, and at bedtime. I'm not even thinking about weaning him until all of our vacations are over. Nursing is the one tool I have in my sleep toolbox, and quite frankly, I'm just not ready to give that up yet. Sometimes parenting is all about mom and what's easiest for her...this is one of those times :)
- As far as sleeping goes, he's pretty much sleeping through the night. He goes to bed between 7:00 and 8:00 and wakes up around 5:00 :( Sometimes when I nurse him when he wakes up he will fall back asleep and stay asleep until 6:30 or 7:00 (I LOVE these mornings) but a lot of times he's just up for the day at 5:00 (I'm not a big fan of these mornings). Although, this morning he slept until 6:30...I'm not holding my breath, but if he made this his new normal, I wouldn't complain one bit!
- Charlie is pretty much down to one nap. He sort of needs a nap around 10:30, but if I keep him busy and give him snacks and an early lunch, I can hold him off for a nap until 12:00. I'm still nursing him to sleep, but I have been able to transfer him to his crib most days, which is a big improvement for us. We're making good strides in the sleep department. I keep reminding myself that slow and steady wins the race with regards to sleep. We'll get there eventually.
- Charlie is a happy little guy. He laughs a lot and often makes us laugh as we watch him stumble through the house. When we tell him "no" he shakes his head "no" right along with us. I'd say from months 9-12 he was sort of crabby overall. I think he's happier now that he is able to walk and keep up with Henry better.
- I feel like Henry and Charlie are very similar. The things that Charlie is starting to do remind me constantly of Henry. The way Charlie gravitates towards books and balls is exactly how Henry was (and still is). It's fun to watch them both grow!
- And, of course, we still feel completely blessed to be parents to our Charlie-boy. He makes our lives richer in every possible way.
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