Charlie: 20 months...

20-month highlights:

• In the last month Charlie has become more verbal.  He certainly isn't speaking in sentences or anything, but he's trying to say things.  Usually his words are just the first sound of the word he wants to say (examples: "mah"= milk, "buh"=bye).  He says "baba"= ball, "dada"= daddy or tractor (depending on context), "bah"=boat, and of course "mama", his favorite :)  He still does lots of grunts and groans, but he gets his point across.
• Charlie still LOVES books.  His favorite way to read books is to have the reader hold the book open and then he will point to items on the page and the reader has to say what they are.  He is very particular about the words he wants though.  If he points to a "sheep" and you say "lamb" and he's looking for the word "sheep" then he will bang on the picture with his finger until you say the word he is looking for.  It is both comical and annoying, depending on the reader's mood :)
• Charlie is starting to become interested in coloring.  He loves nothing more than to have a coloring book and a pile of crayons and make a mark on each and every page in the coloring book.  Henry loves his contributions to our coloring book stash (totally kidding.)
• Oh Charlie and food.  That relationship is still going strong.  This morning the boys were playing well together so I thought I'd sneak away and enjoy a bowl of oatmeal all by myself.  By the time I got the oatmeal made Charlie found me and literally ate half my oatmeal.  I had to make another bowl of it and he ate half of that too.  He amazes me.  He seriously likes most foods, I can hardly think of anything he doesn't like!  
• I haven't reported anything on Charlie's eczema in awhile mostly because there's been nothing to report!  I think Charlie must have had a classic case, because just like most of the things I read said, it seemed to clear up right about when he turned one.  He still seems a bit prone to diaper rash, so that might be a lingering effect of the eczema, but as long as I change his diapers frequently, I can keep that in check.  Yeah!
• Charlie still loves Henry.  Anything Henry does, Charlie wants to copy.
• When Henry was this age, he didn't have first cousins to play with, so it is especially sweet to watch Charlie play with Levi and Ruby.  He loves to give them hugs (and sometimes those tend to turn into tackles :)
• Charlie is pretty good at playing by himself when Henry is gone.  He loves to play in the sandbox outside and he really likes playing with our Melissa and Doug and Playmobile vehicles.  It's fun to watch him set everything up the way HE wants it (not having to play the way Henry wants).
• As far as sleeping goes, Charlie is still napping in Henry's bed.  I rock him to sleep for both naps and bedtime.  Some people like to go on and on about how kids need to fall asleep on their own, but quite frankly, I love rocking him, and I'll do it until it doesn't work for me anymore!  At night he sleeps in his crib until he wakes up (usually between 3 and 5) at which point we put him in our bed and let him sleep the rest of the night with us.  And again, we don't mind him in there, so this works for us.
• Overall, we just love our Charlie!  He is funny and loves to give mischievous smiles.  He makes us laugh and fills us with joy :)