Charlie: 2 years...

2-year highlights (well, technically 2 years and 2 months, but who's counting?):

• Now that Charlie has turned 2 he is talking a LOT!  A lot of his words are just sounds with the correct amount of syllables, but he's making great strides.  Some of the words that he can say: "nana & bopba" = grandma & grandpa, " due wawa" = cold water, "boo dirt un" = blue squirt gun, "wa" = yeah (this is the cutest and I will miss it like crazy when he leaves this behind), He can say these colors: "bu" = blue, "wewo" = yellow, "pupo" = purple, "ow-n" = brown.  He calls Ruby, "boo-boo" and Levi, "Wawa".   There are other words of course, but these come to mind first.
• And of course, now that he's had his second birthday he is beginning to assert his will and independence.  If I ask him to do something he loves to look at me and NOT do it and vice versa.  When he is done playing with something he loves to throw it as hard as he can across the room.  Then when I reprimand him, he likes to look at me, give me a smug smile, and then turn away.  He also thinks it's fun to hit Henry with toys.  We're in parental crackdown mode over here.
• Charlie loves to color... all.over.EVERYTHING!  My butcher block counters have pen scribbles on them, the wall behind the table has a few stray marks, and the bench the boys sit on to eat their meals is covered in scribbles.  He also loves to draw all over himself.  Heaven help us if he ever gets his hands on a sharpie!
• Truth be told about the coloring though, he does really love it.  When I pull out his (washable) markers he always asks for "boo" (blue) first and will color on almost every page in his coloring book with it.  He can sit and color for a pretty long while when he wants to (and by long while, I mean like 10-15 minutes :)
• Charlie is really starting to enjoy puzzles.  The other day I found him working on our alphabet puzzle and he managed to finish the entire thing all by himself.  I was pretty proud of him!
• Charlie loves to count to five.  He counts like this: un, du, ah, ah, ive.  The other day I was reading a magazine and he saw a list of items that was numbered 1-5 and he got so excited!  He started yelling, "mom, mom!" and pointing to them frantically.  It was really cute :)
• Charlie seems to be eating a little less than he used to.  This is probably related to the fact that he's starting to get a bit more picky about what he eats.
• We have started potty training Charlie.  We started the second week of July, so a few weeks after his second birthday.  He's doing pretty well.  He definitely isn't very assertive in telling us when he needs to go, but as long as we monitor him closely, and take him often, he rarely has accidents.  We are already to the point where we take him in public with undies, which is a big deal in my book.  He has even conquered pooping on the toilet which is HUGE!  He gets to watch a video on netflix when he says he needs to poop, so we know he is claiming to have to go even when he probably doesn't really need to, but whatever, a few extra videos for a potty-trained kid is totally worth it!
• Charlie is beginning to get very (VERY) upset when Henry gets to do something special and he doesn't.  This has been especially evident in the past few weeks when Henry got to spend special time with both sets of grandparents by himself.  When Henry is gone (or before he leaves) Charlie will walk around the house whimpering, "nana, bopba" and then throw himself on the floor and cry.  Last time this happened it lasted for an hour and a half :(  Poor Charlie.  We are going to have to work especially hard to make sure he doesn't feel left out once the baby comes. 
• He loves to play ball in the backyard with daddy.
• He loves to dig in the dirt.
• He loves to go to bed with as many of his toys as he can hold in his hands.  Last night he went to bed with a small tractor, his duplo motorcycle and policeman, a water bottle, and his paddington bear.  
• Charlie is sleeping really well in his crib.  He goes to bed around 8 or 8:30ish, depending on his nap, and he usually sleeps until 6 or 6:30ish.  I'm in no hurry to move him to a bed since he is doing so well in the crib.  As far as I'm concerned he can have the crib as long as he needs it.  We can keep the baby in our room.
• More to list, but that's it for now.  We love our Charlie boy!