One and a half

Somehow the last 18 months have passed and all of a sudden we have a full blown walking, talking, running toddler on our hands.  I am in shock that Charlotte is already 18 months old! I want time to slow down because if it continues at this speed she'll be all grown up in no time!

I haven't done a full recount of what Charlotte's up to in a while so I thought I'd do one here. 

C's doctor's appointment this morning showed lots of growth! Compared to our last visit she was huge!  Charlotte weighed 21.8 pounds (15%), was 31 3/4 inches tall (65%), and had a head circumfrence of 17 1/2 inches (55%).  That's a lot of growth for three months!  She is currently wearing 18 month clothes but is wearing some 2 t-shirts and jackets.  She is growing out of her size 5 Angel shoes and growing into her size 6 ones.  (Sidenote, I found a sandal from the summer last week and it looks tiny compared to her shoes now!)  She's still in a size 4 diaper during the day and at night.

Eating

C you are so funny about your eating.  You (most of the time) like anything with cheese.  Grilled Cheese and Mac and Cheese are your absolute favorites.  You would probably drink 6 sippy cup's full of milk each day if I let you also.  You definitely get your dairy!  You love almost every kind of fruit and gobble it up.  You have learned to say "NAN-A!" and you yell it loudly whenever you see one -- you definitely love banana's!  However, we still can't really get you to eat veggies.  You will eat a couple carrot sticks occasionally but that's about it.  You turn your nose up at baked potatoes now but will still eat fries if we'll give them to you.  You love snacks ("nack-nack") and especially crackers("cwack-er").  You are a really good eater and will tell us if you want more (you just learned to say it so now you sign it and say it) or are all done.  You are great sitting at the table and eating dinner with us and will even sit there for a while once you're finished eating while we finish.

Talking

You are learning at least one new word to speak a day right now.  This picture is of you saying "cheeeee-se" for the camera.  You have also gotten better about stringing words together.  A week or so ago after we got your Biscuit dog I wanted to wash him while you were napping so I made you leave him downstairs.  You were not happy and when I laid you down on your changing table you just kept crying, "DaDa! MaMa! Ruff-Ruff!" which is how you tell on one of us.  So even though you didn't have all the small words in the sentence I felt like that was great to be stringing together that you were telling Daddy that Mommy took away your puppy dog.  (In my defense, after that I did go and get Biscuit and let her sleep with him.)  You say "Roll Tide Roll" a lot and we notice you saying "To-Down" during football games.  You love "Bisc" both in his stuffed animal form and in the books and any time you see Elmo you shout, "Mel-Mo!"  We love conversing with you and can't wait for you to continue talking and transitioning some more of your signs into words.  We're waiting on that first spoken "I Love you" but you are sweet to sign it to us a lot which we appreciate!

Movement

Charlotte, you go all the time! You are constantly on the move and only sit down to read books or when you're tired.  The other day we were Skyping with Memma and Papa G and they said it's no wonder you're so skinny because you never stopped moving the entire time we talking! In this picture you are dancing and my do you love to shake it.  :)  You are the cutest ever dancing around!  You definitely have favorite songs like the birthday song on the Blues Clues boom box and the Wonder Pets song but if you hear a song elsewhere (tv, a random toy, etc) you will usually start dancing at least for a little while! As you've gotten older you've gotten a little more careless with your walking/running and you slip and fall more often than I would like but it usually doesn't faze you at all and you just get right back up and do whatever you were doing before.  You are seriously running all over the place now and it makes me want to stop time! You have been reaching for door handles also which is making us deadbolt the back door but is also making me nervous for when you can actually open the pantry door and go get your snacks when you want them!

Recognition

You definitely are all about your people and the things that we regularly do now.  You know and call Memma, Papa, and Char Char by name and KayKay said that you clearly said her name last week also!  When we were in Tuscaloosa for the Miss State game you kept saying, "Mare! Mare!" because you wanted to go see cousin Mary which is funny because you don't see her that often but you knew right away who she was.  You know exactly where everything is at home, in Tuscaloosa, and at Memma and Papa G's and aren't afraid to go straight for the toys wherever you are.  It also cracks us up that if we turn on the tv to watch football you immediately start clapping whenever anyone on tv is and dance when the band plays and yell touchdown a lot.  You also love school and know exactly where we're going when I tell you that it's time for school.  I am so glad that you love school and your friends so much and hope that continues as you get older!

Playing

Your play has gotten much more literal in the past few months.   You will now regularly sit down by yourself and flip through a book or start rocking your baby side to side when you pick her up.  You know that you speak into the microphone on your boom box and can put your coins in your piggy bank.  It's precious to see you become more of a little girl and know what your "supposed" to do with each of your toys. 

Your Great Love

The thing that you probably love most in the world is puppy dogs.  Doesn't matter what kind -- real, stuffed, pictures, barking -- you love it!  You "ruff! ruff!" for a few minutes any time you hear any dog bark and always get so excited.  It is funny though that you continue to refer to all dogs as "ruff ruff's" instead of by name.  You won't say Luca even if we beg you but you say "ruff ruff."  You are really trying to be sweet to Luca even though you want to pet him and give him kisses a lot. 

Sleeping

Charlotte you have always been Mommy's little sleeper and I am so thankful for that.  You still sleep very good from 8 pm - 8 am.  Most times when I go in to get you up you are already awake but you are perfectly content to hang out in your crib with your stuffed animals until we come and get you.  You usually don't even make any noise!  The naptime situation has been trickier for us recently.  You are probably at a time where you can go to one longer nap a day but we are (until Saturday) keeping you on two two hour naps a day (10-12, 2:30 - 4:30).  Some days you sleep the entire time both naps, some days you only sleep the entire nap time once and catnap the other time, other days you catnap both naps -- it varies.  Back when you started school we thought about moving you to one nap but you would get so tired and cranky by 9:30 if we were at home (however you did fine with one nap if we were out doing something in the morning).  Since you did so good then and have stayed content to play quietly in your crib during nap time even if you didn't sleep I have not wanted to give up those four hours a day.  But in the past week or so you've started going to sleep 30 minutes or so before nap time is over which means waking you from a deep sleep leaving your grumpy for a little while while you wake up.  So after our last football game on Friday when we need you to take a morning nap we'll switch to one nap from 12-3 like we do on school days already.  I've got to come up with something to keep us busy in the morning's now!

Sweet Girl

While you aren't really a cuddler you have started giving hugs and kisses a lot which is sweet.  You will give kisses to basically anything that isn't a person (including Luca) but will only let people kiss you, not kiss us.  But you are so sweet to hug us and come sit on our laps.  You also love playing on our king sized bed and are sweet to snuggle up with my while I rub your back and hair which makes my heart melt.  We love that you are so sweet and have such a beautiful, open heart.  I hope you keep that for the rest of your life!

Charlotte Lee,
You are 18 months old and are running Daddy and I ragged right now.  It's hard to keep up with you because you have SO MUCH energy.  Despite that we love running around after you and watching you explore and discover new things each and every day.  When you smile at us or run into our laps or give us hugs and kisses we just can't believe that we are so blessed to have you in our lives.  You were an answer to prayer and we love you so, so much.  We love watching you learn more about Jesus and I have to catch my breath every time when we pray and say Amen and you clasp your hands together and say, "Men!"  I hope your love for God continues to grow deeper and deeper as you grow older.  Daddy and I will do everything we can to teach you about him because we want nothing more than for you to follow him your entire life and love him with your entire heart.

You are our precious baby girl and we love you so much! 
love Mommy and Daddy