2 1/2 years!

Charlie is officially 2 1/2!  He's been feeling heavy to me lately so I took him in for a weight check today since we don't have any doctor's appointments this month (woah!).  He was 22 1/2 pounds!  Hard to say for sure if it's accurate (seems huge to me!), but he was undressed and cooperating!  Just a month ago he'd been weighed at 21 lbs, 5 oz, which had been virtually no change for 3 months.  Maybe he was catching up for lost time??

So what's Charlie up to at 2 1/2?  Talking. A. LOT.  Most of the time he's very clear with what he's saying  but if it's a new word/phrase I haven't heard him say before, sometimes that's tricky.  Like "train station."  I told Charlie we had to go get Daddy from the train station, 5 minutes later in the car he starts saying "train station" but it took about 8-10 times of repeating it before I figured out what he's saying.  He's also definitely picking up on things when I'm not aware of it.  Today he said "bless you" when I sneezed. No one was around to cue him- it was all on his own.  (Then of course, he pretend-sneezed a few times to I could say "bless you" to him.)

For a while we'd been doing the reward system when Charlie would take a nap without carrying on to the point of making himself throw up.  Charlie loved the idea of a "prize."  Some days, if we were having a hard day especially and putting him down for a nap was eliciting a lot of crying, I'd tell him at the beginning of nap time that he could get a prize if he was good and didn't throw up.  Today, there was no mention of a prize by me, but when he woke up he looked at me with sleepy eyes and said "prize?"  He was too cute, so he got a prize- today was a pair of $1 binoculars.  I don't think he can see through them at all but he's enjoying them!

Charlie is singing the ABC's, counting, singing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman.  He also does Ring around the Rosie, and a few chants from library including the apple song.  You can listen to his version below.

The real words are: Way up high in the apple tree, two little apples smiled at me.  I shook the tree as hard as I could, and down fell the apples.  Mmmmm, they were good!

Charlie says: Apple tree, two apples me, shook it hard, down apples, mmm, good!  There are also movements that go along, but Charlie wasn't interested in doing them since whatever is in his hand is more interesting!

What else is going on at 2 1/2?  He loves Santa (and we've seen him 4 times so far at the mall).  He's still in a crib, and is still in a carrseat turned backwards.  He continues to watch too much TV- and seems to be able to recognize most morning programs on PBS and Disney.  Curious George is a new favorite (specifically the baseball episode) with Mickey Mouse in 2nd place, and he likes any of the train shows- Thomas, Chugginton, Dinosaur Train.  Throwing up continues daily, even though he's taking medication for reflux, delayed gastric emptying, and constipation.  We continue to count calories (aim is 1100/24 hrs.) and keep track of everything he's taking in.

I think Charlie is going to "get" Christmas this year.  He's really excited about Santa at the mall, and he loves our tree.  When we ask him what he wants from Santa, he says "presents!"  He also is enjoying looking for "Joe the Elf" daily.  He usually finds him at says "Silly Joe!"  :)