Little Leaf

Charlotte has never been much of a walker. She would much rather be carried like a royal highness. Lately, to encourage her to walk more, we have been putting her in between us and letting her hold on to our fingers. It seems to work.

Today we stopped by the taste of Ft Collins and she found this little leaf while we were hanging out in the grass. She grew very attached to it and brought it back with us on our walk. She was determined to carry it and hold on to Daddy's hand. So she scrunched it up in her little hands and carried it tight while gripping onto Daddy's hand at the same time.

21 Months Old

The latest and greatest....

• When you sneeze she say "bless you" She even does it when Fergi sneezes
• If she sees a picture of herself, she points and says "baby"
• She likes to pretend play...feeding her baby and playing with dishes
• Shoes are a thing of the past. The moment she gets in the car, they are off of her feet
• When she blows kisses she makes a smooching sound
• She shrugs her shoulders a lot when you ask her a question
• She seems to enjoy spicy food. She kept dipping her chip into salsa at a Mexican restaurant. Even I thought it was spicy but I guess that doesn't say much
• She likes to lay on the stairs
• She calls her blankie "dee dee"
• If you ask her what color something is she always responds "blue"

20 Months Old

It is hard to believe how fast the time goes. Charlotte is already 20 months! She has started talking a lot more lately, even if it is gibberish with a few real words thrown in. I haven't been good about keeping track of the new things she does this month, but here is what I can remember...
* She mimics me a lot lately...like when I am putting on my make up. She will move her hands in the same motions that I do.
* She seems to have a little imagination. She plays with her dolly and pretends to feed her.
* She points to all the pictures in the house and says "daddy." We can't wait to have him back home.
* She says "baby" and points when she sees an infant. She even calls herself a baby when she sees a picture of herself.
* Her new dance move is the shoulder shrug.

Words

We got an email from babycenter that stated....
Don't worry if your child doesn't say many words: A vocabulary of anywhere between ten and 50 words is normal for this stage of development.

Of course Daddy has to set high standards for Charlotte and wrote to me...
She better get cracking on those 50 words =)

So I compiled a list of all the words that I could think of that she says.

hi*BYE*ball*EAT*ballOOn*yellow*cat*dog*dUcKie*turtle*elmo*
please*thank you*Charlotte*MOMMY*dADdY*baby*night night*head*eyes*NOSE*no*YES*bubbles*ONE*cheese*
shoes*SOCKS*book*milk*up*keys*APPLE*MORE*button

Puppy

Meet Snoopy Puppy. Charlotte picked him out just for Daddy and he traveled in a small confined box all the way from Wyoming to Afghanistan. Charlotte thought it would be nice if Daddy had something to hug and hold onto when he missed her. Now puppy gets to travel with Daddy when he flies. So far he has been to Kabul and Kandahar.

Puppy getting lots of love before he heads to Afghanistan.

World Class traveler.

19 Months Old

Charlotte is 19 months old today...hooray! She has been talking a lot more lately and repeats a lot of words that you say. She has even become a bit more independent and will walk and explore places on her own (usually she likes to be held). Here are some of the things she is up to....
* She loves closing bedroom doors
* She has discovered splashing in the bathtub and makes big waves in there
* She can say her name now =)
* She constantly plays peek-a-boo...she is a little attention hog
* She can say "one" and holds up one finger. We are still working on the rest of the numbers
* We have started implementing time outs on the stairs since she recently starting acting out and hitting
* "No" is the word of the month

T.P.

I bought some toilet paper about a week ago and have been too lazy to put it away. So it has been sitting around the house and Charlotte has taken it to be her new play toy. She pulls it around the house, she sits on it and rides it like a pony, and she attempts to stand on it. Makes me laugh because I too played with toilet paper as a kid.

Charlotte dragging T.P around the house

Me building towers with the T.P.

Thanks Mom and Dad for scanning the pictures!