One-and-a-Half-Year-Old Charlie

THINGS YOU SAY:

• "a" - you are killing us with the way you address the things you love. Instead of just saying "book" or "baby," you loudly exclaim, "a book!" "a baby!" 
• "Suppy!" - this is a word you cry out at breakfast, lunch and SUPPER time. When you are ready to eat, you are a complete nut job. You follow me around, usually with both arms wrapped around my leg, as you look up at me crying, "suppy, suppy, suppy!"
• "No, No" - you get more ornery and mischievous with each defiant act you perform. Thankfully, as you are doing something naughty, you say, "no, no." It's like you know mommy doesn't want you to do whatever it is that you're doing and your conscience tells you shouldn't do it and it the midst of the act you verbalized your thoughts out loud. It is so hard for me not to laugh when I hear you quietly say "no, no" from the other room and, upon entering, find you  fully clothed and covered in baby lotion. 
• "Nose, Eyes, Mouth, Ears" -when rocking you at night, you point to our eyes and nose. Then, you will push our chin in different directions to access our ears. So sweet.

THINGS YOU LOVE:

• At first I felt really guilty about how much you liked to look at my iPhone or iPad (you call them "buttons"), like I was stifling your imagination or prepping you for a future of working for minimum wage at Best Buy. But hey, it's 2013 y'all! Just because I didn't grow up pressing a neat-o touch screen skinny computer doesn't mean you shouldn't get to. You love to play the free fisher price apps that I downloaded and watch videos to help pass the time during long car rides. Every time you open the iPad you say, "papa," because we talk to nana and papa and granny and papa on Skype/FaceTime frequently. I'm grateful for the technology that allows Charlotte to consistently see her grandparents.
• I could tell you how much Charlotte loves her cat or I could just show you this picture:

• Traditionally, you wiggle and babble as I rock you before finally placing you in your crib. This night, however, you were especially tired after a long day at church. You were still on my shoulder and I could hear your sweet little snores in my left ear. I thought you had fallen asleep and as I laid you on your tummy you said in a faint, but completely coherent whisper, "Elmo." 
• With the fierce wind and cold temperatures, we are forced to spend a lot of time indoors. Sure, we know about a great indoor playground in town, but it is at the church where I work, so I don't really like to go there unless I'm getting paid. I know I could go to the mall play place, but the last time we were there, Charlotte decided to french kiss the giant plastic bear that every snot nosed kid in Champaign County has touched. When we do get out, it's usually to go to Target and since Target is my absolute favorite store, I end up spending money that I didn't intend to spend that week (apparently, when you put twenty items from the dollar aisle in your cart, that comes out to $20!?). All this said, we have to get pretty creative in our 900 square foot house. Some of our favorite activities are dance parties to Carrie Underwood, Dylan, Mumford & Sons or Beyonce (we don't want to limit Charlotte to just one genre). We do a lot of coloring too. Charlotte really enjoys coloring more than most kids her age. She will sit next to me and I'll say, "what do you want Momma to draw?" and then I do my best to draw said thing and then she has her crayon in hand and we color. Her number one favorite activity is PAT-A-CAKE. She loves to "roll it" and does a great job with all the motions. Her "r" in "roll" makes a "w" sound. Precious. And she marks it with a "C." And the best is when you get to find out who she put it in the oven for. "Put it in the oven for...Mommy. Momma & Daddy. B (Braden). Ruuuu (Russ). Ky (Kyle). Papa!" (all her usual go-tos throughout the day).
• Books. We are both so thrilled that Charlie loves to read as much as she does. She is perfectly content to just sit on the floor, by herself, with a book in her lap and babble as if she knows exactly what each word says. What we really love to do is read to her. Her favorite books at 1.5 years old are Old MacDonald Has a Farm, her Bible, Baby Listens (a Little Golden book), If You Give a Pig a Party and an Elmo book called S is for School.
• Charlotte is such a little mother. She is constantly searching for her "babies" and carrying them around in a choke hold after she finds them. It is really interesting to see her little maternal heart at such a young age. The nursery workers at church are always commenting on how well she does if she has a baby in tow. Our closest friends have a 6-month-old and Charlotte is infatuated with him. She can't stand to be more than a few inches from his face. It really is pretty hilarious (huge thanks to Russ' momma for being so patient with her). 
• As I buckle you into your car seat each day, 99.9% of the time you say, "chuch." You love church! I am so thankful for this. I know that you may not always think that church is the best, most exciting destination, but I pray that you would grow up to love the church as much as your mom and dad do. I am so thankful for the men and women who volunteer their time to ensure that my child is rocked, changed, fed, taught and prayed over each time she enters the nursery. You march right in and never think twice about leaving your momma. You'd think this would make me sad, but I am THRILLED that she has no issues leaving me. It makes things so much easier. Besides, my motherhood is validated as you smother me with snuggles and grin from ear to ear each time I pick you up.

THINGS YOU EAT:

• Everything.
• For real though - blueberries, cheese quesadillas, noodles, yogurt, raisins, cuties, bananas, salad with italian dressing, waffles, bagels, apples, applesauce, chicken nuggets are just some of your favorites.
• From 12-15 months old you inhaled green beans, but I think you got green bean overload, because now you're pretty indifferent towards them.