I can’t remember what life was like before this beautiful boy came into our lives. He is my favorite person in the whole world, my best buddy, my chatter box and just a sweet little soul. I’m so proud of this 2.5 year old. 

Charlie has changed so much! It’s almost hard to remember him as a newborn. My last update was when he turned two and all of those photos make my heart hurt. In the past 6 months my little boy has become a full blown toddler. Complete with full conversations, tantrums and everything in between. He looks more and more like a little boy every day. 

Charlie’s Schedule

Charlie wakes us up anywhere between 6:15 and 7am screaming “mamaaaaaaaa come get me!” and we start our day! We head downstairs, start playing with toys and make breakfast around 7:30.

Charlie goes to day care on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday so on those days we take him to school from 8:45am-4:30pm. On Wednesday and Friday Charlie dictates our days! I usually try to give some activity in the mornings. We will go to an indoor play ground, the library, schedule play dates with friends or run errands. We usually have lunch around noon and he naps from around 12:30/1pm-3:30/4pm. When he wakes up we play until dinner which is usually around 5:30/6pm, he gets a bath around 7pm and then we watch 15/30 minutes of his favorite shows. We head up to his room to read books and put him to bed around 7:40 and he is usually asleep by 8:15.

What Charlie Eats

Charlie has always been in a lower percentile for weight but I swear the kid eats like a horse. He LOVES food. Here are his typical meals:  *he doesn’t eat all of these items at once, just a mix of these items!

Breakfast – peanut butter toast, yogurt, fruit, Applegate turkey sausage links, scrambled eggs, blueberry muffin, Cherrios, bananas with peanut butter.

Lunch – peanut butter and jelly sandwich, sliced turkey and cheese, cottage cheese and avocado, grilled cheese, Pirate’s Booty, fruit.

Dinner – turkey meatballs, taco meat (ground turkey or beef) with cheese, mac and cheese, Dr. Praegers frozen veggies (Charlie loves the broccoli bites, kale bites and spinach cakes), burgers, frozen peas, avocado, ravioli and red sauce.

Snacks – Pirate’s booty, popcorn, RX Bars for kids, pretzels with cheese (he asks me for this allll day long, ha), apple slices, raisins, apple sauce, smoothies.

Charlie still gets 6-8oz’s of whole milk before his nap time and bed time. 

Charlie’s Favorite Things

Charlie’s favorite books: The Gruffalo, I’m a Monster Truck, Are You My Mother, Gossie & Friends books, Little Blue Truck, Pete the Cat,  Gaston, First 100 Words (he wants to read this to me every night – every word!).

Charlie’s favorite toys: Magna Tiles, PLAYMOBIL toys like this, this and this, Melissa & Doug wooden car set and this construction bulldozer. Basically anything that involves building or trucks. He is obsessed with ambulances, fire trucks, garbage trucks, diggers, bull dozers – everything truck related!

Charlie loves to read books by himself, he loves coloring (these are my favorite crayons because he can’t break them), he loves helping me cook, he loves his scooter (we need warm weather!) and wearing his helmet and he loves every sport ball – soccer balls, footballs, basketballs. 

Charlie loves to manipulate us into doing things for him by answering his own questions for us (haha) , like “mama, one more book then night night, ok!” or “Char Char watch dada’s phone and mama no touch, ok!” He has conversations with himself allll day long. He stares at himself in the mirror a lot (hello little Dave), he thinks Webster is hilarious when he runs away in fear from him, he loves to be naked and thinks finding boogers in his nose is the coolest thing ever. I had to teach him that “we only pick our nose at home” so now everywhere we go he picks his nose and says “Char Char only picks his nose at home, ok!” He loves wearing Christmas pajamas and calls them “ho ho ho’s” and then when we is wearing them he says “Merry Tipeeees” meaning Merry Christmas. He has tantrums when we tell him no but we’ve started ignoring him and that seems to help him get over them more quickly. He is such a little character. 

I just love him so so so much. Charlie, you’re the best and although you’ll never remember these days I hope you know that everything you do makes an impact on me. You make me happier than I ever thought possible. 

Charlie is wearing similar leggings, this sweater and these shoes.