Charlie's Three and a Half....and a Laugh a Minute!

At 3 1/2, Charlie is a perfect balance of two extremes -- he's 100,000% boy (explosions!, ninjas!, firefighters!, monster trucks!, Super Heros!, football! car crashes!...all punctuated with lots of sound effects). And at the same time, he's one of the most affectionate, imaginative, animated, sweet and sensitive children I've ever met. He's a pint-sized romantic, and though I know I'm flashing forward a couple of decades, he'll make a wonderful husband one day. During our bedtime tuck-in the other night, he caught a whiff of my perfume and told me I was "beautiful smelly."

The kid cracks people up, no one more than us; he's seriously hilarious. He likes wearing his clip-on ties, and recently wore one to Target with cowboy boots and a cowboy hat -- he told me he wanted to look handsome. Dressing up as a firefighter or Spiderman is as much part of our every day as eating breakfast. He even wore his costume to the first day of preschool! He tapes flashlights to his firefighter helmet and saves me from morning till night. I've said it before, but I love this age when their imagination is totally unchecked by inhibition.

Superman at the Fall Frolic

I have pictures spanning two years of Charlie making himself ketchup sandwiches. I took video of him looking for Diego (a cartoon charater who saves animals) in a rain gutter...."Diego! Diego? Are you down there? If you're down there, answer me!!!" He got confused once when I told him he had "sleep marks" and now asks me if he has "sleepy arms" every time he wakes up from his nap. At night if he's having trouble falling asleep, he tells me he going to "watch his dreams." And at 6am every morning, when Charlie's alarm clock tells him he can leave his room, he taps Rob's arm in the dark and whispers, "Daddy, can we watch sports?" They tiptoe downstairs to watch ESPN Sportscenter.

Diego, are you down there? Answer me!

Charlie tells all his friends he loves them. Even new friends he's only known a few minutes. Or he'll say, "Dad, you're the BEST!" Nancy came up with Madeline's nickname, Mimi, and Charlie gave it wings when he couldn't pronounce her full name. We love how he calls her "Meems" and "Meemers"; now we all do. And he has a special talent that I truly do not possess. He can listen to a song on the radio or hear a new song at school and sing it word for word! He regularly corrects me on Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert's lyrics. He once sang the entire theme song to Lots and Lots of Firetrucks (accidentally spitting while he imitated percussion) for a girlfriend of mine during a playdate.

All summer, we had "Football Training Camp" in our front yard. He called me coach and we did drills. He would put on Madeline's outgrown soccer cleats and pretend to jump through tires. I even told him to "take a knee" when we were done. He loved it! So you can imagine how much he loves his real flag football class at the Rec Center. Madeline asked if she could take the class too! So Charlie's the youngest by two years (his class was cancelled and he was bumped up with the older kids) and Madeline's the only girl. During the first practice, Madeline got so excited she gave her brother a swift, tight hug. Charlie said, "Mimi!! There's no hugging on the field!"

The last few months have been big ones in his little world. This summer, he potty trained successfully. And this fall, he started school. Now he's pretty much dropping his afternoon nap. He's such a big boy in many ways, and still so very little at the same time. It's a joy (and a million laughs) to watch him grow up. We love you, Charlie! 

Saving a kitty cat.

Lots of firefighter action. Lots of nose picking.

Yum. Another ketchup sandwich.