Charlie is 1

To me there is nothing like a one year old. I expect a one year old to be ambitious but bad at stuff, and still small enough to be good natured about all the failing. I expect him to be round, pink, squishy, smiley, and preferably dimply. Charlie delivers and then some. When Charlie's around (and when is he not?) I am squishing and squeezing and kissing like a maniac.

Tummy

He pulls some annoying stunts too, of course. Like his diaper changing etiquette. I've had to pin him with my feet enough times for him to learn, for the most part, that it's better not to try to get away while being changed. This doesn't stop him from arching his back and kicking his legs furiously though. If I wasn't very careful this could really get the poop flying. Also he has started getting a mad glint in his eye on occasion, yelling "op!", and hitting me on the face or chest. I can't figure out if he is saying "stop" or "up" or possibly even "up high," because he thinks the popular high fiving game is funny, even when he's too slow. Or maybe this is just his own personal battle cry, but he doesn't do it to anyone else and I don't like it.

At church Charlie is kind of a player. There are several little girls his age, and when you put them together he starts to stroke their faces and administer sloppy open mouth kisses.

He is working on the talking quite a bit. His most used words are: hi, mom, dad, doggy, baby and thank you. His thank you has won my heart the most, as it is his clearest and most appropriately and consistently used phrase. It is a little shocking and always delightful when I hand him a goldfish or his bottle and hear "thank you" back. I love him. Yesterday I handed him his Snoopy stuffed animal and he said "thank you. Doggy." It was all so clear and appropriate I wanted to eat him on the spot.

Charlie found this baby and yelled "hi" at it several times. When it didn't respond he discarded it in disgust and moved on to something more interesting.

He has four teeth, the two bottom centers and the vampires on top. His hair still curls in the back--something I love but know from the two biggies is temporary. He loves his "walk along" device (a walker that plays a song about how the baby pushing it should "walk along." When he passes me with it he grins in a bragging fashion, which causes him to fall. This causes him to shriek with laughter and start to walk along all over again. He is becoming more independent and more involved in the games the children play. He sleeps like a champion. He sucks his thumb. He transitioned beautifully to solid foods and a bottle of whole milk. He makes me love his baby sister more because of how much I love him.

Vampire

All of this chubby perfection on his part inspired a really lame first birthday celebration. Store bought cake, which he methodically destroyed and devoured, and one gift that he picked out himself at Toys R Us (or as Laine would say "We Are Toys and We Are Babies").

Happy Birthday Baby. Maybe when you're 2 you'll stick to cake instead of repeatedly going back in for more candle.

I know everyone says this about their babies, but I really mean it; I love that child to pieces.