Such a big boy!

Charlie has been impressing us with all the grown-baby things he's doing lately: drinking from a sippy cup, eating three solid food meals a day, sleeping through the night in his own crib (!!!) and waving at people we meet when we're out and about. But as impressed as we are, it's clear that big-boy-hood is not coming fast enough for Charlie. In fact, nothing is fast enough, fun enough, big enough for Charlie lately. He wants so badly to walk and talk, and when we see school-aged boys he waves his arms at them desperately as if to say, "Take me with you! Show me how you do it!"

Despite his frustration with not being able to run and talk yet, things aren't too bad for Charlie. He had fun helping at our annual Eken Park garage sale (his first and last, Bill and I decided, after the third year in a row of us spending more on signs than we earned in sales.) Mingling with the customers was right up Charlie's alley.

At a cookout this weekend, in addition to nearly being carried off by mosquitoes, Charlie met a big furry dog named Frank. At first Charlie wanted to touch Frank, but when he got a sloppy kiss he started crying. I've never seen Charlie afraid of anything before. While it wasn't hard to convince him Frank was nothing to be scared of (soon enough he was wanting those kisses!) it made Billy and me wonder if his stranger anxiety phase might be starting soon.

Much less scary was Greg and his well-worn baseball hat. Charlie spent much of the night trying to convince Greg to share it, and Greg graciously obliged.