Serious Progress

I should post something about what a great time we had at my parents' house at Christmas, and I'll get to that at some point... but in the meantime, I have to talk about what Charlie is doing, which is LOTS of new things! Here are some of the exciting things he's been doing:

- Counting. He can do 1 - 5 on his own, and knows 6 - 9 too, but sometimes needs a little help with the order.
- Reading/recognizing numbers. He likes to flip through the mail and identify all the numbers he sees.
- Reading/recognizing letters. He doesn't have them all down yet, but he knows a lot of them, and he loves to point out and say the ones he knows.
- Saying "peese" when he wants something. It's New Years resolution time of year, and I've been trying to fit in some sit-ups while we play after I get home from work at night. For some reason, Charlie really likes it when I do them, and every night since, he's been pointing at the floor in the playroom and saying, "Peese, peese, peese" until I start doing sit-ups. If I ever get abs (I say as I cheat on my diet with peanut brittle and wine), he's getting the credit.
- Asking for "Aunt Kee Kee" and "Papa" every time I even open the computer. He really likes skyping!
- Picking out crayons from the box and telling me what color they are - and getting them right most of the time.
- Reciting names of his friends at school when I ask him who he saw.
- Laughing. He loves to laugh - so much that sometimes he fake laughs himself into real laughing.

His progress is amazing, and so exciting. I love watching his little mind expand day by day. When we went for his speech therapy less than a month ago, I told her he probably had 25 to 30 words he could say in the correct context. If she asked me now, I'd say at least 50. That's a lot of learning in just a few weeks!

Last weekend, we took Charlie to play time at the kiddo gym that he was signed up for last winter.  It was tough last year - he really couldn't do so many of the "exercises" that they wanted the kids to do, and kids that were smaller than he was ran circles around him. But he's made a lot of physical progress in the last year as well; he was totally different at the gym last weekend. He ran and climbed and walked on uneven surfaces and didn't show much fear at all. I was really proud of him. We go back tomorrow for the first session of this year's winter program, and I hope he'll do as well as he did last weekend.

I wish Charlie would let me follow him around with a video camera. He's still somewhat shy and sometimes moody when we're around others, so people don't get to see this funny, smart, adventurous boy we see at home. But that funny, fun personality is there, and it gets bigger and brighter all the time!