Playing pretend

Charlie's latest development is playing pretend. Every once in a while, he would pretend to hold something or pick something up between his thumb and forefinger and pretend to hand it to you. However, last night, he showed us a new trick--he pretended to feed one of his little teddy bears. He held the loaded fork to the bear's mouth and then made smacking noises as the bear "ate." Then, he put the bear's face on the top of his sippy cup to give it a drink, also while making smacking noises. Dave and I were astounded! And his little smacking noises were hilarious.

Charlie's language skills continue to impress us (we're pretty easy to impress...). The pediatrician said that Charlie's language skills would explode, and he was right. The first thing I hear in the morning is Charlie naming things: window, Dexter, DeeDee, bear, rabbit, blanket, Mama, Daddy, dog, etc. And it just continues as I get him up and change his diaper: bathroom, light, diaper, eat, breakfast, kitchen, belly, etc. It's so funny to listen to him, but sometimes it's a hard transition for me to go from morning fog to clear thinking that quickly!

He's also been more responsive to TV (and, yes, we watch TV). He recognizes characters like Elmo (melmo), Cookie Monster (coocoo), Oswald, Wubbzy (wow-wow), and also says Gabba when Yo Gabba Gabba is on. We really don't watch that much TV, but we when we do, it's the same 2 or 3 shows all the time, so he gets good reinforcement...haha. He's also more responsive to things he sees on TV and names them like ball, fish, balloon, bubbles, tree, etc... And he likes watching kids and dancing along with Yo Gabba Gabba. It's too cute.

If all of that cuteness isn't enough, Charlie also likes to sing. He and Daddy sometimes listen to music on an mp3 player. Sometimes during the day, Charlie will find the earbud earphones, put them up to his ear and start "singing" along with the nonexistent music. I've also gotten him to sing with me, usually in the car on the way to go swimming. There's a "Happy Birthday" song from PBS Sprout that we sing and another song about taxis that he likes. And of course after every song, he gives a round of applause.