Katie and Charlie in action

Katie and Charlie have been especially cute lately, and we've captured their accomplishments and personalities in several videos included below. (If you are viewing this post via email, you will have to click on the link to view the videos on this website.)

These first videos illustrate Charlie's sunny personality - his glee setting off rockets with Sriyesh:



Click here for a video of Katie's belly laughs as a baby.

...And his joy dancing with Katie and Anne:



Click here for a video of Katie dancing as a toddler.

These next links show Charlie's first steps:



...And his early walking, once he gained some confidence:



Katie has had a number of firsts, too, including her first time sledding in the recent snowstorm:



...Her first time playing the ukelele and hula dancing on our trip to Hawaii:



...And her first time reading a book by herself! We are so proud of her!

Charlie at one year!

Charlie turned one on November 22, and we are terribly late in celebrating this milestone on our blog!

Here's what we wrote about Charlie in our holiday letter shortly after his birthday:"Charlie’s first year has gone by impossibly fast. He has a sweet, sunny personality and an easy giggle, and he brings joy to everyone he meets. 

His favorite games are peekaboo and anything Katie wants to play with him. 

Charlie is curious and adventurous, even as a crawler, so we know that walking will bring even more antics and fun. He is days or weeks away from walking, and may have hit that milestone by the time this letter hits your mailbox."

Sure enough, Charlie took his first steps on December 26, just after turning 13 months, and he started walking as his primary mode of transportation almost exactly a month later. Recently, he has looked pretty close to running!

Charlie loves playing with balls, trains and his red Fisher Price car. Recently he has started cooking in the dog bowls by pouring from a toy bottle and stirring with a kitchen spoon. He considers it his duty to collect the bowls and stack them after the dogs eat each day. Charlie adores the dogs, and since he has begun eating more table food, they adore him too. At the top of his mealtime favorites are cheese, yogurt, black beans, beef, fruit and rice, but he is eager to try whatever is on our plates. He also has quite a sweet tooth, and Katie is always wonderful about sharing a bit of her cookie or ice cream with him.

At nearly 15 months, his vocabulary has expanded to include "more" (spoken while making the sign for "more"), "book," "ball," "all done," "down," "dog," "this," "uh-oh" and "go!" He is saying more words every day, and recently he told us "more ball!"

Charlie brings so much delight to our lives -- we can't wait to see what the next 12 months will hold!

Here are a few more cute pictures of Katie from this shoot: