Technology, Aging and Bouncing

Another month is nearly at its end and, shockingly, I actually remembered to jot down email myself some of the things I want to remember about Charlotte. Do you do that to? Email yourself things you need to remember? Maybe it's just me. Anyway...

* Charlotte has a newfound love for my Kindle this month. Every morning she wakes up and asks for it. She lounges in my bed, playing Where's My Alligator, Angry Birds or one of the millions of matching games I have loaded on it until it's time for her to head downstairs.

* In keeping with her affinity for technology, she loves the phone. Well, her play phone. She has pretend conversations with people all day long. Sometimes for 10 minutes at a time. Her longest conversations are with Gramma, Chrissy or her cousins.

* We (Mark, my mom, my sister and I) take Charlotte shopping with us regularly. She prefers to go with Mark since he takes her to toy stores, whereas us girls always go to "junk stores" (aka thrift stores and Goodwill). If you ask her what she thinks of them, she'll tell you she hates them. I guess the apple doesn't fall from from the tree.

* My mom shared about a conversation she had with Charlotte a while back about wrinkles. She described that people get wrinkles as they age because their skin isn't as stretchy. That explains why she was looking at Mark one day and said, rather emphatically, "You have wrinkles on your hand, Daddy. That means you're getting old."

* Charlotte has a few chores around the house (picking up toys, sorting laundry, etc) and we added making her bed to that list not that long ago. Funny because my version of making the bed typically involves throwing the covers in the general direction of the headboard. But she's learned that you need to smooth out the blanket and put your pillow on top. She also thinks you need to jump on the bed to get out wrinkles. I can't imagine which parent (ahem, me) was part of the bouncing spree that put that thought in her head.

Make Em Laugh

My nights lately have been filled with coding and photo editing. That's right folks, I am thisclose to giving this blog a new look. But I really have no clue what I'm doing, so it's taking a while. As such, my time spent on actual posts has dropped to next to nothing. Sorry about that! Hopefully the spiffed up space will be worth the lackluster content. In the meantime, take a look at some things that have made me laugh recently:

Blowing Kisses, Bacon and Biking

The month is nearly done, so it's time again to share some funny anecdotes about my monkey.

* After Charlotte's birthday she got moved to a new class in school. Neither she nor I have learned all the kids' names yet. That didn't seem to matter when a little boy came running as I picked her up to give her a hug. She sort of halfheartedly hugged him, but then turned around and blew him a kiss. Whaaaat?!?

* Charlotte has spent her fair share of time apologizing for being naughty, sitting in timeout and missing out on treats lately. She knows the drill now whenever she's bad. So much so that the other day when I jokingly slapped Mark's hand she looked me dead in the eye and said "Did you hit Daddy?" I cowered a bit and admitted I did. She put me in the corner, made me apologize and told me that nice people don't hit. Lesson learned.

* One of my favorite games to play with Charlotte is the "let's see who can be the quietest the longest" game. You know it, right? Well she does too and normally doesn't fall for my trap. But she was pretty worn the other day after running errands so when I suggested the game she said we could also play "who can keep their eyes the closed-est and be still" game. Count me in! Her she is, all zonked out after winning the game:

* Charlotte gets haircuts at the same salon I do, every 3 to 4 months (I go more often). After the last visit she told me she wants to grow her hair long. I asked how long and she said like Rapunzel, so people could climb it. I suggested that maybe Merida from Brave was a more realistic princess to model her hair after.

* Charlotte is so wishy-washy with her marriage plans (go figure that a 4 year old isn't decided on that yet). After saying the other day she wasn't going to marry Oliver, yesterday she told Chrissy (Oliver's mom and Charlotte's nanny) that she is and they're going to have a baby named Bacon. It's like a food, she explained.

* The summer is filled with fun activities at Charlotte's school. They're already had Splash Day (another one today actually) and Bike Day, with Zumba Day, Cowboy Day, etc planned for the rest of the summer. After Bike Day, Charlotte is a cycling expert. She helped Oliver put her helmet on yesterday so he could ride around my living room and said "That's how you do it son!" Thanks to my sister for teaching her that gem!

$5 Flamingoes

I went on a bit of a spending spree this weekend. For no good reason other than I get into spurts where I barely spend at all, followed by spurts where I let loose with no abandon. This was one of those no abandon weekends. :) Most of what I snagged was practical - clearanced clothes for the kidlet, a new hair dryer, thrifted sheets. Not necessary, but certainly useful. One of my favorite purchases was of the impractical variety. Check out what $5 (plus tax) got me in the Target dollar spot:


Oh yeah. These two hot pink beauties. Please... run, don't walk, to get yourself a pair (or more). Even if your husband and/or father doesn't understand. Lord knows mine didn't. But I was so enamored with them that as soon as I got home I set out to find the perfect home for them. Let's take a look at the options:


First up, the west part of my yard. They look pretty cozy tucked in with those peonies (which badly need to be dead-headed) and primrose. Trouble is, this is in the far end of my long and narrow yard. And even though it's nearest to the back door, they're still a bit hidden. And that will not do for Chester and Norman. Yup, that's what I've named them.


So onward to bigger smaller and better substandard things. Our blueberry bushes. You can only see one in the photo, but there is a second bush off to the left of Chester. While I appreciate that these two sentinels would guard those bushes with every fiber of their plastic beings, truth be told, there's not much to guard. The bush in the photo has nothing but leaves and the one not pictured has a bumper crop of seven whole berries. I kid you not. Chester and Norman's valuable time is wasted here.


So I thought that instead of putting them to work, I'd put them in a spot where they could relax. Here they are in a shadier area of the yard, living it up amongst the creeping geranium (thanks Jacqi for identifying that!), lilies and lemon mint. And loads of grass that is in desperate need of a trim. While I'm sure they were quite at home here, something about their rosey color combined with the red of the birdhouse was making me itch. Blasted eye pollution. So on they went...


... to their permanent home, next to the shed. Perfect right? Not only do they get to cozy up to some ornamental grasses and lilies, and not only do they get to guard some grape hyacinth skeletons (yeah, I really need to do some yard work), but their bright pink plummage looks smashing with the aqua color of the shed. Success!


Besides, Chester was tired of moving and said this spot was it. And really, how can you say no to that face?

Compliments, Capris and Cauliflower

The month is nearing its end (seriously, where did it go?!) so it's time again to share some things I don't want to forget about my monkey.

* Charlotte is, generally speaking, a super sweet little girl. Just the other day she told me I make the "most yummiest food ever". Clearly she doesn't get to experience much fine cuisine if she thinks mine is great.

* In spite of that sweetness, she has started to show a little attitude as of late. If she says something to you and doesn't like the response she says, "I said..." and repeats herself, all in a tone that is eerily teenager in its disdain. With a hand on her hip and her head shaking. Help me now.

* Charlotte seems to be ready for summer. Lately she's taken to rolling her knit pants (which she wears more days that not), up above her knees. Looks like she's longing for capris. In fact, she's pretty opinionated about all her clothes and doesn't want help picking them out or putting them on. She wants to get dressed by herself most of the time.

* Mark has always appreciated Charlotte's love of Legos and Star Wars. Now he can add superheroes to that list. She loves to dress like the Incredible Hulk, Captain America or Iron Man as often as possible. And she's got a Thor hammer that she swings around everywhere.

* I don't think I've ever pointed out before how much Charlotte loves vegetables. I mean, fruit is a given for most kids, but her love of veggies is weird. She'll eat just about anything but carrots, celery, cauliflower and zucchini are her favorites. As long as they're raw. She doesn't care for cooked veggies very much.

Singing, Negotiating & Bribing

I love these posts about all the quirky things Charlotte does, but have to admit that sometimes it takes a lot of pondering to come up with enough to warrant a whole post. Not because she doesn't do funny things all the time... she does, but because I have a horrible memory. I've got to get in the habit of writing them down throughout the month. Nevertheless, here you go:

* Since Charlotte's been in school she's learned tons of new songs. Everything from 'Baby Shark' to 'Herman the Worm' to the 'We Are Thankful' song. I think that last one is my favorite. I couldn't find it online anywhere, but it's a song they sing before eating lunch and is to the tune of 'Frere Jacques'. We sing it a lot after prayers, before eating.

* Charlotte thinks every new thing she gets, whether exciting or not, is a surprise. She makes a big deal about holding it behind her back, tiptoeing up to whoever is near, and pulling it out with a big flourish. Love that she's so excited about everything!

* Speaking of surprises, my mom told Charlotte she had a surprise for her and asked if she could guess what it was. Her first guess - an eraser (for her chalkboard). Her second guess - a big car. Quite the range of interests this kid has. Good thing, since the surprise was a Barbie.

* I regularly warn Charlotte as we approach bedtime to try to avoid a big meltdown. Recently I told her she had 5 minutes until bed. She replied, "How bout 5 minutes, I mean 4 minutes." Then she paused, concentrated real hard, and said, "How bout 9 minutes?" We agreed on seven.

* Not only can Charlotte negotiate, but she's taking bribes too. I wanted some new pictures of her and told her she could play with sidewalk chalk if she cooperated. She did a pretty good job (see below). I can't wait to see what happens when I bring out the bubbles and the sprinkler. Ah spring, a wealth of new bribing options.

Five Little Ducks

Mark's been out of town for work and even though the trip was short, Charlotte and I have missed him. We decided to make him a little video of the song Charlotte sang in school yesterday and I thought you might like to see it too.




And because you should know how this little video shoot went for the first few tries, an outtake:




P.S. The winners of March Madness have been posted. Were they your favorites?

Looking Amazing, Mermaids & No Pictures!

Eeesh, it's March 1st and I'm just now getting around to sharing some of the funny things Charlotte's done lately. Even with an extra day last month I couldn't get it in in time. Ah well... just means this month will be super great since you'll get another anecdote post before the month's end. Lucky you!

* We have a floor length mirror on the landing near our bedrooms and Charlotte often carries on conversations with "Other Charlotte" in the mirror. The other day I overheard her telling her reflection, "You look amazing!"

* While in the car one day (some of our best conversations are in the car!!) we were discussing that when people get married they move in together. I asked if she was going to marry Oliver and where they'd live. She replied in an exasperated tone, "Momma, I'm just a kid." This from the girl who is looking forward to marrying him so they can kiss... on the lips.

* We were watching the Oscars with my family and Charlotte and Penelope were both up waaaay past their bedtimes. And their attitudes reflected that. At one point, one of them took something from the other and got a scream in response. The thief screamed back. Then they both burst into tears. I can't even describe how wholly pathetic and wholly hilarious it was all at the same time.

* Charlotte was about 45 minutes into her bath (those are entire evening long events around here) when she said, "I don't have running or walking power, just swimming power. I'm a mermaid."

* Miss Chuckles will be starting preschool (daycare really - our effort to get her used to interacting with kids her age before real schooling starts) soon and is most excited about learning her letters. And the playground. She won't stop talking about both those two things. Hopefully they live up to her expectations!

* I'd thought our Disney trip was the start of Charlotte's "No pictures!" rampage, until I found a whole series of photos that look like the one below from back in January. Here's hoping that phase ends soon. I'm tired of her hands being in her face in half my photos.

Quotables

Okay, okay. I couldn't resist sharing some of those funny things Charlotte's said that I mentioned yesterday. Thanks to Christine for the awesome notebook full of quotes, along with a couple I heard firsthand just last night.

* "Oliver looks like a partner," she said after noticing Oliver's cowboy hat.

* "My mom call me monkey and baby... all the time," she sighed. (A note from me: This is totally true.)

* "Oliver is little. Charlotte is big. Chrissy is giant big."

* Charlotte said, "My friend God make pretty flowers," to which Chrissy questioned, "Your friend God makes pretty flowers?" She answered, "for me."

* "They're like wings. They can flap," Charlotte said as she folded down Oliver's ears.

* Mark called while on his way back from the store with Charlotte and said, "Someone said they want to go to the chicken nugget store." Charlotte piped in in the background, "It was me. Charlotte."

* Charlotte has watched a lot of Strawberry Shortcake recently, which explains this gem: "I'm Baby Strawberry. You're Momma Strawberry. Daddy is Daddy Strawberry. Chrissy is Sister Strawberry. Oliver is Brother Strawberry. Gina is Cucumber."

Charlotte and Regina. With a hilarious photobomb from Joe. :)

Merry Christmas?!

Yes, I know that it's been over a month since Christmas, but my friends and I just got around to celebrating. Procrastinators (nearly) the whole lot of us. Waaaay back in October we drew names and agreed that our presents could have elements that were purchased, but had to mainly be homemade. Some of us thought up gifts easily, while others had to really get creative. Here are some of my favorites. And by that I mean the ones I had the best photos of.


My sister and I drew our friend Kate and her boyfriend Darryl. They have a long-running feud about which is better - a pirate or a ninja. We figured we'd help them find out and created a cookie battle box, complete with cookie dough, frosting and pirate and ninja cookie cutters.


Mandy received a gift that had me literally laughing out loud. If you lived through the 80s/90s you'll remember the game MASH. Kristin made Mandy her own version, in which she's married to Henry Cavill, planning Disney World trips as a career and living in Phoenix (where there's no humidity to mess with her hair). So hilarious! And Regina exacto-knifed out a silhouette of our group that, when backlit, will be a great addition to Christian's home. I wish I'd been able to snag a photo of just how cool it was lit up!


Joe's gift was definitely my favorite of the night! Kate painted pegs into Star Wars characters and grouped them around a stable to create a Star Wars nativity, complete with Yoda as baby Jesus. Now, don't think us heathens - we actually all know each other from church. But scratch that, my favorite gift of the night was actually my own. Christine, who watches Charlotte during the day, gathered together a list of funny things she's said and started a notebook for me. So prepare yourselves, because Charlotte anecdote posts are about to get longer!

Christine was also nice enough to put together a little gift for Charlotte, so she wouldn't feel left out. She turned some photos of Charlotte and Oliver to black & white and then washed them out, printed them and had them bound, to make a coloring book for Miss C. Chuckles added some color to them immediately after waking up the next morning!!


So now I look forward to our next group party. We may have other big get togethers between now and then, but for now I'm looking forward to our trip to NYC to see Newsies on Broadway in May. Can't wait!

Eating, Reading and Kissing

I bet you thought I'd let the month get away from me before I posted any anecdotes about Charlotte. Well, I nearly did. Thank goodness I happened across a photo that was too cute not to show off and it prompted me to share these gems:

* We've been lucky that Charlotte has always been a pretty good eater. She tends to prefer items separated as opposed to mixed in a casserole type dish, but otherwise has no real food aversions. Her newest favorites are a little odd for a three year old though: celery and canned tuna fish. She regularly requests chicken and celery sandwiches (aka tuna salad) and will help herself to stalks of celery from the fridge. What a weirdo!

* Generally speaking Charlotte is pretty well-behaved. Put her and Penelope together though and those girls are crazy. Frenemies to the core. I'm pretty sure Charlotte has stood in the corner for fighting, not sharing, yelling, etc more in the past month than she has her whole life.

* She and Penelope agree on one thing though. They looooove pink. Charlotte's favorite color had been blue, but she'll tell you matter of factly, "I changed my mind. I like pink now."

* Charlotte wasn't really interested in books as an infant, but loves reading stories now, especially if they involve characters she knows (ie. Disney princesses). At bedtime I read a few to her before leaving her to "read" them to her stuffed animals. Usually as she gets tired she puts the book away and settles in, but on this particular night, she fell off to sleep mid-story.


* Month after month I share about how much Charlotte loves her cousin Elijah and her friend Oliver. On any given day she can describe her plans to marry one or both of them. The other day though, she said she and Oliver would be getting married and after the wedding they would kiss. On the lips. Lord help me...

Dolly, No Sir and Hooing

* Charlotte has several baby dolls. Besides her "Daughter Katie" (no idea why it has my name, or why it's her daughter), her favorite is "Dolly". Dolly is a boy. Don't make the mistake of thinking otherwise.

* Charlotte got her first pair of scissors this past month and we broke them in by cutting loads and loads of paper snowflakes (we use coffee filters). She'd cut some new ones every day if we let her! Check back tomorrow to see the results of our work.


* The terrible twos were pretty uneventful around here, but it seems Miss Chuckles is making up for it this month. My sister and my dad both witnessed some pretty epic meltdowns. There was much screaming, crying and thrashing about. It's hard to take her seriously though, when in the midst of her anger she's saying things like, "No sir!" and "I don't like you. I don't like the shushing. I don't like Aunt Mandy talking. I don't like stuff..."

* Charlotte is pretty amped up for Santa. She's been pointing out things she'd like to get for Christmas, singing Christmas carols and watching Christmas movies. My favorite is when we drive past a house with lights that is particularly lovely and she gasps and says, "Oh, it's nearly Christmas day!"

* Speaking of Santa, Charlotte is very aware of the naughty and nice lists. She seems a bit confused about what warrants being on the naughty list though. Not long after one of her epic meltdowns she told us that Oliver was on the naughty list because he sometimes is grumpy and cries. She assured us that she was on the nice list though. Not quite sure how that works.

* I might be a little partial, but I think Charlotte is super cute in her owl hat and matching mittens. I love that she feels the need to hoo every time she wears them.

Barbie Sauce, Here Snipe and Superfast Buttons

The month almost got away from me before I got Charlotte anecdotes posted. That would have been a shame! So, for your reading pleasure...

* It's no secret that Charlotte looooves her cousin Elijah. A few weeks ago she wanted to talk to him on the phone and proceeded to blabber on and on for about 5 minutes straight. I'm not kidding when I say there was hand motioning and hair twirling involved. It's almost like she's a teenager.

* Like every kid in America, Chuckles loves chicken nuggets and french fries. Her preference is to eat them with grape jelly and barbie (BBQ) sauce respectively. The girl is known to use two grape jelly packets for a four piece nugget. Ick.

* Charlotte is getting more and more into her hair. She likes to wear it curly (down), in Abby Cadabby pigtails, or like "Picture Katie" (ponytail and headband).

* Mark and I took Charlotte to visit my Grandpa while he was in the hospital. At one point she very discretely said, "It smells different in here. Like a doctor's office." Quite the opposite of when my sister and I were kids and visited our great grandmother in a nursing home. Mandy very loudly proclaimed, "It stinks in here!"

* Charlotte has taken to repeating movie lines every now and then. On Saturday we watched Up, and while walking around in the backyard later I could hear her saying, "Here Snipe. Here, Snipey, Snipey, Snipey."

* Speaking of movies, our family plans to head to Walt Disney World in February and my parents and sister will be taking a side trip to the Harry Potter park over at Universal. Charlotte said she didn't want to go there because of the weird, white-faced guy (Voldemort). Note to self: don't allow your three year old to see snippets of movies that aren't age appropriate, because they remember everything.

* Mark and I get regular requests while driving to hit the superfast button. Charlotte loves to hear the roar of the engine. Not sure why. Luckily you don't actually have to be going superfast to get that noise every now and then.

From My Mind

Just some random things that aren't deserving of their own post, but I figured I'd lump together and share. Ah heck, they're not that great together either, but here you go anyway:

* Sometimes it sounds like it's raining in my office when really it's just a bunch of people typing away on their keyboards all at once. That's the reality of working in a cube farm.

* I told my sister the other day that I'm extremely lazy when it comes to snacking. I don't like to have to work at all to get a snack, so if it requires slicing, heating, etc, I'm likely to just grab something that's ready to go, but not as yummy, or not eat at all. She was dumbstruck.

* I'm exceedingly proud of the fact that I have an awesome child, who is cooler and funnier than any kid I know. I know other parents say that about their kids too, but they're wrong.

* I think that Toyota Prius Family commercial that has been running nonstop is beyond creepy. What about a person made of a bunch of other people twisted together made those advertising execs think this spot was a good idea?

* Charlotte's bathtime if one of my favorite times of the day. I love sitting in the hallway reading or surfing the web while listening to her play with her Disney princess toys in the tub. She makes up some of the craziest stories for them, usually involving one being trapped inside a plastic cup!

* I have a new obsession - Frosted Mini Wheats Little Bites. Have you tried them? No? You're missing out.

* This little video makes me super happy. So glad they came out with a second one!

Luke, Irene and a Hero

* Hopefully this little Charlotte-ism will be gone soon given yesterday's post, but it's something I wanted to remember --- Charlotte really doesn't like her diaper to touch her belly button. She's got an in-betweenie (I don't think it's really an innie, but it's definitely not an outie) and it's obviously sensitive. But only to her diaper. Pants and shirts don't bother it at all.

* Mark really enjoys that Charlotte has a love for Star Wars. We recently got a few Star Wars figures for her and Oliver to play with and Aunt Mandy taught Charlotte how to do the "Luke, I am your father", "Noooooo!" bit of dialogue. She does it with real gusto!

* Bedtime is getting more and more interesting around here, what with all the toys that Charlotte insists must come to bed her. The other day she needed her baby pony, a doll cradle, a blanket for the pony, a bottle for the pony and a banana for the pony. I put my foot down at the banana.

* While we were without power after Hurricane Irene we slept with our windows open. I never realized our yard was quite so busy, with bugs and frogs making all sorts of noises. I tried to tell Charlotte that the chirping she heard was the bugs snoring, but she wasn't having it. She explained that bugs don't chirp, birds do.

* While I was making dinner on Monday Charlotte proclaimed that she wanted to be a saver. Mark and I didn't really know what she meant, so we had to dig a little deeper --- Do you want to be a doctor? A firefighter? She said no. She wants to be a hero. More power to her.

* Charlotte is finally starting to cooperate when I try to take photos of her. The other day she ran from spot to spot saying tada and posing for a split second. I don't like that I chopped her arm off in this one, but her smile is so darn cute:

By Request

So much for thinking overtime was done. Amanda (my sister) and I are back to working 12 hour days. Today will be our 9th in a row. We have 5 more to go, followed by 5 regular days after that. Yup, that'll be 19 days of work in row, 14 of them being 12 hours each. That's over 200 hours of work before we'll get our first day off. Ahh, the glamorous life of an insurance claims adjuster. Needless to say our entire office is getting a little stir crazy, and we're majorly craving anything to do that isn't an insurance claim. Enter cute videos of Charlotte. After last week's post, I got multiple requests from coworkers for more. Not that we'd ever watch them at work - that'd be against the rules. ;)

First up, Chuckles shows off the costume that Mark just bought for her at Target. It won't make the cut for Halloween, but will go in her dress-up bag. She picked it out because she loved the necklace.




And here's a quick clip showing her feet talking to each other. They usually have calmer conversations (one is usually scolding the other, actually, saying "no, that's my sock"), but she was excited about the camera and so they got a little louder than normal.




Yeah. She's a weird kid. I love her to pieces.

Medicine, Monsters & Marriage

It hasn't been long since I last checked in as I was late in sharing Charlotte anecdotes for last month, but I'm back to tell you some more:

* Charlotte is generally a pretty good eater, but sometimes it takes some convincing (coughcoughbribingcough) to get her to try everything on her plate. Lately all you have to do is remind her that food will help her grow, because she's very keen on "growing big like daddy". She even holds her hands near her waist and motions upward to make sure everyone around her understands that she'll be growing taller.

* Charlotte and I both had strep throat this month and had to take antibiotics as a result. Apparantly watermelon is not Charlotte's favorite flavor, and we had to fight to get her to take it. Twice a day. For 10 days. Ugh. The pain reliever was a different story altogether. She loved the blue raspberry flavor and long after she needed it she was asking for more medicine, adding in a fake cough to let you know she was serious about her request.

* When Mark gets home from work each day he gets Charlotte a mini freezer pop. No real reason why, other than that it's their thing. She also begs for ice cream, lollipops, or cookies almost every day. That girl has such a sweet tooth!


* The monster stage has officially started. Charlotte mentions monsters every night as we go to bed. For now, we just tell her that the monster mommy told the monster babies to go to bed too, so they won't be bothering her. I'm not sure what we'll do when that little trick stops working.

* Charlotte has been really clingy (to me) as of late. She wants to be carried everywhere and while I'm happy to oblige much of the time, I feel the need to force her to act her age every now and then. I tell her she's a big girl and she can walk. I get one of two responses. A whining, "I caaaaaaaan't walk." Or a whining, "I'm not a big girl. I'm a tiny, little girl."

* Since my cousin's wedding Charlotte regularly asks to go to another princess and prince (aka bride and groom) party. She wants to dance. And just the other day she said she wanted to marry Elijah (her cousin). Amongst other things, I asked what she'd wear at their wedding. She pulled out her dress up clothes and said she'd be wearing her blue dress (third photo down in this post) and Elijah would wear this. Hmmm...

Fireworks, Rita's and More Fireworks

This was supposed to be posted last week, but my old laptop decided to up and die on me. So I'm a little late, but here's some funny Charlotte stuff I've noticed lately:

* It seems that Charlotte has to get her nails trimmed all the time. I can't remember a nail-cutting session in recent history where she didn't tell me that her pinkies don't like to be cut. I always have to try to trim them while she's not looking.

* During short car rides the stereo is usually off. We drive along and regularly hear C singing in the background. Many times it's just a garbled up mess, but occasionally you'll catch a snippet of an actual song. "I a poor boy. No one loves me." = Bohemian Rhapsody. "Fireworks. Oh. Oh. Oh." = Fireworks. "Young girl. Outta mind." = Don't Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl mashup.

* It seems tons of kids go through this phase, and Charlotte is no exception. Lately anything you say to her gets repeated back to you, as a question. Thankfully we seem to be getting past this. Although maybe we should keep it up so she can go on toddler Jeopardy.

* We have to be careful when telling Charlotte that she can have a treat because in her mind a treat means Rita's. Don't make the mistake of calling cookies, ice cream or any other such nonsense a treat. It won't fly in our house.

* Back on July 2 our neighborhood set off fireworks that we could see out our bay window. Charlotte was excited to watch them, especially since she knew we'd be seeing more fireworks soon. When we headed to bed we said our normal prayer and then I asked her what else she wanted to thank God for. She said, "Fireworks. More fireworks. Gramma. Joe Dad (that's her babysitter's husband). Uncle Andy. And fireworks."

* Charlotte has been rocking a crazy mess of curls for a long time and it seems like they're here to stay. She has a favorite curl (on her left side, near the nape of her neck) she she pulls and twirls on her finger. Super cute!


Normally I'd have included a photo of Charlotte, being that this post is all about her. But I didn't have any handy (new laptop, remember) and Caleb is super cute. Besides, that's Chuckles in the pink shirt with the chippy nail polish.

Underwear, Ponytails, Yes & No

We're nearing the end of the month, so I'm back to share some of the small, funny things I want to remember about Miss Chuckles. Here we go:

* We've not yet been successful with potty training. Slowly but surely Charlotte is warming up to the idea of wearing underwear instead of diapers. We know this because she likes to randomly ask people to show them her underwear. Luckily my friends are all aware of our potty training endeavor, otherwise things would be very awkward.

* Charlotte is quite the rocker and really likes our Rock Band game. Occasionally she'll pick up the guitar or the drum sticks, but more often than not she's the singer. She likes to stand on a stool and sing with the mike on the microphone stand. Good thing, cause no one else in this house can carry a tune!

* The past few months have been fun for me because Charlotte has finally been willing to wear her hair in different ways. We'll do pigtails, french braids and barettes, but my favorite, for the summer at least, has to be when her curls are pulled up into a high ponytail. So cute!

* With Brenda here we've been doing a lot of shopping. On one excursion Charlotte spied a toy and a shirt that she wanted to get for Oliver. She was such a big girl and took it to the counter and paid for it herself. When she got up the next morning the first thing she did was run over to grab the bag so she could give him his gifts. Love that she loves him so much!

* While we lived at my parents' house for a few months, Charlotte got into the habit of having coffee (milk with a tiny bit of coffee in it) with Grandpa in the morning. She occasionally asks for it when we visit now. The other day she made him go into his room, get his robe, put it on and tie the belt around his waist. Then she said, "Ok, coffee." Funny that on that particular day he needed to be wearing his robe to get her the coffee.

* Charlotte loves playing the yes-no game in the car. She'll say yes, then I'll say no. Then back and forth again until I finally switch it up and say yes. She pauses for a second to think, but almost always catches the change and adjusts what she says. We go back and forth like this for entire car rides, until Mark can't take it anymore!

And So It Begins...

Friday is normally when I post a quote that has struck me during the week. This week was going to be the same, but then something devastating happened. Before I divulge, let me give you the back story.

Kate was at my house last Thursday. Nothing out of the norm about that, as she and the rest of my core group of friends meet together every Thursday to gab, eat and watch tv. The schedule has remained this way for several years. But this past Thursday Kate exited the bathroom and said she thought she'd seen a white hair on her head and could I look for it and pull it out. Cause, you know, that's what friends do. I looked and looked, but never found one. She was pleased because she'd found several in the past and wasn't looking forward to more.

I can sympathize with that. I can't empathize, because in all my 29+ years I've never found a white (or grey for that matter) hair. But I certainly can sympathize with the depression that must set in when you find that first scraggly intruder.

You can tell where this is going, right? Sure enough, exactly one week later, as I'm prepping for my friends to come over for our weekly get-together, I look in the mirror and see a glint of stray color in my brown hair. I look a little closer, angling my head this way and that way, and yank out a white hair. So I'm sure you can understand that my happy, upbeat, quote of the day had to be shoved to the side. There's no room for cheeriness when my life (or at least my hair) has begun to spiral out of control. Woe is me.



P.S. I'm kidding, of course. The white hair is really no big deal. Just funny timing.

P.P.S. Today is the tenth of the month, which means you'll get another post from me sometime this weekend with my Ten on Ten.


Photo Credit: Sabrina Eras' flickr