Saturday

 So perfect.. and then here's a reality check. HA!

My Changing Girl

My Changing Girl


Dear Charlotte,

I have officially stopped calling you “Baby Charlotte”, since you act like a big girl in so many ways I really don’t think of you as a baby anymore. You are my sweet big girl.

My absolute favorite thing about you is your front teeth. You have this little gap in between your two front teeth and it is SO CUTE!! Grandma Hatch told me a while ago that she had one when she was little, and I had one too. It’s just one of those things that proves you are mine, that you are a part of me. You are the latest and greatest of the gap tooth girls, my Charlie Horse. My Lovebug.

YOU also have your first freckle. It’s true. It’s on your rear left shoulder. Spotted it in the tub the other night.

So. Some Charlotte stories.

You are beginning (just beginning, the transformation is not complete) to be interested in dress up. I have noticed that when you put on play shoes or someone elses’ shoes, you imitate Ruby and dance around “dahhhhh dah dahhhhh” waving your royal arms and singing. I think it’s more imitative than imaginative, but it is cute. This morning, you put on a St Patrick’s Day necklace and a bracelet from the dress up trunk, went over to Grandpa and said “Pitty.” You are, baby. So pretty. You also say “thank you!” when I put in a hairband.

You are starting your “mine” phase. I have heard you say it a few times.

Last but not least, when you are bad and you know I am angry with you about it, I will scold you and you will put your hands together, purse your lips, and very seriously say “Yes Mam”. If I continue to scold you, (daddy calls this machine gunning, which I apparently do when I’m upset), you sweetly continue to say “Yes Mam”.

Another funny Charlotte story! We went to our old babysitter, Deanna’s house, for her graduation party and the theme for her baby’s room is Pooh Bear, so there were bears everywhere. You loved it! You kept saying “Bayyy!’ and kissing the chairs and toys.

A Picking and a Grinning

Charlie Horse Meets Charlie, the Horse

How perfect was it that the horse was named Charlie?  You were so sweet with the horse.  When you got up next to him, you kissed his muzzle.  It was so sweet.

random

Birthday Party

My Little Thinker

Dearest Charlotte, My Sweetest Little Lovebug,

There are so many times when we are out or I am busy with you three kids that you do something that makes me stop in my tracks and smile, thinking to myself "Gosh, I need to put that in her letters, because it is precious, or a fleeting moment that I know will soon pass (too soon!), or something that shows somethign new, something learned, or something unique.

When I write all of your letters, a part of me is talking to your future self, the self that will some day sit down and read for themselves the way you used to be when you were so very small.

I just want to capture the moment and have a place to hold it and keep it forever.

So.  That being said.

You had one of these moments on Thursday evening.  We were waiting for Ruby to get out of her ballet/tap class.  We take you with us and one thing you do that is suuper cute is that you sit with all the other girls, waiting for the class to start, trying to hide so we don't take you out because YOU WANT TO BE IN THE CLASS TOO!  Unfortunately, little love, the youngest class starts at age 2 and a half, of which you are nearly a year out.  So, you, daddy and I wait it out at Sideline Cafe.  Is IS a bar, but they are very nice to us there, and we sip our tea or milk or water and munch on celery sticks while we wait for your sister.

So we were there on Thursday and you kept throwing the menu plaque on the floor.  Over and over you thrw it on the floor, clearly bored.  Daddy told you to say "you're sorry" and go to time out.  So usually when you say you're sorry, you say it and then go give a hug to the person you hurt.  Well when you threw it this time and daddy said to tell it you're sorry, you started laying on the floor.  I went to grab you to get you off the dirty floor but daddy stopped me and smiled.  'She's telling it she's sorry.." he explained.  It clicked in my mind what you were doing and I just watched you try to "hug" the menu on the floor and tell it you were sorry.

I love to watch you think.  While other children are laughing and waving, trying to get attention, you are not usually desperate for attention.  You... are figuring it out.  Looking at the mechanism of action.  After a while, after you have studied it and have an idea of how it works, you can start to enjoy it.  I noticed this at Busch Gardens the other day.  You get on the ride and you look at it.  You pull the seatbelt, you push the bar, you examine the locks.  You look around at the other riders.  As the ride starts, you get very serious.  Holding on for dear life, you make sure you are still secure.  After a few rides, you are more comfortable and begin to have fun.

My Little Thinker.