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.