Friday, July 15, 2011

Drama-rama

Miss Drama is off at her grandparents for the weekend, but I'd like to note this from the other day.  One of the things our very wordy daughter does is to make up stories almost constantly, and narrate herself.  Some of it is cooking show type stuff when she's playing in the kitchen.  "And now you add the carrots and the ginger.  Smell that ginger!"  And some of it is trying to talk her way out of something.  "I was just blowing bubbles in my milk.  Boys and girls like to blow bubbles in their milk."  The other night was particularly hilarious.  Well, the overall situation was not hilarious; Charlotte was pushing every single button she knows how to push with her Daddy, and that is saying a lot.  Stubbornly refusing to listen or clean up, she ended up getting all sorts of things taken away - no stories at bed time, no extra toys in bed, no outside play time.  When it was finally bed time and her room was clean, Matt rocked her in the rocking chair for a few minutes, and she narrated the whole thing to herself, out loud.

"And tears were rolling down her cheeks....because she would never have her toys, ever again."

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Daddy gets in a Quote of the Day

I knew Matt & Charlotte hadn't left to go to the grocery store yet, but it was so quiet that I couldn't imagine what they were doing.  I tracked them to Charlotte's room, where Matt was sitting in the rocking chair and Charlotte was on the footstool, and he was trying to braid her hair.  I stifled a giggle, and ducked out of sight.

"What are you laughing at?" called Matt.

"Nothing.  Well, the look on your face while you're braiding her hair - overwhelmed, but kinda determined."

"That?" said Matt.  "That's a 'Parent Face.'"

Friday, July 8, 2011

When you are almost 4 years old, carnivorous dinosaurs don't eat other dinosaurs. Oh no indeed. They eat from "meat patches" that turn up on the ground.

A few more pictures from June.

Sometimes Charlotte still naps.
But not without creating catastrophe first.

A Cars tableau.  Complete with Lightning McQueen in the top bunk.

Charlotte's nursery.

The Girlie-fication of my daughter

art

C wearing her "friendship necklace" from J & B

Packed for Grammy's.  All those bags are full of blocks.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Midsummer Update

Charlotte facts:

In an effort to sound authoritative, she sometimes says, "Boys & girls need X," or "Boys and girls want more Y."
 
She tells Matt, "cut it out" when he sings along with things.
 
She has an invisible imaginary herd of "brothers & sisters"
 
She cries when it's time to leave the pool.
 
She can spell STOP and GO with her alphabet magnets
 
She is *so* into the hobbit right now.
 
Every time we go to the library we get a book on the ocean/seashore/shells/creatures
 
She loves books on tape, we think she's trying to teach herself how to read
 
Finally started playing with "babies"
 
Can (mostly) get herself dressed & put on her velcro shoes. (Matt got her the right socks, ankle socks, instead of her regular Old Navy & Carters crew socks.)
 

Copied from my Facebook status:
 
6/28 - Things that happened today: I made a tutu for a barbie and my kid pirouetted to Tchaikovsky.
 
6/28 - ...and we just had our first instance of barbie alteration. I caught Charlotte coloring Barbie's hair with a marker. She's in trouble because we only color on paper, but I can't fault her argument. "I didn't want her hair to be golden like Rapunzel anymore. I wanted it to be red or purple."
 
6/26 - I heard Charlotte's door open this morning and went over and said, "Good morning, baby, how are you?" 

The first words out of Charlotte's mouth this morning were, "You speak very well."
 
6/26 - Charlotte, on watching a tiny bit of a football movie - "Football is like Angry Birds. They crash into people like Angry Birds. And pigs. And they are mad."
 
 
6/25 - Nice morning running errands together, along with an imaginary, invisible Rapunzel. At one point, Charlotte was trying to hold my hand, hang on to her teddy bear, and hold Rapunzel's hand, too. I pointed out that Rapunzel is 18 years old and capable of crossing a parking lot by herself.
 
6/21 - Charlotte is greatly enjoying Flock of Seagulls "I Ran (So Far Away or Whatver The Hell My Title Is You All Know Which One I Mean)." It has spurred a request for "rock and roll that makes my hair shake." Nice.
 
6/20 - Today's too ambitious for Monday project: Charlotte is making a spider web with Elmer's Glue & yarn
 
6/19 - About to take Charlotte on a firefly hunt! In the car - there are no good fields within walking distance & a sidewalk. (Also, I don't think she has any more room on her wee little body for mosquito bites.)
 
6/14 - Charlotte keeps saying, "I need to get to Paris!" She's also already packed for a weekend at Grammy's - 4 tote bags of blocks and a purse full of woodland creatures. I wonder if she's confused...
 
6/13 - Charlotte wants a CD player that plays records. She just showed me a catalog with the "vintage" Fisher Price record players, and pointed to it. "I want the CD player that plays those CDs, like Lilo."
 
6/13 - Charlotte is *very* into wearing dresses lately. It's not a girlie thing - it's a "no pants" thing. She finally realized there's a workaround.