"I've wanted one of these my whole life!"

 Charlotte's catchphrase this Christmas was, "I've wanted one of these my whole life!" followed closely by "This is the best [whatever] of my whole life!"  Those are both kind of from Polar Express - at one point The Boy pulls the train's whistle and say, "I've wanted to do that my whole life!" and at another point Billy says, "I've wanted one of these my whole life!"  Charlotte clearly understood the concept, and re-iterated it frequently, and to the amusement of all her adult relatives.

Things that Charlotte (apparently) wanted her whole life:
Lite Sprites
a tea set
a tea shirt with a penguin on it
a tricycle
a coloring book
a Squinkies dispenser

This was the year that Charlotte got wowed by toys, bikes, and all the STUFF about Christmas.  She wasn't outright mercenary, but she totally understood the present side of Christmas for the first time ever.  And since she wasn't bratty about it, it was actually pretty fun to indulge her, and just watch her lose her tiny mind over all the toys she got.  The big present, in every way, was the tricycle from Santa.  It was a Big Deal for her mom and dad, and it's awesome how much she loves it.  Charlotte is great at riding it, and I took a bunch of videos I'll have to upload.  It's been a long road to get to bike riding, and I'm so proud & psyched that she can do it.  At physical therapy a year ago we really realized just how behind she was on some of the big physical stuff, and riding a trike was so hard for her that she couldn't even go 20 feet without stopping.  Fast forward to this week, and Charlotte is pedaling all around the apartment complex.  It's terrific.  Part of it is the tricycle design, part of it is her age, and part of it is the hard work we've all been doing with her big muscle needs in mind. 

Watching my kid ride her tricycle around and around, all I can think is, "I've wanted this my whole life."

Twas the Night Before Preschool...

preschool supplies - tiny buddy from home, extra clothes, a million papers, snack money

Charlotte and I were talking at bedtime, and she said she's a little scared about starting preschool tomorrow.  "Why?" I asked.  "What are you scared about?"

"Well," she said.  "I'm scared that what if I am dressing up and I dress up like a scary monster and all the kids run away and I'm a scary pirate and I say 'Argh!' and all the kids hide?"

"You could try not dressing up like a scary monster.  Like, maybe try to think if what you are going to do or say might be scary to kids, so then don't do it," I suggested unhelpfully.

"What if I go to the dress up clothes and put on a scary bear costume and growl at kids?  And then they all run away and get in their cars and go home and then the teacher comes and it's just one kid, and I push back my bear hood and she says, 'Where is my class? Where are all the kids?' and I just say, 'I don't know?'"

Ummm.....I think someone is a little nervous about making friends tomorrow.

Cheap and Easy post. 2011 so far.

Various Charlotte stories from Facebook and Twitter.  (Re-runs, basically.)  Right now Charlotte is doing a rather fascinating and disturbing play - stabbing Yoda with a stick and saying that she's "checking his froat."  I swear I have never stuck her with sticks in the interest of science.


* C is playing "violin" by holding a pillow under her chin and sawing a drumstick back and forth. she's also dancing, which is prob dangerous.











* c says "look at my art!"

 

* Additional Charlotte note: Apparently she can read now and is keeping it secret. We were talking about recycling and she was saying that big girls recycle at the "likwer store." I said, "Yes, they do have recycling at the liquor store." and she said, "No, Mama, the LIKWER store." (She & Matt went to Liquors 44 last night in search of cider, and I guess that reminded her of the bottle return there.)

* Charlotte just said, "When you see it upside down, it's the letter W. When you see it upside up, it's the letter M." Nice work, kid.

*   I asked C what her fave part of the day was & she said "Watching Roger [Everyday Exotic with Roger Mooking]. And playing with Auntie Acole." But Roger came 1st. 


* Okay, Charlotte watches to much Cooking Channel. At dinner tonight she was watching herself in the mirror and saying, "Okay, now we get the liquid from the peas. And then we make celery sandwiches..." - couscous piled on yogurt on top of cucumber slices - "...and we pat it down gently, like this. Gently."

* Two visits in two days, this is the craziest my social life has been in a LONG time. Firehouse crew over last night for dinner & hanging out, Aunt Jen & Uncle John today, yay!!! Charlotte can't wait. "Auntie Jen & Uncle John are coming to see ME. And we should make them scrambled eggs."

* I have this theory that every fabric-bodied baby doll with a plastic head & limbs ends up naked, with one lazy eye & blue ballpoint pen on their head. Bitty Baby, Charlotte's new baby, has been naked for 2 days and has white paint on his head from being wedged between her bed and wall every night. He's well on his way.

* Charlotte just told me, "We're busy, you can leave us alone." She's reading a dinosaur book to Matt while sitting on the toilet. I just wanted to ask him a question, sheesh.

* From the you-can't-make-this-up file: as Charlotte was painting, she frequently told me, "I'm feeling blue." She was both sniffling & using the color blue so I have no idea what she meant.

* I'm not totally paying attention to Charlotte's running dialogue, but this line just jumped out at me..."Even Tigger knows this is crazy!"