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.

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!