Charlotte Ann is 2.5!!

Charlotte Annie turned 2.5 years old today!!

She literally rolled her eyes when I asked her for a picture to celebrate her being 2.5 years old today!  

She makes quite the entrance like she did when she greeted me on campus the other night.  On Wednesdays this semester, Adam has a class that starts at 4:30pm while my last class ends at 4:15pm.  Since we don't have childcare for that small gap in time, he brings her to campus where he transfers her to me as my class wraps up for the evening.  This past week, she literally hopped into the classroom proclaiming, "Charlotte jumping!  Charlotte jumping!  Charlotte jumping!" much to the smiles and amusement of the college students getting released from my class.  She loves to perform and sing but, at times, does grow shy if others beside her Mom and Dad are watching her.  She also likes to tell us about every move she makes such as, "Whoa!!" or "Charlotte falling!" if she feels as if she's going to lose her balance.

Her favorite things right now are Daddy's cell phone so she can look at pictures from this past summer, a TV show about a girl and her horse called, "Spirit", and playing with her friends.  She regularly asks for her cousins, the children from the babysitter's home, and her friend, Robbie.  

She still loves taking car rides and goes nearly everywhere with me.  Recently, we have been enjoying excursions to Pittsburgh together as we deliver donated milk to Baby Toby who was adopted by some friends.  She often calls her baby dolls, "Baby Toby" and proclaims that she needs to go get his milk and bring it to him.  Even with being able to spin, jump, walk, and run, she continues to enjoy crawling into small spaces and hiding in the kitchen pantry from time to time.  Another favorite hobby of hers is to empty out all the K-cups from the drawer under our Keurig and dump them in the coffee trash can, on the floor, or line them up in a line on the dining room table.  She definitely likes making lines and rows whether it be with magnets on the fridge in our kitchen, the magnets on my filing cabinet at work, or her toy animals lining up along the coffee table or on the couch in the living room.

She also very much enjoys climbing up onto the bathroom sink and turning on the water so she can splash in it.  She is quite the monkey as I caught her sitting on the end table by the front door last night dangling her legs and playing with her dolls from her high perch.

We still do milk cups just before bedtime and sometimes in the morning depending on her mood.  In the last month, we converted the crib to a toddler bed so we often wake to find her lying on the floor next to our bed with her beloved pillow and blanket.  It could be due to her newfound freedom and/or due to her sleeping in the same room with us during all our traveling this past summer!

We have entered the picky food days.  Her favorites are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, bananas sometimes (usually only at the grocery store!), crackers, and string cheese.  She definitely takes after Adam and me due to her sweet tooth!   

What baffles me is that she shows no interest in what I offer her food-wise at home but yet if we're out on a play date, she willingly eats others’ snacks made up of the same food I offered (the other day she happily enjoyed munching on some goldfish and grapes from a friend we had met at the zoo).   I guess she just enjoys others' food more than her own!?

Lately, Charlotte has not been as into books as in the past which is a struggle for me.  She would rather technology over the toys or books at times.  Something she gets great pleasure from, though, is drawing and coloring!  She often asks for her crayons or pencils so she can be creative.  She also loves her Play-doh and will spend a long time shaping and molding the Play-doh.  She also makes it her personal mission to pull out lipstick, white-out, markers, and other hard to get out of the carpet or off walls materials.  She loves getting her hands on these things and then writing or drawing on anything she can with these forbidden items.  She currently is sporting white-out on her forehead, marker on her legs, and a light lipstick stain on her arm even after a bubble bath tonight.  For some reason, she also prefers things to be on the floor and constantly pulls things down or knocks them over to have them land topsy turvy on the floor.  She loves to be tucked in at night and especially likes having the blanket come down over her hands.  Her dolls and babies are some favorite toys and she likes hugging and cuddling them.    

A highlight for Charlotte this past summer was that on our last trip of the summer that took us to Washington, DC, she experienced her first subway ride, her first Taxi ride, her first river boat ride, and her first Uber ride.....all in one day!    

Charlotte is definitely a chatty Cathy and loves to talk.  She especially loves telling people about her shoes and her body parts before launching into a request for happy faces, sad faces, surprised faces!  She continues to be very expressive with her dad and me yet can be quiet and a bit reserved when she is with others depending on her mood.  More often than not she is outgoing though...especially with the college students she sees pretty regularly.  She loves to beckon people to come over to her by saying, "Come", with a tiny cupped hand motioning someone to follow her where she can one by one unload all her toys and say what the name is for each object.  She also blows kisses and is very expressive with her feelings.  All of them.  These days it feels like we are on an emotional roller coaster with the world ending one second and then being happy as the tears are drying on her face....accompanied with her statements of, "Charlotte sad", "I happy!", to "Charlotte crying".   
  
She loves playing in the living room with her toys, watching TV in the St. Francis room, and loves to sing with any toy that becomes a microphone on the spot...even a hanger served this purpose last night when she sang in her crib before bedtime.  She is no longer as gentle with the pups and giggles with delight as she chases them around the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  She likes to try to let them outside even if they aren't leashed which has led to some antics of running after Hershey in the yard before he escapes too far.  Even though she is more active with the pups, she still has her quiet moments, particularly with Dusty Shamrock.  They are so patient with her as she pulls and tugs on their collars to bring them to where she wants them.

She loves to cover Dusty up with a blanket and then peeks in on him to make sure he is still there.

Peanut Butter Lover and Wearer of the brown stuff!

A friend gave us this hand me down dollhouse that we gave to Charlotte today on her half birthday.  She has been enjoying it thus far!

 

One of my favorite things about this stage is the spontaneous utterance of "I love you, Mommy!" that she says every now and then.  She also likes to say, "Love you, Bye!  Have fun!" as we leave places whether it be Lowe's, a restaurant, or even a drive-thru!  She is such a bright spot in our lives and fills us up with laughter and joy which is so needed!

This was from earlier this week when we drove home from the zoo after a fun-filled day with a new friend.  However, when I snapped this picture, she was saying, "Robbie, Robbie!" over and over since I had told her that he had been asking for her.  It's so sweet to see the friendships blossom and grow between Charlotte and her pals.

I hope you always have your fill of sunshine and happiness and grace and strength for the hard days.  We love you oodles and noodles Charlotte Annie!