Potty Training

Have I told you how well potty training has gone with Charlie? Santa took her diapers away (one of the things she was most excited about on Christmas morning) and left her underwear, suckers, prizes, and a sticker chart. Charlie was so proud of herself when she filled up her first sticker chart. Since the first few days accidents have been few and far between. Hopefully she doesn't regress once baby Beast arrives.

Jealousy

On the day we found out the baby in my belly is a boy we asked Charlie, "What is a good name for a baby boy?" Automatically, without any thinking about it or question in her voice, she said, "BEAST." So Beast he has been this whole time.

We are so comfortable with this name that with only seven weeks left Beast is still the only name Seth and I can agree on for the little guy. Charlie often talks to him, "Beast! Be nice to mommy!" "Beast! Good morning!" Etc, etc. And like many other kids with an imagination she has come to believe she too has a baby in her belly. Her baby's name is Belle. Surprise, surprise. If I ever try to tickle her in her belly, she'll say, "Don't hurt my baby!"

Over the past few months I've been getting ready for our little guy to come by buying clothes, making blankets, etc. And just about every time I buy a new little outfit Charlie will ask, "Who that for?" and I'll say, "Beast." She'll get an upset look on her face and say, "What 'bout Belle mom?!?" How dare I buy something for my baby and not hers! So even though we have two months until D-Day (delivery day) jealousy has already arrived. Sheesh!

Sorry Dragon. Charlie Can't Play Today

Charlie has a new pet. It is a "nice" dragon. It has been following us everywhere lately.

Dragon Story No. 1: Today I accidentally shut the car door on it and hurt it. In fact I hurt him so bad that he had to go to the doctor. My bad! Charlie could not believe I was so MEAN.And Charlie insisted on him going to the REAL doctor. It took everything I had in me to get her to agree to taking him to the doctor in our kitchen.

Dragon Story No. 2: For our after-nap snack today I cut Charlie some apples. At first I forgot to get Dragon (whose name was Harry at first but has since changed to Belle) her own apples but remembered just before Charlie could turn my mistake into a tantrum-worthy affair. When Charlie finished her apples I told her she could go ahead and eat the dragon's apples. She could not believe how RUDE I was being. But once I explained that the dragon didn't really like apples, and that he wanted to eat her baby doll for his snack, she was willing to eat his apples.

Dragon Story No. 3: In the car yesterday we were driving home from the store and Charlie was talking, and talking, and talking as usual. I was responding with "oh, really" and "yep" and such without really paying attention. All of a sudden I got, "MOM! I NOT talking to you. I talking to the dragon." She was totally offended that I wasn't following along enough to get that. (In my defense I didn't know the dragon was in the car with us at the time. She usually lets me know.)

This imaginary pet has way too much sway on my daughter's emotions! I think I may just have to get a pet mommy dragon to tell Charlie's pet dragon to GO HOME!

Santa!

Charlie lives in the middle of a world of fantasy. She is a princess and mean dragons, mean monsters, and mean polar bears are real threats. She has all the Disney princess and speed dial. Belle and Beast visit us frequently, and a trip to Disneyland for a tea party is a daily occurrence. You can see how Santa Clause fits perfectly into her daily routine.

The first time we talked about Santa this year is on Thanksgiving. We were listening to Christmas music and I said something like, "Charlie, did you know Santa says Ho, Ho, Ho.?" She responded, "No, Santa says Bwa, Ah, Ah, Ah! And has mean eyes and mean teeth." She obviously thought that Santa was a vampire...she had no idea who he was.

Fast forward to the Monday after Thanksgiving. We were at the mall and I decided to just point out Santa to Charlie. I didn't really want to stand in line or go into details on who he is. We hadn't really talked about him and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to tell her. But when she laid eyes on the pudgy old man she fell in love. "Santa! See him. See him!" I told Charlie that we were just about to leave and we would have to stand in line to see him. "Stand in line! Stand in line!" So we did. (There were only about three kids before us.) She waited patiently and then sprinted to him when it has her turn. She was in heaven. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She said, "presents." And right there and then she knew that Santa was real and he was bringing her presents. I mean, she believes in mean polar bears and she has never sat on one's lap. How could she not believe in Santa?

So I decided to use this belief to my advantage. Santa is taking Charlie's diapers when he comes to leave her presents. I think Santa is going to leave some panties and some potty treats in place of all those diapers. So I get to blame all the hard potty training on Santa! I think it is only fair he gets to be the mean guy this once since he takes so much credit for leaving presents. Don't you?

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Charlie is starting to get the concept of time. I can now ask her questions like "How long have you been awake?" or "How long have you had a poopy diaper?" and she will accurately tell me "long time" or "little time." (She is growing up so fast!) But in regards to time of day she still has no idea, but she doesn't like to admit she has no idea. If she hears me ask Seth a question dealing with the time of day she will positively answer, "Seven-eight."

"What time is it?" "Seven-eight."
"When will you be home?" "Seven-eight."
"What time did Charlie get up" "Seven-eight."

It is pretty much always seven-eight around here.

Liken

Charlie is very much into likening everything unto her own life. Here are my two favorite examples:

The other night we went to the Dinosaur Museum and there is a big Lizard in the foyer. I pointed at it and said, "Look how chubby that lizard is!" It had a big belly sticking out. Charlie said, "Just like baby Paige!" (Her six-month-old cousin.)

A few night ago we were reading the classic Christmas poem 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. When Seth got to the part that says he had a "little round belly that shook like a bowl full of jelly," she said, "Just like Mommy!"

Oh dear. Good thing she is so cute.

Compliment Game

The other evening Charlie and I were reading The Friend magazine before bedtime. I read her a story about a Sharing Time activity where kids told compliments to other kids. She quickly gets bored of stories that don't have enough pictures, so I had the idea to play the game ourselves. I told her that I would say something nice about her and then she would need to say something nice about me. She thought it was a great idea! It went something like this...

Me: Charlie, you are very smart.
Charlie: You go to Disneyland. (I really do think she thinks this is the nicest thing you could say to or about anyone.)

Me: You are nice to your friends.
Charlie: You put blanket on Belle.

Me: You have a beautiful smile.
Charlie: You turn on my fan.

And on and on. We probably did 20 rounds and she never said the same thing twice. My goal is to play the game again and remember everything she says. She is so creative!

Toddlers Are So Fun*strating!

Charlie has become so much fun lately! I just love her. And she has also become so frustrating! I just can't stand her! Here are some of the fun things she has done lately:

-The other morning she woke up and the first thing she said is "Mom, NEED watch Doya!" (As in Dora the Explorer, her new favorite show.) So I was trying to stall and asked her what her very favorite thing about Dora is. She said, "Doya NOT favorite. Ca-eee love ALLLLL princesses. And mean monsters. And mean dragons." She then proceeded to pester me until I would turn Dora on for her.

-We went to Cornbelly's Corn Maze the other Friday, and they have a bunch of playground areas and bounce houses and things that toddlers love. But it was starting to get dark so Seth was trying to talk Charlie into going over to the corn maze. She was NOT interested. He couldn't get her to put her shoes on and she could have easily gone into tantrum mode. But then he had the brilliant idea to tell Charlie that a corn maze is just like a scary forest! Woa! We couldn't get to that maze fast enough. And she just ran, and ran, and ran. Which is great because I never let her just run and run.

-Every now and then we stay out too late with Charlie and she had a complete fit in the car on the way home. One way we have found to calm her down is to sing songs. Wheels On Bus was the song of choice a few weeks ago. Seth went through the usual things on the bus like wipers and babies and started in on the not-so-usual things like dogs. Charlie started laughing and said, "No dogs on bus daddy! Hehe! Silly, silly daddy. No dogs on bus!" So then he continued on with cats, lions, bugs, etc. with Charlie laughing and calling him silly, silly daddy all the way home. So the last few days Charlie has been wanting to talk about the silly things that go on the bus. She'll ask, "Wheels On Bus, daddy! But just talk 'bout it. Just talk." The singing is out! And Seth has to keep talking, and talking, and talking about things on the bus for what feels like hours. You should hear some of the things that get on the bus! My favorite is when Charlie said God got on the bus. Seth wasn't sure what to say God did on the bus. I believe he just stayed for a little while and told the other passengers that they need to be nice to each other. Not too blasphemous, right?

-Charlie has to do everything by herself. If you pick her up to help her down the stairs she will walk back up those stairs so she can walk down them herself. If you take her shirt off for her she will put it back on so she can take it off herself. So I have to get her permission to do anything to her or I run the risk things taking an eternity to get done.

Happy Birthday!

Seth's birthday was on Saturday and a few days before I told Charlie that she needed to get a present for him. She automatically got a big smile on her face, put her hands up to her mouth, gasped, and said in a whisper, "Ooooh, fruit snacks?!?!" I told her that was a great idea. Then she said, "Daddy, share? Daddy SHARE!!!!" She was positively giggly about it.

So the day before his birthday I told Charlie it was time to wrap his present. So she went down to our horde of fruit snacks and picked the Toy Story variety for Seth (I'm not sure if she thought that the Princess or Tinkerbell varieties weren't manly enough for him or if she wanted to keep those ones for herself). Then she picked a bright pink bag with brighter pink polka dots to wrap it in.

Ya'll might think that fruit snacks wrapped in a bright pink bag are not that exciting of a present for Seth. But I'll tell ya, he LOVED them and Charlie's reaction when he opened them. And then Charlie loved them as he shared.

The Boss

"Kids are definitely the boss of you. Anyone who will barge into the room while you are on the commode is the boss of you. And when you explain to them that you're on the commode and that they should leave but they don't? That's a high-level boss." Tina Fey

So Charlie is the boss of Seth and I. In so, so many ways.

-If I eat my string cheese the way it is meant to be eaten-pulling pieces off in long strings-she tells me, "No! Like this. {CHOMP}!" Meaning, I need to take big bites off the end. No stringing allowed.

-When Seth gets home from work we are not allowed to talk to each other. If I dare strike up a conversation she puts her hand up in a "STOP!" action and says "STOP TALKING DADDY." (meaning to Daddy). She'll do the same to Seth, "STOP TALKING MOMMY!"

-We are not allowed to sing unless she requests it. Heaven forbid I get a song stuck in my head and accidentally sing a few bars, "No singing mommy!"

-My hair is not allowed to be pulled up in a ponytail or messy bun. Apparently it is so offensive to her that she will cry over it, "Mommy, no hair up {WAIL}!" She really doesn't cry often so it is fascinating to me she is willing to let the tears spill over this. If I come into a room with my hair down after having it up that day Charlie will say, "Mommy! Hair down! So toot! So toot!" And she will stroke it and laugh and just be adorably happy about it.

-Whenever we need to leave I always give Charlie a count down. Something like, "Charlie you can go down the slide two more times, then we have to go." She is always ok with this until we get to the number one. "Charlie only ONE more time down the slide." She then starts in on the countering. "No. Five." She doesn't ask for one or two more. It is five every time. I personally think she is going to be a great salesperson when she grows up because she usually gets her five more times.

-Charlie asks us to tell stores ALL. THE. TIME. "Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? Story? " FINE! I will tell you a story! I probably tell 20 stories a day. And if I tell the story in a way she doesn't like she will tell me about it. "No, mommy! Then dragon come." Oh, I am so sorry the MY story isn't how YOU want it. Geez. I have recently started asking her to tell me a story and her response: "Noooo, Charlie toooooooo busy." (Right now she asks for stories about Belle, King Triton, Flounder, and Prince Philip. Oh, and she is either marrying Prince Philip or Daddy depending on the day.)

I just want to let you know that even though Charlie is quite bossy, she really is the sweetest thing and I just love her to death. If I ever feel like she is being a little too bossy or mean I'll say, "Charlie, can you be nice to mommy?" and she will repeat whatever she was saying in the sweetest high-pitched voice and big old smile and a really long "pleeeeeaaaase?" She really is just a sweetheart.

Little Tooter

The other day Charlie was eating breakfast and she tooted pretty loudly. I responded as I always do by saying, "Charlie, what do you say?" and she always says "'cuse me."

Usually it ends there, but this time she looked at me and said "Mommy, what Charlie do called?" (She is doing really well with sentences, just not so well with putting the words in the right order.)

So I said, "It is called tooting." She nodded that she understood. The rest of the day there were three or four times that I would look at her and she would be making a certain face and then see me watching her and exclaim, "Mommy, Charlie not tooting!" Suuuuuuuure.

Our First Garden

We have a garden this year. Why have I waited so long to give it a try? It is so fun! And really not as much work as I thought it would be. Unfortunately it also isn't as fruitful as I want a garden to be. So far this is what we have...

watermelon: died
cantaloupe: one tiny fruit on the vine
zucchini: five medium sized squashes
yellow squash: one squash
butternut squash: one squash
pumpkin: one squash (are pumpkins squash?)
four tomato plants: one red tomato; countless green tomatoes

If you count the watermelon and zucchini as outliers and throw them out, do you notice a pattern? Only ONE fruit per plant?!? Geez. I guess I need to plant things in a place that gets more than four house of sunlight a day.

We also have a garden box in a community garden space with lots of sunlight. I planted carrots, green onions, cucumber, and...SIX tomatillo plants. I just found out that ONE plant would have done me just fine. But when I asked the nursery if they had tomatillos they gave me six. So I planted six. I was planning on making a little bit of tomatillo dressing like they have at Cafe Rio and now I am planning on canning a whole bunch of tomatillo salsa. Hopefully I like it. If not I'll keep it in my food storage and pour it over my wheat kernels when the world is coming to an end. I'm sure I'll be grateful for it then.

Wake Up!

Today during church we had three baby blessings. I always try to get Charlie to fold her arms during prayers, but it doesn't always (ok, never) work. So I was folding my arms and closing my eyes and Charlie had her eyes wide open. I guess she decided she wanted some company because she kept coming over and kissing me and saying "awake!" If it worked for Sleeping Beauty and Snow White it should work for me, right?

Pronunciation-na-na-na

I love how Charlie says all the names of the princesses. She is quickly correcting her speech so I want to record it before she becomes any wiser:

Cinderella: Cin-ra-ra-ra
Ariel: Me-me (as in mermaid)
Sleeping Beauty: Seep-ing Boo-tee or
Aurora: Dora
Snow White: Sowhite
Belle: Boo-tee or Bell-Bell
Jasmine: Jazz-a

and my favorite

Tiana: Ti-na-na-na but I have heard her make it into a nine syllable name Ti-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. The extra syllables all depend on her level of excitement.

Scary is Best

Charlie is slightly obsessed with princess movies lately, but extremely obsessed with the scary parts in movies.

Whenever we happen to be near a bunch of trees Charlie cannot rest until we have gone on a walk through the "Scary, Scary, Forest!" She always comments on the eyes watching her, and the hands grabbing her. (Snow White)

And whenever she wants me to tell her a story she wants it to be about a dragon. Breathing fire! And a sword stabs it! (Sleeping Beauty)

She also loves singing the "Mermaid Song" which is the one where Ariel sings aaa-aaa-aaa, aaa-aaa-aaa up the scales. Charlie emphatically says "KEEP SINGING" just like Ursula does in the movie. (I think Ursula is her favorite.)

She also loves when the Evil Queen turns herself into the Old Lady in Snow White. However, now when she sees real, sweet old ladies she points at them and says "Scary, scary, scary!" And I have to assure her that most old ladies are not trying to poison her.