Charlotte

Well it's about time I wrote a post about Charlotte... she is so busy and is growing up so quickly, that if I don't get some of it down it will be lost forever.

We have had our challenges with our little princess, and they are far from over.... but she is such a beautiful, intellegent, caring little girl.

Charlotte is a real bookworm. Quite often she can be found with a pile of her favourite books "reading" to herself. Her favourite books include: Anything Hairy McClary books, Curious George, The New Baby, and about 100 or so more...

She is fascinated by the alphabet and numbers. She is always pointing out letters and asking me what they are. Her counting is pretty good too. She can recognise most of her numbers, only getting 6 and 9 mixed up sometimes.

She loves drawing and craft. Particularly painting and playdoh. I haven't been doing as much with her lately but she does quite a bit at daycare (or "little school" as she calls it). And she is off to "big school" next year... we have enrolled her in the local primary school and she will be doing 2 full days a week at Kindy. She is VERY excited.

Charlotte has finally learnt to pedal her bike on her own - we no longer have to push (or pull) her along.
Unlike Lucas I am struggling to get many photos of our angel. I say "Smile for Mummy" and this is what I get...
... but there are some nicer ones...
She is very caring... Her carers at daycare, and a creche worker that looked after her have said that she is always concerned about others. She notices when someone else is sad, and often puts her arm around them. She is constantly smothering poor Lucas in cuddles and kisses, but also likes to just hold his little hand too. She just loves her baby brother, who she has renamed Luigi - one of the characters from the Car Movie. This is them watching said movie!!

She has some interesting words for things... Her Ugg Boots are "fluffy gumboots". Ellen DeGeneres is Ellen Pyjamas. Says Bikini instead of Zuchini. And her swimming teacher is Little Net instead of Lynette. I mistakenly called her Little Net myself the other day... Ooops!!

She comes out with some hilarious comments too... She and Brett were blowing bubbles outside the other day and I heard her say "Dad, You're a genius" - all he did was blow a big bubble...

She has hit the stage of endless questions... Thanks to the Napisan ad on TV the current question of the week is... "What does frustrated mean???". Thankfully last week it was the "word on the street" on Sesame Street... so she answers her own question with "getting cranky or upset when you can't do something..." too cute. As a side note: she is ALWAYS frustrated... or so we are told.

Charlotte has had an imaginary friend, Tyler, for quite a while now. He changes from being a baby to a child her age quite regularly. I have sat on Tyler, thrown the shopping on him when he was sitting on the front seat, and most distressing I apparently left him at the shopping centre the other day. I was informed of my misdemeanor as I pulled into the driveway. I said that I'm sure Tyler's mummy would pick him up, to which she said "Noooooo, Tyler doesn't have a mummy". I said he would be fine at the shopping centre and we would pick him up next time we were there. And we did (apparently). Tyler hasn't been blamed for any of Charlotte's misdemeanors as yet, but we're waiting for it!!!!

Charlotte is very musical... she sings most of her day away. Mainly nursery rhymes and The Fairies/Wiggles/HooleyDooleys/Hi 5, but also Sneaky Sound System, Pink and Jason Mraz. She has quite an amazing memory, picking up alot of the lyrics after only hearing the song a few times. And if in doubt she fills in the gaps with made up words!

Justine Clarke is a big favourite in our house. She is a welcome respite from the Wiggles, I must say. More contempory and less "nursery-rhymey". A couple of months back I got some tickets for Charlotte and her friend Aimee to go see their idol in person. We waited 40 mins to meet Justine after the show...

As cliched as it sounds, she is growing up so quickly. She and I are struggling a bit at the moment, and I know all she desperately wants is some mummy/daughter time. And I am trying my hardest, but boy am I in for it when she becomes a teenager!!!