Letter to Charlotte: Month eighteen

Dear Charlotte,

One and a half years old, wow! It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for you to sit unassisted and you are literally off and running, and into everything less than a year later. You continue to bring so much joy to our lives, help me see the world in a new light, and make everyday a little bit better. Everyone that spends any amount of time with you is blessed with the gift of your smile and sweet nature and everyone gushes about joy you bring to their days and we lovingly refer to you as “our sweet Charlotte girl.”

You’re the sweetest little girl and have the sweetest heart. You “adopted” one of Anna’s baby dolls this month and love being a little Mommy. You carry your baby around, push her in the stroller, pat her back, put her to bed, and although there are times you carry her around by one of her feet, you are one of the best little Mommies around. Even though you fancy yourself a “Mommy” sometimes, you’re still a huge Momma’s girl and we are literally connected at the hip many times during the day. You often melt into my shoulder, which immediately melts my heart, and lately you've started patting or rubbing my back when I do the same to you.

 You’re a woman of the world and a total and complete busy body. I forgot just how “into EVERYthing” this age is. In the blink of an eye you can unroll an entire roll of toilet paper, empty a tissue box, completely negate a mess I just cleaned up, or be a step away from total danger. You can climb the steps in the blink of an eye and then get really made when I won’t let you walk down them standing up. You see what your sister is doing and you want to do it too. On the flip side, it means you’re very keen to help out by throwing your own diaper away, one of the many tissues you just pulled out of a new box, or help deliver something to your Dad or Anna across the room.

You’re learning a lot at school and come home with a new word or new knowledge on a daily basis. You’re very into facial parts and we saw the wheels turning as you learned “nose” recently and immediately associated it with needing a tissue. You’ll point to the tissues, say “nose,” use your tissue and then throw it away. 90% of the time you didn’t really need that tissue, but that doesn’t stop you … or us. I usually wind up daydreaming about a day when you and your sister can load the dishwasher, fold laundry, or run the vacuum; but for now I’ll take the fact that you like throwing things in the trash.

You‘ve had a blast this summer and love being outside. You prefer to be pushed around the neighborhood on a “walk” in your little red car, but also enjoy sidewalk chalk (until you eat start chewing on it), playing ball with Anna, or generally trying to keep up with the bigger kids. You love splashing at the water table, playing in the pool, and although it took a few months of the summertime for you to perfect walking, the sprinkler was lots of fun too. Anytime we had a door open you’d press your face up to the door or the screen and use a pathetic whine to ask to go “outttsside??” If we don’t respond immediately or start the process, you’ve been known to bring your shoes over, and ask for ‘shhhoooeess outttsside” to further reiterate your request.

Maybe it’s because we have cats and you see them doing this, but you love to sit in weird places and on weird things; like a stack of books, an open box … or my hand (I’ll tell you that story one day). You just love to be in the thick of things. It’s quirky and weird, but it’s so “you” and I love the huge grin that spreads as you get yourself situationed into a random basket or box. Speaking of cats and animals, you love them; any and all. Although you know that sounds that most farm and common animals make, you continue to refer to most of them at puppies. You are fearless when it comes to wanting to pet them and had the best time petting goats at the Zoo a few weekends ago.

You found a bigger voice this past month and have turned into an occasional screamer / squealer. For no reason at all you’ll just start squealing, with a huge grin on your face; you may take a short break, get your breathe, and start again. Sometimes your sister joins in, and let me tell you, that’s ear piercing fun; but at least you’re not crying. Your vocabulary is growing each day and it’s so fun to hear you communicate with more ease. You still use sign language, mostly to tell us “more or “all done,”  and when you can’t find a word, there’s a scream, yell, or whine that gets the point across.

I read a poem this past month called “the last time” that talked about how quickly children grow and that you don’t realize you’re in the middle of many of the “last times” until they’re over. I often find myself rushing through the day and get flustered when you or your sister need me to slow down or stop in the middle of a task, but that poem has stayed in the back of my mind as a reminder that slowing down a little is what life is all about. Dinner will eventually get to the table, and we’ll go through those motions again tomorrow, but the chance to rock and cuddle you after a long day won’t always be there. So, thank you for helping me slow down, for showing me the bigger, and more important picture.

Love,

Mom