My Bicycle

Charlotte is working hard on mastering her new trike. We used to hear "Mickey Mouse" every time we walked in the door, but now we hear "My Bicycle". She always wears her helmet (and it has already saved her from a crash!) and Bryce bought her pedal extenders so she can reach the pedals better. She still has to use her tippy toes but once she gets going she does really good!

Big Girl Chair

We've officially made the switch over to a booster seat, or as Charlotte says "The Big Girl Chair". I was a little sad to put the high chair away. It is one of the things we have used the longest, and yes it actually has a lot of memories attached to it. Charlotte was so excited to sit at the table with Bryce and I though that I wasn't sad for too long. It is so cute to see her reach across the table for Bryce's hand to say prayer. Bryce and I had forgotten what it's like to face forward while we're eating instead of constantly turning to the side to face her high chair!

Our 2nd birthday party

I think it went much better than the first. I literally started cleaning labor day weekend, and just did little sections at a time rather than drive myself crazy trying to get it all done at once. Our theme this year was butterflies because another year has "flown by"! Charlotte loved looking at all the butterflies around the house, and we made butterfly shaped PBJs, celery bugs, and egg roll cocoons. The beautiful cake Bryce's Mom created made everything perfect.

Charlotte cheesing in front of the favor bags I made


Caterpillars for boys and Butterflies for girls


Made with love by Grandma Monica


Strawberry and chocolate with buttercream frosting


with edible butterflies


Giving Grandma Deb some love


Charlotte was such a good gift opener


The trike from Mommy and Daddy was a huge hit!


of course she needs a hello kitty helmet to keep her safe!


she has not stopped riding it....


Happy Birthday dear Charlotte


And of course my little lady had to have a fork!


I love celebrating Charlotte's birthday. She was way more into it this year, and I swear every time we sing her happy birthday it makes me think about that tiny baby laying in my arms and I get all teary eyed. Now that I am a Mom I finally realize that a birthday isn't only about the person who was born, but about the mother too. It is such a deep relationship that you can't separate the two. Her birthday makes me remember just how lucky we are.

Charlotte so far.....

• Charlotte will try and sing her ABCs with me. She gets most of them right.
• She can recognize every letter by sight. She has trouble with O and Q and X and K, but if they have a picture with it then she knows the difference.
• She can count to 12 by herself in English. Sometimes she can make it to 20 if I help her. She can count to 4 in Spanish.
• She can memorize a book in a day. I can pick out any of her books and she can fill in the last word or phrase for me. There are some books she "reads" to herself now. Her favorite books are If you give a mouse a cookie, put me in the zoo, and Is your mama a llama. My favorite book for her is "You are my I love you".
• She goes #1 in the potty at home and #2 in the potty at Mrs. D's. We're working on any potty, anywhere.
• She can put her shoes and her socks on all by herself, something she is immensely proud of
• She takes one nap a day. Usually lays down around 1:00 and will sleep for about 2 hours
• She sleeps completely through the night. She usually sleeps from 8:00 pm to 7:30-8:00 am
• She loves breakfast food. Eggs, Waffles, Toast, Oatmeal, Cereal....She is finicky about her meat and vegetables, but loves any and all fruit. I recently introduced her to veggie dip, and can get her to eat raw veggies with dip every once in awhile. Things I can get her to eat no matter what: yogurt, hot dogs, grilled cheese, PBJ, goldfish, black beans, and pasta. And of course the love of her life remains: popsicles!
• Bryce and I tried to count how many words she knows, but there were too many!
• Charlotte does not like insects. Not even lady bugs. She will tolerate butterflies, but anything else is "EWWWW Gross!"
• Charlotte is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It is the first thing we hear when she gets home. And the one thing she whines for more than popsicles. A close second is Handy Manny. Her favorite movie is the Jungle Book.
• Charlotte loves to dance! We spend the last 15 to 20 minutes every night with music on shaking our booties. She loves pop music: P!nk is always a hit. She can name Jack Johnson when his songs come on, but she really loves beats like Lady Gaga and Beyonce. When we tell her to shake her booty, she shakes her head.
• She loves to be outside. If she can be outside "helping" she is in paradise. The mosquitos absolutely love her though, so we have to limit outside time. I've yet to find a good repelant that works for her.
• She also loves to color, paint, and play with play doh. I can usually get at least a good 20 minutes of cleaning done if I set her "art" up.
• She loves to tell Baxter and Lola what to do, when to come inside, and when to eat.

The year has gone by so fast. It feels good to record these memories because she keeps changing before my eyes!

Charlotte's 2nd birthday

What a sweet girl. She woke up this morning in the best mood. When I walked into her room and said "Happy Birthday Charlotte!" she started jumping up and down in her bed and screaming "animals, animals!" because she knew we were going to the zoo on her birthday. Bryce and I both took the day off to be with her, and will continue to do so until she is in school. It is such a great tradition....and I would just be thinking about her all day at school any way so I might as well spend it making some great memories! We got up and she immediately saw all the butterfly decorations I put out the night before. She was so cute, running around the house to try and "count" them all. She can count up to 12 all by herself, but usually ends at 28 because that's how old Bryce and I are (were!). Then she zeroed in on her present and tore the paper off to reveal a minnie mouse purse with accessories. She is so stinkin cute. We had a breakfast of butterfly waffles and bananas and then we were off to the animals at the Zoo. All day long I kept checking my watch thinking "yup, this is when we were leaving for the hospital" or "aaahhhh, i just got my epidural!". Charlotte was in love with the zoo from the minute we saw the first exhibit. The flamingoes are a great attention getter, and she has been practicing standing on one foot since we got home. Though she does make sure to mention how stinky they are! We spent over 20 minutes in the bird exhibit. She got to feed the birds and kept calling them "Come here birdie birdie birdie!". She was laughing so loud that I was afraid she would scare the birds! She thought they were amazing and did not want to leave but we finally convinced her with the incentive to see a baby Giraffe. The giraffes were her second favorite....she loves pointing out the mommy and the daddy and the baby giraffe. After dinner we put two candles on a cupcake and she immediately blew them out. After we were done singing happy birthday to her, she kept singing "Happy Birthday to Charlotte" the whole time she ate her cupcake. Whenever someone called to say happy birthday she would tell them "I blew the candles out".

We had such an amazing day together, and I could not stop giving her hugs and kisses all day. I am simply amazed at how much she has grown in the past year. She is so articulate now and can communicate so well. She is very loving and constantly wants me by her side to share whatever she is doing. "Come on Mommy" might be her most used phrase. That little baby I held in my arms two years ago has changed my life in so many ways. I honestly cannot remember what we did before Charlotte. That life before her seems so empty now. She is the perfect child for Bryce and I and we feel so incredibly blessed to be her parents and help watch her grow. I love her so much my heart hurts.




Pointing out the "buwerflies"


Reading her card like a sweet girl


Her Minnie Mouse purse came with a cell phone, which she loves!


Daddy made butterfly pancakes


She was so excited to see the animals! I almost think she would have been content just to see the flamingos all day!


By far her favorite part of the Zoo.



They named the baby Giraffe "Zuri" which means "Gorgeous". Charlotte certainly thought so.


One of my favorite moments of the day, Mommy and Baby watching the Mommy and Baby Giraffe.



My favorite picture from the day, we have such a cute kid!


The one moment she stood still all day.


The panda was so close to her! She kept saying "it's eating leaves!".


Cute little Mommy and baby panda stamp on Charlotte's hand.


Just look at that face. She was so happy.

Three Day Weekend

Three day weekends are the best. You feel like you have all this extra time, and you manage to fit in all the extras on your to-do list. Charlotte woke up on the right side of bed every morning over our extended Labor day weekend and forgot all about the terrible twos. I don't think we had one tantrum all weekend long. She was hugging our legs and freely giving kisses, not to mention saying "Oh, Mommy you look so pretty". I love this girl all the time, but when she acts so sweet like that I want to give her everything and more. We got in some pool time, took long naps together, and read tons of books. Her stool is now a permanent fixture in our kitchen because she is always "helping Mommy". Even if I am just washing my hands she is up on that stool so that she can help Mommy. Our DVR is now back to normal and lessons planned for the week. AAHHH, I love three day weekends!

Potty Time

Charlotte is well on her way to being potty trained. We really haven't pushed it, but when my Mom stayed over so we could go to Jack Johnson, she put her on the potty every two hours and we've just kept up with it. Charlotte went almost the whole day today staying dry. We went out to dinner and tried to go potty in the restaurant but all the noises and newness was too distracting. We bought her pull ups, and she has even pooped on the potty twice at Mrs. D's house. She is SO EXCITED about being able to go on the potty now. She gets M&Ms every time she goes and Bryce bought her a whole bag of just orange M&Ms (her recent favorite color. orange Popsicles, orange t-shirts, she tried to talk me into a pair of orange sandals). When she hears me in the bathroom she will come running in clapping her hands and say "YAY, Mommy!". She tries to get me a prize too! She is definitely not telling me when she has to go, so I know we are not in the clear yet but I cannot even desribe how wonderful it is to just flush it all away!