Last night my Milly (Mother-in-Law) brought Charlie a wonderful and perfectly timed Chanukah gift: The Baby Amaze Learn to Talk & Read Doll
Charlotte absolutely adores her new Baby Amaze and spent the whole evening practicing for her new role as BIG SISTER beginning in May 2016!
Yes folks, you read that correctly!
Miss Charlotte will be welcoming a little brother or little sister into our family somewhere in the vicinity of May 20th.
Cheers for growing families! Wish us luck 🙂
Charlotte keeps waking up in full screaming cries. Mostly it’s been happening at night, but just happened during her nap.
Prior to these very abrupt and sad wakings, she’s been a very good sleeper. She rarely cries and almost never at such an inconsolable level.
Has anyone experienced this at all?
It almost seems like she’s having nightmares… but why so many all of a sudden? Ugh. Make it end…
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my little recap, but on Wednesday of last week, as my mother and I were prepping Thanksgiving dinner, my father plowed into my parked car that was minding its own business on their driveway.
Let’s just say that Dad was throwing a temper tantrum and clearly not paying attention. Anyway, enough said.
The damage:
While you might not believe it, today… just 9 days later, I was hit AGAIN! Thankfully, neither Charlie, the other driver or myself were hurt.
I was simply minding my own business, looking for a parking spot at the doctor’s office when BAM! Dude flew out of his parking space and bashed my car door (just a touch) and the back door (a lot).
I jumped out of the car and when I opened the back door to check on Charlotte, she just smiled and waved. Apparently she was unphased. Seriously, she’s a tough cookie.
Anyway, this second hit was way harder and the back door does not seem to be functioning correctly.
I’m supposed to hear from the other guy’s insurance tomorrow. Fingers crossed this is an easy process.
The damage (to the other side of the car):
I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t drive this weekend.
Despite having a rough night’s sleep and waking up too early, this Chiquita is a happy camper!
She danced and giggled her way through the morning…
The past two weeks have totally flown by. Here are some tid bits to fill you in on the various happenings in our lives…
Climbing up on the loft in the K4 room!
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
And there you have it! Two weeks: Bam! Done! We’re all caught up.
Have I mentioned Charlotte’s love for cheese sticks? She’s obsessed.
We’ve tried everything to slow down the pace at which she mows down said cheese sticks and have found the most luck (which isn’t much) in cutting little coin sized slices.
This video perfectly sums up Charlotte’s feelings for cheese sticks. Can you tell she’s already a Wisconsin gal?
Enjoy…
Okay, so that was WAY better than the drop off. Although still far from perfect…
Mark met me at the school so he could see Charlotte before his 1pm meeting. (I made him promise not to go in without me because I really wanted to see her in her “natural setting” before she saw either of us.)
When we got in, we peeked in the window to find little Charlotte sitting like a cutie patootie, listening to the teacher read a story.
All of a sudden, Charlotte looked up and caught my eyes. Cue the puckered lip and tears.
“Oh no! Really now? I swear she was happy all day!” -C’s teacher
I went in and picked up my little bunny and gave her BIG hugs. The administrator had printed out the following papers to go in C’s classroom memory book (and one copy for us). C and I read it together and she started to calm down… although I was not permitted to put her down.
Not even Daddy was allowed to hold or hug her yet.
Today was gym class. Charlotte supposedly had a blast playing with the balls. She collected a handful and handed them out to her tiny friends.
Then, the kids went outside to play. Charlotte played in the Cozy Coupe… anyone else not surprised? She also played AT the slide… although did not go down it.
Charlotte’s teacher said that from across the playground, she pointed at her teacher and waved. Such a sweet pie.
As we left Charlotte’s classroom, we made a mandatory stop at the piano that’s in the lobby. C played us a little tune. Man does this girl love music.
From that moment on, she was ALL smiles and chats and cuteness. I really do think that she had a fun day. It almost seemed as if us coming back to pick her up confirmed that she had a good day. Like, “okay, now that they’re here and I know they’re not leaving me here forever, I can admit that I had a blast.”
Ya know, if she could talk… I’m sure that’s what she would say 🙂
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow’s drop off goes a bit smoother and doesn’t take such a toll on this momma.
Wish us luck!
All dressed and ready for school.
After last week’s perfectly executed “Preschool” orientation, I had really high hopes for Charlie’s first day of school and our first drop off.
Let’s just say, the word perfect didn’t come into play this morning.
Right off the bat, the morning was off. Charlotte woke up about 45 minutes early and was a bit cranky/sleepy/VERY clingy with mommy. Breakfast was a cluster. She picked the cheese off the top of her quiche and refused any other part of it. She wouldn’t drink more than 1/2 of her veggie shake. She took three sips of milk and was done.
Finally, I broke down and gave her cereal. I was desperate for her to eat something to help her make it through the day today. She ate it… kind of.
Marky was supposed to join me for the first drop off, but because he’s amazing and was busy slaving in the kitchen (prepping dinner for tonight), he wasn’t able to make it.
So Charlie and I headed off on our way. She whined on and off the whole way to school, which is totally out of character.
That’s a pretty apprehensive face…
When we got into the classroom, she stood frozen in the doorway, staring blankly. Finally, after a good 5 minutes, that lower lip puckered and some tears came. I called her name and she came running towards me, arms wide open.
The teacher called Charlotte and another kid over to show them a big bag of puppets she just received. Charlotte reluctantly watched as we showed her all sorts of puppets. She was on the edge.
FINALLY, the ice melted a bit when the other teacher brought over a bucket of dominos and corks and an empty juice container. C immediately jumped in and started taking the corks from one container and putting them into the empty juice container.
This was my time to exit. I looked at my little buns and said goodbye and told her I’d see her in a little bit. She stared and stared and stared… and then the lip puckered out and the tears began.
Her teacher told me not to worry and said they would handle it.
I walked out of the room. Tears welling up in my own eyes.
The administrator stopped me on my way out. She told me that C’s tears are her way of asking a question.
“Mom, is this okay?”
Immediately, I started feeling guilty for not turning back to her when she started crying and reassuring her that I would be back and that she’d be great. Instead, I just left.
The administrator peeked in at C and let me know that she was already tearlessly playing.
I left, got in my car, called Mark and started bawling.
I’m not talking about tearing up. I’m talking full-on, unable-to-speak-through-heavy-sobs crying. Of course, once I got enough words out to let Mark know that everything was technically okay, he started laughing at me.
I knew (know) that she’ll be great and that it’s so good for her to go to school, but for some reason, it felt so overwhelming. I can’t even pinpoint what specifically was so overwhelming. I definitely had guilt about not turning back to her when she started crying… but I had felt teary before that.
Thankfully, I received a text from Charlotte’s teacher before I had even gotten to work telling me that she was doing well. She also sent a cute little picture of Charlotte playing with the classroom play kitchen.
The photo from Charlotte’s teacher.
Regardless, I’m really happy that I get to go and pick her up in just 45 minutes. I can’t wait to see her and am hoping that pick up goes better than drop off.
Remember how I mentioned that my cousin made Charlotte THE cutest shoes that have ever existed? SO amazing that they would require an entire post dedicated to their greatness?
Well, this is that post.
My cousin, Stefanie, is a very talented lady. If you’re interested in your own fancy shmance pair of the cutest converse sneakers EVER, let me know and I’ll connect you with her greatness.
Without further ado… The shoes:
Yes, she even bedazzled the adorably mini converse box and the converse label on the shoe (on the back and the tongue)!
Here’s the pair she made for my niece (as if making one pair with HUNDREDS of magical crystals wouldn’t make you crazy)…
This is what it looks like to receive shoes of such greatness:
Charlie’s shoes are still a little too big (thank goodness – with her being a new by walker, she’s constantly falling, etc.). I’m hopeful that right after our nasty winter, when things are nice and dry, Miss C will fit in her glamorous kicks!
Charlotte is officially a toddler. All hints of baby seem to have disappeared. She’s even stopped drinking milk from a bottle as of the past week or so. My baby is a big girl.
(her poor face after falling into the kitchen cabinet handle – she cried for less than a minute)
Playing House 
