Father's Day card

This was the Father's Day Card that Charlotte sent to her grandfather this year. All of our card projects are painting-based because it's her favorite art activity. I cut out a tie shape from one of the recent paintings, glued it to a card, and voila!




We try to do something handmade for every holiday. Here is a list of our past work:

Mother's Day
Easter
Valentine's Day
Christmas
Thanksgiving

Everett's Naming Ceremony

Super awesome E made from coffee filters & spray paint.  I LOVE it.

Everett's super fabulous Godparents. 

It ended up that the crazy child has the chill Godparents and the chill child has the crazy Godparents. And please know that I mean "crazy" in a completely awesome kind of way.

Everett experiences a proper rack for the first time and immediately falls asleep. 

That being said, I adore this picture.

Cupcake Kiss.

J-man goes in for the full, two-handed lean, while Charlotte plays it cool.

Guess who was in a mood by the end of the day?

 

Cheers!

Baby Feet

I love my babies.



   

Baby Animal Days

Charlotte's preschool class took a field trip (her very first one) to see the baby animals at a local farm and orchard. It's something we've done every year so it was good to continue the tradition.

* Here are our pictures from two years ago.

The smallest of moments

Mommy, your eyes wet?
Oh, it's OK, honey, I'm just happy.
Your eyes wet?
Yeah, sometimes when people are really happy they cry. But I'm not really crying, my eyes are just a little wet because I'm happy.
HA!! THAT SILLY! YOU NO CRY YOU HAPPY... YOU CRY SAD! HAAAA!! SILLY MOMMY!


Silly Mommy.

I've never been one to be particularly moved by the big events in life.  I love them, and they're special, but they don't rattle my heart the way the little moments do.

I loved marrying your daddy, but it felt very normal and fun to do so. I feel the weight of his devotion at times with less fanfare. Like last spring when he knew (without a conversation) that life and motherhood had been frustrating and unhappy for me, so he surprised me (on a particularly horrific day, nonetheless) with the announcement that he had been spending weeks planning a kid-free get away to see my friends in Brooklyn.

Or when your brother was born... I didn't cry. I can't process such a life altering moment in a flash, I need space. So when he was a few weeks old and I looked deep into his eyes and told him how much we all loved him, and that whoever he wanted to become in this life was fine by me, and that I would make it my goal as his mother to help make that happen, and he gave me his first smile that nearly exploded his little cheeks, I wept the happiest most perfect tears possible.

So the other day when I was in the kitchen and I looked into the living room and couldn't find you, I decided to walk upstairs and see what you had gotten yourself into. I found you in the bathroom, with your navy blue flower jammies down around your ankles, half of your diaper off, and holding your little toddler tummy out of the way with one hand while you undid the tab on the other side of the diaper. I asked what you were doing.

And it was oh so nonchalantly that you told me that you had to pee... so you were gonna pee. And this is mind-blowing because I have done absolutely nothing to potty train you. Nothing. You've watched your friends at school use the potty and then decided that you wanted to do that too. So you have been.

But you've always asked me first, and you've never been able to unzip your jammies, and you've always wanted me to take off your diaper for you. But this is what you do, what you've always done.

It's been evident from Day 1 who you are. I had more than one nurse comment that they had never seen a newborn who was this aware and alert. You know exactly who you are and what you want and how you're going to get it. You have the ferocity of the lion that is your astrological sign.

Every single day you make it clear to me how self-reliant you are. In need of no one. Over and over and over I get little nods to the reality that "though they are with you, yet they belong not to you." I heard this quote long before I ever became a mother, but I never knew how many times I would have to repeat it to myself.

We are together, almost all the time, yet you have no desire to belong to anyone. It's so easy for me to picture you at 16, 24, 30, etc. All opinions and power and drive and hysterical and wild-hearted, because you're all of those things now. You came into our lives a fully formed soul and every day I hear the adult you whispering to the adult me, let go mom.

Flashback: Charlotte's 2nd Birthday

Last summer I took a several month blog hiatus while I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and also enjoying some family vacations. As a result, several milestones didn't make it on here. And since I use the blog as much for myself as an online journal as I do to connect with others, I'll be putting up several posts from last summer.

Charlotte had a Purple Bubbles themed birthday party to celebrate turning two. Whether it's actual bubbles, the bubble game on my phone, or "bubble water" (seltzer), there's nothing bubble-related this gal doesn't like.

Purple Bubbles cake

A mini cake for my mom, who shares a birthday with Charlotte

Cake pop favors

"Charlotte" bubbles banner in the background.

"2" sign was made from foam board, spray painted purple and then spray painted with glitter paint, and hung with a white ribbon (it was actually a bright purple, but it's hard to tell with the lighting here)

Table decorations, including a framed painting of Charlotte's

I ordered four 3' balloons online and had them inflated at the local party store.
Beware though, they didn't all fit in our SUV and my mom had to drive over and help with transport. Oops!

This photo is awesome because it's so out of character for my little stage actress. She was struck with a sudden case of shyness during Happy Birthday.

In the background I attached a picture from each month over the past year so everyone could see how much she's changed and some of the fun things she's done. They were attached to a 6' purple board, but there were too many photos for the purple to be seen. A slideshow of the photos is at the bottom of the post.

 The two birthday girls.
Charlotte is wearing her Giant's cheerleader outfit that Ouiser made her,
along with her Giant's pom poms that we got for her.

Our annual photo spot, painted by Giovanina.

Easter Family Pics

1st Haircut

Charlotte's lack of hair is legendary around here. It's caused every old lady in the Capital District to insist upon calling her "him" or "lil fella" at the grocery store for the past two years regardless of how much hot pink she's been draped in. (For reference: Charlotte at 1, Charlotte at 2)

It's a family legacy actually. I was similarly bald, and the old ladies used Hair As Gender Marker as much back then as they do now. This prompted my mom to get into a yelling match with one such biddie who wouldn't budge in her "she's a boy" stance. Luckily for her, my mom out-crazied her ass, ripped off my diaper and showed her the goods. Oh, you wanna get crazy with me, ya old bitch?!! I'll SEE your crazy and RAISE you a vagina! You can't out-crazy a crazy, people, don't even try.

So the last few months Charlotte's hair had grown out enough to at least qualify as a pixie cut. Strangers went from calling her a boy to complimenting me on how much they LOVED her short hair and how it was So darling! and So Parisian! But then we rounded the hobo corner a few weeks ago and I decided that we needed to take the plunge and get her her first haircut.



BEFORE:

 I call this Homeless Chic

Emulating The Beatles

DURING:

She wasn't pissed, she was just taking the process very seriously. She had the same expression the whole time she was dying Easter eggs.

AFTER:

   

Easter card

Every holiday I try to send a little something to Charlotte's grandparents and far away relatives. It's a good way to channel both of our creative energy and to bridge the distance a little.

I found an idea for egg cut-out cards that I modified by using some of her paintings. That girl loves her some paint, so all of our holiday ideas basically just involve crafty things to do with her paintings. A lot of times her attention span doesn't exactly show up, or she decides that painting on her arms is much more interesting than the paper, but with the Young Artist's Toolbox that she got for Christmas, we can stretch out the activity quite a bit. (I highly recommend the toolbox if you have any little painters in your life. There are so many tools in there to keep them busy)

To make the cards I just used blank cards that we already had, cut out an egg shape from the front (using a template from the internet), and used double-sided tape to stick a square of her painting to the inside. Don't forget to put the date somewhere on the card

Before the "Birds and the Bees" come the "Bs and the Ps"

This is how you take a shower when there's no one around to watch the kiddos. Everett was happy with the light above his head and his own fist, and Charlotte got bribed with a bucket of Cheerios, four books, and two Hershey Kisses.

As I was getting in the shower, we had this little discussion:


Charlotte - Mommy, boobies?

Me - Yup.

Charlotte - I older, I get boobies?

Me - Yup, when you're older.

Charlotte - Brudder have penis?

Me - Yup

Charlotte - I older, I get penis?

Me - No, only boys have penises.

Charlotte - Oh, ok.




 

Siblings

 

Two disturbing conversations

"Charlotte, WHEN is the baby going to come??"
(answering immediately) "Next week."
"WHAT!!?!"


"Mommy, where daddy money?"
"Huh?"
"Where daddy money go?"
"Where did his MONEY go?? Uh, he took it to work."
"Oh. I want it."



  

Yet another reason 2 yr olds rock

Have I mentioned that I've been loving the 2 year old stage? The old adage is "the terrible twos" but every parent I've ever met has said that it's really "the terrible threes."

Charlotte and I had a seriously rough patch from 18mo-24mo. EverySingleThing was a huge battle. Every diaper change, every meal, every moment throughout the day was a struggle. And while some people/websites/etc. mentioned that toddler frustrations can come about because they can't talk, I figured that this couldn't possibly be the reason b/c it went on for SO LONG.

But. The moment she could really talk, her behavior turned on a dime and she's been pretty delightful ever since. She's animated and curious and a quick learner and a quick forgeter, and shockingly observant and always hysterical.

Almost all of the adorable two year old sayings come from the process of learning language and how to use it to figure out the world around them. This most recent example is so endearing that I think it should be a saying from now on. Kind of like the broken moon.


She was playing with stickers. I told her not to put the stickers on the chair... she put the stickers on the chair. I said that if she put one more sticker on the chair I was going to take the stickers away... I had to take the stickers away. Tears ensued.

As she was sitting next to me in a heap of tears I calmly re-explained what had happened, and that if she agreed to only put stickers on the paper, she could have them back. While she was mulling that over, she wiped her cheeks:

"WAIDIN'!"
"What???"
"WAININ'... MY EYES"
"Raining?"
"Yeah (sniff, sniff), rainin' f'om my eyes"



 

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning was a lovely, if unexpectedly drawn out, affair. Charlotte isn't quite old enough to digest the whole Santa concept, so she had forgotten anything we had told her by the time she woke up. Then when we tried to explain that there were presents downstairs, we were met with equal parts confusion and suspicion.

As it turns out, presents, plural, weren't necessary. Christmas 2011 will henceforth be referred to as Scissor Christmas. We eased her in to the whole present thing by starting her off with her stocking - glue sticks, glitter glue, pink camo band aids to play with, button candy, and her first pair of Crayola Kids Scissors.

Game. OVER.

The next two hours were spent in the approximate fashion:

Charlotte - I cut! I cut! I cuttin!
Us - OK, let's open some more presents!
Charlotte - I cut presents?!
Us - No, honey, you don't cut them, you open them.
Charlotte - No, I cuttin.
...

B (to me, during all the cutting) - Seriously? SCISSORS?
Me - Well I knew she'd really like them, but I never envisioned them grinding the entire holiday to a halt six seconds after it started.
B - I need to call my mom and tell her that we're going to have to move our Christmas brunch to tomorrow...
Me - Seriously, I'm starting to get a little worried we're not gonna make it.
...

Me (to Charlotte) - Honey? Honey? Look, alllll of these presents are for YOU! They're from Santa and Grandpa and Uncle Mark and Nonna...
B - Charlotte? Don't you want to open another present?!
B - What if daddy gives you some gummy bears? If I give you gummy bears will you open some presents?
Me - Charlotte?
Charlotte - I love cuttin!!

Super awesome pink tricycle care of Nana & Papa