One, Two, Free

We were leaving the house this morning, and I was carrying Charlotte in order to speed the process along. I'm not sure why, but she started counting.

"One, two, free," she said.

"Four," I rang in.

"Fie, sih," Charlotte added, to my utter SHOCK. Then she said something that sounded like seven. And then, even more surprisingly, out came, "Ay."

"Nine," I continued.

And last, but not least, Charlotte sang out, "TEN!" with great excitement.

Is this normal for a child at two years and three months of age? I don't remember Makela doing this.

Say Your Name

While Charlotte was taking a bath earlier this evening, I started talking with her about her toys. It started when she went looking for the "Baby Doo-Doo," aka the baby duck (having already found the bigger mama duck). Here is our conversation:

Me: "What color are the ducks?"
Charlotte: "Lella."
Me: "How old are you?"
Charlotte: "I two."
Me: "And what's your name?"
Charlotte: "Me."

Still no luck in getting her to say her name, or even anything remotely close to it. Someday, I guess....

The World According to Charlotte

There are just some things that are too cute about a two-year-old. You don't ever want to forget how adorable they are at this age. Especially those funny little words that come out, as Charlotte struggles to put her many thoughts into words. To that end, here are some of her words and phrases at the tender age of 2 and almost 2 months(some have lasted a while now, so who knows how much longer they will be around for us to enjoy):

Doo-Doo = Bird
Ummy-Doo-Doo = Hummingbird (new as of the last weekend in April)
Lo-Lo = Lunch, Food, Snack
Bleu (sounds like the French word) = Blue

I'm sure I'll keep adding to this list. Wish I'd done this with Makela, although we seem to remember most of her words even to this day.

Chatty Kathy

Charlotte has been funny this morning -- and VERY talkative. First thing out of her crib and off the changing table, she put together a BIG sentence: "Ah bing mah Ay-yule da-doo."

Then she said "apple" later. Came out as "apfu" or "appool," depending. The apfu version is funny upon reflection.

We came upstairs a bit ago to put away laundry, get dressed, pull together books, etc. Charlotte ran into the play room, grabbed the pink teapot and proclaimed, "Bing my cop-pee." I laughed out loud, and confirmed that she was bringing her coffee, just like Mommy. She said "yes" -- so proud of herself!

It Runs in the Family

In case we were wondering where Makela gets her animal rescuing gene, I captured and released an 8-inch lizard today. I found it running around the garage after we returned home from the library. Turns out it was a Southern Alligator Lizard:

When I sent Joe this picture, taken from "The Lizard Lounge" web site, he had but one thing to say: "Glad it didn't bite you, Ranger Rick."

Mermaids Do What?

Makela is currently obsessed with mermaids. She pretends to be a mermaid on the playground, at the dinner table, and of COURSE in the bath tub. She often asks if they are real. But she made me laugh pretty hard with today's burning question: "Mom, how do mermaids go to the bathroom? That's what I'd like to know."

New Neighbors

Oh how I've neglected this blog for the last eight months. Wish I had more time to write. But with Charlotte doing new things every day, and Makela saying and doing hysterical things, it's time to start doing a better job with this thing. So here's a conversation that Makela had mostly with herself today, after she found a little snail next to the sidewalk on her way home from the library with Daddy and Charlotte today....

M: I see his little breathing hole.

M: Oooh, he's got tiny little eyeballs.

M: What if he gets stepped on? I'm going to stay & watch over him.

J: But Makela, you can't stay -- it will take hours for him to get to the sidewalk.

So Makela gently moves the snail over by a tree.

M: Now he's safe from predators. Dogs like to eat snails, you know.

M: Look, it's a whole snail home!

M: That must be his mom & dad. I bet they were worried about him.

M: Just have to say one last goodbye. (Transfers kiss from finger to shell.) That's your home now. We need to keep you very safe.

M: They're our neighbors! We have new neighbors! I think the one I helped is Snaily. He has a sister, Shelly. The Dad is named Slime & the Mom is named Swirl.

M: I'm very good with animals, you know. I didn't just grab him up, I used very gentle fingers, like this.

J: You're an animal rescuer, Makela.

M: I am! I *am* an animal rescuer. Maybe I could work with Diego.