Drippy

After a little romp through the sprinkler last night:

Charlotte enjoyed a drippy, sticky popsicle. That is until she ate almost the entire thing and the last bits dropped on the ground. In desperation she tried to pick up the puddle that the bits immediately became. When this didn't work, she had a meltdown of her own.

What is she up to?

I wanted to capture how much Charlotte has been changing the past couple of months. Everyday she grows up right before our eyes. It is truly amazing to see. I have learned a couple of things now that she is becoming more of a toddler every day:

• Quiet = Up to no good. Sunday I was working on the computer with my back to Charlotte. She was pretty quiet for a minute, I looked behind me and she had her hands swishing around the dog's water bowl. Something she knows not to do.
• Finding things in odd places. We have side tables in our living room that have 4 little drawers each. I'm always finding the odd toy in these drawers. Yesterday I couldn't find my keys ANYWHERE - I finally found them last night under the couch cushions.

She is constantly jabbering now. She'll walk up to me and look at me very seriously and say "Shlker lkeroius alksdouw lkj osie oioasiufowef!" I have absolutely no idea what it means, but she does. She has her own little language and I can't wait until I can understand it.

I am getting better at deciphering some of her words and I am actually shocked at how much she is actually saying. "Wawa" may not sound like "Water", but she uses the same sound to talk about "water" each time.

She is also our little sponge - copies everything that we do. She thinks it is so funny when I sneeze, so I'll throw my head back and perform a gigantic fake sneeze to get her to laugh. Then she does the same thing, it's just about the cutest thing. Judd (being the mature father that he is) also taught her to make a fart sound with her hands, so every time she hears something that sounds like a fart, she puts her hands up to her mouth to blow in them to repeat the sound. She even tried to lick the dog yesterday because the dog licked her.

She has the funniest facial expressions. She does this squinty eye thing when she doesn't really like what you are doing or saying - it's her mean face - or as her dad would say "her subway face". She also does it when she points to her "Baboos" (Boo-Boos) on her knees, as if to say "Look, mom, look at what that sidewalk did to me - don't you feel sorry for me?"

But, with all of the good things, come the bad. She can be so whiny now sometimes. She just hangs on me and whines, "Mama, mama, mama". It is really hard to take. I think it is partly frustration on her part because she knows what she wants, but just can't express it. Also, she can throw a tantrum with the best of them now - complete with feet kicking and biting.

I wouldn't change her for the world, though.

Have you heard that Brad Paisley song, "I thought I loved you then?". Each day I'm not sure I can love this child anymore than I do now, but then I do.

To Grandmother's house we went

As a kid my family moved around - from Ohio to Texas to Georgia to Pennsylvania to Arkansas to Georgia to Pennsylvania. Throughout all of these moves, the one house that has remained constant is my Grandma Achuff's house. My grandfather passed away a little over 2 years ago, but she has stayed in the house. It is the house my father and my aunts and uncles grew up in. It is the house I spent a week all by myself in each summer - a week without sisters or parents, a special week spent with my grandparents.

It is a huge house. The kitchen is enormous and the heart of the house. There is a basement full of treasures including a pin ball machine that I played countless hours growing up and my grandfather's trains. There is the living room where my sisters and I watched "7 Brides for 7 Brothers" and various other musicals over and over again. Next to the living room is my grandfather's office which we weren't supposed to be in, but I remember peeking in watching him work. On the second floor there are the bedrooms and blue tile bathroom where my aunt Sue gave me bubble baths. Then the 3rd floor which contains another bedroom, but it is just a little spooky.

Through the kitchen and out of the backdoor is the most amazing backyard. Until recently the backyard contained a fish pond, a garden, and a tire swing. The tire swing was a real tire swing. Not a plastic swing made to look like a tire - but a real tire tied to a huge tree with a rope. I have so many memories of my dad and uncles pushing me higher and higher on the swing. So high that they would actually run under the tire while pushing.

It is one of my favorite places in the world.

So, I was thrilled to share my grandmother's house with Charlotte this past weekend. Judd flew to Tokyo on Thursday, so I decided to fly to PA to visit my parents. My mom told me that she had promised to help my grandmother with a garage sale on Saturday and she was going to drive there on Friday. Thursday we stayed at my parent's house and had dinner with my sister, Sally and her husband, Andrew. Charlotte had her first piece of corn on the cobb - she loved it so much she had a 2nd! Friday afternoon, after visiting with my Grammie, we drove to Grandma's.

Friday evening my sister, Rachel, and her fiancee, Adam, came to spend the night at my Grandmother's and help with the garage sale the next day. Then, my Aunt and Uncle came with their three kids. We got cheese steaks and hoagies, sat, ate and talked. Charlotte ate her first cheese steak and had her first lollipop for dessert. Then she ran around chasing after my cousins the rest of the night. She and my cousin, Todd, took turns sliding down a mattress that was a garage sale item that was propped against the stairs to block Charlotte from going upstairs. However, she would climb up two stairs, squeezing by the mattress, then fling herself down the folded mattress - a huge smile on her face each time she got to the bottom. At bedtime she hugged each person good night, then went to sleep in the same room that I used to sleep in with a jar of fire flies next to my bed fresh from a summer's night of fire fly hunting.

Saturday morning we all got up and helped set up the garage sale. It was pretty successful, Grandma made a few bucks.

Dad took Charlotte and I to the airport that afternoon. It was a whirlwind trip, but Charlotte and I were able to see both of my sisters, brother-in-law, and future brother-in-law as well as both of my grandmothers. As a bonus I got to visit with my aunt, uncle, and cousins.

I don't know how long my grandmother will stay in that house, I know she probably can't imagine not living there. I'm just so happy that I was able to share it with Charlotte. I know she won't remember her first visit there, but I will be able to tell her about it. The visit made me so excited for Charlotte's childhood. Her summers spent visiting her grandparents and making so many beautiful memories of her own. I pray that they are even more beautiful than the ones I hold so close.

Musicians in Pajamas

7 years

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from my mother. She said I should marry someone that makes me laugh. I am so grateful that I followed that advice and married a man that has made me laugh every day for the past 7 years.

Happy Father's Day

To one of the best father's I know.

Pool

Each evening this week we have gone "Owwwssii" and played in the "Pooouuul". I bought a little pool at Target a couple of months ago for about $5 - and it has provided hours of entertainment. Charlotte loves to hold the hose and fill it up herself. Normally this works out fine, but today she decided to turn and look at me while the hose was on. I was wetter than she was - she thought it was hilarious. (I love the fact that she has a little sense of humor now. I'll hear her, while she's alone, just cracking herself up from time to time.)

Have I mentioned how much I'm loving this summer so far? There is just something about summer time with kids.

We have started to wean Charlotte from the pacifier this week. We are only giving it to her when she's taking a nap or going to bed. We had a couple of rough nights Monday & Tuesday. So rough on Monday that she cried from 6:45-7:20 - straight through her bath. It was awful. Finally we were able to put her to bed and let her have it. I know that doesn't seem like a long time - but each minute that ticks by while your child is screaming feels like 10. Wednesday and today went much better. So maybe there is hope? It just seems so sad - she loves it so much.

See how hard it is to tell this little face "no"? It is really hard.