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.