World Traveler

"Look Daddy.  I painted Africa." 

Charlotte's To Do List

I was driving Charlotte and Happy to school/daycare yesterday and Charlotte asked what I was going to do during the day while she was at school.  There is always a list of a thousand things to do and it is a productive day if I get two of them done.  Rather than bore Charlotte with that list I asked what she thought I should do with my day.  Here were her suggestions:

1. Play with Pancho outside.

2. Take Pancho for a walk.

3. Listen to music and dance with Pancho.

4. Read books to Pancho.

5. Draw a picture of Pancho and color it.
6. Take a nap with Pancho.
7. Take Pancho to a park and take a nap outside with Pancho.

8. Play with stamps.

The zen of summer.  That is a list I can get behind.  Frog and Toad and Treebeard would all approve.

The World According To Charlotte, pt 8

Charlotte was getting dressed yesterday morning and kept on talking about "in-sleeve shirts" and "out-sleeve shirts."

It didn't take long for Emily and I to figure out that Charlotte was talking about long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts.  Your arms are in your shirt when you wear an "in-sleeve shirt" and they are out when you wear an "out-sleeve shirt."

Makes sense to me.

"Are We There Yet?" Meets "Why?"

Over the weekend Charlotte came to the mind-blowing realization that every street has its own name.  And the last two trips in the car have not been the same since.  For over a year now she has known River Road by name because, well, it's pretty damn distinctive.  It runs along the Mississippi River, is dotted with runners, bikers, and has bridges and a train trestle.  She also knows the Lake Street Bridge, the Ford Bridge, and the Franklin Avenue Bridge by name.

But then yesterday (Saturday), as part of some random conversation with her, I told her we were on 42nd street and would take a left on Nicollet.  And at that moment she put two and two together and you could almost hear the wheels churning in her head as if to tell her "Wait a second, River Road isn't the ONLY road with a name. Holy %#^@%$!! They all have names!!!!!"

Ooops.  I unleashed a monster.

Charlotte now knows each road has a new name just like each person has a name she wants to learn.  Now every time I make a turn she asks, "What street is this one called?"  And God love and her sincerity, she truly wants to know.  Unfortunately in Longfellow, as almost everyone reading this knows, the streets (going east to west) are all in the high 20s to mid 40s and the avenues (north-south) share the same range.  So really my answers are typically pretty boring and just a lesson in random numbers between 25 and 46.  But she carries on and asks with each turn.

Or she will just ask, "Is this 46th Avenue?"  I do not know why 46th Avenue is her favorite.  It is a main Longfellow thoroughfare but otherwise fairly unremarkable... unless you're Charlotte.

Conversations with Charlotte #92

As of this week, we are a one car family.  Well, we were a one car family all summer but this is our first run at it now that Emily and I are back to work.  It has been pretty nice for the last three days because it means we end up driving together a lot as family to daycare and commuting to work.  

This has been especially nice for Charlotte because after I pick up her and Happy we head to Emily's work.  This means Charlotte gets to see tons of airplanes resting, taking off, and landing at the airport, the lightrail train (she is particularly fond of automatic gates), and lots of trucks.  Also, Cirque du Soleil is at Mall of America so we drive by the tents in the MoA parking lot.  Charlotte was talking about them quite a bit and then as we got closer wanted to know if they were camping tents.

Me: No.  There is a circus is in there.

Charlotte:  Ooooooo.  I want to go in those tents.

Me: We can't.  We have to have tickets.

Charlotte: Daddy has to buy the tickets.

Me:  No I don't.  They cost too much money.

Charlotte:  Daddy has to buy money.

Me: No I don't.  Then I'd have to pay interest.

Charlotte:  Ooooo.  I like interest.

Me:  Hmmmm. That would work only if you were a banker.

Charlotte: Daddy's a teacher.  Mommy's a scientist.  Charlotte's a banker.

President Suze

Charlotte has been interested in airplanes ever since Suze visited.  So, I knew I wanted to get her a flight related souvenir on my trip to D.C.  Enter toy Air Force One.  

She loves it.  It flies around the living room, joins us at the dinner table, today the airplane went through a tunnel.  When we ask her who is on the airplane, she says, Suze.

The World According to Charlotte, part 7

"Come to think of it, I'll just have water."

Emily bought Charlotte and me a gift card to Smashburger for Christmas.  And our first trip there in January on the gift card resulted in this compelling conversation.  Today we went back again and used up the rest of the money on the card.  

Two months later, the "Smashburgerrrrrrr" conversation is about the same, only it begins earlier, on the way to the restaurant in the car.  Every two minutes Charlotte would blurt out "Smashburgerrrrrrrr."  And you know how people can say something and you have no idea how to reply in any way that is remotely meaningful? Well it turns out "Smashburgerrrrrr" is one of those instances.  Luckily things got more interesting.

But it started out as it usually does with Charlotte.  We got there and she was doing the same thing: labeling everything.  I think she does this when she is really excited about something and doesn't know how to express it other than point out every detail she sees.  My theory is that Charlotte is bathed in excitement and happiness, and it spills over to color even the smallest detail in her surroundings and enhances everything she is experiencing.  Even the wrapper the straw came in is so absurdly awesome it has to be pointed out.  There is something to be said for that.  Suck it, cynicism.

So when Charlotte's milk arrived, she thought MILK!!!  I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT MILK AT SMASHBURGER FOR THE LAST TWENTY MINUTES AND NOW IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.... IN A SMASHBURGER, NO LESS!!!!  THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!  

But that enthusiasm comes out sideways, and less direct and more slowly for Charlotte.  Instead, in Charlotte's world, this just means it's time to talk about our beverages, and point out who has what.  I had a Coke, which I drink maybe ten times a year, tops.  And Charlotte took note.

"This is a Charlotte's milk.  That a daddy's black water."  

Black water?  Gross.

Well that took away any ounce of enjoyment I was going to get from my Coke.  And to really drive the point home, Charlotte's new thing now is to sing about two things back and forth.  She is really into opposites right now and they also sing a "clean and sort" song at Montesorri.  

So in the spirit of "clean and sort" she will sign songs like.... I don't know, of the top of my head.... "Milk!  Black water.  Black water.  Black water.  Milk!  Black water.  Black water.  Black water."

This only lasted about thirty seconds.  But even so, I think I am done with Cokes for the year.  It was a perfect public health PSA.  Well done young lady.

The World According to Charlotte parts 5-6

Part 5.  Time outs are lonely and cold.  Late this morning Charlotte and I were in the backyard taking our own sweet time getting to the car to run some errands.  During that time she slipped and fell.  It was nothing to serious, but enough to make her cry for about 30 seconds.  I was up on the deck and she was by the garage when she fell so it took me about ten or 15 seconds to get to her.  As I was putting her in the car, she had totally recovered and was happily debriefing everything that happened.

"I fall down.  I crying.  I was in time out."

Okay, I guess it had three of the key of the components of a time out: crying, not being on two feet, and isolation. I guess in Charlotte's world is what a time out is.

Part 6.  More shape changing wizardry.  This time it's not a person changing form, but the common hair bow.  One evening a few weeks ago, I was getting Charlotte ready for bed and she kept talking about a crocodile.  I could not figure out what she was talking about, until she finally pointed to a hair bow that was next to her on the changing table.  Emily has since told me there are hair thingies called alligator clips, although we have yet to use talk about these clips.

It turns out, these magical hair bows are crocodiles when they are lying dormant or just picked up, and then transformed into "airplanes" when you pick them up to them in her hair, and then are back to being bows when  they are in her hair.  No word yet if Suze is on the bows when they are airplanes.  I hope not, because then my mind would explode.  It will take more than Marty McFly to explain that one... maybe Rick Moranis' charachter from Honey I Shrunk the Kids would also have to be drafted.













Crocodiles, airplanes, and bows.  I could use this story with the students I see who have language disorders.  Context is everything in interpreting meanings of words, I tell them. Understanding and applying that is something they are always working on.  Nice to see Charlotte is off to a good start in this area.

The World According to Charlotte, pt. 4

Charlotte and I went to the zoo this morning and she now knows her way around and what she wants to see.  She loves the otters and talks about them all the time.  Today we got to see them during feeding time, which she thought was great.  Hibernating bears?  Awesome.  Leopard cubs play fighting?   Who doesn't love watching that?  Sharks and tropical fish... yes please.  Penguins?  Well...

Charlotte is not impressed.  

I lack the words to describe how bored she is by penguins.  She always says she wants to go see them and then when we get to the penguin jail cell exhibit, they may as well be showing a documentary about the history of guitar strings as far as Charlotte is concerned.  She could not be more bored.

But then coming home, she wanted me to stop the car in the alley in front of our neighbor's garage to look at and talk about the roof that was built in December.  And then when we were walking from the our garage to the back door, she lagged behind to shovel snow (big surprise).  While she was doing that, I let Pancho out and he peed in the snow on the other side of the yard.  Charlotte thought that was the most interesting thing she saw all day.  She dropped her shovel and trudged through untouched snow to look at the pee and talk about it.  Pancho could have peed on top of Mt. Everest and she would have found a way there, she was so determined.

A roof and dog pee are awesome.  But penguins are lame.  Got it.

The World According to Charlotte, part 3

As has been well documented, Charlotte enjoys the ritual of shoveling snow and chopping ice. Whenever we get out of the car in the afternoon and head from the garage to the house, she will stop to either shovel or chop.

Our sidewalk in the backyard is basically a giant riverbed, so all the thaw runs to the sidewalk and then freezes when the sun goes down.  This is fun for Charlotte because we get to chop the ice and find water underneath.  But we've had some nasty coldspells (still!) so lately there has been nothing but ice almost all the way to the cement.

But last night's freeze was a gentle one, meaning today when we chopped the ice, I found about an inch of water underneath which Charlotte was happy to see.

So Charlotte looked down at the trench of standing water and said, "It's a Mississippi River."

Kind of, I guess.

The World According to Charlotte, pt 2

Charlotte is really enjoying her new daycare/school (Edgcumbe Montessori), and a few new rules have materialized.

1. Boys rules.  Girls drool.  All of the kids Charlotte talks about from school are boys.  She has taken a particular interest in some guy named Carver.  I don't know too much about Carver except that he has blue snowpants.  He can put his snowpants on by himself.  And he cried one day.  A self-sufficient guy who has a sensitive side?  Charlotte is off to a good start in picking a boyfriend.

2.  It's okay to call your parents "teacher" and "Babiya."  It's pretty funny.  We think Babiya is the woman who helps with the toddlers at Montesorri.  Charlotte usually calls us Babiya when she is playing her favorite game: go night night.  Ironically, this is often her game of choice before bedtime.  But in the game she calls us Babiya when she wants us to tuck her in.

The Teacher thing is also funny.  She fully knows I don't want to be called Teacher but yells it anyway when she needs help or attention that is not urgent.  Whatever Charlotte.  I ignore her when she calls me Teacher and she keeps at it anyway.  I have to say I admire her persistence.

The World According to Charlotte

I have yet to meet a toddler who ignores an airplane.  And given how close we live to the airport, there are a lot of airplanes for Charlotte to notice.  For some reason this winter, the airport is using its least used runway a lot more frequently, which is the one that goes right over Longfellow.  So Charlotte has had even more airplanes to point out.

And here is what we know to be true about Charlotte's understanding of airplanes.

1. Suze is on every airplane Charlotte sees, be it in a book or in the sky.

2. Every airplane is going to Texas.

I'm not sure if Suze is piloting the plane or just riding it.  In the Richard Scarry books, Charlotte will point to all characters associated with an airplane and say it is Suze.  

Well done Suze!  That is quite an accomplishent.   For this to work you have to:

1. Be an aviation Jack-of-all-trades.  You know how to pilot a plane, be a flight attendant, load and unload baggage, and drive and operate a fuel truck.  And you are also racking up an absurd amount of frequent flyer mileage on a bunch of airlines.  You may want to check to see if UPS and the United States Air Force have frequent flyer programs because you been seen on their airplanes as well.  And maybe check with UPS about getting you out of the cargo hold.

2.Be a Greek god or a Pokemon.  Shape changing from a human to all the animals in the Richard Scarry books is not a mortal skill.

3. Own a kickass DeLorean with a flux capacitor.  Some of the airplanes you have been found flying on are five minutes apart.  The only way to explain this is that you are in two places at once.  Enter time travel. 

The close observer will note that there are two Marty McFlys in this screen capture.

4. Have lot of free time.  Time travel or no time travel, the amount of time you are spending flying seems exhausting and consuming. Semi-retired or not, you are living an active life.

No matter what, I know this to be true: a time-traveling, shape-changing aviation craftsman is a pretty badass grandma to have.  Charlotte is very lucky.  

It should be noted, however, that we all have our flaws.  Yesterday Charlotte pointed out an airplane to Emily and me, and let us know it was Suze, going back to Texas AGAIN.  So Emily piped in "Come on Suze, make up your mind."

Don't let the smile and motherly vibe of this library scientist fool you.  She can turn into a tiger and fly a military jet from San Antonio to Minneapolis in a matter of seconds, and then three minutes later turn into a bear with a wrench, rewiring a 747 before a transatlantic flight.