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.

Overheard, Exhibit E

Charlotte loves to sit at her table (that her cousins in Texas used to use) and color.  As a result, she has accidentally marked up the wall a little bit, as you would expect.  This morning she was sitting at her table and I walked into her room and she pointed at a red line on the wall and said, "the wall has a owie" and went back to drawing.

Overheard, Exhibit D

Charlotte again rushed into to the bathroom when she heard the toilet flushing.  She offered up this gem as she saw the water bubbles in the toilet bowl:

"Bye bye trash bubbles."

Trash bubbles.  That's more like it.  So much better than yummy bubbles.

If You Liked Icebreakers...

...then you'll LOVE Snow Shoveler.  Same cast.  Same director.  Same writers.  Get your popcorn ready.

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.

Overheard, Exhibit C

Charlotte, watching the toilet fill up, after I flushed it:

"Ooooh, yummy bubbles."