Charlotte-isms

Last night when I was rocking Charlotte, she wouldn't stop talking about the Knuffle Bunny, Too book we had just read. In the book (in case you're not an avid reader of picture books), two little girls are fighting at school about having the same stuffed bunnies. The teacher confiscates the bunnies. Charlotte kept saying, "Mommy, the teacher took the bunnies! The girls were very sad. We have to say, 'Teacher, no swiping!'" Some of you get it that this is a reference to Dora the Explorer, in which Dora often has to tell Swiper the Fox, "Swiper, no swiping!"

If you've ever met my daughter, you know that she LOVES Dora. She likes to speak Spanish randomly and also to imitate Swiper. One day she was on her changing table and threw her pants across the room. She then said in a sinister, perfect replication of Swiper, voice, "Heh, heh, heh! You'll never find it now!" Does one discipline this sort of behavior, because I can't see how that would be possible when you're crying from laughing so hard. All I can do is squeeze her to death and tell her I love her SO much. Discipline? No. Spoiling? We'll see.

So, tonight, when we were saying our prayers, Charlotte says to me, "Mommy, I want to see God. I can't see him ANYWHERE." I was so tickled that I squeezed her to death and told her I loved her SO much (funny, sounds a lot like my discipline, doesn't it?), I told her we can't see God, much like we can't see the wind, but we know it's there because it blows our face and our hair. She thinks about this and says, "Mommy, I can't see the wind OR God ANYWHERE."

At school, they write things on the dry erase board to keep parents informed of naps and other necessities (read: bowel movements). Acronyms used include TP for tried potty, WP for went potty, and BM for bowel movement. Charlotte has adopted this language and often comes to me saying, "Mommy, I had a BM."

Whenever I need to go to an appointment or go to work on a non-daycare day, Beth next door so graciously takes Charlotte for me. Beth's house has such attractive attributes, such as Jack (aged 5), Evelyn (aged 3), Baby Gwen, endless Diego videos, Jack's secret stash of Nilla wafers, and lots of cool toys we don't have at home. Last Friday when Barry and I were both home from work with Charlotte (something we might have thought would be a treat for her), Charlotte tells me, "Mommy, I want to go to Beth's house, and you can go to work."

So, since Beth's house is where she goes when she can't go to daycare, Charlotte told me when her friends Keira & Alexa (who have no connection to Beth whatsoever) were not in school one day, "I bet they're at Beth's house."