Super Bubbles!

Last night, I thought it'd be nice and relaxing to read a book in a luxurious bubble bath. Really, I should know better than to plan anything relaxing while in the company of my four year old by now. Charlie was drawn to the bubbles like a moth to flame. My "Mommy Quiet Time" was anything but. At first, he liked to pull handfuls of bubbles off the top and blow them at the cat. When that lost its appeal, he started dipping various toys in the bubbles to get them "dirty" and then "clean" them in the running water. Naturally, it was important to then test what Mommy looks like with bubbles on her head. (I wasn't planning on getting my hair wet - oh well!!). And then Mom needed a bubble-beard. Following that, he began to be curious as to what would happen if we turned on the jets - so we did. Bubbles grew exponentially. Obviously, at that point, he HAD to get in...

Charlie's Perspective

I am endlessly amazed by the sweet and innocent way that children see the world. You and I see a receipt envelope with the Amazon logo. Charlie sees a smiley man.

Babies

I often joke that Charlie has always been a fourth child begrudginingly stuck in an only child's body. He coos over babies. He oogles over toddlers. He falls effortlessly into friendships with any passing kid who will play. And just last night we found him on a friend's couch cradling a babydoll and poking at its eyes. "I'm giving the baby eyedrops," he explained. The poor child just wants a sibling...

That desire for a brother or sister - admist Mike's and my indecision to procreate for a second time - has materialized into an interest in all things baby. But most recently, his curiosity seems to be concentrated on the subject of where babies come from. And comedy, of course, ensues.

A few weeks ago, I picked Charlie up from school and on the drive home he asks, "Mommy, did you draw me?"

I was confused, "What do you mean, Baby, 'did I draw you'?"

"When you made me, did you draw me?" he continued.

"Ohhhhh!" I said, laughing at the sweetness of his curiosity. I gave my best explanation. "No, Baby. Mommy and Daddy made you, but we didn't draw you."

"Well. How did you and Daddy make me?" he pressed.

"Well, Daddy put you in Mommy's tummy and then you grew in there and nine months later I went to the hospital and had you!" I thought that had done it. I was able to answer the unanswerable with not too much detail and avoided lies about storks. Ever the case, I was impressed with my wise motherly explanation a little prematurely...

He wasn't satisfied. "But how did Daddy put me in your tummy?"

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no!!! How do you answer that!? My brain wasn't quick enough! I couldn't think of anything but the truth and I wasn't about to tell him the whole truth! "Let's talk about that with Daddy a little later tonight when he gets home, ok?" Ahhh, there we go. I opted for delay and was relying on his four year old brain to forget to bring it back up.

"Ok," he said. "But... can I watch when you and Daddy make my baby brother?"

Womanizer

Last June, Mike and I realized that our listening to the radio in the car was no longer unnoticed by our little backseat rider. On the drive from Charlotte to Wilmington for my best friend's wedding, we heard something along these lines coming from a small voice in the backseat:

"Apple Bottom Jeans!!! Hoops and the fiiirrrr! Everybody lookin' at herrrrrrr!!!! She hit the floor! Next thing you know! Low low low low low!"

Mike and I just looked at each other - both stunned and amazed - then we laughed and laughed!

Charlie, always the ham for attention, performed this same adorable rendition of rapper FloRida's Low just minutes before walking down the aisle as Ring Bearer. What can I say - We raise a classy kid.

Since then, he has gotten to be quite well versed in Top 40. It is now common background noise to hear him singing himself a Charlie-version of a pop song as he colors or draws chalk on the driveway.

Sometime last week, as Mike and I were relaxing on the couch, we were surprised to hear Charlie singing a tune in a new location - on the potty. Like I said, classy kid. Ever the parents who run for the camera, we caught the following on video and look forward to the day we can show this to a future girlfriend. See if you can figure out his song. (You may need to turn up your volume!)

US Airways Flight 1549

Hi everyone! If you are viewing this blog, you are most likely a friend or family - and I am happy to have you here in my cyberspace!


I have been considering this blog for a long time now. A place to not only document my life with Mr.C and share it with others, but also a way to remember these precious and hilarious moments that will all too soon be gone... (can I mention here how much I hate that children grow up??)


So... with a bit of inspiration from faithful blogger friends... I begin...


Today's Charlieism:


Yesterday afternoon a US Airways flight took off from LaGuardia Airport and lost engine power after a bird strike and landed three minutes after take-off in the Hudson River. I was fascinated by this for two reasons - 1. The obvious - my complete and total fear of dying a firey death from a plane crash was rattled - A paradigm shift! Everyone survived! How amazing! and 2. It was a US Airways flight which is the airline that is hubbed in Charlotte, NC. I have flown US Airways almost exclusively for decades. It was surreal to see that so-familiar plane floating in the Hudson...

Conflicted yesterday afternoon by my desire to incessantly watch the repeating news stream on this event and my desire to keep the footage from Charlie so as to prevent him from developing a fear of flying, I decided to DVR all coverage and watch after the lil' guy went to bed. But... I forgot to share that idea with Mike... and my husband, being the constant news-tragedy-watcher that he is... was all over the reports when he got home. The little guy started in almost immediately wondering why the plane was floating in the water...

Able to scoot him away to other activities, I thought I had managed to keep his curiosity at bay... but this morning, my Hubs turns on the TV again and there is that plane - floating off Battery Park - and Charlie inquires again, "Mommy, why is that plane in the water?"

Quick on my feet, I told him, "That plane was very tired of flying and decided to go for a swim instead!" (Thinking to myself that I was a very clever mother for thinking up such a wonderful and innocent response).

Boy, was I wrong...

Charlie says "Mama! Don't tell me that that plane is swimming! That plane landed in the water. And that is a real problem!"

Ha ha ha ha!!! I about died laughing! And to think I wanted to protect his innocence...

We decided to leave the news on at that point. And only a few moments later... the little guy said very nonchalantly, "Daddy, that's Gaza." Ha!