Charlie Casanova

I'm not so sure if Charlie's little love-hormones would have kicked in at this young age if the tall, statuesque, blonde ex-model hadn't moved in down the street... but, she did. And he is smitten...

Danae moved down the street about two years ago. She's stunning and incredibly sweet - a combo most men seem to flock to (and why wouldn't they?), but five-year-old little boys? It never crossed my mind that a kindergartener would develop a crush on an older, married woman!

We first started to notice that Charlie had a little thing for her when everytime she'd come by he'd scream at the top of his lungs - "Danae!!!!!!!!!!!!" - and run to her for hugs and kisses. Mind you, even mommy - who spent nine months growing him in her womb and 14 hours of labor getting him out - does not receive such a jubilent and enthusiastic welcome. One night, when Danae was out of town, we had her husband, Mark, over for dinner. Without so much as a "hello," Charlie walked right up to him and asked, "Excuse me, but where's your wife?" It was then that we knew the kid had it bad. And not even a husband would stand in the way of his love for her... I caught him a few weeks later trying to convince her to not "get old" so he could grow up and marry her.

We asked him one night why he liked Danae so much, and he responds, "Ohh, she's soooo pretty, Mom." Ha ha. The great part is that he's right. She's beautiful. He has great taste... just bad timing.

And while I'd like to report that my son is a one-woman man, it seems his love for the ladies is
beginning to take on a life of its own. Just last week, another stunning mom, Lisa, was driving her kids in their golf cart around the neighborhood. She made a stop at our driveway for a chat. Charlie, who was sidewalk-chalking runs right up to her and writes on the street L-O-V-E with an arrow pointing right to her. I've seen him do that before, but only to Danae. I leaned over to my other neighbor, Jenny, and whispered to "Just wait. I bet you anything Charlie thinks Lisa is pretty." When she drove off, we asked Charlie why he wrote LOVE for Miss Lisa. He started twirling in little love-smitten circles and saying "Pretty, pretty, pretty!!"

On Halloween, we were grabbing a quick lunch and ran into an old friend from Pre-K, Rylee, at Chick-fil-a. Charlie was in the glassed-in playroom and Rylee was sitting with her mom at the table adjacent to the glass. Charlie walked right up to the glass where she was and started hamming it up trying to make her laugh. I told Rylee's mom that he was flirting and we got in a discussion about how they're too young for puppy love... I, of course, told her about Danae and Lisa. And as if on cue, Charlie comes out of the playroom and tells me that he doesn't want to leave... "I want to stay here with Pretty Gorgeous ALLLLLLL day" I about spit out my coke laughing! Again, great taste. Rylee was the prettiest little thing in his Pre-K class. At least he's getting better on picking ladies his own age!