Charlotte is two!!

Darling girl, happy second birthday!! You are no longer a baby, but my heart holds you as my baby forever and ever and ever. I am so proud of the big girl you are becoming. I love to watch you learn and grow and laugh and explore. You make my heart sing, Charlotte Adeline Alberts.

Growth/ development: Charlotte is a very tall girl: 36.5 inches! She weighs about 27 pounds and wears size 3T pants because 2T is too short! She wears size seven sneakers and her shirts are a mix of 2T and 3T. She is very slender and her hair curls up right around her chin. The biggest growth Charlotte shows lately is her vocabulary and verbal communication.... She makes 4-5 word sentences and I can't even begin to count how many words she knows. She is very good at making herself understood, but gets super frustrated if someone doesn't understand what she's trying to say. Some of my favorite things she has learned this month: "Bye, bear. Back two minutes." :) And, "Charlotte hungry. Eat dinner now!" 

Schedule/sleep: Charlotte takes one nap almost every day, for about 1.5 or 2 hours. She usually gets up for the day between 6:45 and 7:45, then naps around 12:30 and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. She takes at least 30 minutes to fall asleep; before that she plays quietly with the menagerie of stuffed animals she keeps in her crib ;) Speaking of that, she is still definitely sleeping in her crib. We have the toddler bed all set up in her room, but she is happy in her crib and hasn't tried to climb out, so we are continuing with a good thing. On vacation, she did just fine in a twin bed but fell off a few times and just generally didn't sleep as soundly. 

Charlotte likes: being outside, pushing toys like a plastic airplane or her bus or her shopping cart, watching Daniel Tiger on the iPad, practicing letters, cooking in her little kitchen, pretending to make/drink tea, reading books, taking care of her stuffed animals, sharing with Asher, taking baths, pouring water from one cup to another cup, eating lunch, wrestling with her dad, being loud and silly, using play dough, having her back rubbed at bed time, balls, French fries, lime aid, using the KitchenAid mixer to make cookies or muffins with Momma, snacks, garbage trucks, and hanging out with her family. 

Charlotte doesn't like: sitting at the table when she is done eating, being made to clean up when she wants to move on to another activity, going inside before she is ready, not being understood, and sitting in time out for hitting Asher (or intentionally being too rough with Asher).

Charlotte knows: almost all her letters! She doesn't recognize Q, R, U, or V yet, but she knows what word is associated with every letter if I prompt her. She can also "count" from one to thirteen, with a few numbers skipped, of course ;) She knows all the most common colors and even sometimes remembers gray! She is still working on shapes- only recognizing triangle because it comes up in an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, ha!

TWO is such a fun age! We love being your parents, Charlotte girl. HUGS and kisses!