Language

I was inspired by my friend Katie, who writes about her delicious triplets in such sparkling detail, to capture some of the unique words and phrases that Charlotte likes to use. I never write them down and am bound to be forgetting some, but here are a few favorites:

If you ask her a question and she does not know the answer she cocks her little head to the side and says "I can't know."

I am enjoying sparkling water this summer (in an effort to not drink the pop that I would really prefer to drink) and Charlotte loves it as well. But sparkling is not an easy word for her to say. The word that it sounds like she is saying is not appropriate for me to write here, but it sounds a lot like "farkling" water. But the "r" and "l" are not very audible. It makes me laugh everytime.

If she knows that I am frustrated with her or on the verge of anger she stops me, often putting her hands on my face and says "Mommy are you happy?"

Each day as we get in the car to go someplace she asks "Where us going?"

I love that she can communicate every thing she needs to now, and I really love her unique phrases. They will disappear with time, but until then I will happily give her as much "farkling" water as she requests!

And our newest addition...

The Walshes have decided (or maybe fate decided for us) that we would have a new addition to our family, making us complete as a family of 5....we are happy to share with everyone that Baby #3 is due sometime around New Year's. And yes, we REALLY must love holiday birthdays (Ella and I are near Thanksgiving, Charlotte is December 21st and JD is December 24th). New baby is due on December 31st...Fingers are crossed for a baby born AFTER Christmas!!!

The girls are so excited and love the idea of being big sisters together. We are also gearing up to move them into a room together and they will be in the Big Girls' Room as they call it.

That's our big news, we will keep everyone posted when we find out sometime at the end of August if it is a boy or a girl.

Ella and Charlotte's First Dance Recital

Ella and Charlotte had their first dance recital on Sunday and it was really one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. Ella, beaming on stage and knowing ever dance move. Charlotte, looking as cute as a two year old possibly can and not moving a muscle onstage (standing next to Melanie who danced and smiled). Both enjoyed themselves so much and it was a joy to see.

JD made a video of it that I am very excited to post...

Ella and Charlotte's Recital from jd walsh on Vimeo.

Charlotte's School

Once a week for an hour and a half, Charlotte and I go to school together. She really enjoys it, as do I. She has a few friends that she looks forward to seeing them (and as a two year old barely acknowledges them once they arrive) and she loves rug time when we get to sing. She loves to sing the soft kitty song, she says it is her favorite. She runs in and goes straight to the art project table (as long as there is glue or paint). Next year she will go to the school all by herself, but for now I am enjoying going to school with her once a week.

The kids watch the Mrs. Crocodile song intently.


Mrs. Harris singing with the kids.

Easter

On Easter morning Ella BOUNDED out of bed to see if the Easter bunny had come. (As a side note, she did NOT do this on Christmas. Candy trumps Santa). She had informed JD the day before that she thought MAYBE Easter was her favorite holiday. When pushed she changed back to Christmas, but it does attest to the level of excitement she had.

Easter morning the girls discovered their Easter baskets (year round toys) had been found by the Easter bunny and FILLED. This was somewhat exciting, but the true excitement was - what is in the back yard? "I hope there are lots of treats." Yes, there were. Charlotte dove into her candy, dumped every piece out on the carpet and sat without moving until it was finished. Completely. Ella had some but then chose to put hers away so that she could have some later. (At which point she kindly shared with Charlotte who had none for later.)

With Nana after bath time.


Discovering the baskets.


The tricky bunny hid eggs in the tree!


Charlotte dresses up for Easter morning.


After the Easter festivities of the morning we went to a family friend's house and enjoyed seeing friends and eating DELICIOUS food there. The girls got to play with a bunch of other kids and even got to swim (a chilly day in Los Angeles, but still swimmable in a heated pool!).

Contemplating the pond


The whole family


Nana and the girls


The kids table at dinner


The girls with a friend

A Passing Stranger

While on a visit to the Getty museum in February the girls and I were in line when a sweet girl with a camera said that she was a photographer and loved taking photos - was I ok with her snapping a few of Charlotte? I said of course and today received a WONDERFUL surprise in my email box - a few photos of my Charlotte that are just beautiful and very much capture her...so thought I would share.

We are on Spring Break and will probably be headed to the Getty again this week. Wonder if we will have such nice luck again?

Charlotte

Charlotte is 2 and a bit now (well, 27 months to be precise) and she is one of the funniest people I know. Her favorite things are:

1) Her Ella. Every day when she wakes up - "Where's my Ella?" Luckily her Ella dotes on her as well.

2) Her dolls - baby and her new doll, "my doll". Apparently names are not one of her likes. She sleeps with Baby, her doll, her Shamu book, her baby beluga book, her Minnie phone, her turtle and her blankies ("my two" as they are called).

3) Her pink kitty rain boots. It doesn't rain a lot in LA. You wouldn't know it judging by her daily footwear. Dresses and her boots, preferably on the wrong feet. Pick your battles...

4) Jokes. She is very silly and really likes to say silly things. Her current favorite is to say very quietly one...two...three...(then so loudly MARY POPPINS! Then, amidst gales of laughter she shouts, I called you Mary Poppins!

5) Docious. Speaking of Mary Poppins, Charlotte would like there to be one song in the world and it is Docious. Also known as Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Thanks to the broadway version of the song both girls can (almost) spell the word!

6) My phone. She really loves calling people on the phone. Gaga, Papa, Soup, Kait and Nana have all been on the receiving end of a Charlotte call.

Other Charlotte tidbits -
She tells us her name is Charlotte Cinderella Disneyland Walsh.
She can count to ten.
She has decided to start wearing big girl underpants and uses the toilet - and has been doing so for about 3 days with just one accident, all of her on volition.
Her favorite activities (and the ones she would like to do all day) are painting and playing in the sink with the bubbles.
She calls swimming "souping".

Ella

Ella is now 4 years old, but is so wise and thoughtful that at times it is hard to remember that she is four. Her current favorite things are:

1) School - every day she asks is today a school day?

2) Art projects - preferably using as many varied elements as she can possibly find. One day I reminded her that "nature stays in nature" (which means, DO NOT bring that bucket of mud into my house) and she very calmly told me that she was using different mediums in her art project and she needed it. She won, of course. Most of her art projects involve markers, paper, glue, scissors, play dough and ribbons.

3) The phrase "of course" - used often and completely (adorably) incorrectly. Example: Are you coming, of course? I love it!

4) Musicals - she will sit near the CD player or the computer (she can navigate her way through iTunes with ease) and her favorite musicals are currently Annie, The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins the musical and The Secret Garden.

5) Books -we have read 3 of the Betsy-Tacy book series and just started the All of a Kind Family books (5 sisters, one is Ella and one is Charlotte) and she really loves reading her chapter books. I look forward to that reading time with her immensely.

6) Riding her bike. She adores riding her bike and in one quick weekend mastered her two wheeler with the training wheels. She is unstoppable!

7) Swimming. She now jumps into the pool without even plugging her nose and is learning to swim, all from Daddy. She loves it.

Other Ella tidbits:
She tells us her name is Ella Bella Cinderella Disneyland Rose Walsh.
She really really really wants to visit Texas (no idea why).
She is the kindest person I have ever met.
She still loves her fifi (blankie), pacis and her Lucy (her baby doll) and has them with her for sleeping.