Charlotte is also changing all the time, growing up in so many ways. She continues to grow like a weed: at just over 2 1/2 years old she's about 35 pounds and now wearing size 4 clothing. We're pretty sure she's going to be tall like her Dad.
Charlotte made a smooth adjustment to the new house, and loves all the extra space to run around. Since moving we've noticed that her energy level seems to have grown with the space: she's constantly running and jumping, climbing, spinning around, and doing "somersaults". We moved her from her crib into a big bed last week and that's gone pretty smoothly too. She had never climbed out of her crib, and so far stays put in the big bed too, despite the fact that she can climb out by herself. She'll call out to us, but has yet to come find us!
We're also in the midst of potty-training, and she's doing pretty well. We'd tried for about three days over Christmas with absolutely no success, so we put it off, but she's taken to it in the past couple of weeks. We've discovered that smarties are a great motivator where Charlotte is concerned, although it's still a work-in-progress.
Charlotte moved up to an older room at daycare in December and is really loving it. It was overdue - she was the oldest in the baby room and at a different stage than many of the others - and she's enjoying the more toddler-oriented activities as well as interacting with kids on her level. She's becoming more confident and independent all the time. I love to see her playing happily when I arrive to pick her up in the afternoon. She often runs over and enthusiastically shows me what she's doing.
Charlotte's becoming a better conversationalist all the time. She seems to enjoy language, and will invariably repeat new words or phrases when she hears them. Occasionally she'll surprise us with her statements. At dinner the second evening in our new house - after a busy day of housework and unpacking - Charlotte turned to James and said: "Did you keep busy today, Daddy?" After going through a busy stage where it was hard to get her to sit still for long, she's really enjoying books these days. We're moved out of the board book stage and recently Charlotte's been enjoying "Green Eggs and Ham," "Curious George," and Robert Munsch.
James loves to tease Charlotte, and she teases him back. He's also starting to pass on his taste in entertainment. She's way more interested in his video games than I am, and she watched her first full-length movie with him a couple of weeks ago: Mega-mind. Ever since, she's been asking to watch "the blue baby" again. Her favourite show is Max and Ruby, although she seems a little less obsessed with it lately. For the longest time, she would pretend one of her hands was Max and the other was Ruby, and make them converse with each other (sometimes side characters Louise and Morris would even make an appearance - it was pretty elaborate). Occasionally, though, she would reassure us that her hands were not Max and Ruby, "they're just hands."
Although initially Charlotte seemed threatened by the idea of a new baby in the family - especially as far as my attention is concerned - she's been warming up to the idea in the past couple of months. We'll see how she does in a couple months when the idea becomes a reality!
