Charlotte Eve: 6 years old

Charlotte with the light catching her beautiful eyes

Again, a little belated. Charlotte turned 6 on December 21. We celebrated that night with her favorite dinner- chicken pot pie- and some cake with Meema and Papa Nick, before leaving early on Saturday morning to go to Maine.

On her birthday, with a Christmas manicure

On the 27th, Eric took Charlotte to her 6 year-old well visit, where she measured:

44.5” tall (+2.25 from last year, 36.3 %ile)

48.4 lbs (+ 6 from last year, 69.5% ile)

Eric told me that she went up in percentile for height and down for weight, but he must have gotten those things confused since it is the other way around. I think, in the end, all 3 of my kids end up somewhere around average all of the time.

Charlotte at 6: She has made a seamless transition to kindergarten, and gets along well with all of her classmates- no surprise. We just had her birthday party today and hosted 30 of her closest friends, and I heard from all the parents that their children talk about Charlotte all the time. I am relieved that she has such an easy time socially, and that she is so confident in her social skills.

This year Charlotte has been taking dance and gymnastics, joined Daisies in a troop at her school, and now wants to begin ice skating! She is finally old enough to enjoy and value her activities, and she looks forward to all of them. I have watched some of her dance class, and she is good; I have seen the teacher ask her to demonstrate some of the moves to the rest of the class. My mom takes her to gymnastics, and reports that she is more skilled than most of the other girls in her group, and that while she's there she is constantly energetic and excited. The ice skating... we'll see. I end up indulging her interests because her brothers have almost no interest in outside activities, and I enjoy watching her participate and develop.

Charlotte is reading- she can read pretty much everything and the school says they are now working on her comprehension. I haven't noticed her lacking in comprehension, but I am also not a reading specialist. She loves to learn everything, and seems determined to outsmart her brothers at every step. Although she doesn't have homework in kindergarten, she likes to sit down and do some work in the afternoons, sometimes making up her own math worksheets. She loves to color, draw, and do crafts, and can keep herself occupied for endless hours with a craft project of some kind.

Charlotte loves kitties! But do they love her back?

She still loves her kitty cats, and is still sucking her thumb when she holds her stuffed cats at night. I have told her it's time to stop sucking her thumb, but she ignores me. Ignoring me (or Eric, or anyone who is saying something she doesn't care to hear) is one of her frustrating characteristics. It is one thing that drives us up the wall! She will continue doing exactly what we have asked her NOT to do while pretending not to hear us, and then throws a tantrum when we try to enforce a consequence.

Snuggles and her stuffed kitties

In general, she remains a cheerful and good-natured child. She is loving, affectionate, and charming. She can be sweet and complimentary. On the other hand, she can be willful and stubborn, and occasionally cutting. She is also funny and insightful. I figure I am in for a lot of trouble. She is probably much smarter than I am, and so I only have a little bit of time left before I am really truly doomed.

On a bike ride over the bridge to Philadelphia

We share a love for pop music, and listen to it whenever we are together in the car. We also love to dance together. Right now her favorite music is the Greatest Showman soundtrack, and all of Taylor Swift's music. She got an Echo Dot for her birthday and plays Taylor Swift's music whenever she is up in her room. I can't tell you what her favorite shows are, because she will watch almost anything. She went through a "Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse" phase a few months ago and it drove us all crazy- too dumb for words. She has since moved on to things like "Nailed It" on Netflix.

In a princess gown at Bed Bath & Beyond, after making me put blush on her

She remains a picky eater, an almost-vegetarian. We had a moment where I handed her a chicken drumstick, and she took a bite and said, "Do you call this 'chicken leg' because it's the leg of a chicken? Like a REAL chicken?" Eric and I held back and tried not to answer but Asher jumped in and helpfully said, "Yes, of course!" She looked back at the drumstick, dropped it on her plate and said, "I'm not eating that!" Great- another source of protein eliminated. She still loves yogurt, strawberries, and white carbs, without fail. It is more difficult to get her to eat a balanced diet than it is with either of her brothers.

Like a Degas dancer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

The other day Charlotte climbed into my lap and said, "Mommy, I wish I could be you, and you wish you could be me." We have a mutual admiration of each other. I told her on her birthday, she is a joy to everyone who knows her, and I hope she continues to be a gift to everyone she meets.