Oh my Charlotte.

Char Char.  Char-latte.  Punkin.  Our last baby.  Funny girl.  She's so petite, she hasn't yet broken the 20-pound mark even at 18 months of age.  She still has only her super fine baby hair, and while it's finally getting a little bit thicker, there still isn't very much of it.  Except... this one tiny curl in the back.  It's so much longer than the rest of her hair.  Parker had the same single lock when he was her age!  We called it his "duck tail" because it was just a little feather of a thing.

Her favorite things are...

• mirrors
• her pacifier!!
• soft textures
• bananas
• emptying and refilling any container, with anything at all
• raiding Lila's jewelry box and Parker's lego drawer
• her own bed at nap time and bed time (thank you, God)
• putting on her shoes and socks
• taking off her shoes and socks
• her "bubba" (brother) Parker
• hugging our lazy, geriatric cat
• pushing the cart at Target
• being held and swayed back and forth when she's a little sleepy
• the sound of Dadda coming through the door each evening
• standing straight up in her highchair and scaring me to death
• squeezing into small spaces
• my iPhone: hmm, let's see... Instagram (she takes and posts photos all by herself. I have to watch her!), Bad Piggies, and White Noise are her most favorite apps and she can find and open them (and use them!) easily, even if they're hidden in folders

She greatly dislikes...

• doctor visits
• being held when she wants to get down
• diaper changes
• the bathtub (we literally have 30-second baths. She stands up against the side of our tub, screaming and keeping her arms tightly wrapped around my neck as I wash and rinse her as fast as I possibly can.  I am so upset that she hates bath time!)
• squishy gel-filled toys
• when Parker and Lila eat her goldfish
• headbands and hairbows
• giving me back my iPhone

It is such a treat to watch Charlotte discover something new.  To see her fascinated and engrossed in something that is just so magical to her.  The tiny dancer inside Lila's jewelry box is hard to resist.

She loves anything tactile.  If it's soft, smooth, rough, or shaggy, you can bet that Charlotte will lay her cheek down on it and touch it for herself.  Carpet at grandma's house, fluffy pillows on Lila's bed, her soft blankets, a basket of clean laundry, the furry CAT.  (Bless him for tolerating her.  She lays on him hugs him just like this every single day.)

Even the new bath mat.  She just wants to check this new thing out and feel its texture on her cheek.

She delights in her babies.  Baby Ariel is her chosen favorite (although Ariel's enormous eyes creep Mama out a little).  She flips them over and fiddles with the tag on their back.  I finally figured out why she takes all of her dolls' clothes off.... she's looking for a tag!  She puts herself to sleep with a pacifier in her mouth and a papery or silky tag between her fingers.  Were your babies like this with tags on blankets and toys?  My sister was this way as a child, and I've heard of several friends' little ones who were drawn to tags as well.

Every morning, Charlotte lines them all up side by side, wedged between the back crib rail and the wall.  Poor things.  I wonder if it's her way of tidying up her bed and not losing track of her beloved babies in the process?

So that's my littlest love.  I could eat her up on a minute-by-minute basis.  I love how warm and soft her cheeks are when she wakes from a nap.  Perfectly kissable.  I love the way she calls out, "Mah-muhh?" 1,428,539 times a day.  I love the curl of her top lip.  Her big blue eyes and her tiny button nose.

////

I hope you'll continue the circle of "What ____ Looks Like" by clicking through to my new friend Lindsey.  She is truly an artist with her camera, and she bends light and uses it in a beautiful, magical way.

Lindsey Bergstrom Boulder Lifestyle Photographer

 

////

I'm also writing over at The Creative Mama today.  We discovered a treasure trove of old photographs while I was in Kentucky for Momaw's funeral. Keeping with the theme of this What ___ Looks Like Project, I have a photograph from 1953 that would be inspiring to anyone searching for the true feel and purpose of Lifestyle Photography.  I hope you'll check it out!