Happy 8th Birthday, Charlotte!

It's Charlotte's golden birthday! She is 8 years old today! Mark just hooked a sprinkler to the top of the trampoline and cleaned out the pool for an indoor camping sleepoverstravaganza for the birthday girl this evening (happening concurrently with middle school open house for Nathan, BECAUSE OF COURSE), but first I need to say some birthday feelings about our little Booler. Who is EIGHT!

And who also apparently did a photo shoot with her sister around the yard this week, because I found these pics on her device and she said Anneliese took them. WELL THEN. OKAY.

I took her rock climbing yesterday for the first time (Mark had a hunch she'd like it, and hoo boy was he right, she scampered to the top of that wall within an hour of trying, and the staff people couldn't believe she had never done it before. (The other kids were there too. We all tried it. We had varying levels of success. You should read between those lines and go ahead and assume I suck. I tried though!)

Anyway it sort of made me realize all of the things Charlotte can DO now. I was thinking of how much she has learned this year and it just blows my mind. She went from being a timid swimmer to racing on swim team (and she's good! she medaled in the city championships!), she went from being a hesitant reader to plowing through chapter books (she will be badgering me to start Harry Potter within hours of this post; I promised her we could do it when she is 8, and she has been counting the days, which is fun but also oddly sad because she's the last kid I get to do this with for the first time), she moved up a level at gymnastics, she works ahead in math at school, she went from being an angry nervous roller skater to being obsessed with it, she learned to play an instrument (!!!) (there is nothing better in her life these days than her viola; let me tell you, the child wants to draw alto clefs on errrrything and you've never seen anyone prouder to play what some folks consider a castoff instrument... she is here for VIOLA PRIDE), she talks and runs and plays and fights and sneaks and eats and bickers and schemes and laughs and shares and reasons like a big kid.

But she still snuggles like a baby, thank goodness.

She needs a dozen hugs to get through every day, see.

(She has no idea how many a dozen actually is, she just collects hugs at will; no one ever stop her please.)

Things Charlotte loves these days:
- her viola
- roller skating
- YouTube
- beanie boos
- swimming
- planting and growing things
- playing soccer with Nathan
- playing dolls with Anneliese
- bickering with anyone
- candy
- sneaking candy
- cucumbers
- shrimp (for to eat)
- narwhals (not for to eat)
- flamingoes
- tennis
- her messy room, surrounded by all her Things
- Ramona
- math
- the beach
- snuggling
- Master Chef Jr
- sloths
- staying up late
- rock climbing (she told me be sure to add that)
- things that are cute (she told me to add that too)

Things Charlotte does not love these days:
- sleeping late
- eating breakfast
- wearing unders
- getting dressed, just, in general
- posing for photos
- sight words
- going for walks
- earbuds that won't stay in
- fruits and veggies
- running errands
- when Alexa doesn't understand her
- tangly hair
(Those last two she insisted I include.)

So that's our Booler, at age 8. I can't believe I have known her for this many years now. I can't believe how glad I still am that we have her, that she's here, that all of us are here. And that I get to love her. This playful chatty curious sassy cuddly sweet nervous confident trying-to-keep-up beautiful little human.

This year's birthday video:


(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

Happy birthday, dear Charlotte.  We love you forever and ever no matter what.

Previous years' videos!
Seventh year
Sixth year
Fifth year
Fourth year
Third year
Second year
First year