*** Update 10/13: I came to post a birthday update about Anneliese, and realized I never pushed my birthday post about Charlotte live! We were at the beach when I finished her video, and I never added links. But I want it to have a home here as our online scrapbook/memory book, so I am posting now. ***
Charlotte is TEN! A whole decade with this baby Booler! Happy birthday, Charlotte!
At 10, Charlotte is growing ever-more into her own independent person, branching off from her siblings in ways that feel natural to her (and also feed her natural inclination to differentiate herself). She is in turns very traditionally girly (she is getting her ears pierced next week and is so excited) and then very resistant to what being girly actually means (do not pigeonhole her, or any girls, etc etc).
This year she has leaned into skateboarding, swimming (she's fast!), video games, her viola, her short hair Lewk, hitting a new stride with actually wanting to read, drawing and art, sassiness (that sometimes needs toning down), and trying to establish herself as More Grown Up and for sure most definitely Not A Baby (she is still my baby) (don't worry, Sheepy is still steadfast in her arms).
And she is ready to lean way out of cleaning her room, chores or tidiness in general, and remote school (she loves math and loves her teachers and loves me, but by the time school was done in June she was SO sick of Meet calls and missing her friends) -- she is beside herself about going back to Real School in a few weeks. I am very anxious about it since we signed her up for this when we thought she'd be getting a vaccine in September but it looks like that won't happen now until sometime this winter. But! Our district is staying fully masked and even with the Delta variant, this is just what we need to do (I am starting a new job, I can't supervise remote school, we have to make peace with the precautions in place, it's been 20 months and school really is essential, etc).
We love her exactly how she is, we are grateful for every day of snuggles that this year has brought us, alongside the fear and cusses, and we are delighted watching her turn ever more into who she is.
We are spending her birthday this year (as many years) at Bumgarner beach week, which makes her happy beside herself, which makes us happy to watch.
Some memories of this bizarre year with Charlotte:
(If you can't see the video embedded above, click here to watch it on YouTube.)
Previous years' videos!
Seventh year
Sixth year
Fifth year
Fourth year
Third year
Second year
First year