Charlotte kisses Santa Claus

Well, Charlotte didn’t sleep as long as Mommy thought she would—she was awake about 9:15, anxiously to get on with her day. Again, Daddy and Charlotte enjoyed a morning of playing and reading together, as Mommy had errands to run and some Christmas shopping to do.

Charlotte has a few different favourite book these days—-she frequently brings her Spot book and her purse alphabet book to Daddy to read. In the latter book, a word is introduced that starts with that letter. Daddy has Charlotte repeat the words to him; Charlotte can say fairly clearly “apple” and “ball”; she says something for “cupcake,” “elephant,” and “giraffe.” After that, I think the words get a little too difficult for her to say. Charlotte likes to read her Motts apple book, pointing to all the apples. She also likes to point out babies and say “baby” whenever possible.

Charlotte is very good at saying “all done” and meaning it, even if Mommy and Daddy think that Charlotte should eat a little more. Charlotte does tend to be a small eater, with periods where we can’t give her food fast enough, but these periods are followed with a little growth spurt. We’ve noticed in the last little while that Charlotte has grown taller.

Around 2:45 pm, Charlotte woke up from her nap and had lunch with Daddy while Mommy got everything organized to take to the “cruise gang” party in Mississauga. After lunch, Charlotte had a bath and got all dolled up in her party dress and shiny shoes—-Mommy absolutely loves dressing up her pretty little girl. I think Charlotte likes it too—-when Mommy gets Charlotte down off the change table, Charlotte does a little dance, prancing and squealing with delight; Mommy gets Charlotte to run to Daddy to show him her outfit.

Traffic was really busy, so it took us longer than we planned to get across the city. When we arrived, Santa (aka Karen) met us at the door. Charlotte immediately gave Santa a kiss. Mommy hopes this is a good sign that Charlotte is getting used to Santa so that she doesn’t freak out like she did the first time she sat on Santa’s knee. We’re hoping to have Charlotte’s photo taken with Santa at the mall next week.

Karen and David had a special chair for Charlotte in the circle set up around the hors d’oeuvres. Charlotte was quite taken with the little chair and would fuss if anyone else tried to sit in it, pushing them out of the way. No one can say that Charlotte doesn’t know what she wants—-she is very strong-willed. She managed to strong-arm Wendy out of the Santa decoration she wore on her dress. Charlotte wearing Wendy's Santa Claus pin

It didn’t take long before Charlotte was freely giving kisses and hugs in her usual fashion—-she puckers up and leans forward, waiting for a kiss, and She doesn’t move until she gets her kiss. She has started playing a game with us, and now with friends: she goes through all the preliminaries to get a kiss and then at the last second will pull away and sometimes make a face; however, in the end, a kiss is always exchanged.

Karen and David have a section of glass floor in their kitchen that looks down into their wine cellar. Walking across the flooring, it’s very reminiscent of the glass floor at the CN Tower. More often than not, I find myself walking around the glass floor rather than across it, not because of heights, but it seems odd to me to walk on glass. When the light is off in the cellar, the floor is quite reflective. Charlotte spent a lot of time looking down, so Marcel took Charlotte into the wine cellar to have her look up at us looking down at her. From the look on her face, I don’t think she knew what to make of it. Charlotte and Marcel in the wine cellar looking up at us

We enjoyed a lovely meal prepared by Karen and David. Unfortunately, Charlotte didn’t show much interest in eating. She did enjoy some of the home-made butternut squash soup and some of the cheese-filled spinach ravioli, but wouldn’t eat any meat; however, Charlotte ate quite a few cheerios, her food of choice. Chef David preparing the meal as Daddy looks on--picking up tips?

Everyone seated at the table

After dinner, we retired to our original gathering spot close to the Christmas tree, while Santa delivered gifts. Charlotte is getting the hang of unwrapping gifts--she offered to help many others open their gifts as well. As usual, Charlotte was quite taken with the packaging and tissue paper. At first, Charlotte started to bang on the plastic window in the box for a medicine kit she was given by Wendy and Marcel. She then took the box to Karen and encouraged her to bang along with her. One by one, Charlotte then got Joan and Kaylyn to join in. The short video snip-it is of all 4 banging, or should I say drumming, on the box. Thankfully, the gift inside the box is made of durable plastic so wasn’t damaged. Charlotte really enjoyed drumming—-Mommy is secretly hoping that Charlotte gravitates to a quieter instrument when she does start showing an interest in learning to play an instrument. Could I have a rock star in the making--yikes!
Charlotte convinces Karen to drum with her

Charlotte convinces Joan and Kaylyn to jam with Karen and her



Charlotte received a lot of lovely gifts; Mommy and Daddy are so blessed to have such wonderful friends. After a lovely evening filled with wonderful wine, nibblies, dinner, laughter, and great company, it was time to go home to rest for another busy day tomorrow. Mommy changed Charlotte into her Christmas angel pyjamas so that she could be put right into bed upon arriving home. Kisses and hugs were given to all before getting into a warmed-up car for the long drive home. Charlotte fell asleep before we reached the 427 and Mommy wasn’t far behind, lasting until the entrance to the 401. Thank goodness for Daddy—-our driver. Charlotte stayed asleep while Mommy carried her upstairs to bed. Sweet dreams, baby girl!