Saturday, February 9, 2013

Charleigh: Living Out Loud

My Little Red-Haired Girl named Charleigh will turn 2.5 at the end of the month, and she's quite come into herself. I used to worry that her older sister would overshadow her, which, at it turns out, was a laughable concern.

Charleigh, in the words of Emile Zola, is here to live out loud. See?


Charleigh takes great delight in making her housemates yell. She's a terrific tease, and it makes no nevermind to her that, among us, she's second to smallest. She knows the spankable offenses and commits them, anyway, because they're fun and, in her estimation, worth it.

She's a scrapper. She's been known to bite, pull hair, ride her older siblings as though they were horses, kick, and hit. She loves to climb and, to show for it, has bulging calf muscles and all manner of bruises. At the moment, she sports a fading goose egg on her forehead and a sidewalk scrape on her wrist. Her front teeth are chipped.


She's apt to lean over the side of the grocery cart and hock a spontaneous loogie onto the floor of a Walmart Supercenter.

She's put more foreign objects and poisonous substances in her mouth than her three siblings put together and multiplied by sixteen. In this respect, she's worked her guardian angel (and her mama) hard. She bites her nails and scrapes polish right off with her two, front teeth.


She can wink, and she can bust a move. She hugs with ferocity and names all her baby dolls after herself. If you'll let her, she'll wear high heels in the bathtub, but she won't keep a ponytail for nothin. She makes a person want to write in double negatives and drop g's as though it's the Wild, Wild West.


 
Last night, before we could snatch her up, she interrupted our pastor to announce: "I'm a dancer. I'm a star. I'm a beautiful princess. I'm a super hero."

She pretty much hates Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Chuck E. Cheese, Yogi Bear, and all manner of costumed nonsense. But she's plumb crazy over her papaw, which is saying something, and she's stolen his heart like none other, which is saying even more.



11 comments:

  1. I love her. She is so full of life it jumps right off the page. :)

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  2. You are an awesome writer! and you are going to be sooooo in trouble when she is a teen....just saying! quit threatening NOW!!!! oh no....oh my.

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  3. oh my goodness, she is my kind of girl. i love a child with PERSONALITY. please move closer.

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  4. I was drawn into this story of this wild child. Your love, respect and awe of her is palpable. :)

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  5. This was awesome!! I love the part about telling the Pastor how great she is, and the PawPaw part. She is so adorable!

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  6. Treasure wrapped in a lightning bolt.

    What a sweet pea. Love this.

    And you.

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  7. I love that girl. All that energy will serve her well in days to come - if you survive it, you'll be so pleased to see what a kind-hearted and generous adult she grow into. At least that's what my #2 spitfire became - and she didn't even have red hair!!

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  8. Too cute! Love those high heel shoes. Brings back memories... :)

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  9. The essence of life distilled into that little spirit! Precious!

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  10. Those pictures are adorable. She looks/sounds quite spunky. I love that she is rockin' a Cookie Monster sweater and striped leggings.

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  11. I love the confidence she has in herself, now....just keep nurturing that Momma so she may feel this way in all times of her little world.

    I love the picture of her opening one eye and closing the other, like "do I trust you?" good look~ha!

    The red hair...is she going to keep this forever? I hope so, I just love it. Do you know how many people try to achieve this in the salon? I tell people it's unachievable unless God gave it to you naturally, it's just the truth of the matter. LOVE IT, and it goes with that sassy personality I can see~ha!

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