Charlotte is Seven

Charlotte Lareine Ball was born on December 27, 2002 in Newport News, Virginia. She was the largest baby of the family, then or since, weighing in at 9 pounds, 14 ounces. When I was six months pregnant, the doctors told me that Charlotte had Downs Syndrome and asked if we wanted to terminate our pregnancy. Turns out they were mistaken; Charlotte was born perfect and healthy as a horse. She is the third of our five kids, which makes her the middle child. She is the only child in the family with blue eyes. She is the only child in the family that has broken a bone.

For Charlotte's birthday she wanted to go swimming. We waited for a day that I had no babysitting kids AND Daddy was off work to go with us, so, wouldn't you know that the day we were supposed to swim was New Year's Eve. The pool closed early and we were out of luck. No problem, says Charlotte, let's go bowling. And so we did.

I interviewed her for this post, because at seven she sure knows her own mind. Here's what I learned:

M: What's your favorite thing to do?

C: Swim.

M: What's your favorite class at school?

C: Gym

M: What's your favorite food?

C: That's a hard one - sticky macaroni (Ball speak for homemade mac & cheese) and watermelon. But not together, that would be disgusting.

M: Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

C: New York; I saw a picture of the city lights and I want to see that; it was beautiful.

M: What should people know about you?

C: I'm the snuggliest person in my family.

M: What do you want to be when you grow up?

C: A swimming teacher.

M: Tell me a secret.

C: Nobody knows that I have a boyfriend at school, Josh. When we get married we are going to have lots of kids and live on a farm with horses.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!