Clara and her best friend

When I was taking Molly's birthday pictures I asked Clara if I could take some of her and she wouldn't let me without her best friend.  He goes everywhere with us.  Everyone needs a friend, right?

Pretty Clara

Clara is great at independent play but occasionally I get done nursing Molly and I find Clara looking a little guilty.  And it is just too adorable.

Elsa

We, like the rest of the world, are obsessed with the movie Frozen.  All my kids think it is so funny and love singing the songs.  It is hard to believe we have only seen the movie once when we have listened to it so much that I feel like its been 100 times.  Clara is especially enamored with it and I decided it was a good way to get her off her beloved binkie.   (Or "boo boo" as she called it.)  Don't get me wrong, I loved that boo boo.  It made her sleeping time and her nap time and her "shush, I'm trying to get something done" time so much easier!  But it was time.  So we went to Joann's and picked out some fabric and I promised her if she threw her boo boo away, I would make her a dress.  She helped me pick out the fabric and carried it through the store, and once I got home I started sewing.  And while we sewed, we sang Frozen songs.  And she got so excited as I had her try it on at every step...

Until finally it was done.  I wasn't sure what her reaction would be and if I would need to hang the dress up to give her some motivation but she ran right upstairs, gave her boo boo a kiss, and threw it in the trash.  And then she danced.  And smiled.  She was so adorable

And she has worn it almost every day since.  So if you see a picture with her wearing it (or 50), don't be surprised.  

Clara girl - 26 months

Now that I spend most of my days with just me, Molly and my Clara girl, I am loving my little 2 year old. Maybe its because I can see the difference between being a newborn and being a 2 year old and (sorry Molly!) 2 year olds are way more fun!

 She is my buddy and my main source of entertainment and I am just loving her right now. She is a great independent player. When I am taking care of Molly or cleaning the house, I love to hear her playing and talking and dancing by herself. She loves feeding her babies (and "Melmo"), building choo choo's, and finding the Ipad and helping herself to a movie.

 When I ask her "Who is my best Clara?" she points to herself and says "best!" But she then points to me and says, "mama best, Sis best, Sawyer best...."

The other day I set her up with her lunch, including a yogurt, and I sat at the couch to feed Molly.  She sits up to the big table now because she refuses her high chair and when she was done she just got down and started to play.  When I went into the kitchen she had thrown away her yogurt cup and set her spoon up on the counter, just like I'm always asking Sawyer to do.  It amazes me how much these little kids learn from example and I am so lucky to have such great examples in her big brother and sister!

She still takes a nap in the afternoons and goes down well.  Nights have been a little more rough because she will come out and tell us she wants a drink a few times before she finally stays put.  We are trying to break that habit!

When you ask her how old she is she will say 2 and then look at her hands intently trying to get them to make "2".  It sure is tricky!

She still takes her pacifier when sleeping but we try and keep it just in her bed.  I have never had a kid this old with a pacifier and I'm dreading taking it away!

She loves Molly.  Her favorite thing to do is run and get a pacifier for her when she is crying.  She also loves to hold her and point and name all her body parts.

She loves dogs that are stuffed or on tv but in real life she finds them terrifying

She loves to dance to music and sing songs.  At church, when we are singing as a congregation, she always gets the green hymn book, puts it on her lap, finds her page and starts singing.

I think my 2 favorite words from her are "oh" and "ok!"  She says them all the time when I'm talking to her and telling her things and the way she says it is too adorable.  Its hard to explain, so you'll just have to come over and hear it for yourself.

She can be rather stubborn.  She calls everything "mines" which sounds a lot like "Molly's" and also a lot like "Mommy's" but most of the time she is declaring it hers.  She will take things from Kate and Sawyer all the time and they always say, "thats okay, she can have it" when I'm trying to teach her not to take things.  How will she ever learn?

When we drive into town she immediately starts saying "lunch!"  One time we were driving out of town after running a few errands and as soon as we started getting on the freeway she started crying and shouting "LUNCH!!"  She knew we were headed away from it and you know her daddy couldn't resist and we headed back into town.

She is very polite.  She is great at saying "please" and "thank you".  She is also great at saying "excuse me"... maybe a little too great.  At what age do you teach them to be discrete about their toots?  We always just blame Daddy.

She is very friendly and way more outgoing than any of my other kids.  She will always say, "BYE!" to people at stores when we are checking out and she always makes the Wal Mart greeters day with her friendliness.

She really is just a joy and I love her so much.  I love 2 and I keep telling her not to get any bigger!

 

Clara is 2

Clara's actual birthday fell on a Thursday and since Daddy was working until bedtime we didn't do much except spend a few hours at the Dr getting checked out and getting a shot.  I did buy her an Elmo balloon on the way home which she loved.  Oh, and she did wake up early enough that she could see Daddy before work and he got to see her reaction when we gave her her new Elmo hat that I had stayed up late making the night before.  She LOVED that hat and had it either on her head or in her hand the entire day.

The following Saturday Daddy was at work in the morning and I had to work the big kid's swim meet so she spent it having fun at a friend's house.  After we got home I was pretty exhausted but I used the little energy I had left to make some cupcakes and then we met Daddy at a restaurant when he got off work.  We ate and then came home and had a little celebration.  Clara was not a fan of the fire on her cupcakes....

But she did enjoy eating them.  And then she unwrapped her presents, a huge, huggable Elmo and a few new Elmo books.  Notice a theme?  She loves "Melmo" and everything that has to do with him.  I've never had a kid with an obsession so I think its fun.  

Clara at 2

-  As a 3rd child I think she says "no no no no no" and "mine" a lot more than my other kids ever did

- Besides loving Elmo she also loves to watch Charlie and Lola but doesn't really like many other TV shows

- She does LOVE family movie night (Friday nights) and likes to get the big bowls out while Daddy pops the popcorn and then sits on the couch between her siblings and watches the movie

- She is saying lots of words but not a lot of sentences.  Its such a fun age when they surprise you with new words out of the blue.

- If I ask her who she loves best she says, "Mama"

- When you ask how old she is she will say "2" and then hold out her hand with all 5 fingers outstretched, willing there to be 2 fingers up but not really getting there.  

- She likes having her hair done like her big sister but still calls the rubber bands "ouches"

- She loves seeing babies out and about and playing with her pretend babies at home.  She holds them close, pats their backs, and shushes them.

- She is already trying to give up her naps and often spends the time in her room awake instead of asleep (but she ALWAYS gets time in her room!)

-  She eats and likes all food.  We were trying to think of what her favorite foods were to feed her on her birthday and we couldn't think of anything.  She is an excellent eater.

- At her Dr appt she was 25% weight and height so I guess that makes her little but she seems really big to me.  I can't remember the stats but I'm pretty sure she was 25 lbs.

Sawyer:  "I like her because she's cute"

Kate:  "I like that she is in our family."

cute swimmer Clara

The life of a third child

No food at the house and a morning full of gym for mommy and gymnastics for Sawyer left this girl pooped. That's what mommy gets for trying to grocery shop during nap time!

Clara - 18 months

- she has been slowly building her vocabulary.  I would hear her say a word for a day or two but not hear it again.  Now she says please and cheese consistently.  And when she toots she will say "scuse" thanks to an older brothers example.  She will say "where dada go" or "where it go". She calls Kate "sis" and says something that resembles sawyer....it's a hard name!  But really, that's about all she says.
- she understands everything and will clean up when asked, throws things in the trash when I ask and goes and gets things for me
- loves to "say" prayers.  She will sit in my lap and fold her arms.  I whisper in her ear and she will sometimes repeat "dada" "sis" or "sawyer" but usually just sits and waits for the amen which she then giggles and looks really proud of herself.
- waves and blows kisses at strangers....much more outgoing than my other two
- likes to get her hair done after Kate
- loves Elmo.  She hasn't watched much but she loves her Elmo books and a stuffed Elmo we have
- still loves babies
- eats everything and loves to do it herself
- gives great kisses that actually smack with a big "mwah!!"
- loves to swim.  Kicks her legs and has even blown bubbles in the water
- loves singing popcorn popping, the wheels on the bus and patty cake
- loves to poke at my phone and the iPad but doesn't actually play much on it.  Unless I lock her in the sparkle paint app

Toothless Kate

Kate's 2 front teeth were getting really wiggly and, as much as I was sad to see her lose her baby teeth (and perfect baby teeth smile and just grow up period) once they started to get wiggly they were looking pretty icky. She was wiggling them on her own but then every night after I brushed and flossed her teeth, Daddy would take a turn wiggling them. He is the tooth pulling master and has pulled out all her teeth. As much as I like teeth, I don't think pulling teeth is for me. So on January 29 she was laying in his lap and then all of a sudden she sat up and it was gone! She didn't make a sound and all of a sudden she had a big grin on her face and it was gone.




 

 Clara wanted in on the picture taking too

   

The next day we went to the temple and I took some picture of my one tooth Kate.  She sure is beautiful!

 








Then the next week the same thing happened with the second one and it was gone too. Now we have a toothless Kate!


 

Sawyer wanted some pictures taken too



One with a silly face



And Clara did not want to get her picture taken but I tried anyway