Clara - 26 Months

Clara is 26 months old now!

She's a loving and (mostly) gentle big sister and wants to see and hold Betty first thing when she wakes in the morning and after a nap.  She loves to show Betty her toys, make sure she has a blanket, and help her learn all of her body parts.

She must have hit a growth spurt, because for the past two weeks she's been falling asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.

Started sleeping with a pillow!  My mom makes the grandkids cute pillowcases for each holiday, and made Clara her first one for Valentine's Day.  After a week she told me, "mama, this pillow is too tight."  So I found her another pillow that was a little more fluffy.  No complaints since then!

Loves snow!  She'd go out and play in it everyday if I let her.

Still loves nursery and loves singing.  She invents her own little tunes in addition to her ever-expanding repertoire of hymns, primary songs and kid's songs.

LOVES the hokey-pokey.  It's so silly and cute to watch her dance.

Her latest most common phrases are, "hold you, rock you!" (when she's asking me to hold/rock her), "what was that?" or "what was that noise from?" and "just a minute, I'll be right back!"

Yesterday we were playing in the living room and she sat on the floor by her teddy bear and said, "Mama, I'm hanging out."

She loves to count things and can get into the teens, but gets the order mixed up after twelve.

Is so expressive and animated.  We love all of her faces.

Favorite foods right now are quesadillas ("mama, I need to go to cafe rio for a quesadilla"), slices of cheese, applesauce, pears, and peanut butter on ritz crackers.

She's definitely into doing things by herself.  If she drops something and I pick it up for her she'll get angry and put it back on the floor so she can pick it up herself.  "I DO IT!"

Refers to herself all the time as "Clay-wa" and more recently as "Clay-we" (I call her Clarey a lot)

When she wants something and she knows she can't have it, she'll ask/demand it and when I tell her no or not right now, she'll try changing the tone of her voice to ask again. Hard to explain, but so funny!

Is a really happy, up-for-anything girl and we love her!

Some cute things she mis-pronounces: elephant (elpha-naunt) basket (swacket) washcloth (cuack-wash)

She's so verbal and loves to talk on the phone, to her animals (her "guys"), and to people she knows.  When less familiar faces come around, she gets shy and makes the cutest little frowny smile with an extra puffy pouty lip on the bottom.

She just woke up from her nap and is saying, "mama, I need a hug!" So I better go... :)