Clara--Two Years

I wanted to get this entry written and posted over a month ago, but alas things always come up and get in the way of writing time.

Our dear girl turned TWO in July!  She is so full of personality; an affectionate, friendly, very playful child.

 (Fancy pictures are from a 5-minute photo shoot with David.  She was NOT interested in having her picture taken.  It was about dinner time, and between pictures she was eating frosted mini wheats.  Crazy he even got some good ones!)

She had her yearly check-up at the end of July.  Here's her stats:

Height: 34 1/2 in. (75th%)

Weight: 25 lbs. (25th%)

Head: 14.8 cm. (10th%)
Clothing size: 18 months-2T depending on the item
Diaper size: 4

She's a healthy, active girl!  She's very expressive, bubbly, smiley, and gives super sweet kisses and hugs.  Here's a list of Clara's favorite things:

Food: oranges (at least it was.  All of a sudden she seems to finally be sick of them.), berries, beans, meat, watermelon, peas.  She gobbles up everything I make for dinner, every time.  I LOVE that she's not a picky eater!

She's pretty silly, that's for sure!  The army hat is one of Eli's.  For a week or so she wanted to wear it all the time.

Book: Loves reading, but currently very into Nursery Rhymes, and of course any story that has a dog (like the Biscuit books). She sits very well through the long books we read from the library.  Story time is definitely one of her top favorite things, just like brother.  She often sits to look through books on her own.

Song: Wheels on the Bus, or other songs with actions (but loves music in general, and starts bopping as soon as she hears music) 

Toy: Dolls. Her baby dolls and one Barbie doll (Anna, from Frozen), along with her stroller, are played with the most.  She also loves a little pull-toy dog (whose pull string broke off), the rocking horse, and the push-pull car.

Lovey: PACI.  I'd like to get her to rely on her paci less, but it's so hard when it's the one thing that really soothes and comforts her!  She does love her blanket, but it doesn't have quite the magical powers that the paci possesses.

Hates: car rides, Mommy doing anything that distracts from her when she wants attention (be it reading, working on the computer, getting ready, cooking); and not being able to eat her yogurt in the living room.

Clara is Mommy's little sidekick!  She loves to stick close to me while at home (which is both endearing and maddening).  She's also a great snuggler!  Loves to be held.  Out and about she wants total independence!  Ha!

About a month ago I took out the little child's potty chair, not in an attempt to full-on potty-train, just to give her chances to practice and see how she takes it.  She;s done awesome!  She goes pee about twice a day, and has pooped once (in the real toilet!).  She gets so happy and proud of herself when she goes potty.  It'll be a while before I'll try to really train her, but I'm glad she's getting accustomed to it.

Clara has been such a terrific sleeper for a very long time.  She would sleep 12-13 hrs/night and take 2 1/2-3+ hour naps!  The last month, however, she's had some struggles.  I'd put her down for a nap and she'd just cry and cry!  We always do fun outings in the mornings and I know she's exhausted, but she just wouldn't nap!  She would also start crying as soon as I put her to bed in the evening, though she usually fell asleep quickly.  But for the past week she woke up nightly around 1 or 2, crying hard.  It sometimes took a while before she'd go back to bed happily, so some mornings felt pretty fuzzy to me.  Little one was getting three new teeth, so I imagine that played a big role in the disruptions.  Thankfully she's doing much better now, though naps seem to regularly be under 2 hours, and she's waking up a smidge earlier (a little before 8:00), but that's no big deal, I was  just spoiled before :)

Clara LOVES going on walks around the neighborhood.  It used to be her in the stroller and Eli on his big wheel (moving FAST).  Then I let her take her push-pull car out instead and now she won't go back to the stroller!  Ugh.  Our walks are now tediously slow.  It's different when you're stuck on slow walks with your 2nd than with your first.  I'm sure Eli and I took very long, slow walks when he was a toddler, but I had way less to do back then and didn't mind it.  It stinks that what was once an invigorating part of my day has turned into a dreaded one.  :/  Oh well.  Gotta try to enjoy it while it lasts, and just smile when she abandons her car to plop down in the grass.





Girly is progressing on her speaking skills.  She says little phrases and sentences such as "I did it!", "Mommy help", "Me out", "Mommy hold," etc.

A while back I was practicing colors with Clara.  What is it about kids and the color yellow?!  Cute video.


I mentioned before how Clara's a climber.  It seemed to stop for a while, but now she's back at it.  She thankfully cannot get in/out of her crib.  She does climb up her changing table and then calls me when she wants to be changed (ha!), and she climbs into her carseat by herself now.

It seems like as soon as we hit 2 years, the mischief in her really let loose!  Throwing food, throwing books, running off in the opposite direction of where we're going, trying to sneak off with something of mine or Eli's (something she knows she shouldn't have), etc.  She's thrown a few tantrums, and she can often be whiney/fussy.   She and Eli are generally great buds, but definitely know how to bother and upset the other (her favorite thing that upsets him is sneaking into his room and laying down on his bed.  Or taking any of his cars/toys in his room.  Oh, yes.  He's great at sharing.)  His things are running off with her beloved paci, doll, stroller, etc.  Or just poking her/getting in her face when she's not in the mood to play.  A big problem is that when I meet friends at the park (usually just once a week), she tries to continually run out into the parking lots.  It's never a problem when it's just me with the kids, so I assume it's her way of saying she wants attention or is getting restless.  I always tell her no, and I'm trying to nip it in the bud (I know she just wants me to chase after her), but it's hard to teach consequences at that age.  I need to do better with it.

Clara really enjoys art.  She spends a lot of time "coloring, " and it's a great activity for when she's restless and I can't play with her/give her the time she's wanting (i.e. while making dinner).  I would just be so happy if she'd stop eating the crayons!  :S

A cute thing that she started recently is running around the house with her arms stretched back along he sides and her hands out.  It's her flying!  She started it one day when she was wearing Eli's superhero cape, but now she does it even without the cape.  Love it!

We sure love this cute girl!