A Terrific Two Year Old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Clara on the 11th. We LOVE you!!

We had a little party for her that turned out different than expected. Daddy had been on jury duty and it turned out that the jury went to deliberation the night we planned her party, so he didn't get to make it. We were all very sad. But Grandma and Grandpa Svedin came up and had dinner with us and watched her open her presents. Lindsay and Blaine and George also stopped by, and George, of course, was the life of the party! He ran in and screamed with excitement, "Clara! We have a present! It's a book!" We sure love that boy! Clara was glad that George came over to play for a while.

It was so cute watching Clara open her presents this year. We were sad Joel missed out, but we decided to save the cake part for the next day so he could be part of it. Noah was NOT happy about that!

Of course I let her lick the beaters when I made the frosting for her cake. She obviously enjoyed it. (P.S.- Noah took this picture)
Here she is opening "Babies" (it's always plural). She was so excited about this! And I was so excited to give it to her. There are two other grandkids with this same baby, so she knows all about it. It's not just any baby, it's the baby. She comes with a bottle, so you can feed her, and while you feed her, she makes eating sounds, moves her head as she "sucks" and blinks her eyes. When she's all done she burps and goes to sleep, closing her eyes and breathing loud. Also, if you tickle her tummy, she giggles. She's very cute! Every other present Clara opened after that was nothing compared with her baby.
She also got a stroller to take Baby on walks. This was also a huge hit. She was a busy new Mommy the rest of the night, feeding and walking her baby.

Here's the cake that almost wasn't. My first attempt was gluten free cupcakes, made from scratch. They were a huge disappointment, as they sunk like crazy before I even took them out of the oven. I have not yet mastered the art of gluten free baking, at least when it comes to cakes. I almost didn't worry about making another cake because I didn't think she'd even eat it. I figured we'd just put candles in her ice cream. But, when we went to Smith's to get her balloons I grabbed a gluten free cake mix. I made it as soon as we got home, and it didn't sink! Yeah! It even tasted alright too, even though it was a bit dry. I made up for the dryness with the oodles of frosting I put on. I love frosting! By the way, I was right- Clara didn't eat it.

She covered her face while we were singing to her. She always acts embarrassed when she's the center of attention. I think it's just for show- in reality she gobbles it up!

Applauding our singing.

Make a wish!

Yeah! Daddy made it!

Clara got spoiled because she got to celebrate her birthday three days in a row- Monday was her party, Tuesday we had cake and ice cream, and Wednesday (her actual birthday) she got to go to the Tree House Museum with Mommy. She had tons of fun, and her favorite was riding the horse and bull. Yee-haw!!

What a cute little cowgirl! I wish you could hear her neigh like a horse. It's so cute!

The day of her birthday I took her in for her well child checkup. She weighed 21.6 pounds! She's FINALLY over 20 pounds! She's still super tiny, but we're very happy to see her growing.

She's such a little sweetheart, and she fills our lives with sunshine. She's always running up to me and wrapping her little arms around my neck and patting my back with her tiny hand. She always gives kisses, and I take advantage of her affection every chance I get. She loves to dance, watch movies, read books, play with puzzles (she's pretty good, actually), color, play at the park by our house, be with Mommy, wear shoes and hats, and make animal sounds (her favorites are elephant, cow, sheep, owl, bear, lion, humming bird, mosquito, wolf, and horse).

Some words she's saying are: ball, hat, bat, boat, up, wop (watch- for "watch a movie"), soup (can also mean lotion or soap), puppies (bobbies), shoes, socks, babies, cheese, soo-soo (choo-choo), seep (sheep), bobbles (bubbles), apples, pease (please), eh-diz (there it is), Daddy, Mommy (Mom, Mama), and lots more that I'm either forgetting or don't realize she can say. My favorite word is actually silent. For "yes," she just nods her head, but it is soooooo cute! I can't even describe its cuteness! You just have to trust me.

The other night I was reading "Hop On Pop" to the kids, and I was trying to teach Noah to read by sounding out the words with him. Noah wasn't that into it, but Clara totally was. She sounded out the letters with me, and even finished saying a word before I had gotten to the last letters, like she had read it. It was so funny, and I think it motivated Noah to want to try harder. What a little smarty pants she is.

She's also a little stinker, and here's why. She gets into stuff more than Noah ever did, and she's quietly mischievous about doing it. Her favorite thing to do is unroll the toilet paper, which is extra bad when I used Charmin Mega rolls and she got to it when it had just been put on the roll. We came to the bathroom multiple times to find a huge mound of toilet paper. Oh well, right? Tonight she did it again, although not with T.P. but with cocoa. She made a huge mess right under my nose, and I failed to notice because she was so quiet about it.

Noah and I were playing trains together. She was playing with us, but got sent away because she was wrecking the trains and track on purpose. So, she went and sat on the couch, which is innocent enough. A few minutes later I looked up, and find that she apparently had found the cocoa and figured out how to open the lid. She had cocoa ALL over her and the couch- atleast a cup of it. Just when I looked up I found she had been tasting it, and I could see by the scrunched up look on her face that she had found it bitterly disappointing.

I shot up quicker than quick and gasped as I surveyed the damage. All I could for about thirty seconds was cover my mouth in horror and stare at the crime scene. Noah did the same thing, but when he saw that I wasn't going to get mad, he started to laugh. I joined him, although not as heartily. Once I composed myself, I whisked Clara into the kitchen to clean her off. Everything was brown! I stripped her down and rinsed off her clothes before their definite trip to the washing machine. The sink was covered in brown dust, and Clara spent the rest of the night in her onesy. Then I tackled the mess waiting in the living room. Thank heaven we have a "leather" couch. Clean up was pretty easy. I just used the vacuum cleaner, which I had to clean out midway to create more suction. All was well again in 20 minutes or so. And Clara, of course, acted so sweet and innocent about the whole thing. I guess I know now to keep the cocoa out of reach of children. Sheesh!

It's moments like these that make life with kids fun. I'm so glad for every moment I've had with Clara and every moment that's to come.

We love you Clara Jane! Happy Birthday!