Clara's current stage

I'm sad that I don't have any pictures to go along with this post . . . I just haven't been taking many lately. But I have had a blast with my baby lately, and I wanted to jot down some of my favorite little things that she is doing right now, so that I don't forget. I LOVE the stage she is in! She still takes 2 naps most days, but can make it through the day with one. She is doing well going to the YMCA nursery or the nursery at Lighthouse Christian Church where I do a Bible study, and has fun playing with other kids there. She is healthy right now (knock on wood!) and she is just a blast.

1. In her bedroom, she has a piggy bank with a bunch of spare change in it. She loves to dump it out and put it back in by the handful. She also loves to take the plug out and reach her hand in to grab coins out of it. Simple pleasure.

2. She also has a small, old baby formula container with three holes punched in the top of it that are just big enough for some clothespins to fit through. It has become a daily activity for her. Tonight, I swear she also was counting along with me as she was putting them in. I could be wrong, but it sounded like it. :)

3. She loves to go outside and hold her own with the neighborhood kids in our could-e-sac. She has two "pushy toys" that she pushes out to the middle of the street and abandons, a bubble bucket that is out of bubbles currently but that doesn't even matter because all she likes to do is carry it around and try to blow them herself anyway, a tricycle that is too big for her so I have to push her on it, various sized balls to throw and kick around, and sidewalk chalk that she draws lines with on the street. She also loves to find rocks to put down the storm drain, and says, "Plop!" when they hit the water. In the backyard, we throw a tennis ball for Mattie and she giggles every time Mattie brings it back!

4. Most of the toys we have here, at this point, are blocks, cars, trucks . .. boy stuff. We've had all these boys, so that's what she's had around. But lately she has gotten into playing with dolls a little, too. She'll get one and pretend to feed it a little bottle that we have and hug and kiss it. So, she is a girl afterall! However, any clip that goes into her hair right now gets taken right out.

5. She continues to love the YMCA and her toddler gym class. We learn new songs all the time. She has quite the repetoire (is that how you spell that?) of songs that she knows now and asks for several times/day: If you're happy and you know it, the Elephant Song, the Monkey song, Row, row, row your boat, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle are among her favorites.

6. I love her wet, slurpy kisses!

7. I love how she is ok without me, but she still wants me and calls out "mama, mama" a lot when I'm not around. And, when I come to get her from the Y or Church nursery, the look on her face is priceless. Couldn't ask for much better.

8. We have a book that I got about a month before Easter for her age and it talks about all the things that we typically do to celebrate Easter (eggs, bunnies, new dress, etc) and how none of them are "what Easter is about." It's all about Jesus and how he died on the cross for you and me. (Quoting the book). She LOVES this book, and it is now referred to as the "Jesus" book. When you read through all the stuff that Easter isn't about, she shakes her head "No" at all of them, then gets excited when the Jesus part comes (and there is a dog on that page, too, which she always points out . . . hey, her priorities are still a little mixed up, but she's a baby still!). We love that she is already learning a little about the amazing God who loves her very much and how He died for her. Good stuff.

We are just thoroughly enjoying our little toddler . . . and trying not to count the days until she hits the "terrible twos" . . . she is just so much fun right now!