Clara is two . . part uno

Clara Rebecca turned two years old earlier this week. I'll have to post about her birthday in two parts: Today is part one, which is my chance to record what she is doing at the two year stage, as well as post her JCPenney pictures, which were just taken yesterday. Part two will come in a few weeks, after her birthday party with her friends. We haven't technically even acknowledged her birthday yet, because we just want to do the one day next week, but we have talked with her about how she is two now, and she likes to tell people that. "Clara, how old are you?" and she'll say, "Two! One . . two!" holding up her fingers like she's trying to just put up two.

As soon as Monday hit, she became a two year old, in more ways than one. She has had a slightly stuffy nose this week, so I know a lot of her attitude can be attributed to that, but she has also become way more particular about how things should be done lately (ie. asking for water, but it has to be in a certain cup), getting more possessive of her things ("no, that's MY mommy, or MY backpack, or whatever) and just generally two-year old behavior stuff.

She continues to be really into Dora and Diego, so her party will have that theme. She also really likes Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is our little TV junkie . . if we let her, she'd sit in front of it all day (which might come in handy just a little bit for the first month the twins are born, I guess . . ). At this point, she gets to watch one show when she wakes up in the morning, and, most evenings, one Dora/Diego show before bed at night. In between watching TV, she loves toddler gym at the YMCA 2-3 times/week, absolutely LOVES playing with the two foster girls we have right now, goes to MOPS on Tuesday mornings and Lighthouse BIble study on Thursday mornings, and is at our church on Sunday mornings. Busy little girl!

She is a very good eater . . except for fruit. She will only eat a few kinds of fruit, but she pretty much eats anything else we give her. She is becoming quite independent and wants to do everything for herself. Her language is really taking off, too, and she is putting together full sentences more and more now. She'll say new words lately that I don't really know where they came from.

Overall, we are more and more in love with our little girl, and looking forward to having two more! I think she'll make a great big sister, as she is very compassionate and loves babies (although lately she likes to give walking babies she sees at the Y or at the Mall playspace a big hug, then drag them to the ground with her, like a tackle . . . not sure why . . ). Although she has a very serious side, the girl loves to be silly, too, and she is beginning to show more and more compassion and concern for others. We love you, miss Clara, and can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Got her to do this pose by singing, "Joy, joy down in my heart" with her.