Our Clara-Bird is three years old!

I can't believe it's been three years since our little Clara-Bird came into our lives. Sometimes it feels like longer, and sometimes it feels like she was just a tiny baby in my arms. We had a family get-together last week on her birthday, and Grandma and Grandpa Lebow came, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Ellis and Aunt Melissa. We had chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner, and, of course, birthday cake. I'll have to see if i can put the video of her being sung to on here . . . she was so, so excited! We tried to sing to her that morning, but she insisted that we wait until the birthday cake "moment" and she just relished it, beaming the whole time. We have had about 5 or 6 family birthdays all fall and winter, and she has just been waiting so long for her birthday to come! In fact, we have a calendar in her playroom, counting down the days until her birthday, and now until her "friends party" that is happening this coming Saturday. More pictures of that to come.

Clara is such a joy in our lives. She is a great big sister . . . most of the time. She means well, but she tends to grab, wrestle with, try to pick up the twins several times/day. But, she is just eager for them to grow up and be able to play with her, I think. She is very compassionate and loves having friends over to play or going to others' houses. She is just getting into pretend-play and loves to do different role-play situations with anyone who will. She does tend to want to control the play with others a lot of the time, which is difficult because, since moving to Wenatchee, she has only been playing with children who are a year or so older than her, and they don't like being bossed around too much. :) But she's learning, and we take each playdate one at a time, and use it as a learning opportunity.

Some of her favorite things: Jumping on her trampoline (see picture below), doing crafts with mom, playing at the gymnastics drop-in time, playing in the nursery at our Wednesday morning Bible study and now at the YMCA (she has always done well going into these daycare situations and leaving mama), going to "school" one day/week while mama subs, helping mom cook/bake, building with blocks, doing puzzles, visiting the library, and watching shows on TV. Yes, she continues to be quite the TV kid . . . but she doesn't protest when we turn it off. She has expanded her viewing list now to a few new shows, (thank GOODNESS!) and likes "Superwhy," "Word World" and "Cat in the Hat" which are all very educational, so I love it!

We went to the doctor last week, and Clara is weighing in right around 30 pounds, and is 37 inches tall, both of which are 50th percentile for her age, so she's now average, instead of being the pipsqueak that she's been since birth. She has now moved up to wearing a size 3T (although she's still wearing most of the 2T stuff, too) and we went to the store the other day to get a few things, including a pair of pants for her, and she just obsessed about how they "need to say #3 on them, mom, because I'm 3 now, not 2." We've used this newfound excitement about "being 3" to our advantage, and have tried to push her to act like a big girl in many situations now. Some times we're doing well, and sometimes not. :)

We love you so much, Clara-bird, and we are so pleased with who you are becoming and how God is growing you into such a beautiful little girl! We pray so much for you to remain in Him and to know His love for you, and show that to others. Opening presents on her birthday. She got soooooooo much stuff between Christmas and her birthday, so I think it's time for some toy-sorting and stashing in the garage soon. It's not her fault her birthday is 2 weeks after Christmas, but it sure makes for a lot of cardboard boxes in the garage!
Jumping on the new trampoline, which is taking up a big chunk of the playroom right now. On another note, the babies love it, too!

One of her outfits from her Dora dress-up box she got from Grandma Evie and Papa D