Elsa, Tiny Kisses, and Purple Yogurt

She's two. *sniff* It goes too fast! This is my favorite age, and it's my last time getting to experience it with my own kid. Clara is just so wonderfully fun; I don't want her to grow up. She has an infectious laugh and is so kind and sweet yet stubborn. She's a complete joy all the time, except at bedtime, when she's a complete buttface who makes ridiculous demands and keeps her big sister awake. We kind of adore her.

• Cute Clara-isms (some are already irrelevant, but I had to write them down):
• "I do it!"
• "Fup" for "syrup"
• "Faffite" for "flashlight"
• "I see it?" when she wants to see something
• "Sound?" when she hears something that she is unfamiliar with
• "Buhbook" for "buckle it"
• "Woah"
• "Fit tee" for "fishy"
• "No thank"

• "Poe poe poe" for "pull" when she's pulling on something (obviously)
• "Baaaa" and then "bash" for "bath"
• "Gahguh" for "cracker"
• "I keem" for "ice cream"
• "Snugguck" for "snuggles"
• "Go-guck" and then "yo-guck" for "yogurt"
• "Um" before she says things ("Um, Mommy?")
• "Ocean" for "lotion" (which she constantly asks for)

• "Coming?" when she wants you to follow her
• "Coming!" when she wants to follow you
• "Pie go?" for "Where'd the pacifier go?"
• "Watt" for "watch"
• "Oopie" for "oopsie"
• "Puh-puck" and then "puh-pup" for "purple"
• "Puh-pup yo-guck" for "purple yogurt," which is blueberry yogurt (which she ALWAYS wants)

• "Daddy/Mommy, look!" and "Watch, Mommy/Daddy!"
• "Waweefall" for "waterfall" (She shouts it enthusiastically when we see one.)
• "Watch a pad" for "watch iPad"
• "Apple auce" for "apple sauce" (which, by the way, she's obsessed with)
• "Ah mon" for "come on" (Her saying, "Ah mon, Carter!" when she wants him to play with her just kills me.)
• "Ah doing?" for "What are you doing?"
• "Sorry, Mommy" if she accidentally hurts me or destroys/breaks something
• "I do it!" (about EVERYTHING)
• "Go, Mommy!" whenever we're driving and I stop at a light or park somewhere
• The way she says "cookie" is the absolute best. Ohmygoodness it's adorable!

• Whenever I read her a touch-and-feel book, she grabs one of my fingers and rubs it on whatever the thing is to make me feel it too. Hehe.
• For awhile there, she would just sing "mama" over and over in a made up tune. 
• She likes to throw things in the fish tank that don't belong there. She also loves feeding him and yells, "Fishy ate it!" when Luke eats the pellets.

• She gives these sweet, little kisses that are so soft and quiet and wonderful. She'll just lean over and randomly kiss me wherever is closest, like my arm or my leg or whatever. Best kisses EVER.
• She always wants to be the one to turn off the light at bedtime. But she can't reach, so Aubrey would lift her up to it every time. Then, when Aubrey stopped being in the room for Clara's bedtime, I started doing it.

• When I put her to bed, she always says, "Huggy kissy!" as I'm leaving. So I go over and give her a hug and a kiss, and then she says, "Aubrey huggy kissy" to tell me to give Aubrey a hug and kiss. When it's naptime and Aubrey's not there, she still says it. So I hug and "kiss" Aubrey's bed. *shrug*
• She is always singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," which she calls "how I wanna" because of the lyric "how I wonder." When she sings it herself, she just says random words/sounds, but she has the tune right! 
• She always draws all over herself. It's never safe to leave out a pen or marker.

• She started insisting on having the door open at nap time and bedtime. I think she's scared. Whenever she senses we're about to leave, she cries out in a panic, "Leave it open!"
• She recently watched Frozen for the first time. It was her first movie! She actually watched the whole thing with rapt attention. We had her watch it because she somehow got obsessed with Elsa. It may have been Aubrey's Elsa dolls or the Elsa bandaids we had for awhile... I don't know. But at some point every Barbie-type doll became Elsa. She calls them all Elsa. Also, she loved this Elsa dress so much that when I tried to take it off at the end of the day, she pulled it back down, held on tight to it, and said, "No, keep!"

• When we went on our trip to California this past summer, she often had a hard time falling asleep--new places with new sounds and a different crib, etc. When she struggled, I'd snuggle her on my and Daniel's bed to help her calm down. She was always so tired that she would fall asleep quickly, but only while snuggling my face. If, as she was falling asleep, I moved my face away from her face, she'd scooch over until they were right up against each other. Once she was asleep, I was able to pry myself away, but oh man... it was hard to leave the snuggles.
• She really likes having pockets. Here she is running around with her hands in them because she loved them so much.

• When she wants me to sit by her, she pats the seat next to her to indicate that I should sit. She finally started saying, "Mommy, sit" as she does it, which just adds to the cuteness.
• One time I was lying in bed when I needed to be doing something else. I don't even remember what it was or when it was. But Clara was in there on the bed with me, and I said to her, "Clara, I need to get up." Like the sweet, wonderful girl she is, she reached her arm behind me and tried to push me up into a sitting position. I almost died from the cuteness.
• She sleeps with a crap ton of things in her bed--two baby dolls, baby Yoda, Dolly Llama, Tygee, Pink Bear, and a sippy cup with water. And she insists on having all of them.

• At church, when we sing the hymns, she watches the music conductor and waves her hand around like she's conducting too. She does NOT like it when I try to move her arm in the correct pattern though.
• She started pretending to be asleep when I go to get her out of her car seat. Then, after I say, "Oh, she's asleep!", she pops her eyes open and gets this cute, big smile on her face.

• She does this hilarious not-so-sneaky "boo" that I have to pretend surprises me. We'll be in the same room--I'll be looking right at her--and she'll creep up to me really slowly and quietly (with a big grin on her face) and then yell "Boo!" when she gets right in front of me. She laughs so hard when I act scared.
• She loves walking around in other people's shoes. My favorite was when she put on Aubrey's tap shoes.

• When Carter gets sad, she opens her arms out to offer him a hug. She also brings him Mr. Purr, which is something she learned from seeing Aubrey and Carter do that for each other and for her.
• The kids love a few Weird Al songs, including "The Hamilton Polka," which we listen to a lot in the car. The song ends with a sustained note that is apparently Clara's favorite part. Whenever we listen to the song, she belts out that note, oftentimes way too early. But man, she holds it out. It's one of my favorite things she does.

• When I pick her up from Nursery on Sundays, she starts shrieking with joy while running back and forth a few feet like she can't contain herself. It's the BEST.
• Sometimes she puts her hands over her mouth when she laughs, and it's so genuine, and I love it. She also puts her hands over her mouth and gasps when she gets scared. That's cute, too, but also sad.

• She is a complete food thief. If someone (mostly me) is eating something she wants, she will just grab it and shove it in her mouth. She also steals her siblings' drinks if they leave them lying around. At the same time, she is also very giving when it comes to food. If either Aubrey or Carter says they want a certain food and Clara has it, she will give it to them.
• She likes to take her fruit out of its container, put it on the table, and put it back again. She's so wonderfully weird.

• She loves seeing cows when we're driving. She doesn't do it as much anymore, but she used to gasp and shout, "Cow!" when she saw them. Then she'd say, "Where cows go?" She actually still asks that question after we pass them.
• She loves baby Yoda, so we got her a stuffed animal of him. We did it while we were watching The Mandalorian, and it was so cute how she pointed at the TV.

• She is VERY cautious. When we go to the playground, she very rarely does anything other than walk around and maybe throw some wood chips. We recently went to a park with a little suspension bridge, and she utterly refused to go across the bridge. She would act like she was going to go across but then back out at the last second and run away. She kept saying, "Fall down!" when she was on the structure (which I had to lift her onto). She wouldn't run around and play. Then at the park this week, she freaked out when I tried to put her on the structure. She didn't even want to go on the swings. Weirdo. I hope she gets over it!

• She developed a deep love for bandaids and asks for one every time she has any sort of ouchy. For  awhile there she had a scrape on her knee and a little eczema scab and insisted on bandaids for each one every night at bedtime. Then she'd start looking her legs over to find other cuts and ask for more bandaids. I got baby Yoda bandaids and Frozen bandaids, and that may have made the whole obsession worse... But it's so cute to hear her ask for Yoda and Elsa. 
• Seriously, everything she does is cute. Take this shoulder shimmy, for example (and the way she plays just in general):

• She loves babies and shouts, "Baby!" whenever she sees one (or even just a stroller or infant car seat). She gets SO excited. D'awwww.
• For some reason, she loves sitting in drawers and buckets and boxes.

 

 

• She loves climbing over the top end of Aubrey's bed--over the wood headboard--to get on it instead of just getting up from the side like normal. Her crib is over on that end, and she also likes to hold onto the crib with one hand and the bed with the other, putting her feet up on them too. Then she just hangs there.

• She randomly says, "I B I B I," and we have no idea what (if anything) it means. Maybe it's, "Eye be eye be eye?" Haha.
• When she has a hair in her mouth or if you ask her if she has something in her mouth or what she's eating, she opens it really wide and just holds it open. And for some reason, it's hilarious and adorable.

• I swear she spends half of her day asking where everyone is. "Where Daddy go? Where Aubee go? Where Caree go? Where Nana go? Where Gamma go?" She has even asked where someone is when they are in the room with her. Asking about everyone is actually one of her stall tactics at bedtime/naptime. As I said, she sometimes asks where Aubrey is when she is in the bed next to Clara. She once asked Daniel, "Where Daddy go?" Oy.
• She loves loves loves going for walks. I really need to take her more often...

• During dinner, she likes to "make" food for at the toy kitchen and serve it to me. She brings me pretend food with the little oven mitt on her hand, and it kills me! She gets a big smile on her face when I pretend to eat it and say it's yummy.

• Unfortunately, however, she doesn't really eat real food when we serve it to her. She refuses to try any meat or vegetables we give her. She also won't eat yogurt with fruit chunks still. She just generally sucks at eating dinner, with the exception of a few pasta dishes we make, plain rice (sometimes), bread (sometimes), and mashed potatoes (again, sometimes). Thankfully, she finally starting eating pizza. That was a big win! Every time she bites into a raw baby carrot, she spits it out. But, you know, she likes eating still-frozen pancakes and waffles. So whatever.
• Also, she will not stay in her seat for dinner. She wanders around and plays, and when we tell her to eat, she just brazenly says, "No." I hate that she figured out how to unbuckle her booster seat...

• She loves dipping chips in salsa and bread in vinegar but not for her to eat. She instead tries to feed it to me or Daniel.
• She's really good about throwing away her trash and taking her dishes to the sink. I hope she keeps that up!
• She is obsessed with this cat color-learning video on YouTube that Grandma plays for her. Her favorite part is the black cat. She loses her mind when she sees it. No idea why.