Clara's First Field Trip

On Tuesday I had the honor of going along with Clara on her first field trip. At first she wasn't sure she wanted to allow me to sit with her on the bus, but there were so many chaperones along that most of the kids sat with their own parents. However, the bus was so packed that even though this other sweet little girl's mom was along, she sat in a different seat.

 It was a 45 minute bus ride to the pumpkin patch. Along the way I was texting Pete "surely they could have found a closer pumpkin patch?" But once we were there I could see that it was worth the wait. We started out with lunch, then a nice movie about farming and growing pumpkins. Then we jumped on this hay rack ride.

 From the ride we could see "Happy Jack" up on the big silo. He's been there for about 30 years, if I heard the movie right.

 This pumpkin patch was way more than a pumpkin patch. They had several tents of interesting animals as well.

 And there was this bizarre robotic pumpkin-eating 'dinosaur'. I thought I had a good video of this thing grabbing a pumpkin and crunching it, but I messed up. When Henry looked at the pictures he said "that doesn't look like a dinosaur!"

 There were also giraffes. ?

 Clara and I spent quite a lot of time giving the giraffes carrots.

 At the end we went through a corn maze and then each kid got to choose their own pumpkin, gourd and piece of Indian corn to take home.

 And we spotted the Great Pumpkin on the way out!

I was worn out, and wanted to take Clara home with me so we could both nap. Unfortunately I had a class to get to and had to leave her at school for her dad to pick her up later. She was happy as could be to give me a kiss and send me on my way! Such a big girl.

Dreaming

A few nights ago I awoke to Clara crying out, not just for her nuk, but almost in a scream. I could tell that she was having a bad dream so I got up right away. When I put my hand on her back and "shhhhh-ed" her she immediately said "Doggie. Eat it. Bunny."
This was obviously a scary and sad dream for her, but I was thrilled that she spoke up and was able to tell me what she was dreaming about. In the morning when Pete carried her into the kitchen for her breakfast I asked her if she had had a dream and she said "Yes. Rabbit," and continued to jabber on in her own language for several minutes.

Budding Talent

Clara has recently taken up photography.
She's especially into self portraits.
And extreme close-ups.

Clara

Here's a cute picture of Clara when she was getting ready for Anna's birthday party a while ago. I thought her outfit was quite adorable. Now, looking back, I realize this was right before she got a fever and was a little sick for a couple of days. So that might explain the expression on her face.
I wanted to post a picture of Clara because I've been meaning to make note of my current favorite thing she says. She has a renewed interest in drinking from her sippy cup. Only, she calls it "Iddy Pup". So she's frequently heard saying "Iddy pup water. I waaanit."
Right now she's at the door trying to let Franklin outside. She's saying "Uh-hel-me Mom." Which means "Help me."
And since I didn't get to her quickly enough she decided to decorate the dog gate with blue crayon. In other news of the day...Henry's taking a shower with his dad in order to get ready for a birthday party today. I'm not sure what Clara and I will do....maybe clean the house a bit. My cousin Russell is in the big city today for a class project, so we might try to meet up with him this evening as well. We'll have to see when he finishes and how much we feel like going into the city.

Clara's Birthday

My sweet girl turned two today. We had quite a celebratory day planned, but of course the universe had something else in mind for us. The trouble started on Wednesday when Henry had to go in for a dental procedure. Pete drove him out to Long Grove when the pedodontist did a pulpectomy, some drilling and put a stainless cap on one of his molars. Now that I type all that it sound more traumatic than I really realized at the time. They gave him nitrous oxide and novacaine and he did very well for the whole thing. He did have a pretty swollen cheek and it lasted longer than we expected. After complaining a bit yesterday, and just not acting quite himself, I called and spoke with the dentist's office and ultimately made a tentative appointment for this morning. He awoke in the night with crying and a low grade fever, but seemed okay again this morning. We figured maybe we had let him be too active yesterday and it just got overly irritated. Plus, the streets were quite snowy and blowy, so I just chose not to take him out. Well, then the morning was very up and down. We let him watch cartoons all morning, but he was still whiny and crabby and weepy. His fever was up and down too, sometimes as high as 103. By early afternoon I was speaking with the dentist's office again and with our pediatrician's office. I decided to take him to the pediatrician. After looking over everything he determined it wasn't a problem with the tooth. Just as a last-minute thing he did a quick strep test. Henry fell asleep in my lap while we waited for the results, which came back positive. Thank goodness! We got his prescription filled and gave him a dose as soon as we got home. After a much more mellow celebration than planned, both kids are asleep and will hopefully wake up for a pleasant day of quiet playing tomorrow.
So, in the meantime, Clara's birthday wasn't a total loss. She (knock on a whole lotta wood) has been feeling well and enjoyed many aspects of her day.
Here she is, shortly after her birthday pancakes, enjoying her gift from me and Pete. I envision many happy tea parties in the backyard this summer.
Henry and Franklin tried to enjoy the tea party as well, but Franklin kept getting shooed from the table and Henry couldn't do much for long today.
Hey sweet two-year-old!!
You might be able to get a little bit of an idea of Henry's swollen right cheek in this picture. He was trying to rest in bed and Clara decided to read to him. He didn't have much energy for telling her she was doing it wrong, so the whole thing went surprisingly well.
Clara enjoyed a morning bath, still anticipating a party this evening, and then spent some time tucking in and reading to her dollies. She also sang Happy Birthday to them.
After Henry's appointment we settled in for a movie. I was trying to get Henry to eat anything and Clara caught sight of Grammie having a little ice cream (she likes to buy Jamoca when she's in town, since there's no B&R in Iowa City anymore) so they decided they wanted an ice cream treat too. Wouldn't you know it? We just happened to have some in the freezer for the birthday party!
And we didn't get our balloon order canceled in time, plus...a girl still needs balloons on her birthday! So the table was very festive.
I went ahead with the elephant cupcakes, as I had already made the parts and baked the cupcakes this morning. There were a couple of trunk incidents, but overall they turned out pretty well. Clara recognized them, so that was the important thing. (In case you don't know- Clara's lovey is a yellow stuffed elephant named Ellie. I bought Ellie for her at the hospital gift shop when she had pneumonia at one month old.) I ran a few of the cupcakes across the street for Anna and Sebby, since Helena had brought Clara's gift over. They were duly excited, so I felt my efforts were not totally in vain.
So, we ordered some pizza, watched a couple of movies, opened a few presents (thanks everyone!) and had a mellow evening. Happy 2nd Birthday to my wonderful, hilarious, happy-natured little girl!
And isn't she a snappy dresser? Check out those bracelets.

Time Flies

Our baby girl is 18 months old today! Here she was at under 3 months, making a very Clara face...
She is our little princess and our little comedienne. She loves hats and shoes and pretty dresses. Her antics at the dinner table often include putting her bib over her head and waiting for someone to notice. After dinner tonight, while Pete folded laundry, she worked very diligently at putting on a pair of my underpants. She then walked around the house with them around her ankles (over her pajamas of course). She loves to dance and sing and read books. Her current favorites are Sleepytime, Goodnight Moon and Mr. Brown Can Moo. She cuddles and gives kisses to her baby dolls and Ellie, her yellow elephant. When we go to pick her up from her nap she stands in her crib and points to all of her things one at a time until we name each one ('There is my doll. There is my teddy. There is my bunny. There is my alphabet. My nuk is on the floor. My diaper is wet'). She gives great big bear hugs to each one of us frequently, including her brother. She has a very jealous streak though too. She will not stand for someone else being in my lap. She also doesn't want Henry to crowd her, and she often pushes him away when he's too close. Her voice is loud! She sings sweetly. It goes without saying that we love her beyond words. We are so excited about all of the growing and learning she has done over these past 6 months and can't even imagine what the next 6 months will bring.

"Talk!"

Mostly in this video you can hear Pete on the phone making plans with the Kohlers, and you can hear me sneezing... But the first couple seconds, before Clara realized I was filming her, are pretty cute. You can see how she "talks" on the phone. She sometimes rocks back and forth and she usually just says her words "Book. Book. Mama. Hi. Book. Talk." and sometimes "dadadada lalala dadadada" in a sing-songy voice. She also likes to talk on her play keys in the car. I guess the remote-entry part of the play keys does kind of look like a phone.

Right now she's busy taking all of the crayons and markers out of the Curious George lunchbox, and puting them back in, and taking them out...

Clara Speaks

Here's a little video of Clara saying Hi.