Adventures in Parenthood: Clarita's Busy Life

I always find myself saying "Clara is exhausted she had a busy day, week, etc." Tia Laurie pointed out that Clara has had a busy life and I realized this is true. Before I was pregnant Kevin and I said that we would not let a baby stop us from doing things we wanted to do. Although, of course, we have had to change some things, we are still able to do pretty much everything we want with Clarita and she enjoys being out and around other people. She's become a good little traveler and is pretty flexible with her naps; sleeping in the car, stroller, or even in the baby carrier while we walk around. That being said, I think she does get pretty exhausted sometimes and by the time the end of the week rolls around she is ready for some rest.

Two weeks ago was a super busy week ( so busy I didn't have time to write a blog) and we were only home before 9:00 PM one night! Clara saw Scotty McCreery at the park in Hanford. She loved dancing, pouting when she didn't get her way, and playing with a little boy. He would cover all of the sprinklers with wood chips and Clarita would clean them all off!

Que pouty face!

We went to Abuelita's so Dada could ride his bike on hills. Clarita, Abuelita, and I played and ate dinner while Dada rode. We went to Tia Laurie's and Tio Chino's for dinner and Glee. Clara loved dancing to the songs in Glee and of course playing with the dogs. She and Bigby took turns chasing each other around the living room while Buster hid from scary Clara!

On Friday we headed up to Shaver for Dada's triathlon. We stayed at Kevin's Auntie Lisa's cabin and Clara had a ton of fun chasing her little dog Rose around and barking at her. Rose barked and growled at Clarita and she thought it was the funniest thing ever! Saturday morning I got Clarita up bright and early to head to the lake. I was hoping she would not really wake up and fall right back to sleep in the car. She woke right up smiling and waving and played on the way to the lake. By the time Dada swam, the little Wiggle was tired and was content to hang out in the carrier while we watched him. She got her second wind once we got to China Peak Ski Resort to catch the end of the bike and watch the run. Clara waved and cheered people on and even got to go on the podium with Dada when he got his medal. He got fourth place overall and second in his age division. The winner was an elite athlete who is training for the Olympics so I think Dada really got third!;)

Practicing riding the ski lift

We headed back to the cabin to hang out and eat lunch before heading home. Clara loved running around and playing with Rose. She and Dada went for a walk and she collected some treasures (rocks and plants). Clarita slept the entire way home and was then ready to go.

Saturday night we took Clara and Tristan to Ice Cream Zoofari. Dada has been wanting to go for years and I told him he had to wait until he had a child. Last year he wanted to go, but it was super hot and I told him he could go when Clara was older and could eat ice cream, so he finally got to go this year! There were supposedly 46 different flavors of ice cream set up around the zoo. Dada had at least 20, Clara, Tristan, and I were not as ambitious. It was Clarita's first time eating ice cream and she absolutely loved it! After her first taste she seemed indifferent and we were hopeful that she wouldn't become ice cream obsessed...wrong! She would grab the cone out of my hands and devour it. Then she would say, "mas mas peez" complete with signs and sign thank you as well. We had to hide the ice cream from her and I just gave her cones with a dot of ice cream. When I told her she could not have anymore ice cream she started crying and threw a fit. I guess she takes after her Dada! Tristan didn't have as much fun as Clara due to becoming upset when a lady serving ice cream forgot to give him some. This happened right at the beginning and he was not very enthusiastic the remainder of the night. I think Clara was excited enough for both of them and she ran all over doing the signs for all of the animals she knew and inventing signs for those she didn't know! She also started saying Tristan "Tistin" and was so excited to play with him and sit next to him in the car. Aside from Mama and Dada the only other names she has tried to say are Abuelita and Fafa so Tristan must really be special!

Sunday was Tristan's birthday party so we headed over to their house after church. Clara went right down for a nap while we helped get things ready. She took a three hour nap and woke up right in time for the pinata. We thought she would love the pinata since she loves bats. Turns out we were wrong and she was afraid of it! If we put her near it she said, "noo noo" and ran away whimpering! Since Clarita is afraid of so few things it was really funny. She also called the pinata Mama so it was even weirder that she was so afraid of it. She did love the bat and did not want to give it up for Teagan to have a turn. Teagan was not afraid of the pinata and took some swings at it. By the time we left, Clarita was exhausted (you know, she's had a busy life) and fell asleep on the way home. She might be super busy, but she has a lot of fun doing it!