Clarita is a little firecracker! She's two and a half going on twelve! This little girl keeps us on our toes all of the time. She never stops moving except when she's asleep and is constantly trying to out stubborn me (rarely happens as she did get her stubbornness from me). Some days I want to pull my hair out from her constant arguing and other days I find myself laughing at her antics and how similar to me she is. So many things she does I can picture tiny Shannon doing as well. I guess I have no one to blame but myself for the headaches she gives me!
I feel like Clara is constantly changing and she definitely does not seem like a toddler anymore. Part of it is that she speaks so well she seems older. I have to remind myself that she really is a tiny little girl and that I should not expect too much of her. She definitely keeps me on my toes and I have to watch what I say because she repeats everything! She's my little buddy and I don't feel like I'm ever alone because she talks to me all day.
Clara is a very happy little girl and loves to play outside and with her toys. She loves to read and often brings me books to read to her while I am nursing Emmett. Clarita has also started "reading" on her own and it is amazing how quickly she can memorize a book. If I read a passage incorrectly she will correct me and she often goes through a book correctly telling me what it says. She has also become very into dolls and calls them her babies and rocks them and nurses them. She likes to carry them in her baby carrier and then put them to bed like I do with Emmett.
As far as big sisters go, Clarita is the best! She loves the Little Guy so much and is actually quite helpful with him. She loves singing and often makes up songs about Baby Emmett. She reads to him, bounces him in his bouncy chair and brings him pacifiers if he's fussy. Clara always tells him, "I yuv you Baby Emmett" and talks about how tiny he is.
We have made some progress with getting rid of her chuponcito. I used it as a bribe during potty training and during the first two weeks with Baby Emmett I didn't have the energy to fight with her so she had it all the time. One day I got fed up and asked her if she wanted the chuponcito fairy to come and take all of her chuponcitos away. Apparently this hit a nerve and she started asking if the fairy was going to come. I took this and ran telling her that the fairy was going to come if she had her chuponcitos anywhere except the car, stroller, and bed. At first she whined for it, but now she has accepted these rules and doesn't ask for her chuponcito at any other times. Now I plan to slowly start limiting it even more until hopefully it goes away all together.
Clarita went through a two to three month phase where she would not sleep by herself and Dada had to lay on the floor by her bed until she fell asleep. She would also wake up during the night screaming for Dada and would not stop until he came to her room. The culprit for this appeared to be fear. Clara said that she was scared of garbage trucks and that they would come into her room. I tried giving her a night light but that also scared her. Her list of scary things included garbage trucks, the monkey flashlight (nightlight), and Baza (who she is not scared of). This got real old after awhile and a few weeks ago I told her that it was her last week of sleeping with Dada. We counted down the days and on the big night she went to bed by herself without any problems (it may have helped that Dada had to work late and wasn't home anyway). She has only had one night since then when she asked for Dada to sleep with her and we let her scream herself to sleep and she was fine. She did wake up screaming one night and told me the next morning that there was a fire in her room and she had to cover it with her pillow to put it out. She had just gotten a book from the library in which Thomas the Train was trapped in a burning building and she knows about the fire burning in the mountains and I think this caused her to have bad dreams. Not a very fun stage but we're working through it. We're just glad that she's less afraid and willing to sleep on her own. She and I have been saying thank you to all the garbage trucks we see for picking up our trash so we don't have a yard overrun with trash and can play outside. She now proclaims that she is no longer afraid of garbage trucks!
Overall, Clara is super fun and always making us laugh. We have so much fun and even though she drives us crazy sometimes, we wouldn't trade her for the world!
Clarita's Stats
Weight: 25 pounds
Height: 35 inches
What Clara Wears
She's still super tiny. Most 2T outfits fit her, but some are still big and she can still wear 18 month tops. She wears a size 5 or 6 shoe.
Things Clara Loves
Mama and Dada and Baby Emmett, Signing Time, playing outside and going to the park, playing with her kitchen, helping me cook, reading, riding her bike, playing with her cousins, playing with the cats, singing, dancing, her chuponcito, running around naked, taking baths, swimming
Things Clara Does Not Love
Not getting her way immediately, being told no, waiting,
How Clarita Sleeps
Clara takes one nap usually going down around 1:00 and sleeping for three to four hours. I have been letting her sleep in the library (which is now also the guest bedroom) and I don't have a baby monitor so I can't see what she is going, but she stays in bed quiet the entire time so I'll take it. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 and sleeps in a twin bed with her sleep sack, chuponcito, water bottle (she must be my daughter), a sheet, and a million animals. She has been waking up between 7:00 and 7:30 and lays in her bed playing with her animals or gets up and reads until we come get her.
Nicknames
Clarita, Snugglepuff, Snuggles, Wiggle, Munchkin, Birthday Twin, Loquita, Pipsqueak, Wigs, Loqs, Puff
Talking
Clarita still talks up a storm and has really started to understand grammar. She uses the past tense correctly most of the time and has started saying things like easier or faster. She sings constantly and often makes up her own songs. Clarita has started speaking Spanish more often now that she is home with me. She also translates when asked, and I often realize that she is translating things that I say to her all the time into English when she talks. She says things that don't really make sense in English, but would in Spanish like "we're going at the park." Clara also still likes sign language and often says that she wants to say something in sign language.
Eating
Clarita has become somewhat picky as she realizes that she has choices. She loves most fruits and vegetables, bread, and carbs in general. Clara often requests salad and her new favorite thing is dressing. She likes to dip strawberries and other fruit in balsamic vinaigrette. She is not a big fan of meat but will eat bacon, hot dogs, sausage, and pepperoni. Clarita also loves sweets and requests to eat ice cream, cake, and brownies all the time. She must be my daughter!
Teeth
18! She finally got all of her regular teeth and has both of her bottom two - year molars.
Exciting Events
September 1, 2015: Gets a library card and checks out her first book
August 16, 2015: First time sleeping in panties
August 13, 2015: First and second time outs
July 26, 2015: First time wearing panties out of the house
July 30, 2015: Jumps off a diving board
July 29, 2015: Meets Baby Emmett
July 28, 2015: Becomes a big sister
July 27, 2015: First time spending the night at los Tios
July 21, 2014: First swim lesson (she loved it)
July 15, 2015: First whole day without going potty in a diaper
June 29, 2015: Starts Gymboree classes
June 19, 2015: First time eating a s'more (she preferred plain marshmallows)
June 17, 2015: First time riding a carousel
June 16, 2015: First time at a children's museum, first time seeing fireflies
June 13, 2015: First time in her own seat on a plane
June 6, 2015: Starts using a pillow
June 5, 2015: Gets a big girl bed!
April 30, 2015: Switch car seat forward facing
April 15, 2015: Stops sitting in booster seat at table
March 21, 2015: First time visiting an aquarium
Pictures
