Clara turned two over two weeks ago now. "Are you my baby-love?" I ask her, and in true two-year-old fashion, she says, "No." She says "no" to lots of things these days: along with "mine!" and "me!," it's one of her favorite words.
She's definitely adding to her vocabulary, though. Today she said her first three-word sentence ("Done this side," in reference to nursing. Then, "Sich sides!" [switch sides] in the cutest-ever sing-song. Her bunny, nursing from her, switches sides on that cue, too.) I love how she says "oh" when I
inform her of something and "es" or "yah" in agreement (much less often than "no"!).
She still pantomimes and uses sounds to augment her verbal communication. For instance, she'll make sad faces and say, "Ow!" when pointing to an owie (usually an old scab), and then "eh? eh?" while pinching her fingers together--which means she wants a bandaid.
She still refers to many animals by their sounds: her sheep is "Baa," she barks when she sees a dog, etc. She loves to pretend to be a puppy (especially in company with Lydia). She crawls around and sticks her little tongue out to pant, and gets up on her knees with her hands curled in front to "beg."
Hardly anything escapes Clara. She's attuned to every privilege the big kids get and notices when she's deprived. They all got new water bottles to replace their worn-out, chewed-up, broken-handled ones the other day. "Me? Cup? Me? Me?" Clara asked. She's so proud to have joined the crew with Contigo water bottles, and her sisters encouraged her in choosing a color, too--so hers is the pink one. She just delights to drink out of it.
Clara has begun to really enjoy books in the last couple months. I try to spend time with just her mid-morning after we've done some schoolwork and before I send the three girls outdoors so I can do some one-on-one work with Josiah. We usually read through a stack of picture books:
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is her current favorite (she loves the "new fish," and says "Mama!" in her baby voice while pointing to it; she also thinks Ned and his bed are so funny). She also enjoys
Green Eggs and Ham,
Hop on Pop, Old Hat New Hat, Ten Apples Up on Top, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Harry the Dirty Dog, Goodnight Moon, Fox in Socks, and others of that ilk. She's starting to sit for some of the longer picture books the other kids choose--sometimes even a Beatrix Potter story. She's funny about picking who she wants to be (i.e., which animal/character), and often reminds me of which character she's picked on every new page. Sometimes she assigns everyone a character. Dada was both the owl and the bus driver in
Amos McGee this morning: "Two Dada!" she said.
Abby and Lydia like to play with her, mother her, and boss her around. She doesn't put up with much bossing, though she loves to be included in their games. They find ways to manipulate her into doing what they want or to appease or distract her when she's ornery. Her sense of pretend play is certainly more sophisticated because of the example and instruction of her older sisters!
Clara is possessive with the fierceness of a fourth child: she knows which few things are hers, and she guards them. Her baby doll, phone-on-a-string, animal counters, board books, puppy coloring book, red cloak, and owl puzzle are precious to her, especially if a sibling wants to play with them, and most especially if the sibling takes them without asking. She screeches from across the yard if she sees someone so much as consider a ride in her coupe car or on her push-bike (hand-me-downs from the bigger ones though they may be!). She's not yet reconciled to sharing when friends come over, either.
But oh, Clara does enjoy a stolen session alone with the Lego or with Lydia's stuffed animals! She can entertain herself for a half-hour at a time if she finds these coveted toys left unsupervised.
When Clara's birthday was approaching, I felt the autumn itch to make a pie--but I gave Clara the choice of birthday dessert. She was very definite in choosing"cake." So we had apple cake, and I made butternut squash pasta (which the kids all love) for dinner.
Clara picked up on the big kids' excitement over her birthday. She had practiced saying "two" when asked her age and tries to hold up two fingers (unsuccessfully). We had a pre-birthday celebration before my mom left with some chocolate cake and presents from Grandma, so Clara knew "birthday" meant "presents."
I just love the progression here :)
Lydia and Abby were quite excited to purchase and wrap presents for Clara; Josiah was somewhat indifferent. But they all sang to her with gusto, demolished her birthday desserts, and had to be restrained from ripping open her gifts for her. They shoved each new present in her face the minute she unwrapped one.
But all in all, her second birthday was a success. "Now are you a big girl?" Abby and Lydia ask her. She nods, "Es," holds up her hand, and says, "Two!"
