First of all, I need to include a shout-out to my second little girl, Averi Kate (or, according to Claire, "Aybee Kake)! She is growing like a weed, as my tummy shows. She is very active but doesn't keep me up at night yet (thank you sweet girl!) The doctor said that he could feel her head already down in position - hold on girl, it's not quite time yet! It is hard to believe that she will very likely be here in 8 weeks or less!
Now for some "Claire-isms"...All week I've been jotting down things that I never want to forget about the things that Claire is saying these days. She is a hoot. Hope you enjoy these as much as I do...
**When Claire asks me a question and I answer (for example...Claire: "Snack?" Me: "Yes, I am cutting up a kiwi for you right now.") Her response is very often: "Oh, cool, yum." The best is when she responds that way and the conversation has nothing to do with food...
Me: "Guess where we're going today, Claire?"
Claire: "Yeah."
Me: "To the LIBRARY!!!"
Claire: "Oh, cool, yum!"
**The other night after supper, Spencer let Claire have some of "Daddy's cereal" for a treat.
Me: "Did you tell daddy thank you, Claire?"
Claire: "Thank you for the treat, Daddy. Amen."
**I know that kids sometimes ask the best theological questions, but I really did not think it would start this early. But it has. It started a few weeks ago when I was running and Claire was in the stroller, chattering away like she always does, and suddenly she asked: "Where'd God go?"
What??? Well, I think I better get ready because that was just the beginning.
Let me just fill you in on our breakfast conversation from yesterday...
(After we said the blessing, ending with..."in Jesus' name, amen.")
Claire: "Where's Jesus?"
Me: "Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus is in heaven right now."
Claire: "In the sky?"
Me: "Sort of...well, yes. In the sky. But He is coming back for us one day, right?" (We have had this conversation
a lot recently, so this wasn't any surprise for Claire)
Claire: "Take us back?"
Me: "Yes! If we love and trust Him, He will take us back to live with Him forever."
Claire: "In a house?"
Me: "Yes, He is building a house for us right now."
Claire: "Oh, cool, yum. I love Jesus."
**Even though Claire can communicate clearly with her words now, she still falls back into what we call "speaking in tongues" when she prays :) "Oioioioioioioio and the food oioioioioioioi Dobby oioioioioio. Amen."
**Claire has always been a really sensitive soul...like the time when she was about a year old and she saw a video of herself crying as an infant, and she started crying in response to the video...Well, she is still really sensitive. I can't hide it when something is wrong. I could just tear up a little thinking or praying about something, not even say a word out loud, and Claire will come out of nowhere and say, "it's okay Mommy." The other day I squatted down to get a pan out from under the oven, and seeing as how my center of gravity is about 7 1/2 months out of balance I just sort of tipped over and landed on my rear end. Totally non-concerning, it was just easier than standing up at that point. Well, Claire thought I "fell down" and came running over, nearly choked me to death with a strangle-hold, I mean hug, and kept saying, "I sorry Mommy, I sorry. It's okay Mommy. I sorry."
Last week we had a wonderful treat. Claire and I drove to Chattanooga to see some of our dear, dear friends from NC who were there for a conference. Amanda and Ivy treated us to a day at the Children's Discovery Museum, and we all had a blast! (Disclaimer: I stole all these pictures right off of Amanda's blog! Thanks for bringing your camera, friend!)
It was so much fun to watch Claire and Ivy interact. They have both grown up a lot in the last few months, but of course the changes in Claire have been a bit more drastic due to her age. It was funny watching Ivy try to "baby" Claire and seeing Claire exerting her independence a little. Here Ivy is trying to hold Claire's hand and Claire doesn't want to!
But she soon changed her tune and all she wanted to do was hold her friend Ivy's hand!
The museum was really awesome. There were no "off limits" or "do not touch" signs anywhere. Everything was designed for little hands to touch and little feet to climb all over!
Claire and Ivy at the water station...
Digging for dinosaur bones...
Putting on a puppet show!
Oh, how we love and miss our friends!
But there aren't many left now.
