Three Year Old Eve

Oh my sweet Claire. Tonight I laid down with you and sang you to sleep, my last time doing that with two year old Claire. Tomorrow you will be three. When did that happen???

You are such a bundle of delight. What a gift from our heavenly Father, when three years ago He introduced us to 7 pound you. When you were born, you met your world with open eyes, intense as you looked around at everyone in the room, taking everything in. You have not stopped observing since then. And what an observant three year old you are! Every morning when we walk outside, you comment on which vehicle Daddy drove to work. "Oh, Daddy took the truck today." Or, "Daddy took the little car." Claire, I don't even notice which vehicle he took. I cannot say a word without you questioning me on it. "What you said, Mommy?" Or, "Why?" You notice every detail around you. And you narrate EVERYTHING. You tell us what is going on every minute of the day, from how you feel to what you see to what you are doing. Even when no one is around, you are talking. I can hear you through the door to the bathroom, narrating your experience on the toilet. Or through the door to your room, narrating how you are not tired as you lay in the bed.

You say the funniest things sometimes. The other day you were running and suddenly you stopped and said, "I can't run anymore. I don't have any injury in my mouth." You meant to say "energy" instead of "injury" and I think you meant that you were thirsty. I laughed. I do that a lot with you. Another time I was listening to "Turning Point" on the radio and you said...
"Who is that?"
"It's a man named David Jeremiah."
"Oh. Is it Daddy?"
"No. It's David Jeremiah."
"Oh. Is he a boy or a girl?"
"He's a boy."
"Oh. He's a boy?"
"Yes."
"Oh, okay. He goes to the boy's bathroom."

You love to sing the blessing, but before you do you always ask, "Is everybody ready?" (We had to teach you to do that instead of just starting your prayer-song before everyone sat down at the table). And then you always pause to say, "Let me get my hair out of my face," and smooth your hair back, before proceeding with "God our Father..."

We have our frustrating moments as you develop your personality and independence. There are times when the last thing you want to do is to bend your will to obey Mommy and Daddy. But, sweet Claire, we love you too much to allow you to disobey. We know that God's children experience His best for them when they are teachable and obedient. And that's why we try so hard to teach you to obey us. I know it's hard. Impossible, even. That's why we need Jesus, sweet girl. None of us can live in perfect obedience. But He did, and He is completely pleasing to the Father, so guess what??? We don't have to earn God's favor; in fact, we can't earn His favor, because we are disobedient by nature. But if we trust in His Son, and embrace what Jesus did for us on the cross, and respond to His love by turning away from our sins and turning toward Him in His infinite grace, God will be completely pleased. Without faith it is impossible to please God...Oh Claire, I pray that God will graciously use your Daddy and Mommy in all of our weakness to teach you that.

My favorite moments of the day are right after you wake up in the morning and right before you go to sleep at night. I love your sleepy smile as you as climb out of bed and declare, "It's waketime!!!" You give the best good-morning hugs, so warm and cuddly. And before you go to sleep, you always look at me and say, "Do you have a song for me Mommy?"

Oh Claire. I will always have a song for you.

Typical

Claire woke me up at 3 AM this morning to ask if she could have oat bran for breakfast. I told her yes. She went back to sleep.

True story.

Gymnastics

 First off, here's a random snapshot of Claire before we went to Hat Day at the library.

 Now, on to the main event. There is an awesome thing here called "Tot Time" at the gymnastics center. They basically open up the gym for 2 hours and, for $2.00, anyone under age 5 can come and play their hearts out on the equipment. It is one of our favorite things to do here.

Claire loves to run on the trampoline runway...

Averi Kate loves to play too, like a big kid!

The balance beam is great fun...

And nothing can beat hanging out on the parallel bars.

 AK gets some tumble time in...

And especially enjoys when her big sister stops by for a few minutes!

And then, she's off again...

Until there is a phone break...

And a big wedge to climb on... (AK cracked up laughing every time Claire climbed on this thing.)

Both girls love the trampolines...

We love the gymnastics center!!!

Pumpkins!

2 Quotables before we get to the subject of this post...

Claire's recent compliments to me...

•  Mommy, you are the best maker of cereal.

• Mommy, you are the best cooker of the world.

 Also, the other day we were eating supper when Claire said, "What kind of cheese is this?" "Pecorino," I replied. "Oh," said Claire. "I don't like Pecorino cheese. I just like Manchego. Do we have any Manchego?"

I'm willing to bet that I'm the only person who has had that conversation with a 2 year old.

Now...the other day Claire's mother's morning out class had a visit to the pumpkin patch! They had a great time, first at storytime...

Listening to the Pumpkin Patch Parable...

Dancing, of course...

And watching a pumpkin being carved!

Then, it was on to play in the pumpkin patch!

"Oh, look, this is a great pumpkin!"

"Hmmmm, it might be a little too big, Mom..."

"Oh, here, this one is just right!"

 I love this silly girl with all of my heart!

And I love this silly girl with all of my heart too! I love this face...this is one that Averi Kate makes quite a bit!

"Look at all three of my teeth!" 2 on the bottom and one random off-center tooth on the top!

After a fun day at the pumpkin patch, it was on to play on the playground with some friends that afternoon! Here is our dear friend Mrs. Tanya getting some cuddle time with AK...

Hmmm, what is this?

I think I shall eat it!

No, Averi Kate, you can't eat a stick!

Give it to me!

Here, let me comfort you while you still chew on the stick.

On This Day, I Will Remember...

Favorite Words

Claire's favorite word these days is "very." She sometimes uses it in the correct context...

• "My teacher is very sweet."
• "Mmmm, this cereal is very tasty."

And sometimes not...

• "Is our house very this way?"
• "Can I have a snack? Can I very have one?"
• "Mom, I very love you."

Averi Kate's favorite word these days is "bmm." She usually uses it in threes...

"Bmm bmm bmm."

She can say lots of other sounds, like /b/, /m/, /d/, "bababa", the rolling b (like an engine sound), etc. But just try to get her to say any of those, and she will look right back at you and say, "bmm bmm bmm."

Other Things

AK getting ready to crawl. She got on all fours today and rocked back and forth. Oh, it's coming.

Claire talks a lot in her sleep. I didn't realize how much until we let her sleep in our room for the past few nights as we have been strongly encouraging Averi Kate to please start sleeping through the night. Now that I have "slept" with Claire for 3 nights straight, I think I understand why it is taking AK so long...

I put AK in the floor the other day and walked out of the room to do something. When I came back in the girls were sitting on the floor playing together. Well, at least playing side by side. Averi Kate might have actually been eating a book, now that I look at the pictures. At any rate, it was fun to watch. They played for probably 15 minutes before I had to step in and rescue somebody. Visions of days to come...

Averi Kate is super sweet. Like, super sweet. She loves to smile, loves interaction, laughs a lot, even cuddles a good bit. BUT. I'm afraid that she is going to have a temper. In those moments when she is not a happy baby...well...she is a really not happy baby. At least she is pretty easy to read! Love to watch these little personalities develop!

Videos

"God Our Father." Please pay attention to the "A-war-men" at the end.

This is the day in the Lord's army. Let us rejoice and be glad in May.

AK getting poomed.

And finally, another dance video. Because these things should be so.

Amen.