Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Clare's 11th Birthday



Sweet Abby made this for Clare.
Doesn't 11 sound old? Nevertheless, that's what Clare saw fit to become on this latest birthday of hers. Happily, she is still her lovely self, a wonderful combination of maturity and age-appropriateness. After all, her latest infatuation is with Kermit the Frog, and her birthday list was predominated by American Girl items. Yet her heart's desire for celebrating her birthday is a day of shopping with me. Sweet.

Danny knows we sometimes need to go to extremes to get a photo.

In what she has declared a new tradition, the family went out for Mexican food for the second year in a row. A sombrero and celebratory dessert were featured at the end of the meal. Laura really liked the sombrero.
 The years really do roll by quickly. And with every one that passes, we love our Clare Bear more and more!

Monday, March 24, 2014

The Book Thief


Over the past week or so, Laura has developed a new habit during her nap and at bedtime. We tuck her in as usual, and all is quiet. Then, after a bit, we start to hear thumping noises. And when we go in to get her up, her bed generally looks like the above photo, often with books also on the floor (hence the thumping sounds).

I find this interesting because we have always marveled at the fact that neither Clare nor Danny ever budged from their beds once they switched out of the crib. Not once, until we finally told them at around age 6 or so that they did not have to wait for us to get them up in the mornings. Laura has also followed this trend, with the new exception of helping herself to a whole lot of books.

Naturally I love that my kids all love books. In fact, as I write on this Monday morning, Laura is voluntarily in her room, "reading." And it warmed my heart yesterday morning when I went in to get her and found her reading aloud to one of her stuffed animals. I will say, though, that the quality and duration of her sleep has deteriorated a bit since the book hoarding began. Last night first I, then later Tim, had to go in and bring down the hammer as the thumping continued a good hour past the moment we tucked her in. This led to a whole lot of sobbing. But as Danny remarked on one of her sob fests, "Dude, that's just Laura."
She is loud, moody, and emotional, but she has stolen our hearts as deftly as she nabs those books.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Three's A Crew

We seem to be entering a wonderful phase where all three children play together happily, blissfully unaware of where the grown-ups are or what we are doing. Beautiful weather enhances this phenomenon, for sure, but Laura's growing independence is a major part of it as well. And it is glorious.
Laura has mixed views on growing up. She has asked me several times, "Am I a grown-up now?" She tells me how eating healthy food makes her grow bigger, yet she is still somewhat perplexed about why certain clothes no longer fit her. A few times, upon learning that she can no longer wear a favorite item, she has told me, "I don't want to be a grown-up." Which is good - no need to rush these things. I don't really think any of my kids are in a hurry to get there, and for that I am exceedingly grateful.