You Are My Sunshine

I love to laugh (long, loud and clear ah, ha ha ha). But the reality is, there have been more days than I'd like to count in the past few months that would've passed without a laugh or smile if there hadn't been CLARA. I feel true joy every single day by being with Clara. She's so sweet, innocent and full of life. Her little personality is thick with mischievousness but love and concern (you should see the look on her poor face when she sees me cry). She's pretty much awesome. (See?) For the record, here are some reasons why (she's awesome)...

/.\ When Clara does "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with me, sometimes that spider walks right up her arm.

/.\ Clara reenacts when she gets hurt. If you get the full version, it's totally hilarious. She makes sound effects, has great facial expressions and will show you how she bonked.

/.\ She prances all over the house with other people's shoes on. Each time, she is so proud of her accomplishment./.\ At Tanner's baptism a little bit ago, they showed a slide show (projected on a screen in the Chapel) while we were waiting for his Ward's turn. In it they showed Christ healing a woman's eyes. The next day in Church, Clara pointed up where the projector would've been in our building and pointed to her eyes with a deeply concerned look and said "ow". Now when she sees Jesus, she'll do that too.

/.\ She dumped my peony beads for Scouts all over the floor. She'd grab a handful, look up to make sure I was watching, give me her look ("I'm just making sure you are watching so I can see your reaction") and drop them everywhere. I didn't mind, I just made her help me clean them up.
/.\ While I was trying to play the piano for FHE, Clara sat with me, pounded on the piano and sang her own version.

/.\ Last Friday night we went to Steve & Lindsay's house in South Phoenix for dinner. Clara loved playing dress up with their little girl, Ariel. Ha ha. Clara loves her accessories. We could always tell where she was headed because of the click-clack of her shoes on the tile. Before this, she was walking around with some sunglasses on saying "Cheese, cheese, cheese"./.\ I think water is the ONLY thing that will keep Clara occupied (inside) for more than 15 minutes. When I was making my bread bowls last week, I sat Clara on the counter to play in the sink. She climbed right in so she could have better access. /.\ This evening as I was walking with Roccy, I noticed something instantly rubbing on the tires. I stopped, looked over the sunvisor to see what I'd run over and saw Clara, face down on the seat, dangling her feet on the ground, head stuck between the tray and the seat. She thought she was going to escape the stroller by sliding right out of it. If only her head was a tiny bit smaller. We laughed and laughed after I got her unstuck and back in the stroller, the proper way.

Other funny things she does: puckers when she wants to kiss you or wants a kiss, but only her top lip "suctions" in, said "Yees" when I ask her if she wants a spanking (she had no clue), said "Yees" when she almost hit a little boy in Nursery and I asked her if she was going to hit him, drinks her milk from her cereal bowl, sees treats and says "poo poo" and will do whatever necessary to go potty so she gets the treat, kisses her own owies and squeals when she realizes were driving to Grandma's.

Things she loves: standing on stuff (I have a stool for her in the bathroom and she carries it all around the house so she can see on the counters, in drawers, etc.), her fingernails cut and barrettes and pigtails.

It's about time I have a "lighter (in context not length) side of life" post.