Little Darlings

When Clara was a baby, I thought I'd remember all her milestones and the funny things she did. In the moment, they seemed unforgettable. I remember a few, but mostly, if it isn't written down, the memory passes with time. I wonder if my memory goes twice as fast now that it seems time is moving in double time. Just in case, here's a little update on my darlings.

Clara.

It's amazing, entertaining and hysterical to watch the thought process of a four year old mind. Last month she said, "Mom, did you know McDonald's has ice cream that is church ice cream?" I didn't understand at first. She said, "They really do. It's like church ice cream." Then I realized she was referring to their sundaes. Apparently "church" and "Sunday" are synonymous when you're four.

Last week after church we had the following conversation:

C: Did you know people are born all kinds of ways? Some people are born with red hair because their grandma might have red pants.

M: Huh?

C: My teacher told me.

M: Maybe she was talking about something else.

C: No, she really said that if the grandma wears red pants, they might have red hair.

As I started to explain to her that our hair color is determined by our genes, I realized that's what her teacher had said. However, when Clara heard "gene" she pictured a pair of red pants.

Clara is still in her own little world pretty much all the time. She's always Sonic or a hero or this or that. She still "reads" books out loud for hours and hours. I love listening to her stories, the words she uses and her tone of voice. It's so sweet. She still loves helping me around the house. She rarely, if ever, complains about doing her jobs. She does get mysteriously sick and tired often in the middle of cleaning her room and needs to rest frequently.

I've noticed she's starting to mature emotionally. When she does something wrong, especially towards others, and I talk to her about it, I can tell she feels remorseful. Before it seemed like she didn't fully grasp the fallout of a bad decision.

I de-junked her room on last week. I find myself less attached with each round of de-junking. I threw a bunch of stuff out and we gave an entire box of books and toys to my mom to give to a family in her Ward. I was happy to discover that Clara was much more generous selecting things to give away when I told her about this family that probably didn't have a lot of money for books and toys. If we are just giving it to DI or the garbage man, she's a little more stingy. It made me smile to see her willing to give up a few of her favorite books and some cherished toys for someone less fortunate.

Clara's sleeping issues have mostly gone away. Every now and then she wakes up and comes into our room, but it's no longer preceded by terrified crying. Moving and adding Hazel really seemed to intensify her night terrors, sleep walking and vivid dreams. There was too much going on and it really affected her sleep. Now she is back to her 11-12 hours of uninterrupted sleep (assuming I'm responsible enough to get her into bed between 7:30apm and 8:30pm).

She talks to everyone like she's their mother, even Jason. We're working on that one, you know, trying to get her to worry about herself first. She is very social and has no problem striking up conversation with anyone wherever we go. Kids at a playground, servers at a restaurant, nurses at the doctor's, etc., etc. She is a good eater and tells people she loves watermelon and Taco Bell just like her dad. She loves raw vegetables and definitely prefers her broccoli, carrots and tomatoes to be raw. For breakfast she loves oatmeal. Often, she'll request that it be uncooked in milk. No sugar, no cinnamon, nothing by rolled oats and a little milk.

Clara is trying desperately to learn how to whistle, unbuckled and took Hazel out of her seat (safely) today, helps me bake and cook and is learning to wash her hair by herself. As Clara gets older, it seems she says funny things less often. Fortunately, quality has replaced quantity, especially when it comes to prayers. Lately Clara has been saying really long, thoughtful prayers that leave Jason and I choking back laughter and burying our faces in her bed to muffle our childish giggles.

She's been obsessed with praying for Grandmas lately, as is evidenced by this 7.31.11 prayer:

Please bless Hazel that she won't suffocate and die or get stung or get aten by lightening. Please bless Grandmas that are really, really old that they will be safe if a storm comes. Please bless 20 people and 10 people and 6 people and 3 people and 4 people and 5 people and 6 people. Please bless that there won't be any more tornadoes in the land. We're thankful for light and that we can breathe. Please bless my Grandma that's really, really old that lives in Taylor but not my Grandma Penrod* that she will be safe in the storm and that no tornado will get her.

*Obviously she wasn't saying not to bless Grandma Penrod, just wanting to make sure Heavenly Father knew which Grandma she was talking about, Great Grandma Penrod.

My mom is trying to downsize her toy collection. To help, she let the grandkids pick out things they wanted. Clara picked some horses and this hippopotamus. I laughed so hard when she told me their names. (I know technically "potamous" is spelled wrong, but I'm not about to re-do it. Especially since it's a name so we can spell it however we want, right? :))

Hazel.

Hazel's fourth tooth broke through Sunday, August 7th (was that really only a week ago?). She definitely teeths differently than Clara did. Clara wasn't fussy during the day while teething. The night before a tooth broke through, she'd wake up an hour after I laid her down, an hour after that and then an hour after that, when I'd usually give her something to deal with the pain. Hazel? She is just really crabby during the day several days before the tooth breaks through. Not to mention the timing. At this point, Clara still didn't have a single tooth and Hazel has four.

Hazel can sit up for a little bit (a very little bit - like 5 seconds) unassisted, but I don't dare move my hands further than a few inches away from her. At a moment's notice, she will face plant. The last few days she has finally started moving by means other than rolling. A few weeks ago, she tried really hard to move forward and scooted herself backwards. However, until recently she'd rather stick both arms and legs straight out, rest on her belly and scream for someone to pick her up. Last week and into the beginning of this week, she finally started pushing herself forward with her feet a little more. It was funny because she'd push herself onto her arms and they'd be stuck under her until she rolled over. In the past few days, she's started pushing with her feet and pulling with her arms, so she can move forward more than a few inches. Today I got a video of her crawling a few feet. Clara was army crawling everywhere at 6 months. I am okay that Hazel isn't that mobile yet. It's going to be a lot more work to baby proof this house, not to mention the hoards of tile.

Hazel has the funniest personality. She thinks I'm hilarious when I shake my head side to side and she'll copy me. Jason will pat his mouth and make a noise to sound like an Indian (do you know what I'm talking about?) Then he'll stop and Hazel will open her mouth and make a noise for Jason to pat her mouth. It's pretty cute. She'll also make a noise and rub her whole hand past her mouth, which makes the noise or will pull her lip with her finger making the "brrbrr" noise. She is very playful and gets so excited to see Jason come home from work. He made the comment that he doesn't remember Clara doing that and I reminded him it's because when Clara was this age, he wasn't around much. He was working full time and going to school full time. There would be days that he never even got to see Clara. I'm glad we're past that phase of life. :)

Hazel yells from 6-8pm if she doesn't get 150% of my attention. I do not remember Clara being like this in the evenings. I think it could have to do with the fact that Clara played on the floor a lot more than Hazel for the simple fact that we had carpet and now we just have tile in the family room and I don't like laying her in the living room where I can't see her. Until recently, I would never lay Hazel down. Now I have a blanket I put her on, but still. Back to the yelling, it kind of makes me feel crazy. She doesn't cry, just yells. Despite the heat, a walk to the mail box is a guaranteed way to calm her. I'm looking forward to cooler weather so a.) our walks can be longer and b.) Hazel and Clara aren't all sweaty when we get back home.

Hazel is still not interested in her solid food. Some days, I don't even try, especially after she regresses. She does, however, find complete fulfillment in blowing bubbles into every mass of food I attempt to put in her mouth via spoon. I am feeding her five times a day, am anxious to move her to four, but will until I can get her to eat more solids. Which won't be any time soon if she continues to put more of the food on her face/neck/clothes than in her mouth.

Hazel doesn't sleep as long at night as Clara did, but part of that is because I never had to "sleep train" her. After a few weeks, she'd sleep 5 hours straight, a few more weeks another hour, until about 6 weeks I'd only have to wake up once in a 10 hour period or so. (I really kind of feel like I skipped the whole newborn phase because of this.) When she started waking up early, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't have to do anything to get her to a good point, so I didn't know what to do to get her back. I'd always justify why it was okay to feed her, whether she was sick or we were out of town. Anyway, I need her to sleep until at least 7am. Clara's day normally started around 8am, but now that we are actually going to have to be places in the morning, I think we'll shoot for a 7:30ish time. The past three days, we've made it, so that is good.

Look alike, don't look alike, look alike, don't look alike. Clara and Hazel looked very different when they were born. I still don't think they look very much alike. However, sometimes I see pictures of Clara and think I see similarities. Maybe they look like sisters? I wonder if they really look alike or if it is their mannerisms or if they are just making a common baby expression that creates the similarity.

Hazel today (8.14.2011)

Clara August 2007

I love these girls so much I could scream. Ahhh! I do scream sometimes since I can't contain all my love for them in one little heart. And squeezing, kissing and hugging doesn't ever seem to be enough to adequately express that love.