I took this picture a few days ago. Clare was not happy that I picked her up at nannyshare that day (she wanted to stay and play with G) – I asked her if she was sad to leave G and Adam. She said, tearfully, “yes Mama! I want to stay and play!” When we got home I started dinner and she packed her play phone into her purse, tucked her lion under her arm, and went out into the backyard. When I tried to follow her she told me “No! By self!” She and Lion spent about 20 minutes playing on the climber, chatting (no doubt about how mean Mama is), sliding together, and generally having a good time.

This is a family picture that my mom took of the family over the weekend in Bend. I like this one because the belly has made an appearance in family photos! It’s the first sighting of Our Baby. As for Clare’s quotes about the baby, we talk a lot the new baby coming. Clare talks about “baby coming soon… in a couple of days” “baby in Mama’s tummy” and “baby will cry, but it’s OK.”

The picture above is Clare on her new tricycle. My parents bought it for her, and darned if she didn’t immediately start pedaling. It took her an additional day to figure out the whole pedal/steer at the same time thing, but she’s got it and is now the sassiest thing on three wheels. She woke up from her nap and I told her “There’s a surprise for you downstairs.” She looked at me and said “is it my birthday?” I told her no, it wasn’t her birthday. I don’t think she believed me and sang “Happy Birthday to Clare” the whole way down the stairs.

Clare’s never been a big fan of car rides (understatement). On our way up to Todd Lake in Bend for a picnic (pictures below) she was throwing a whiny fit. J asked her “why are you whining?” Finally Clare answered “I angwy (angry).” “Why are you angry?” “I angwy because… I in the car!” This is the first time Clare’s given us a reason for an emotion, and both J and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Of course we couldn’t do much about it, but we told her that we understood and we would be at the lake soon.

One day, after a particularly yummy Mexican lunch with a fair amount of guacamole, J said to Clare “You’re so messy!” Clare looked at him and responded “you’re so lucky!” This cracked us up, because this is something that Aunt Donna and her husband Mike say to each other jokingly. We didn’t realize Clare had noticed it, but she filed it away and I’m pretty sure even copied Donna’s Southern accent.

A fun little game that we’ve started playing together is Clare will look at someone (usually me) and say “Hi Daddy!” I respond with saying “Hi G!” She giggles and says “Hi Grandma!” I’ll respond with “Hi Sadie” and back and forth with calling each other the wrong names. Those silly little intentionally-wrong games are popular around here – like Clare walking around the house, pretending not to see me and calling “Mama! Mama – you in the kitchen? You in the living room? Where you go Mama?” Silly girl…

Today, on the way back from the store, Clare pipes up from the back seat “Do you have wings Mama?” “No sweetie. Do you have wings?” “Yes!” She then flapped her arms like little wings. I have no idea where this came from but it was incredibly cute!

Lastly, a couple of months ago we went to the zoo. Clare seemed to have fun but didn’t seem to love it as much as J and I thought she would. Suddenly, last week she walks into the dining room and says “I brushed a goat at the zoo.” Yes, yes she did brush a goat at the zoo. “And I see lions and elephants and zebras and giraffes.” That’s all, just a zoo memory from weeks ago that we haven’t talked about lately. Those little wheels are always turning!