Claire the 2 year old

Claire has really started talking and understanding and repeating a lot more. She not only repeats exact phrases, but also sentence structure and ideas, making them all her own.

Some of my favorite things that she says right now:

"Paw-pa-bly do dat"
or
 Probably Do That

"Oh! No, no. SA-wee" (capitalization=emphasis)
or
Oh! No, no. Sorry! Which is NOT an admission of guilt or sorrow, but rather an indication that something went wrong and you should be saying, "sorry."

"SISsy MAma!" said with much sass, a smile, and shaking her head.
or
Silly Mama!

She's also been spending time practicing saying "mommy" and "daddy" (as opposed to "mama" and "dada" which she has always said up until about a week ago despite our constant use of "mommy" and "daddy.") It is funny that she has finally made the switch because I had finally resigned myself to the idea that she was just always going to call us "mama" and "dada" and that was ok. We had started referring to ourselves that way too, and then one day she just starts singing "mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" over and over again just to hear me say, "yes, Claire-bear?"

Claire also REALLY likes to make lists. I don't know if she would say so if you asked her, but if you ever ask her a question, it is almost always answered with a list. If she forgets what she is talking about or runs out of actual answers, she will just start naming things that she sees as she's looking around the room (ie. towel, cup of water, flowers).

She has started putting one hand on her hip sometimes. I can't say the exact situations, but she does it appropriately. It's really funny.

 Every day she gets up on her step stool and unloads the silverware for us.
And she cleans up her toys when asked--sometimes it takes a bit of encouragement.
She loves routines and will do almost everything better if it is part of the routine or at least expected.
I make her take a nap every day after lunch time. We both take naps after lunch time.
And I really need to buy a gate to put in her door way so that we can take the front railing off of her crib. She hasn't started crawling out, she just stands and whines at us when she's done sleeping, but I need to train her to sleep in a regular bed so we can use the crib for another little person in April!

Claire says she doesn't want a brother or a sister. She doesn't want to be a big sister. She just always wants to be a baby. That's what she thinks.

She also LOVES jumping. If we put a trampoline in our basement (like all smart people around her apparently do) she would be entertained for probably an hour every day without me!

She still loves tea parties. She will definitely bring you tea and any other "snack" for a good 30 minutes if you are accommodating.

And that's a bit about Claire right now.