On the Catwalk

Daddy got crafty tonight and made this dress for Clara.

Clara Sings the Classics

The Easter Bunny

We went to see the Easter Bunny today. Clara was almost ok with him. Almost. She waved to him, shook his hand and touched his ear. She really wasn't too keen on him but was tolerating the whole ordeal. Until I asked if she wanted to sit next to him. Not keen on that.

Don't hate me. I took this one picture and scooped her right up. No harm done (I hope). And I had to include this next picture because I had a moment of deja vu when I saw it.

Minutes later she still had a slight case of post traumatic stress.

Let the Festivities Begin

Clara and I headed to a local park today with some moms and kiddos from Bammel. We had a little easter egg hunt, playtime and lunch. I had planned on getting to the park a little early so I could get some pics of Clara in her Easter dress. Instead though, we got there late and she was way more interested in playing with all the other little ones than smiling for pictures, so I didn't get a single a good shot and quickly changed her into some play clothes. Here are just a couple of shots of the egg hunt. This is her new little blond haired, blue eyed friend who also turned two in December.

Ten Years

I've had two biggie milestones this week. I had the 30th birthday on Sunday and now the 10 year anniversary today. I surprised Chris with beer and potato soup for dinner. Now, go easy on me. I never buy beer because it's disgusting and expensive, but he really likes it, so I splurged. And as for the soup, it's his favorite dinner that I cook.

He also got cake. I'm making a cake for a baby shower, so I needed to practice my decorating. (I made sure I informed him that I wasn't announcing anything first.) He came home from work early, so I was in the middle of decorating the cake and I hadn't started dinner yet, so it wasn't quite the nice surprise I had all planned out.

I showed Clara how to take a picture of us. Here's two of the four she took (the other two were of Chris before I sat down). I can't believe she actually got us in the frame. Isn't it a great shot? She's a natural, Grandma.

Then I said we should go have some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. We walked the mall first and I told him I wanted to go into the jewelry shop and get my ring inspected and cleaned in honor of our 10 years. While we were there, I told the employee we would like to look at the men's bands and informed Chris that I was getting him a new band for our anniversary. His has been way too small forever and it always bugged him when he wore it. I guess that's what you get when you spend, like, $30 on a wedding band. He hasn't worn a ring basically our entire marriage. (I have always made him put it on for family pictures, though.)

We've looked at the comfort fit ones before and he's said he would like to get one, so this wasn't just me trying to get my hubby to wear a wedding ring. It really hasn't bothered me too much that he doesn't wear one. I just thought the 10 year mark would be the perfect time to present him with a new one. And he was surprised! I'm always so bad at keeping secrets, so I was proud of myself that I was able to pull off a surprise for once.

We then headed over to the Factory, but the line was out the door and it was already past Clara's bedtime, so we decided maybe we'll do the cheesecake thing tomorrow.

Good Mommy/Bad Mommy?......You be the Judge

I consider myself to have fairly strong opinions when it comes to raising the little one. (I know plenty of you probably think they're pretty weird, too.) I try to be as consistent as possible in the things I do, but at the same time, I see the need to instill flexibilty in her.

For instance, I don't buy fruit snacks for her. I think they're void of nutrition and I may as well be feeding her candy. I don't want her getting so much sweet stuff that she doesn't enjoy the natural sweetness of fruit. So I buy her dried fruit instead and she loves it. She doesn't even miss not having fruit snacks. I do allow her to eat fruit snacks if someone gives them to her, though. And I don't even cringe.

As for holidays and vacations, pretty much anything goes. I mean, how can I tell the grandmas no more candy? Or the Easter Bunny for that matter? Or Sue at chuch in Pecos who has candy for all the kids on Sunday, and when Clara runs out of her candy before church even starts, her Bia goes to Sue to tell her that her poor grandbaby ran out of candy and is crying so could she please have some more? How can I say no to that? Flexibility is key. I don't bat an eyelash at all the bad stuff she gets at holidays or while out of town.

Man, what am I even talking about? That has nothing to do with the original intent of this post, but that's a lot of writing (as nonsensical as it may be), to just delete it and start over, so I'll try to get back to my point, which was that typically I don't have things that I'm wishy washy about. But there is one thing.

Do I let my two year old lick the cake batter?

I'm serious; I've really struggled with whether or not to let her lick batter or eat cookie dough. I don't know the statistics on getting salmonella from eating raw eggs, but even if it's small, do I really want to be the party responsible for my child getting an intestinal bacterial infection and all the joys that go with it? Not to mention the fact that I'll be the one caring for the salmonella infected child and cleaning up all the nasty salmonella infected messes.

But, on the other hand, cake batter is sooooooo yummy. I mean, really really yummy. I still love licking the bowl after making a cake. And cookie dough? Cookie dough rocks! Memaw used to make cookie dough for us when we were out at the farm. She had no intention of making actual cookies out of it. Memaw rocked! So how could I deprive the youngun' of such wonderful memories of raw egg consumption?

At this point, I'm confused. Does this make me a good Mommy or a bad Mommy? I'll just go with good. Oh, but I forgot one thing. Not sure if it was the eggs or what, but she got some pretty bad bumps around her mouth. Worse than normal. Oopsie.

See, there are those times that I think on it and decide, ya know, I probably shouldn't have done that. And then there are other instances when I amaze myself with my cleverness and awesome parenting skills. Today, I made her some trail mix. I had on hand dried berries, raisins, sunflower seed kernels and granola, but never thought to mix them together. How clever am I? She loved it. And last night at dinner, I convinced her to eat lettuce for the first time. I asked her if she knew what animal liked to eat lettuce and informed her that bunnies eat lettuce. Bunnies like Bugs Bunny. She gobbled it right up. Oh, and I've been able to hide chopped up turkey in her macaroni and cheese on several occassions. I somehow got her to eat ham tonight for the first time too. She seems to finally be branching out, thank goodness. It's hard to find something for her to eat when we go out. It wouldn't be so bad, but between the pickiness and lactose intolerance, there's not much to choose from on a kids menu.

For my reference, here's a list of things she still will not touch: rice, beans, most meats, cooked veggies (except sweet potatos), eggs, strawberries, sandwiches (only cheese or grilled cheese), hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza (she's only eaten a bite or two ever), and anything with seasoning (must be the supertaster genes, huh Jason?).

While I'm on the subject of food, I forgot to mention one of the reasons why Clara hasn't been eating as much. She always gets food at breakfast and lunch that I know she likes (and can usually eat more than me). Last week we decided to stop offering her something different at dinner. Up until now, I've always put one thing on her plate I know she'll eat, like bread or fruit. I guess it was always enough to tide her over until breakfast, so it wasn't forcing her to try the other food on her plate. Now she gets only what I've cooked for dinner and if she doesn't want it, she doesn't eat. It seems to be working because she is trying new foods.

Here's Clara and Daddy hanging out tonight.

Clara Ramblings

Just an update on what the little booger's up to these days.

She's become interested in blocks as of late. She enjoys sorting her legos by size and making long sticks, or scepters if you will, out of them. She then wields her scepter all over the house. I was really impressed when she found me the other day and exclaimed "Ook, Mommy" with one of her creations. Daddy was even more proud. Speaking of making Daddy proud, the other day, she brought him something in the shape of a triangle and said "sailboat". Yesterday, while she was playing with her legos by herself, she put two rectangular ones together forming a cross, said "airplane" and started flying it around the room making airplane noises.

Today I peeked in on her in her playroom with Minnie Mouse. She had the mouse propped on her beanbag and had placed her camera on Minnie's face. Clara then stepped back a bit and said "Cheese!". I'm not sure if Minnie got a good shot or not. Then Clara wanted a group shot of the two of them. She positioned herself on the beanbag next to Minnie and then held the camera up and took a picture of the two of them. I would've taken the picture for her; all she had to do was ask.

I mentioned that Clara's eating has slowed a bit in recent weeks. I believe today she suffered a consequence associated with this slowdown. Today she told me she pooped. I looked and she hadn't, so I asked her if she needed to and she said yes. I took her to the bathroom and witnessed the saddest thing ever. Constipation. I don't think she's really ever been constipated. She was crying a little bit and kept saying "owie" and even wanted to hold my hand during the ordeal. It was heartbreaking. She typically eats quite a bit of fruit, but hasn't been lately, so I think her fiber intake is suffering. On a positive note though, she went on the potty!

Summer is Here!!

We decided to skip spring and go straight to summer this year. Oh wait, that's every year. It was a beautiful day, but it got really hot by mid-afternoon. We hit a local park for some lunch and playtime. And since it's been forever since I've posted Clara pictures, I forced myself to take a few today. You're welcome.


Oh, and in breaking Clara news-- she jumped for the first time today! Both feet, off the ground, at the same time. Exciting stuff. The first time was while she was jumping her way across a rubbery bridge thingy on the playground. Then she jumped again while holding Daddy's hands, but then she forgot how to jump. The park has a walking track with different workout stations all along the way. Here's Leah and Clara working off their lunches.