Claire Bear

Tomorrow Claire turns 5! I am starting to panic a little because I still call her baby and, I hate to admit, I treat her much younger than I remember treating Zac at 5. I worry a bit that I am being sexist and I am doing permanent damage to Claire. But I also realize that birth order truly impacts parenting and leaves a lasting effect on kids, not necessarily damage. I have no real research to back up this statement other than personal experience. When I am with my parents and brother, I immediately regress into my little sister/baby status. I think the best way to describe Claire is put best by my mother. She is very self possessed!

Things I love about Claire:

She has to wear a "poofy" dress and if it isn't "poofy." Then we have to wear the "poofy" skirt underneath the dress to make it, well, "poofy."

She puts a "y" at the end of every word. i.e. Uppy, milky, huggy... (Something I plan to remedy before Kindergarten but remains a little cute right now.)

The more sparkles, the happier she is.

When I tell her she's smart and beautiful she says, "I know."

When she is hungry she can eat more than anybody in the house but can easily stop in the middle of a dessert if she's not.

She giggles and laughs a lot!

She loves music and loves to dance. Her latest favorite is (it's hard to announce publicly) Justin Bieber. Yep. Nothing can be done.

She loves her friends!

I can take her anywhere and she wouldn't mind if I left her there. (Can be concerning as well!)

She climbs trees and keeps up with the boys even in her "poofy" dress!

Things I love not so much but must be noted:

Claire has a glare where she drops her head but looks up at you with her eyes and pouts out her enormous lips.

Every injury requires a dramatic episode and a limp even if it was her arm.

She cries at the doctor and dentist as if she is being tortured.

When she is tired she cries quite a bit and insists that we all don't like her. (Which in turn makes us laugh so she cries harder. Sorry Claire.)

We planned an outdoor birthday celebration yesterday with a princess castle bounce house/slide combination. Usually a safe choice since this is California. But it rained and it was really cold. So we postponed the party and hope to do it next weekend. When we told Claire I was prepared for tears or at least some sadness. She could have cared less! Love that girl! :)