Claire at 2.75 years old!

Claire, Claire, Claire...where do I begin?!  I cannot believe she is almost 3!  Time is sure flying by and I already miss the baby Claire, but I am enjoying the big-girl Claire too.  Probably the biggest change Claire has made is that she is potty trained!  Yay!  About a month or more ago, Claire went to her friend Sydney's house to play.  Sydney was potty training and Claire saw her go potty on the potty and from that day forward she wanted to go potty on the potty too.  That was some wonderful positive peer pressure.  We have had a few accidents here and there, but overall Claire has done amazingly well and has even learned to just go to the potty by herself when we are home.  She says "Hurry Claire!  Hold it in Claire!" as she runs to the potty.  Now Claire and Sydney need to go potty at the same time during nursery at church...so funny...these girls needing to go to the bathroom together has already started.

Such a big girl!

The last month Claire's imagination has really taken off.  She loves to pretend to do all sorts of things and will play mommy to her doll and stuffed animals more and more.  Here are her favorite questions....

Where are the hyenas?  (Yes, she has watched The Lion King too many times)
Where are the pirates?  (She did not watch or read about pirates at home, must be from a friend)
Where are the dinosaurs?  (She was really scared of the idea of dinosaurs for a while, but I told her they are not real anymore and she seems to be much better)

Claire loves to pretend the hyenas and pirates are coming to get her or daddy.  She has had a few night terrors about them a while ago, but now she just loves to talk about them and thinks they are funny.  Especially after I told her the hyenas were far away in Africa and daddy said the pirates were far away in Somalia.  Claire now talks about someone/something called nine-nine.  She like to pretend nine-nine is sitting on our chairs or going outside.  I think it is kind of like an imaginary friend for her...very interesting and funny to listen to her.

One of my favorite things Claire does is to sing along with the church music we play.  She sings really well and it is so sweet to hear her little voice singing the church songs she listens to in room time.  Now Claire often asks me to sing the songs to her and that is fun to do.

Claire absolutely insists on wearing a skirt every single day.  She loves to dance and run around in skirts and so Jacob and I bought her a few so she can wear one almost every day.  It's almost to the point of her throwing a fit if she can't wear one, but so far we have been able to avoid that.  She loves to do the sign for dress/skirt and has been signing a lot more lately even though she talks super well and can tell me everything she wants to.  I think she just has a fun time doing it.  Claire loves having her fingernails and toenails painted often and is just embraces everything girly including necklaces, bracelets, and princesses.  She is also talking on the phone really well to aunts and grandmas.

Pretty girl!

Claire and Tommy love each other!  Claire is super nice to Tommy most of the time and will get him toys and help him out when she can.

Claire is a great helper.  She still loves to help me do laundry, putting it in the washer and dryer, folding it, and putting it away.  She also enjoys helping with the the dishes.  She is pretty good at putting them away and can put the silverware and plates in the dishwasher.  Claire gets so excited to help me wash Tommy's bottles and the big dishes.  Claire is great at getting things for me when I ask and cleaning up her toys (most of the time).  I am so glad she is so excited and willing to help.  I hope this all continues as she gets older, but I am skeptical since I remember realizing helping out had begun to be chores. :)  We just love this girl and it is so fun to watch her grow and change and develop a strong personality of her own!