Happy 2nd Birthday Clara!

Happy Birthday Clara! What a birthday it was. You celebrated in style, over and over again. Kika had real Apple Pie for you at daycare*, then your grandparents showed up for an exciting birthday dinner, with more pie, ice cream and singing. On Friday you had your first full day at Via Nova. And on Saturday we gathered your buddies to celebrate again in the park. Phew! No wonder you're exhausted! I'm exhausted too.

But even with all the excitement, you were as funny and charming as ever. You've developed a really funny side and love being silly and goofing off with everyone. You've also moved from "me-too" to a very stubborn "I DO IT!" Much to my surprise, this has included potty training. For about two months now you've been really interested in the potty, but I've been very reluctant to indulge you, dreading the accidents ahead. A few weeks ago, though, Akiva kindly took on your potty training and you were pretty much done in a day. It took a little bribery (jelly beans) to convince you to use the potty consistently (sometimes it's just more fun to keep playing), and now you pretty much only have accidents when we do things like have non-stop birthday party celebrations. (imagine that!).

You're also enjoying testing the limits of defying our requests and warnings. Information like "that's hot!" result in you immediately wanting to touch the hot thing. Requests like "that cup of milk has to stay in the kitchen" results in you inching your way to the kitchen door while looking back over your shoulder with a sly grin on your face.

And, of course, you adore your sister and want to emulate pretty much everything she does. Lucky you, she doesn't take too much advantage of that situation, yet.

Happy Birthday baby Clara. I can't wait to see what's in store this next year!





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* In the last few months the kids at Kika's House (but mostly Clara) have become a tad obsessed with "apple pie". They "make" apple pie in all their pretend cooking, and most of their pretend water and sand play. So you can imagine how exciting it was for all of them to see some *real* apple pie!

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