Getting Girly

For most of her first three years on the planet Claire has been a bit of a tomboy. She still loves to get dirty and pays no mind to the fact that her favorite colors are more 'boy-ish' (red & blue) - and that is right up mom's ally. However, I've begun to see some slight changes in her - all of which I attribute to her father's influence.

Example Number One:
The other morning, as I was going through the morning routine, my little girl sprang up out of bed and before making her way into the kitchen stopped in our closet to pick out some shoes. She's been into wearing my dressy shoes (the heels I can no longer wear). She's especially fond of the silver-glittery pair. As she traipsed into the kitchen, she announced that she was going to put on her Ariel costume and "get prettied up".

She had it all planned out. First, the shoes, then the dress and finally her tiara. Those are the important pieces to being a princess in our house.

Example Number Two:
Last year we bought a pair of fairy wings at the Ren.Festival. She didn't show much interest in them until recently. I came home from work the other night and heard Pete asking her if she wanted to put back on her fairy wings after finishing up in the bathroom. I'm going to shamelessly copy Sarah's tulle masterpiece for Relia and try to make Claire a skirt sometime in the next month or so.

I do attribute some of the fairy fascination to her love of all things Abby Cadabby related.

Example Number Three:
While at Target last night as we were looking at some of the items in the dollar bin I heard Claire ask, "Do you think Fancy Nancy would like this?". In other words - is it posh?

Example Number Four:
On the way home from Target Claire asked me what I was. I answered that I was a woman, which is another way to describe a big girl. I asked Claire what she was and she responded, "I am a girl. No. I am a princess." Her tone was very factual and I nearly laughed out loud when I turned around and saw the look on her face. She was very serious people. No kidding around. She is a princess.

This morning as I relayed the story to her dad she once again reiterated, in all seriousness, that she indeed a princess. When Pete asked what that made me, she responded, "a queen". What does that make dad, he asked? "A king", was her response.


It's coming people. The princess years are coming.

Chichi* Claire

Claire has enjoyed reading Fancy Nancy, a great book with adorable illustrations that she received for her birthday from her Aunt Angelic. As of late she has described her family as posh and asks us to eat with our pinky's up. This morning, while she and I were at the table eating breakfast she said, "Dad doesn't eat with his pinky's up much because he isn't a king". Out of the mouth of babes, Pete. Out of the mouth of babes.

We had yet another busy weekend - summer in Minnesota, I guess.

On Saturday we went to the Helget family reunion (pictures to be posted later) where Claire was reintroduced to many of her second and third cousins as well as a number of aunts, uncles and other extended family. We had family in from both coasts so it was a good time. The last time she saw most of these people was two years ago. The older girls remember holding her and snuggling with her. It was quite a change from the cucumber snarfing child who ran around all over the place and constantly returned to mom or grandma for more cucumber. She enjoyed "swimming" in the river. We forgot her swimsuit and life jacket so she went in with just her Elmo undies on and held onto mom and dad's hands (our swimsuits were at home too). And she gave everyone hugs when we left. This from the kid who 3 months ago didn't want to hug immediate family members.

On Sunday we headed to a birthday party for one of Claire's friends. With little sleep - due to the storm sirens going off right as Claire laid down her head - she did pretty well. Even when Gage, the rambunctious Vizsla gave her a kiss and knocked her on her bottom. Luckily she knows Gage and after very little coaxing from mom & dad paid the dog no mind when she came flying by her and the other girls. There were lots of things to keep her busy and lots of baby's to watch. Claire is on such a baby kick these days. She carries around Baby Daisy, holds her in the crook of her arm and pats her on her back. Yesterday we wrapped her up in one of Claire's old receiving blankets and took her for a walk down the street. It's a hoot.

*Chichi is another word for fancy

A cute Claire story

A recent development in our nighttime routine involves me rubbing/scratching Claire's back/belly. This usually helps settle her down and I do it while singing her lullibyes.

A couple of nights ago Claire decided it was Baby Daisy's lucky night to sleep with her. As I was rubbing her belly, Claire reached over to Baby Daisy and began rubbing the dolls belly. Apparently, she wanted to settle Baby Daisy down.

We've seen more interest in baby dolls as of late. She does go in spurts, so this may change again soon but it's been a nice change from our Sesame Street characters. Last night we changed Sally (my old Cabbage Patch doll) into a new outfit (Claire's preemie clothing & preemie diapers). Claire then fed her (using one of her preemie bottles from the hospital) and took her on a walk in her baby stroller - making sure the 'shade' on the stroller was over Sally's eyes.

She's also expessing great interest in babies. One of her school friends has a little brother and she really dug him. I'm looking forward to how she reacts to meeting Mr. Felix and Mr. August this weekend.

July 4th Parade

Claire had fun attending the Lake Elmo Parade. There was a lot of candy to collect and other children to watch. Later we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to watch fireworks. Claire managed to stay awake until 10:30, but she crashed hard. It was a busy and fun day.

Claire goes camping

Pete took the girls camping earlier this week. This was Claire's first real camping experience. She also had a chance to go fishing. She had a BLAST.

Learning in the tub

Summer! Summer! Summer!

Our annual garage sale was HUGE this year. We had eleven families selling this year. Claire found herself some fun items that her cousins were selling.


Claire helped me make a batch of brownies last month. This was her first ever 'spoon' (spatula, I know). She LOVED it.