A Day with the Durrs: We have a 2.5 year old!?!

Sweet Claire is 2.5 years old!! She is a sweet, happy, fun-loving little girl!

Everyday with her is something new and something fun. She makes us laugh everyday!

Besides loving on her baby sister (Claire can make Anna smile all the time by just looking and smiling at her) some things she is into and doing now...

Claire is really into pretend play. We have circus shows, beach fun building sand castles and swimming, birthday parties just to name a few. She still loves her baby dolls and takes great care of them. She also loves to help me with Anna's diaper changes. She also loves cooking in her kitchen. It's great watching her cook and listen to see what ingredients she puts in, "a little cinnamon" "bit of salt." It's hilarious listening to her talk on the kitchen play phone. "hello, what's going on?" "Everything's good here." All while the phone is propped up on her shoulder.

One of her latest things is watching videos of herself on our phones. She just loves it!!

She loves, loves books. We go to storytime each week and pick out new library books and she just loves to get those new books each week. Some favorites now, bearestein bears, Clifford books. After a couple times reading them she can recite them to you! It's crazy how great her memory is!! Long books too!

She can now count to 30! And is now really interested in what letters words start with. She is rally good at sounding out what letters words start with. S for snack, R for rabbit, etc.

She also started play school 2 mornings a week and absolutely loves it!! I think her favorite thing is playing with the dolls there :) She loves her teacher, Mrs. Pisarz! They have playtime, circle time, playground, crafts, books each day. I'm so happy she loves it so much because mommy misses her side kick when she's there. But it is nice to spend a couple of hours of solo time with Anna!

Claire really is a big girl now. With her big girl bed and big girl underwear. She is doing really great with potty training!!

Some of her favorites right now..orange slices, trail mix, peanut butter and jelly, ziti and meatballs, peanut butter crackers, pizza, carrot sticks and of course she just loves chocolate!!

Here's just some stuff that probably only a momma will appreciate, but I want to write it all so I will always remember it!

Her raspy, sweet voice just out of the blue saying.... "Mommy, I love you so much"

When we bake together she just sits there and helps, patiently waiting for her 2 chocolate chips she gets.

She likes to play Elmo ABC's and numbers on the iPad. He "talks" to you and will be saying pick a letter, etc. Well, when I tell her Claire it's time to turn it off, nap time or whatever and Elmo is "talking" to her she says, "No Elmo, I can't pick a letter. I have to go take a nap." So cute how she thinks Elmo will actually hear her. Oh, that brings me to another topic...naps. They are very rare these days!!

She likes to mimic how you sit. If you're sitting Indian style, she looks and sits the same way. Legs straight...hers are too.

Putting her to bed at night, I lay next to her in bed saying prayers, etc. She loves her me to rub her back and then puts her arm around me. It's so sweet.

Love hearing her say to her sister, "Smile, Anna Kate, smile!" Nine times out of ten Anna Kate smiles. She just loves her big sister.

The other day we were driving in the car and she was covering her eyes being silly saying, "Where are you, I can't see." I was playing along and said, "Well, Claire where are your eyes?" She uncovered them and matter of factly said, "my eyes are below my forehead."

When we sit down for meals, she will patiently wait for everyone to sit down before she will touch her food. She also likes to say grace...which she says soooo fast!! And then she digs in.

She truly is such a joy to be around!!