Claire is 3!!

Claire is 3!!

I know, right, Claire? I'm surprised too.

I fear when I get started talking about this girl I won't know how to stop. This girl is like everything I ever wanted to be but more, and is an absolute doll. At school she is smart, mature, and willing to do anything. They tell me that she is tough and can handle pretty much anything, and I tell them I know... oh boy, do I know. This girl is TOUGH.

In the last week I've watched her stand up to and put her foot down to 2 different 8 year old boys who were nearly 3 times her size. One was at a friend's house, and he was getting a kick out of trying to scare/startle her. She put her foot down, walked right up to him and told him she would keep playing but with her hands on her hip, she told him firmly, "but you will stop trying to scare me!"

Earlier in the week at the park, she was playing with Adam and Adam's friend Liam (who she may have a small crush on), and they had made friends with this other 8 year old boy they didn't know. I don't know what they were playing, but I think it was action heroes or something along those lines, and he was being bossy and the "villain." He walked up behind her and told her something (in play), and she reared around, full fisted, and told him "she would NOT!" She even lunged at him like she was fully prepared to punch him and wasn't afraid to do it. Get 'em, Claire-Bear.

What? I can take him.

One day after school Colin told me that another girl hit him (Hit HIM!! COLIN!!... as if he was appalled and in shock at the event. This is ironic, because he's often in the midst of some commotion or other, and often the instigator.)

I said, "Oh no! I'm sorry, Colin. What happened?"
Claire chimed in. "Mommy, I hit that girl."
"Why did you do that, Claire?"
"Because she was fighting with Colin."

Seems like Colin has his own personal bodyguard. Don't get me wrong, they are very kind kids and not at all bullies, but they don't take crap from ANYONE. It takes a brave kid to take them both on, standing above average for their age and built with muscles I don't even know how to deal with sometimes. I know Adam won't do it, and he's tall and strong for his age too.

But Claire is "the baby," the princess... she and Adam love to play games and Colin is starting to get in on the action. They play house and play Baby and Mama. (Adam is the Baby... Claire is the Mama... and Colin is the Monster, of course).

She will do anything she's asked... play with Adam, play with Colin, brush her teeth, eat dinner, clear her plate, sit still and color... but if you ask Claire to clean or to put on clothes, good luck. Those are her kryptonite. Apparently Princesses don't have to learn to pick up their toys, put on their shoes or wear pants. She doesn't call herself a Princess, but she's got that damsel in distress thing down pat and her brothers jump to her rescue. I'm doomed.

Claire loves dresses with her pink converse. She loves pink, purple, and desperately wants a dollhouse for her birthday. With a doll, and a dolly cake... that's pink, of course. She likes to wear her hair halfway down in "mini-piggies" and loves to be told her eyes are pretty. And she knows the color of everyone's eyes. She jokes that since Adam's favorite color is Blue, and his eyes are blue... and Colin's favorite color is green, and his eyes are green... that her eyes are pink. (wink wink). Clever girl.

She loves to dance and RUN. I can ask her if she wants to go for a run and she will jump up, find her shorts, a t-shirt, and ask me to put her hair in a pony tail like Mommy. I've seen her run 3/4 of a mile straight, and fast. She's in her element when she is running, and in the zone when she is dancing. She's brilliant, and sweet, and athletic, and BUILT. She's in the 94th percentile for height and the 94th percentile for weight. She's as tall as most average 4.5 year old boys, and likely just as strong or stronger... the weight is pretty much all muscle. She wants to play soccer and do dance, and is loving learning how to model like Adam does.

Claire LOVES to shop and is pretty dang good at it. By good I mean... she won't hesitate to throw everything in the cart and declare she NEEDS it. She gets it from me, but not by watching me. I don't shop like that. The desire is genetic, apparently.

Speaking of genetic, she so often looks like my mom that it's fascinating. And she LOVES her Mamie. She's a Mamie's girl, and a Daddy's girl, and of course she loves me... but when those two are around they totally steal my thunder. It's okay though, I get enough kisses and hugs to keep me going.

This girl is extremely athletic. She was teaching herself to swim last weekend, is very coachable at any sport you talk to her about, and she's left footed, left handed, and eats with her left hand. She writes with her right hand, go figure, but I think she picked that up by observation at school. Most of the time she's ambidextrous but naturally gravitates to her left.

She. will. eat. anything. Raw spinach. Hummus. enchiladas. salsa. lima beans, broccoli, corned beef. you name it, she will eat it. There is very little that she will spit out. She's not a HUGE fan of bread, but never complains, just eats the insides of her sandwich and asks for another. It's all going to growth, and her palate is very adult. I'm about to stop ordering her own plate and just let her share whatever I get, because when we eat out together she usually just points to all the things on my plate that she wants to try and chows down.

Claire has never been a great sleeper. She's doing very well now that she's adjusted to not having a roommate and having her own big girl bed, but 95% of the time in the middle of the night she wakes up and is crawling into Shannon and I's bed, and that's just routine now. She is on her way to being completely diaper-free even at night and has done it several nights in a row over the last 3 months. She HATES diapers and doesn't want to be put in them... probably for the same reason she doesn't like for most things to touch her body... except night gowns and dresses... Let me just say it's a good thing it's summer now.

She always has a smile for everyone. She's got an attitude that she will whip out like it's nobody's business, but is constantly grinning. She's shy, so when you meet her she'll probably grin at you, stick her tongue out and have no words... but once she gets comfortable she'll tell you all kinds of stories and exciting things.

At school she is very well liked. I think she's being recruited by a few of the teachers in the older rooms to convince her which class she should move up to in the fall. She makes friends easily and mostly plays with the boys, because she can handle boys. She likes girls but mostly older girls who are "on her level," or cater to her every need. She is quite popular because they find her so adorable and she's so willing to play like the big kids.

She is starting to practice writing, knows some letters and phonics, and can count to 20, but usually eliminates the number 4 when she's "it" during hide-and-seek. (She once played a very long game of hide and seek with Mamie on a road trip back from Kansas for my cousin's baby shower. It was very entertaining, as her only hiding place was under her blanket.

Her favorite song is "Mary had a Little Lamb." (I find this amusing since I've always said that Claire and Colin were extreme opposites... his favorite is about a Black Sheep, and her's is about a Little Lamb. It's too much.)

Words cannot express how much I admire this girl. I want to be her when I grow up. Tough, beautiful, powerful, adventurous, intelligent, and likeable. I could stare at her all day long and talk to her for hours on end. I wouldn't change anything about any of my children, and with her I just see so much light and beauty and intelligence, it makes me feel so lucky that she is mine.