Clarky Duke

My sweet Clara is Two years old! What a joy these past two years have been.

Luci was really sweet to her on her birthday. She insisted that I put balloons on their bedroom floor just like I did for her. Throughout the whole day she referred to her as 'Birthday Girl' instead of Clara. When she didn't have any more presents to open, Luci said "I wish Clara had more presents to open." Of course she got to play with them too so it wasn't completely selfless, but it was sweet!

For breakfast I made Clara banana pancakes topped with whipped cream and raspberries.


Our friends have us watch their fish, Bobby, whenever they go out of town and Clara loves him! That inspired us to give her fish for her birthday. We also gave her a new outfit for church and a stuffed cow.




Kirk made her cake while I napped on the coach (I know, so lazy), and it turned out great!



We had our friends over to celebrate.


During the day my family called and sang Happy Birthday to her on the phone. She laughed and laughed the whole time with a huge smile on her face. It sure made her day! I wish I caught it on film. We skyped with Kirk's parents to open the presents from them. Among the gifts were a a new outfit and pajamas. She had to try both of them on right away. Throughout the whole day she changed her clothes 6-7 times between all the new clothes she got. Such a girl!

We gave her a mylar balloon which was probably her favorite present of all. She carried it around everywhere and would randomly tell us "Happy Birthday" so we'd acknowledge that it was her birthday. I love my Clarky Duke!

Here's a peek into our life with her:

Every time we ask her what color something is she answers "green". She knows a lot of the colors, but for some reason always says green when asked.

She's been saying she's two years old for several months now. If we tried to tell her she was one, she would say "uh-uh, two!"

She hardly ever uses the word 'no'. Instead she says "uh-uh" (much more pleasant than 'no' if you ask me).

She loves dresses and skirts! If she sees one she has to change her clothes right then and wear it. After she gets one on, she usually points to the computer and says "dance", which means she wants the music on so she can dance. She's always been a girly girl and loves to wear my necklaces and bracelets. I've even caught her trying to put my earrings on (kind of scary cause she tries to stick them in her ear). The other day I found a pair of clip on earrings my Grandma gave me and I put them on her ears. She wore them around like she was a queen. It was so cute!

She has a pajama dress that she absolutely loves and refuses to take off in the morning. There has been a couple of days where I've just let her wear it all day long.

She loves "bebe's" (babies)! We read a library book to her that had Spanish words intermixed into the story, including 'bebe' instead of 'baby'. Ever since we read it to her, she will only use the Spanish version.
From a young age she's loved playing with baby dolls. She's always carrying a doll around the house with her (usually Luci's). When she doesn't have a doll, she has a great imagination and will pretend that random things are babies. The other day we were at the grocery store and she grabbed the cucumber out of the back of a cart, cradled it in her arms and said "bebe" in her serious voice. A few minutes later the tortillas were her baby.
Our close friends have a five month old baby that Clara is obsessed with! Whenever she's around Clara will not leave her side! She kisses her, pats her head, and begs to hold her. It's really sweet (and overwhelming)!


Clara loves to play with our play kitchen and food. Playing house with the kitchen and dolls is one of her favorite activities.

She's really into music. Luci's taking a Let's Play Music class and Clara loves to do the homework with her. If she ever doesn't know the words to a song she'll say "do, ti" over and over. Music has been an excellent catalyst to her speaking. I find that words sometimes come easier to her if they're put to a song rather than just spoken. Every Sunday at church Kirk will give her a little hymn book during the songs and she opens it up and sings the whole time. She loves staring at the conductor and leading the music herself.

She gives the best hugs! I love her hugs!

She does great in nursery. The nursery in our ward has over 26 kids. It's crazy in there! I always think she's going to have a hard time when I leave her in the chaos, but she sits right down and plays with a puzzle without even looking back as I leave. She has great nursery leaders and that really helps!

Her language is improving drastically lately. Two to three word phrases are becoming a regular part of her communication. She still communicates a lot through signs, body language, squeals, facial expressions, and one word sentences too. If she doesn't know a sign for something, she'll make her own up. She is still getting speech therapy , but just recently graduated from physical therapy! Yeah!

She loves to color. Since about 18 months she's been able to hold a pen the proper way! Anything she sees us write on, she'll write on too. That includes our scriptures, my calender and magazines.

She's likes to be naked. There was a period of time when every night I checked on her she was buck naked, sleeping peacefully with her hands behind her head and her pajamas and diaper on the floor.

She loves shoes and is always trying everyone's shoes on. But, whenever they should be on, they're not. One of the first things she does after I buckle her in the car, is take off her shoes and socks. So frustrating!


She loves to do things just like her big sister. And in some cases her big sister loves to do things just like her.


We're so happy to have her in our family!


A few more pics.