Recently

 Recently Clementine has been introduced to "earning" the things she wants. She is by no means thrilled about this. We want Clem to know responsibility and have ways she can successfully contribute to the family so we give her little "chores" like vacuuming or dusting, clearing or setting the table.
We considered giving Clem an allowance, but money doesn't mean much to her just yet so she earns some movie time by doing chores (sometimes movie time=a 30 minute episode of Wild Kratts, not necessarily a whole movie or anything!)

 Recently we traded in our SUV for a minivan (more on that later). Clementine thinks it's her own personal jungle gym. She loves to roam around and explore in it. She stashes all kinds of crap in the cup holders and pockets. Her "collecting" has increased tremendously.

 On this day, we were early for a doctor's appointment so Clem came up and sat beside me in the passenger's seat, rolled down the window and made funny faces at herself in the mirror.

Chanteuse

Near the Finish Line

8 MONTHS! I can't believe it! The finish line is in sight!

I've now posted my picture at 6 months and 7 months and I honestly can't see a difference yet, although I am told everyday how much larger I look from the day before (ahem). I still have yet to gain the weight I lost in first trimester which is fine by me, and baby is also seemingly fine with it, himself!

Last week I went to what I hope was my last ultrasound (not that I don't enjoy these, but I am hoping this is it for me as baby will be here sooner rather than later). I had been told two weeks earlier that there had been a big jump (according to the tape measure) in baby's growth. Boy, was I in for a surprise! At this ultrasound, baby was obviously squished with beautiful knees up near gorgeous face. "Those are some seriously long legs," was my first thought. Then I saw this kid's melon. It's enormous. And the shoulders....don't even get me started.
So, the idea in my head that this boy would look very much like Clementine (6 pounds, 18 inches) at birth, and the idea that the birth itself (easy, as far as the pushing goes) would be similar went right out the window. Doctor says this baby is already what Clem was at birth and to expect an 8 or 9 pounder this time around.

Easter

A Walk at the Marina

Last week was Spring Break for Clem and I. It was a peaceful, and a restful and a snuggly week for us both. At this point in my pregnancy, nothing sounds better to me than naps and snuggles BUT, I tried to keep a balance between restful things and active things.

On one of these dry, slow starting days, me and my favorite girl went for a walk down by our favorite marina. Clem choose to bring her princess scooter with us because of it's pocket in the front: perfect for collecting.
She rode the first leg (about 1/2 mile, at best) stopping to touch, admire and collect e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g along the way. And I do mean everything.
She found rocks, shells, feathers, cigarette butts, bark from a tree, a washed up tackle box. She spied a bald eagle sitting in a rotting tree, herons, seagulls (and, randomly, an entire lone seagull wing which, thankfully, she did not try to put into the pocket of her scooter). She collected a very good sampling from this walk.
This distance (remember, it was a half mile at best) literally took us over an hour to complete due to this little scientist's observing eye. I tried my best to be patient and did a pretty good job on this first leg of the walk.
But I cannot claim that this patience was matched on the trek back to the car. Clem was done with this walk and, my bladder full, I was too. Clem wanted me to carry both her and her scooter full of material and I refused. So I waddled ahead of her while she grumpily dragged her scooter behind, making snarly faces the whole time.
I love a good snarly face.

Clementinese

For all of her toddlerhood, and quite a bit of her preschool-hood (so far), Clem has spoken what can only be described as Clementinese. She has had a bit of a speech delay and struggles with consonant blends, but with the help of a local SLP and her preschool teacher, she's just about 100% understandible these days! YIPPEE!

She's also FAR more willing to talk and try new sentence structures knowing folks can understand her now. I had to capture some of my favorite Clementinisms of late:

*"No, Jose!" she says (too often), forgetting the "way" in the middle.

*Everyday she talks about her "Sneaky peep." This is the kind of pee she didn't know she had but all of a sudden it hits her. Mostly this happens at night or while we're running errands.

*"Take a minute to come look at this mama," she says to me. A direct quote from teacher! Same as "Wait a minute! I have an idea!" with finger tapping her chin.

If you are on Facebook, you already saw this one last week. Lately Clem loves to tell each of us how much she adores us. Last weekend, she snuggled up in bed right next to me very cuddly like and said "I love you mama... But I REALLY love my daddy. A whole bunch." (She is daddy's girl.)

Every Saturday she does swimming lessons and as she gets dressed, she runs around the locker room singing "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. Only she doesn't so much sing it as she hollers it. I love this fearless performer.

After dinner each night as Cam and I start to unwind, Clem is just getting geared up. She bares her teeth, squints her eyes and points right at Cam then says "Let's wrestle!" And then they do--which mostly consists of Cam tickling her mercilessly, which she loves.

Clementine has discovered the power of telling tall tales. Stories she tells are a bit exaggerated lately. On Friday, she told her class at lunch that I was no longer pregnant with one baby boy but there are actually two baby girls in there (shenanigans). When I went to pick her up from preschool that day, other preschool moms kept coming up to congratulate me on the recent surprise. They had totally bought it! Clem was so embarassed as I cleared up the misunderstanding, clarifying that it really is only one baby boy.

Eatin Brocolli

A few nights ago, Clem pulled what every preschooler in history has tried: the old "veggies are gross" routine.

For dinner on this night, we were having chicken with brocolli and rice. Clem declared she wanted no part of this green stuff. Cam said "Great! More for me!" and then demonstrated that every time he took a bite of brocolli his muscles grew bigger and bigger. Clem watched in wide eyed anticipation as he took bite after bite.

Then, when she was really hooked, Cam lifted the table up owing his super strength to all the brocolli he'd eaten.

Clementine immediately started shoveling her brocolli in her mouth. She couldn't get enough! She would flex and take bite after bite. She polished off her own brocolli and started in on mine, asking for more and more.

Good work, Cam. Nicely done.