Clair’s first softball game ball

Game 1 for the Win and first game ball for Clair! 

We had our first 10 u softball game of the season. I love coaching, even when we don’t come out on top.  But the absolute best is watching my girl with a clutch move on the field. She played heads up defense but that’s not why she got the game ball. Her concentration tonight was amazing. 

Bottom of the last inning, bases loaded, and clutch double from my girl to win the game for her team. She has proven over her young life that when it comes to sports, she is great under pressure. I’m reminded of how well she did as a goalie in travel soccer. 

Everyone was so excited! No pictures from the actual even as usual, because I’m busy coaching 🙂. 

When I gave her the game ball she was a little embarrassed due to all the attention, but she was also very proud of herself. I am so proud of her! 

I am also proud of all the girls tonight. They are the come back girls. They like to wait until the end of the game to use their bats. I hope to help them stop waiting until the later innings and get the bats moving early. It’s early in the season so I believe it’s possible. 

What’s the reward for such a great game? A McFlurry of course! 

Clair was invited to read scripture for church

A few weeks ago Clair was invited to read the scripture as part of church service by one of the leaders of the youth ministry. She quickly excepted the offer and awaited her opportunity. The opportunity came along with a very long scripture reading in comparison to what the visiting children usually get to read. I was proud of Clair because she approached it with joy, preparation and eagerness.

We were surprised to find out that being part of scripture reading meant showing up at 8 AM on Sunday morning to go through a rehearsal before the first service, reading at the first service, and then reading again at the second service. It meant a really long morning. I was worried that Clair might not be up for that but, once again, she surprised me with her happiness and willingness to go along for the journey.

On Sunday morning came she was up and easily ready to go. She had picked out her own outfit the night before and it was a good one. just her and I got up because we knew bringing the others along for a full morning at church would make grumpiness so we left the others at home to watch online. We had breakfast together and headed off to church on time. We went in and found our place. Claire loved being behind seen and had lots of questions about what was happening. She was very interested in the stage and the audience and the technology and the overall process. Many of the bandmembers were oppressed by her happiness and energy.

At the first readthrough she read it a bit fast and we asked her to slow down. At the first reading at the 915 service she did quite well and had to slow down a bit. I asked her to consider slowing down just a bit more for the 11 o’clock service. By the 11 o’clock service she had perfected it. I am so proud of her. She was literally bouncing off the walls with joy. She was also snuggling me backstage looking around and watching while waiting her turn to be engaged the next time around. The minister was happy with her today and told her she did a great job. Many people stopped her on the way out of church and told her she did a great job. She told the youth leader that she really wants to do it again sometime. 

As we were walking out of church between church services because I needed a little bit more of my coffee that I had left in the car, a few people stopped her and complimented her on her reading. As we were walking to my car she says “I am famous.“ That was followed by a little giggle.

As we were leaving the church around 1140 this morning she was still giggling and she told me that she was happier than she had been in a long time.

Clair does have a heart for God. We were so lucky that this verse was all about God‘s love which she fully understands and promotes and supports and lives each day. It was just a wonderful experience for Clair and I am so grateful that she had this experience and that I got to be her mom along for the journey of watching her be herself in the big world. She does have so much to bring to this world!

Christmas Eve teeth

Christmas 2022, Claire was missing her two front teeth. She enjoyed being able to connect the song. Fast forward to Christmas 2021 and Clair has two loose teeth on either side of her front teeth. She suddenly becomes determined to lose them on Christmas Eve so that the tooth fairy and Santa clause come on the same night. 

I honestly did not believe she would pull that off and ignored it. There’s two side wiggly teeth stayed in there for a while. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. She wakes me up by telling me that she got her two side teeth out one at 6:45 AM in the other 7:15 AM. She was so proud of herself. This is surely a girl who knows how to execute a plan that she has made.

The wish to play with Pokémon

For the last two hours I’ve listen to Clair go on and on about the desire to be able to lucidly dream in her sleep tonight. Her excitement is untamable. She giggles in between statements. Statements alternate between how to do it and what she will dream about. She wants to hold and feel the Pokémon she dreams about. It’s adorable!

She’s ready for her lucid dreams tonight! Here’s hoping. 

Learning cursive

Clair has been interested in learning cursive for a long time. Last summer she started learning with Miss Jodi, our neighbor. They learned quite a few letters and then Clair took a break. Now that she’s in second grade and they’re teaching it to her in school, she is super excited about it.

All week she’s been writing things in cursive and showing them to me proudly. She is taking her time and really focusing on learning things in cursive. Tonight she made granddaddy‘s birthday card in cursive. She told me cursive makes it look much fancier mommy.

Gingerbread house plans by Clair

The pictures below have been hanging in my bedroom for about three weeks now. The anticipation of decorating gingerbread houses was high for the kids. One afternoon Clair drew a plan for her house. When it came time to decorate she did not actually seem to use this but for about three or four days she was really stuck on it and wanted it hanging in my bedroom. This is another one of those lovely little things she has spent so much time creating as a child that I have trouble parting with. So I’m posting it for my memory. This girl has the busiest brains. This is just one of many examples I have collected in her short lifetime. 

What year is this?

This afternoon we were in the backyard doing some work. My mom is here and Claire was swinging on the swing set. She wanted my mom’s attention and she said, “Vonita I mean Gramma.” My mom looked address and smiled and Claire went on to tell her whatever she wanted to tell her about what she had observed. My mom and I thought it was so cute. Clair has never met Vonita and I’m so happy that she’s enough inside Clair’s head that she must know her well enough to confuse her with grandma. Confuse it and probably the right word but to think about her in the same context as Gramma. I think that’s pretty cool. 

A Love Note

Tonight at bedtime Clair excitedly brings me a letter and hands it to me. It’s in her new beautiful stationary, and she hands it to me with a smile! “Here’s a special letter for you mommy.”

I open it and read the most heartfelt, well written, note I think I’ve received in a long time. 

Love this girl! She warms my heart. 

Here she is wearing her birthday outfit she got from Gramma!

Birthday Eve

Tomorrow Clair turns seven. Today has been dubbed her birthday eve. She’s had a countdown to her birthday for at least a month. She’s very excited for her birthday.

She did cry when she found out school would be canceled on her birthday. She wanted to be able to go to school on her birthday and enjoyed hearing the classing happy birthday to her. I love that Clair still loves school.

Today Miss Jodi gave her a birthday present. She was so excited and ready to open it. I told her she needed to wait until tomorrow and she was not happy with me. But she listened.

Today I made her birthday cake, a special order. She asked for a rainbow cake with chocolate icing and a pokey bowl on top. I hope she’s not disappointed by the pokeball I drew on the cake. 

The past hour and she’s been getting ready for bed the excitement has been boiling over. She is so looking forward to tomorrow. We were talking to granddaddy to wish him a happy birthday and it kept turning into a conversation about her birthday. Granddaddy didn’t mind of course.

As we are finally getting her in bed and I told David I’m very tired but I have lots to do. He looks at me and asks what I need to do? Clair very excitedly proclaims “uh, decorate for my birthday daddy of course!” Followed by a giggle full of energy. 

As we finally get the lights off and I lay down to put her to sleep like I do on most nights. She lays in my arm and then pops back up quickly telling me I need to “ Sit up, Mommy😘 sit up!” I start to worry if there is something gross in the bed and ask her “why do I need to sit up Clair?” She says because otherwise you’ll fall asleep and you won’t go get ready for my birthday like you need to do.

She was not interested in having me fall asleep in her bed with her tonight. Last night she would try hard for that to happen, but tonight she knew she needed to get me out of bed so I could go prepare for the party.

Given where the world is today. Claire will celebrate her seventh birthday with just her family around her. COVID-19 has us in a position where we canceled her party. She’s not real thrilled about that, but we are looking to make tomorrow a special as we can for her. So with that, I’m off to decorate. David has gotten a Headstart already, which I am very thankful for.

Given where the world is today. Claire will celebrate her seventh birthday with just her family around her. COVID-19 has us in a position where we canceled her party. She’s not real thrilled about that, but we are looking to make tomorrow a special as we can for her. With that, I’m off to decorate. David has gotten a Headstart already, which I am very thankful for.

Tomorrow, my youngest will be 7! 

These are too candid shots I’ve taken of her over the past week. In the first one she was doing an art show. In the second one she had just finished running the bases at the park.

Clair has such a wonderful ability to share her feelings

Daily Clair finds ways to express herself that astounds me. She is better at this at 6 then most adults I know ever become. I hope she always continues to few deeply and share these feelings with those close to her. 

Two recent moments from the past 24 hours led me to this post. 

Last night after dinner Clair decided she wanted to be helpful. She took on washing every dish before loading them into the dishwasher. While she was working away, she was of course talking away. :) 

She is proud of being helpful. She proclaimed that “being helpful makes her “heart light up!” She went on to continue to describe how she feels about being helpful. She stuck at this for a good 15 minutes until the job was done. 

Fast forward to Friday morning. I’m working in my office. When I go to run to the bathroom for a quick break between meetings, I see the attached letter which has been slid under my door. This just makes my heart shine! 

The ears journey for clair

Today we return to doctor yoon to have Clair’s hole in her ear examined. She got this little beauty after tubes fell out and one side refused to heal. 

We’ve been coming here for 4 years. Clair loves doctors and is especially confident in knowing the routine here. 

Today we walked into the sound booth and she led the way. She jumped into the chair herself, not thinking twice about needing to sit on my lap. It was a first. 

As I commented on her newfound independence she tells the audiologist “the more work trips my mommy takes the more used to being separated from her I get” ( in a real matter of fact way)

My heart fell. 

The audiologist complimented me on raising an independent child and I still wanted to cry. 

Clair realized she had made me sad and proceeded to kiss me and tell me how much she loved me. 

I said, “ does this mean you are ready to move out on your own now one day too?”

She looks at me and shrugs,” maybe. I don’t know.”

Here’s my independent girl ready to be tested. 

Hard life lessons

I heard Max and Claire discussing drama quite loudly. I go to find out what’s going on when I learned that Claire gave one of her favorite toys to a boy in school today because he just kept asking for it and she didn’t know how to tell him know. So she treated him the below artistic masterpiece and he took her Bay Blade home, never to be seen again. 

The mother bear in me wants to contact the school and reach out to this child’s mother and make this child return the toy. But instead, I’ve chosen to let this be a heavy lesson to all the kids about standing up for yourself and not letting somebody talk to you into something you don’t want to do. The boy didn’t push her the boy didn’t take it she just needed to say no it’s mine. She didn’t feel she could do that. That’s not acceptable. 

This picture is been sitting on my dresser for a week because it’s a sad picture for Claire. I took a picture and I threw it away today. I wanted to record this lesson. This is definitely not one of the proud parenting moments or stories from my childhood that will make me happy. But, it is important that we take lessons and learn to stand up for her self some for what is right. (Even if we learn them with losing a cherished toy. )

Morning snuggles

It has become a daily ritual for Clair and me to snuggle on the couch in between seeing Ellie off each school morning. These early morning cuddles are a favorite for us both. We had David take a picture to commemorate them. So sweet. So warm. So perfect! 

Be still my heart

She drew this for me in church today. So sweet!

Clair is the most improved player after her first season of softball

We embarked on Claire’s for softball season late and unplanned. She went into it struggling to swing and we did work a lot. She decided she wanted to become a hitter and it times showed real focus in the field. There were also times I caught her playing in the dirt. At her end of season party her coach gave everyone an award. He presented Clair with the most improved player award because she really worked hard getting better this year.

First lose tooth!

Clair has been asking when her teeth will finally fall out for at least a year. Ever since kids in kindergarten started losing teeth Claire wanted to lose some too. Every few weeks you asked me when it will start. She’s anticipating it greatly. Two days ago she started complaining about a sore in her mouth. At first we washed with salt water. When she told me it was getting worse and not better I looked at it and realized it was her first loose tooth. This girl was so excited she got the biggest smile on her face. She nearly had tears in her eyes. She grabbed me and hugged me and started rejoicing!

 She spent most of the day excited about the situation and trying to turn it into reasons to celebrate. She is marked it on the calendar and has proclaimed it a day we should celebrate your early as the day of her first loose tooth. She even convinced me to make her macaroni and cheese for dinner. 

Notes everywhere

This girl write me notes telling me how much she loves me all the time. She gives me so much paper that I’m sure, she thinks I don’t appreciate it. I do. I just don’t know what to do with it. I have to eventually threw them away and I feel a little less guilty when I take a picture and save them here for my own memories. Love this girl!

Clair’s first book

This book has been a work in progress for about six months. Well, she started it one day six months ago, and decided to finish it one day last week. But this time we printed it and she illustrated it as well. The best part for Clair was when she took it to school and showed it to her teachers and her classmate. She got such amazing reception and interest from everyone. I’m so happy about that! She came out of school so excited that day and pronounced that it was the best day ever because everybody loved her book and she was going to publish it. 

Along with her 11 other jobs she now wants to be an author as well. 

 Here is a copy of her first book for posterity. The odds of keeping track of all the paper this child creates are slim to none.  I love her creativity and her energy. 

The kindergarten journey is impressive

I firmly believe the entrance into kindergarten is the biggest jump a child takes. When they go up to public school they’ve still been sheltered mostly in the world, as we’ve chosen environments we’ve had them in app until that point in time.

The kindergarten teacher receives kids in so many different places and somehow manages to teach them how to read write and count. Most of them don’t really know how to read and write going into it. Some of them know the basics, but they are raw. 

Claire’s teacher returned her writing samples which were done each month throughout kindergarten. It was amazing to see the differences and the evolution of the writing over the year. The first sample was barely legible and simple and limited. The last sample was complex and full of thought. Claire has especially enjoyed learning how to express herself better with words this year. This afternoon we sat down and read through her writing journal. She enjoyed laughing at some of the things she had written in the beginning of the year. She really enjoyed the complexity of the things she had written recently. The girl really is a super writer as her teacher said.

I also very much enjoyed reading her year in review memory book. 

Imprints

About two weeks ago I had noticed Clair  pulling down the waistband of her pants a few times and looking at her skin. First couple times I was worried she was pulling down her pants, because she was doing in places that we’re not the bathroom. I finally realize she was just rubbing under her pants a little bit. I finally asked her what she was up to and she says “I’m just looking at my imprints.”

This fascination has grown stronger every past two weeks. She also enjoys looking at my imprints. And because my belly fat is greater, my implants are more impressive than hers. She think she’s hit the jackpot if I let her look at the imprint of my waistband. She especially loves it if I want something tight and the imprint is deep. I find this interesting, and a bit strange, and so Clair. She truly loves imprints right now!