Singing, a Minivan, and Clara's Imagination

I dashed into Sprouts on Wednesday night to pick up a few things for dinner (kale, Italian sausage, Yukon gold potatoes - I have a killer Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana copycat recipe) and realized while browsing the produce aisle that I was singing the song "My Girl" which was softly playing over the loudspeakers.  Like, singing "I've got sunshi-eye-ine, on a cloudy dayyyyyy" out loud and not with much subtlety and totally unconsciously.  As soon as comprehension dawned I felt super embarrassed and furtively glanced around to see if anybody had noticed.  That's when I saw that there was a man sticking apples in a bag singing "when it's cold outside, I've got the month of may" along too.  And a woman over by the onions doing the same thing.  It was like a flash mob in there and none of us were aware of our own involvement.  I went back to singing and shopping and thoroughly enjoyed the music.

We bought a new (to us) minivan last Friday.  It was the last day of January and Paul had it all planned out how that was the best day to buy a car because the salespeople were trying to meet end-of-the-month sales goals, etc. and would be more agreeable to negotiation strategies.  Anywho, we are now the proud owners of a 2011 charcoal grey Honda Odyssey Ex-L with leather interior, a dvd player, and those doors that open at the push of a button.  Paul is so pleased you have no idea.  I had to remind him more than once at the dealership to put his poker face back on because his smile was so big that it was painfully apparent how much he wanted that car even though he was telling the salesperson how there were two others for a  little less at dealerships not far away that we would go to if the pricepoint we wanted couldn't be met.  We got home late (almost 9:00 p.m.) but Clara was still awake with my mom who spent the past couple of weeks with us helping with the two little ladies.  Clara ran out to the car and immediately climbed inside the very roomy interior and started jumping up and down with her arms in the air shouting "hooray! hooray!" and giggling and smiling like a Price Is Right contestant who just won the showcase showdown.  It was awesome.  She loves her new view and even though I don't get all worked up about new cars, I have to say that the Odyssey is a pretty sweet ride and I have enjoyed how much easier it is to get the girls in and out this past week.  We can't wait to take it on a road trip and use all the cargo space.

My mom and I took the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (pics to come) and when we got home that night Clara insisted on calling me "Mommy Walrus" and told me that she was "Baby Walrus".  There wasn't even a walrus at the acquarium and I was less than flattered.  I tried to convince her to call me something cuter like Mommy Sea Otter or Mommy Penguin but she flatly refused.  At least she didn't latch onto the hammerhead sharks that we saw. 

I forgot to mention in my previous post where Paul was painting Clara's nails how, during the manicure, Clara chided Paul for his lack of conversation skills. "You have to talk to me, Daddy!" Clara bossed as Paul quietly concentrated on keeping the polish only on the nail and not on the surrounding cuticles.  Paul and I were cracking up over that one and I can't believe I forgot to mention it.

A week or so ago Clara rediscovered her toy medical kit and has since repurposed the stethoscope into a monkey tail.  It was completely her own imagination - she picked it up, stuck it around her waist with the long part hanging down the back, and announced that it was her monkey tail and has played like that for days and days now.  I am so proud of the imagination this girl has. 

She also has been wrapping small quilts around herself (the kind I lay Rose on in the living room to change her diaper or for tummy time, etc.) and performing "Let It Go" from "Frozen" since she has transformed herself into Elsa with a "sparkly cape".  For a little bit I debated going to the Disney Store and buying her an Elsa costume (even though I'm trying to get her to back off this obsession with "Frozen" by not playing the songs for her as often even though she begs for them 100 zillion times a day) but then thought, "why sabotage her imagination?"  If she believes that a patchwork quilt is a sparkly cape, more power to her for being so creative and imaginative and who am I to cripple that by getting her the "real" thing?  So instead I helped her out by safety pinning it around her to free up both of her hands for her musical numbers. 

And speaking of musical numbers, yesterday when we got home from dropping Grandma Cece off at the airport, I carried Rose into the bedroom in her carseat and shut the door since she was sound asleep and I didn't want to disturb her.  Clara then realized it was the perfect opportunity to perform another favorite song from "Frozen" - "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?".  I was crazy lucky and she agreed to give me an encore performance - this time with my phone camera rolling - and I got it on video with only a little coaxing. 

Do you want to build a snowman from Amy Nash on Vimeo.

 

The latest update on Rose is that she is such a good baby and is doing really great.  Her sleeping is normalizing and last night she actually slept from about 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., which is completely ridiculous for a 3-week old in my opinion.  It was my night off (Paul gets up with the girls on the weekends) so I wasn't totally surprised though because Clara always, always, always slept best whenever it was Paul's turn to get up and apparently Rose is going to do the same.  But two nights before that she had a 5 1/2 hour stretch of sleep as well so maybe these good long sleep stretches aren't a total fluke?  Typically though she is up twice a night - once around 1:00 a.m. and a second time around 4:00 a.m.  And when she is awake she is super alert and has such good head strength already!  She loves to be held and is generally a pretty contented little gal.  I am planning more Rose-specific posts next week after her birth announcements go out.