In early March, Nana came for a visit. With open houses and house showings we have to find something to do quite a lot, so got to share those activities with Nana. We went to the park, the carousel, the zoo... The weather was nice and cooperated for the most part. She got to stay for almost a week and we loved having her here.
Nana and Claire on the carousel
We had been talking to Claire for a while about giving up her pacifier - "pacer" (pronounced "passer"). She knew that when she was ready she'd get to go to the Build-a-Bear Workshop and make a stuffed animal with her pacer as the heart. On March 13 she decided she was ready and really wanted to do it. Even the day before she kept saying, "I am ready." Then we'd ask her what that meant, and she'd say, "I won't have pacer any more."
SO, we went in and created "Pacer Kitty." Claire picked the gray kitty (like her own kitty Bailey) out from all the animals, decided he was a boy kitty, and chose a basketball outfit for him (through no prompting at all, much to Daddy's delight). The little NBA outfit just HAPPENS to be KU colors, too. Bonus!
Here's Pacer Kitty's creation:
Waiting in line with Daddy to stuff the kitty
Putting her pacer in the kitty - she could hardly wait to do it and was so fast I almost missed it
"Washing" and brushing all the spare lint off her new kitty (it's quite a clever set up they have in there - like customizable Cabbage Patch Kids on steroids)
Dressing her kitty
A girl and her Pacer Kitty (almost as big as she is)
His official birth certificate
While she understood that she didn't get her pacer any more on an intellectual level, when it came time for bed she decided she really DID want it back. Explaining that it was in the kitty just made it worse, as she wanted to get it out again. We put the kitty away for a while and stopped talking about it being there but out of reach, and that seemed to help.
For about three weeks we had tears at night (I waited to tell this story until I knew the result of giving up the pacer, and it's taken awhile), and unfortunately, we sort of became human pacifiers. She wouldn't ask for her pacer, but wanted Mommy or Daddy to stay by her bed. We tried doing that for awhile but it didn't work, so have had to let her figure out a new self-comfort method on her own. Not fun. Last night was our first bedtime in quite awhile without tears, and it might have just been Easter exhaustion. We're hoping for the best, though...no more tears!
For Easter, we took her to Andersen Park in Mission, Kansas on Saturday for the "Bunny Eggstravaganza." The weather couldn't have been more perfect. She only wanted to see the bunnies from a distance (large costumed adults), but enjoyed playing at the park, talking to the policemen, going through the fire truck, and the egg "hunt," which lasted all of about 90 seconds. It was more of a free-for-all of one- to three-year-olds, their parents, and their older siblings. Claire got two eggs and didn't get run over, which we thought was fantastic. Sunday in the church nursery she got to do another egg hunt and was much more successful in terms of egg numbers, with her being the only child in the nursery for the 8:00 service. In the afternoon we went over to the Knops family's house for lunch with family. Claire had a great time playing with her cousins.
Riding the bouncy ATV on the playground
With Mommy in front of the fire truck
A brief clip of the melee - those two eggs were the only ones she picked up - going for more just wasn't worth it
Ooh, there's CANDY in this egg?!? Score!
Our beautiful Easter flower
We hope your spring is as nice as ours - after the long winter, it's sure been a welcome sight!
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