The Kids, Part 3 - Claire

I must say that the pregnancy with Claire and Morgan was pretty easy for me. Of course it's because I wasn't the one pregnant! Like me, Lisa went 37.5 weeks and had a C-section, but hers was a planned surgery, so 24 hours of labor was not necessary. Lucky! I got to see the girls being born and they both came out folded in two, with their feet over their heads! Ouch! They retain their flexibility to this day. Claire is even double jointed and a few times I accidentally pulled her shoulder out of its socket picking her up when she was younger.

Claire was a super easy baby. In fact, I think the only time she cried was when (in a sleep-deprived state) I accidentally poured milk on her head when she was only a few weeks old. Claire loves that story! Anyway, she was pretty relaxed and content, which is interesting given her personality today. It all changed when the girls turned one. Suddenly, the sweet little babies were toddlers, and watch out! They teamed up and got into exponentially more trouble than either one would alone. They even had to be separated in daycare because they would gang up on the other kids. They were two years old, mind you!

Claire is 7 and 1/2 now, and she seem so much more mature than the boys did at this age. But I think that's a girl thing. She is very independent, confident, intelligent, and a pretty good athlete. She is like a fish in the water, and her swimming coach has mentioned to us how talented she is. However, she still needs to learn how to focus during practices, which I assume will get better as she matures. Her fierce independence combined with her tendency to be a perfectionist has given some pretty interesing results. For instance, especially when she was younger, she would insist on doing something (like getting dressed) herself, but then would have a huge tantrum when she couldn't get it right. Or she would work for an hour on an art project only to crinkle it up and throw it on the floor if she made one little mistake. Thankfully, these traits are tempered a little as she gets older. It is interesting to see the "girl" traits coming out too as she matures. You know, the long phone calls with friends, the cliques, the drama.

Claire still sort of marches to the beat of her own drummer. In fact, we sometimes refer to her as Phoebe from the TV show Friends, because she is just a little different. This can be frustrating at times, but is also what makes Claire, well, Claire. Never a dull moment or lack of a good story for the Christmas letter. For instance, just today, her babysitter took all the kids bowling and Claire both broke the gutter guard and got hand sanitizer all over the special wood on the bowling alley floor. Last time we went bowling, she let go of the ball at the wrong time and launched it at those of us sitting behind her. Another example - she had her first swim meet in January and swam very fast - except her goggles fell off when she dove in so she swam the entire race with her goggles in her hand. Typical Claire. She is also fearless and sort of clumsy, so she is always covered with scrapes and bruises (note her forehead in the photo).

In addition to swimming, Claire loves soccer, gymnastics, and basketball. She is big for her age, which helps her on the playing field. She also insisted (without our prompting) on starting piano lessons, and plays pretty well, although most of the time she forgets some of the music she is supposed to bring to her lesson. She is an avid reader, and goes through at least one Rainbow Fairy book a day. I love how she loves these books! She is also getting pretty good at writing and illustrating her own stories. Claire is equally happy playing in the mud or dressing up in her Christmas dress (no matter what time of year it is). This girl will go far, but where, one can only guess.