9.16.16 - Clara joys

Tonight Jack needed to run to his car to get something. Every time one of us opens the front door to step out for anything, Clara gets really excited and chases us as fast as she can to go too. So I figured him leaving was a good time to go check the mail and I took her with me. She was so excited to RUN down the sidewalk to the mailboxes, and after I got the mail she kept running down the various sidewalks in the apartment complex for a good twenty minutes.

Her legs are short enough that I can keep up with her at a pretty casual walk, so I just followed her around as she turned down one sidewak and then another. Occasionally she would start walking to people's front doors, but I would just pick her up and turn her around and she'd run in whatever direction I faced her. At one point she ran down a sidewalk and turned to run back up it and turned again, and she repeated this for quite awhile, the whole time holding her breath in excitement and then letting it out again in quick bursts and waving her hands in the air. It was a nice evening walk.

Then later tonight she was wearing what for her is an oversized PJ tshirt. I was lying on the living room floor and she crawled on me like she often does and then snuggled into me, so I rubbed her back and went to pat her diaper butt--but it wasn't a diaper butt, it was just a bare butt! Jack and I were both surprised/amused/confused, and we found her diaper just sitting next to the coffee table. I guess she took it off? It was pretty funny realizing that naked butt was running around.

Then, finally, tonight I was reading to her from "Goodnight Gorilla." There's a series of pages she especially likes where Mrs. Zookeeper turns out the light and then everyone in the dark says "good night" (I say all the "good night"s in different voice). On the next page it is entirely black except Mrs. Zookeeper's wide surprised eyes, and I always gasp and whispe "What was that?" Finally the next page shows her turning the light back on, and the zoo animals all stare at her and the gorilla has a guilty grinn on his face, and I make the noise "Eeeeee" (I don't know why, that's just always what came to me). Anyway so I read all that to her tonight and when the book was done I gave it to her to flip through. When she got to the surprised eyes page she gasped and whispered "Da bah da!" Then she flipped to the next page and said "Eeeeee!" then flipped on and continued babbling. But it's just so delightful to realize how much she's picking up and imitating already.

"Eeeeee!"