Happy Birthday My Darling, Darling Clementine

Clementine making Muffin Cakes to pull-ups

Clementine, Happy 3rd Birthday my wonderful little daughter.  How much do I adore you? More than you can ever imagine.  There are so many wonderful things about you.  The first thing that pops into my mind is that I don't think you went through a terrible twos like Henry and Bea, but you might be hitting some terrible threes.  We'll see....Clementine, you are so pleasant to be around.  The best and most adorable thing about you, Clementine, is that you are so obedient and kind.  You are the most mild tempered and well mannered of my children.  You are always quick to forgive and to say sorry.  You are kind and gentle to everyone and share everything you have when asked.  My most favorite trait of yours is that every time I ask you to do something you ALWAYS say, "okay" in really funny voices, like the "okay" that is said with an undertone of "why do I really have to do this?" or the yelling style that denotes you're very serious about doing what I ask of you.  You rarely say no to any logical request and are very capable of accomplishing any task.

Helping mommy in the kitchen...kind of:)

You making cinnamon rolls in a tiny pot wearing my high heels

You are very self motivated, especially in the kitchen.  Every time I'm cooking in the kitchen, there you are right by my side with your cute little apron on, helping me cut up vegetables or pouring ingredients into a bowl for me.  you love cracking eggs open and mixing them up for scrambled eggs in the morning.  You help me with everything when the rest of the kids don't seem interested in the daily life of mom and farm chores.  You help with laundry, you love emptying the dishes from the washer and you just helped us plant plants in the new vegetable garden today.  You really are a big help to me in everything I do. I have to admit that I frequently give you super sharp knives to cut stuff up with because the butter knives literally aren't cuttin' it! I just read an article about Scandinavian and European parents allowing their young children to use knives stating that, "no one has lost a finger yet!" so I'm now not ashamed to say that you use sharp knives on a regular basis!  You have cut your fingers a tiny bit, but I only intervene when you're trying to stab something while holding it  (you should work on that). You also help me a lot because you're an extremely clean child.  You usually keep clean all day long and you never leave your dishes on the table or spill your food all over the floor like your brother and sisters.  You also eat everything I make and you eat it all.  You are a bottomless pit.  Your dad and I always laugh together every time you say, "mommy, I'm hungry" because no matter what you ate 10 minutes ago, you're still hungry.  Your favorite food is anything with a lot of flavor in it like roasted chicken or sausages.  You ask for eggs and sausages and pancakes every morning for breakfast and you eat it all!

Clementine in her ballet outfit.  I can't believe you're 2.5 in this photo.  You look like you're 4!

 Clementine, you just started ballet this year and every time you dance, you have a giant smile on your face.  You run out and announce to the entire audience of mom's, "I do ballet mommy! I do ballet!"  You have such a love for ballet.  You are in a class of slightly older girls but you pay attention very well and you make your teachers laugh because you're not as coordinated as some of the other little girls and you're a little heavy on your feet, but it's just darling to watch you have such a fun time every week.  You also love to ride a bike and your slider rider around our farm.  You could pedal even earlier than Bea did(before 2 1/2) and enjoy zipping around the driveway on your slider rider and Bea's bike. 

Holding the turkey legs that we cut off the turkey we ate for Thanksgiving.  They were nasty..and you may or may not have put one in your mouth.  Just keeping you healthy the real way.

The thing that stresses me out the most in my life right now is our pet rats.  You and Bea have two hairless rats, Pinkie Pie and Muffin Cakes.  They are the most tortured creatures on the planet.  You two smash, slap, squish, squeeze, flip, throw, and lose your rats on an almost daily basis.  I have had to catch Muffin Cakes four times this past week by putting a box outside and praying to heaven that the rat comes back to the box.  Luckily I found it in our yard three times and once in our neighbor's yard.  There are so many predators out, I can't believe she's survived that long.  She was lost for a few days once and I thought she was a goner because she was out in a snowstorm, but somehow she didn't freeze or get eaten by the many cats prowling around our property.  The rats never stop squeaking and sometimes screeching for help every time they are touched because they know they are handled so roughly.  I am so conflicted because you love them so much, like they are your own little squishy babies, and you're both so content and happy when you are holding the rats, but they are so tortured I can almost not bare it any longer. Good thing they live relatively short lives.

Sitting in the sun chairs at The Canyons

Ready to go ski!

After a long day skiing

Clementine, you LOVE to sing and you sing your song, "oh my darlin' Clementine" all the time.  You rarely invite others to sing with you and get really mad when anyone tries to join in.  I took you skiing with the ski trainer maybe 6 times and you would belt it out as you were bombing down the hills.  Other skiers would look behind them and laugh when they saw you singing at the top of your lungs in your one piece ski suit, cute hat and goggles.  You are a good skier and you already have a solid skiing stance.

Chinese New Year is one of our favorite holidays.  You make a cute little Chinese girl!

I can't write about you and not mention your hair.  You have so much hair, way more than Bea or Violette will ever have.  Your head is still a little flat in the back which makes you have a natural "bump it" look and then your hair comes straight forward from the crown of your head down over your face and drapes perfectly over your forehead.  I haven't ever cut it so it's getting really long.  I think Bea is jealous because her hair is about a quarter as thick as yours and since she chopped it off last fall, it's hardly long enough for a pony tail.  I really don't care much about doing your hair all neat and perfect, so it's usually falling in your face and covered with something you just ate.  When you let me French braid it, you look really cute for about an hour before it starts sliding out.  You'll love your thick hair when you're older.

Clementine, you ask if we can go camping every day and now you have your own sleeping bag so you finally won't freeze when your daddy forgets to bring blankets for you to sleep on!

You and your siblings go on hikes every week to find waterfalls and enjoy nature. 

Clementine, you already know all your letters and numbers and you love talking about the ABC's with your sister Bea, who is still learning them.  You also love My Little Ponies and if you're not playing with the rats, your playing with the ponies.  You and Bea fight over them all the time, so hopefully with the new ones I'm getting you for your Birthday, you'll finally have enough! You have a very long attention span and can color and color and color for hours on end.  You use the same marker and color everything on the same page that same color.  So many of our coloring books are completely colored in by you as you just keep turning the pages one by one and you don't care what you color, you just want to finish coloring the book. 

You coming out to help me in the rain to feed the chickens and collect eggs.  You follow me everywhere I go. 

Clementine, you frequently play doggy.  In fact, whenever you're on carpet you have to be on your hands and knees acting like a dog.  You love to lick stuff up from bowls and Bea always acts like your owner and puts food out for you to eat all the time.  I always have to remove really tight leashes from your neck, but recently you found a bungee cord that you just hook around your shirt, and I feel better about that.  You are just like a real dog and will fetch stuff over and over and over.  You're getting pretty fast at running on all fours too.  I'm sure you'll use that talent someday.  Between that and the rats, I think you're making our babysitters wonder what we're doing in this house. 

Your best friend

Every day you ask me if it's Sunday.  You tell me that you love church and you never have a problem going to nursery.  You wandered into primary a couple times and you were so perfect in there that no one noticed you weren't supposed to be in there yet!  You always want to say the prayer at mealtimes and in the morning and evening, but you pout if you don't get to say it.  We frequently have to say communal prayers all together or you have to say another prayer after the first one or else you have a bad attitude for dinner and won't eat.  You fold your arms in front of you and fake pout until you get to say the prayer. I think it's adorable, even though I try not to encourage your behavior.  Your siblings can take a turn you know! You love the second verse of I am a Child of God and you know all the words to "I'm trying to be like Jesus".  I just love singing them to you every night and hearing you sing them back to me in my ear.  You have a beautiful voice.

You in your new moon bed I had made for you

Peaking out the stars

Clementine, basically, I love you with all my heart.  You are my little buddy and my little shadow.  You light up my bad days and you fill my life with joy.  I love being your mother and I know you will do great things with your life because of your obedience and faith and your innate goodness.  I wish you would stay small because I love picking you up and hugging your entire little body. I love tickling you and kissing your still chubby neck.  I love talking to you and looking into your beautiful eyes.  I love watching you run around in your farm dress, with dirt all over your face and hair all a mess, singing and smiling and clutching your baby rat.  What a precious gift you are to me from our Heavenly Father.  I thank him every day that he sent you to me.  I love you my darling daughter.  Happy Birthday.

Love,
Mommy