Stinker

If you can't account for her whereabouts, beware. She's been called Claire the Destroyer before, with good reason. She's been known to moisturize herself (and the carpet and railing), spice things up if life gets too boring, host tea parties in inappropriate locales, express her artistic self in ways I'd hoped not to see, and redecorate rooms without anyone asking her to. She has a penchant for playing with water, and she loves her morning coffee. Of course, she learned a lot from her big sister. Kate can't hold a candle to Claire, however. Kate's idea of a mess is a lot more amusing and a lot less ohshitwhere'stheresolvecarpetcleanerohnowecan'tbeoutofitagain.

For instance, this was the scene in their room after Kate spent a couple of "nap time" hours alone:

For some unknown reason, Kate redecorated their room with the contents of Claire's underwear drawer.

My favorite picture. She apparently didn't want the elephant to feel left out.

Claire holding the undies and bloomers that had been laid out neatly in rows across her bed.

She's very particular about her shoe arrangement. Tim thinks she's got a streak of me Monica in her.

Claire is much more...dangerous. And messy.

Twice in the last week, I have found her in my room with medicine from my bathroom closet. Lest you think I am leaving my cough syrup just lying around, I have all of our non-child-friendly pills and such on a shelf that is 5 feet high in the closet. She is climbing the shelving to get to what she wants. The first time, I found her with 2 bottles of Robitussin and a bottle of Tylenol. She was hiding behind my bedroom curtains with the cat, preparing to have cocktails. I am very thankful for child-proof caps, although I am somewhat concerned that she will find a way to break into them. If anyone can do it, she can.

Also this week: she has poured the contents of my water cup out onto the floor in Luke's room. Twice. When she finds the cup empty, she simply helps herself to more water from the bathroom sink. She has removed her diaper and peed on the floor once, and on her bed once. She has climbed into the tub shower in their bathroom to get a bar of soap, and I've found her playing with it in Luke's room. Last night she put a stack of unused wipes in the toilet, causing much fun for me and Tim. I have found her in the loft silently rubbing vaseline and lotion all over her face. Twice today she has dumped the contents of her milk cup onto the kitchen table when I've been upstairs with Luke to change his diaper. She removed an entire stick of glue from the stick and rubbed it on the kitchen table, again when I was changing Luke's diaper. She and Kate were supposed to be gluing papers together. At bath time, she turned her Little People airplane into a seaplane and put it in the tub. I haven't replaced the batteries yet to see if it still works. She has drawn on our new picnic table with crayon, and delights in throwing rocks into the pool. Instead of throwing her food away after lunch, I have later found it rotting in the recycle bin. Mind you, these things all happened within the last week. I'm not sure what happened to my sweet little Claire, but she has turned into a terror when someone isn't watching her every move.

On a cuter note, we went to dinner at our local sushi restaurant the other night. We ordered several pieces of sushi, some tempura for the girls, and some sushi rolls. Claire ate two whole pieces of the unagi roll, dipped in soy sauce. Tim fell in love with her all over again that night.