48 hours

The last 48 hours have been busy for one Claire Nelson. Busy. Here are just a couple of things she managed to find time for in her busy, busy world of la-la land and coloring crayons.

She decided to become a beautician. I could tell as I left to get my haircut that she was feeling a little left out, so, with that perky determination of hers, she scaled to the highest heights and found the hair clippers, located in the medicine cabinet and she gave herself some bangs. Really cute and sassy short ones. But don't worry, she left the long ones on the side, so she could look like a glamour shot photo from the 80s. I am pretty proud of her- I mean, I LOVE bangs on her, and I LOVE how she waits until just before her bangs (which she cut a mere 10 months ago) are almost grown out long enough to fit in the pony tail, before she cuts them short again. It's not like I have strong feelings about bangs on her or anything like that. It's just hair right?

But the pampering didn't stop there. Since she was getting a lovely haircut, why not get a lovely new mani and pedi? And being the self-starter that she is, she just decided to do it herself, with nobody's help. We are pretty proud of her. She coated her fingernail and toenails (and the carpet, and our one nice towel) pretty thoroughly. Boy, when that girl sets her mind on something, she exceeds every one's expectations.

In all her pampering excitement, she accidentally got gum stuck in her hair. But you know, nobodies perfect. Even Claire makes the occasionally mistake. Luckily the gum came out pretty easy and no tears were spilt.

This all was just in the hour and a half I was gone getting my hair cut. She is fast. Again, we couldn't be prouder.

Today, yesterday, and the day before she has been trying (and very unsuccessfully, might I add) to pour herself her own glasses of chocolate milk. She is just like Mary Tyler Moore, trying to make it all on her own, while wearing her cute new clothes. Lucky for us you can bleach white shirts (but does fingernail polish bleach out?).

This morning, Claire put on her thinking cap and decided to explore the nature of the world around her. Her first experiment was seeing if after you break a glass cup up in your bedroom, if you tried to clean it up without mom knowing, would you, in fact, cut your finger? The answer is most decidedly yes.

Her next science experiment of the day was what would really happen if you applied fingernail polish directly to the eye. The answer- it stings like heck. We like to encourage her find these things out on her own, to foster learning and independence (though I guess I did cheat a little when I helped her flush her eye with water).

Do you see how much learning and growing she has done over the last 48 hours? You know I have heard people say that raising kids is hard, but to be honest, I just don't get it. It's the easiest thing I have ever done. I mean, she is basically raising herself. We are so proud.