The (Almost) Unbearable Cora-ness of Cora

I need to move on to a new topic (like food or yoga, riveting!), but lately I spend much of my time either actively trying to soak up all the Cora-ness that Cora has to offer, or feeling like I need to capture all the Cora-ness that Cora is offering so that I don't forget it later. She's SO MUCH CORA all the time and it's starting to stress me out that my brain isn't capable of absorbing it all up at once. Like the sun. Or organic chemistry.

On Saturday I was delaying putting her to bed by reorganizing her closet. She was being smiley and squealy and exuberantly enthusiastically herself and I'd bought her some spring clothes, so I thought yes, let's stay up and mother-daughter bond by putting her closet in rainbow and seasonal order. But after about 60 seconds, without any hint of tiredness or protest, she walked to her crib and pulled her fuzzy blanket out between the slats, balled it up on the ground, and curled up in a ball, resting her chubby cheek on the fluffiest part, and closed her eyes. Bedtime. Done. Third-baby, you-look-busy-so-I've-got-this-style.

I'm kind of obsessed with these outfits, esp. the shoes

Other nights when I go to put her down at her usual 7:30 bedtime I will try to hold her close and sing her all of two lines of a song and she will jump out of my arms into her bed. Like literally jump. I have caught her MID-AIR over the bars of her crib because she does not have time for the sweet stylings of "You Are My Sunshine" at 7:32/midnight o'clock. So you set her down, give her the blankie, turn off the light, and close the door. You won't hear from her again for 12-14 hours when you finally go in to check on her and find her reading her book like what? You're ready for me now? Kay, just let me finish this chapter.

And if you go in too early to try to encourage her to wake up because you miss her, she will scoot into the corner of her crib and tuck into a tighter ball and make very clear that you are to GO AWAY until she is ready for you. She's like a 2 foot 7 inch sleepy teenager and it is glorious.

On Friday evenings Landon has basketball and JP's lessons end early enough for him to take him, so the girls and I have a ladies night. Claire picks the itinerary and so far it has been a mix of yoga, fingernail painting, playing babies, and bath time. Always bath time. We have a giant shower and basically use it as a car wash- all the kids in, all the kids clean, all the kids out. It's fast, efficient, and most importantly, Cora can't drown herself, so they never get to use the tub.

Because seriously, Cora will enthusiastically try to drown herself the whole time she's in a bath tub. It is so stressful.

This past Friday I could only stand the cycle of drowning/rescue/choking/coughing for six minutes and that was a new record. And then she spent the rest of Claire's time trying to crawl back in.

My new favorite thing she does is put away the dirty clothes. Every night since she randomly started this last Thursday, she runs to the big kids' room when it's time to put on pj's. As their clothes drop to the floor, she very industriously collects them and then starts the long march all the way down the long hallway, through the TV room, through our bedroom and bathroom, and around to the hamper in our closet. Never mind that the kids have a hamper in the bathroom right by the bedroom, or that we've never made a game of picking up clothes before (well not with Cora, the big kids totally have to pick up their own clothes), this is Cora's job. Her MISSION. And she takes it very seriously. When she dumps the clothes in the hamper, which is taller then her so she has to tip them in, she does a little shuffle stomp dance and claps her hands and it is quite possibly the cutest thing she's ever done. We've got to get it on video. She's just so earnest about the whole task, it kills us, as does much else of what she does.

I don't yet have laundry duty on video, but I do have her fangirl screaming when JP puts on his sunglasses each morning.

Cora and Daddy and the Sunglasses from Lag Liv on Vimeo.

Warning, it's loud, but I'd say it captures Cora pretty well.