Seven Months

Little Claire is seven months old today!  She is such a little sweetie and at a very fun stage.  She is content to sit and play with her toys for long periods of time (well long periods of time in her little world which is about 15-20 minutes).  We usually start her in a sitting position but she likes being down on her tummy and rolling all over the place.  She is SO close to crawling.  I'd say she has crawled a few "steps" but doesn't quite have it down yet.  We've begun the baby-proofing process with outlet covers and such because I believe that when she takes off crawling, it'll be hard to stop her!  Her favorite toys right now include her stacking cups (not stacking them yet, but knocking them over and chewing on them), both her cloth-covered book and her indestructi-book, her singing puppy dog "Violet," and a few rattles and teethers.  She puts everything she can into her mouth as she explores.

Claire has now added avocado, banana, oatmeal and sweet potato to her menu.  She doesn't seem to like anything more than the others but does offer some strange faces when it's something different.  She can grab the spoon and usually it makes it to her mouth.  It's a messy process!  She gets a little sip of water from a cup after eating.  She eats around lunch time and around supper time.  I'm planning on making most of her baby food.  Yesterday I cooked a sweet potato, purred it in the food processor, then froze little portions in an ice cube tray.  Today I popped the sweet potato cubes out of the tray and put them into a freezer bag.  The plan is to pull out a cube or two when she is ready to eat.  The book I read says that it's really easy to make up batches and then have different things available in the freezer.  We'll see how it goes!

Claire loves going to the grocery store.  I made a shopping cart cover that fits into the basket where she sits.  She especially loves the checkout area where she often gets smiles from strangers and also where there are balloons floating overhead.  I'm sure the whole experience will be very different someday when she's old enough to ask for things, but for now I'm going to enjoy this time where the whole experience is so mesmerizing to her!

Matt, Claire and I all went to Macon, Georgia, last weekend for Matt to take a test.  Claire had her first night in a hotel.  She was fussy at bedtime and not interested in sleeping in her pack-n-play, but once she fell asleep, she was fine and slept until we had to wake her the next morning.  While Matt took his test, Claire and I hung out in the hotel, went shopping, and spent some time in her wagon at a park.  She loves going for a ride in her wagon and is content to sit there playing.  Towing Claire in the wagon is how Matt gets yard work done while I run errands!

We took Claire out to eat Friday night.  This was the first time we've gone to a semi-nice restaurant with her while she sat in the restaurant's highchair.  Except for one little incident when she leaned forward too quickly and accidentally bumped her head on the table, she was GREAT and Matt and I enjoyed the night out.

Not sure if we can officially count it as her first word, but she is saying "da-da" now.  She doesn't understand what it means, but it's the first time we've ever been able to say "Claire, say 'da-da'" and she does!  It's pretty exciting, especially for Matt!

Claire is wearing 12 month sized clothes and size 3 diapers.  Her second tooth arrived October 18.  She usually takes 2-3 naps every day and sleeps 11 hours every night.  We bought an inexpensive umbrella style stroller that works great for going in a store because she can look around much better than in her previous stroller.  She always does well for the childcare workers while I'm teaching.  I think they are growing quite fond of her!  She likes getting to "Skype" with her grandparents and now great-grandparents.  Let me know if you have a webcam and would like to chat with her sometime!