I'm pretty sure I say this every month, but Claire continues to amaze us in how she grows and develops and learns! She's adding new words every day and understands so much of what we say to her. For example, the other day I asked her where her hair bow was, and she smiled walked around the coffee table and pulled it out of the drawer where she had hidden it. Likewise, when Matt asked her where she hid the washcloth before bath time, she walked out of sight and returned with the washcloth proudly held high (then proceeded to play a giggly game of keep away!). Claire is constantly pointing out all of the things that she can say. When I go to get her up in the mornings, she is anxious to point out her blanket, flowers, the wall, the picture of daddy and mommy, books, and her sheep. She will often repeat a word until I acknowledge that it is indeed whatever she's calling it.
Thanks to a certain book at MM and Pops' house and some coaching from Matt, Claire is a little confused about elephants...she thinks they say "ah-choo!" It turns out that trying to retrain her at this point is difficult. Whenever she sees a picture of an elephant, she proudly says "ah-choo!" Hopefully she'll get it before Kindergarten!
Sometimes Claire can be a little prissy. She gets upset if she sees a hair bow that is not in her hair! I gave her an old watch to play with and she loves to put it on and walk around with her forearm pointed up so it won't fall off. She also really likes to wear her little sparkly sandals.
I'm working on improving her independence before baby comes. One of the things we're working on is going up and down the stairs by herself. She's fine going both directions but is very slow and easily distracted. Claire goes down the stairs by bumping down one step at a time on her bum. Before starting her descent, she will sit down cautiously several feet away from the top step and then scoot over.
The affection toward Elmo continues. Elmo now sits on the table during the meals "watching" Claire eat. Claire brushes his teeth when she brushes her own. Elmo doesn't leave the house, so we make a show of putting him somewhere and saying goodbye. She doesn't mention him when we're out and about, but as soon as we're back in the garage, she starts asking for him. Elmo also doesn't sleep with Claire. We put Elmo to bed in the closet. After showing her how only four times, now we can just say "Claire, can you put Elmo to bed?" and she will go to the closet, put in him a little plastic container, cover him with a blanket and say "Night night." It's adorable!
Claire still eats very healthy and in large quantities. An example of her daily menu (from yesterday actually) breakfast: banana and handful of cheerios; lunch: two chicken nuggets, a slice of whole wheat bread, about a quarter cup of mixed veggies including carrots, peas, green beans, and corn, and about half a cup of grapes and melon; dinner: two baby-sized grilled chicken strips, about a quarter cup of peas, a few slices of zucchini, and a little cup of yogurt. She also had cheese and raisins as snacks during the day. We know it seems like a lot, but she eats so healthy and doesn't drink any calories - just water!
The bedtime routine is facilitated by Matt most nights. Brushing her teeth is still something she asks to do. Favorite bathtime activities include lining the toys up along the side of her tub and playing with her foam alphabet numbers and letters. Bedtime is 8:00ish and she sleeps until 7:30ish. Claire usually naps starting around 1:00 and sleeps an hour and forty-five minutes on average.
Books are still very much a part of Claire's playtime. She just LOVES being read to. We have read all the books so many times, that we frequent the library and used book store to find new additions. Other toys she enjoys include her piggy bank, the pop up animal toy, and her doll. She has started giving her stuffed animals kisses and hugs.
One cute thing she's doing is that whenever she sees or hears a telephone, she puts a fist up to her ear and says "no no no." I'm not sure if she's saying "phone" or just knows that she's not supposed to play with them!
Claire is still in 18 month clothes (some don't fit anymore - the rest are reaching their limit) and size 4 diapers.
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