18 Months

It’s hard to believe our sweet little Claire has been with us for eighteen months!  She amazes us every day with how much she learns and understands and grows.   Claire can say and recognize all of her capital letters and is beginning to learn the order and sing the song.  She can say and recognize all of her colors as well.  We’re working on the shapes, but her favorite to say and point out is “diamond.” She likes to help sing "The Wheels on the Bus," "If You're Happy and You Know It," "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," and "Jesus Loves Me."

Claire loves going out for our different morning activities.  Every Monday morning is Kindermusik.  Claire calls it “mic” and like to see her friend Michael there.  At the end of class, Ms. Jane gives the toddlers a stamp on their hands.  Claire loves to get the stamp and points to her hand throughout the week when we are listening to the music or talking about Kindermusik.  Claire can be a little shy in class, but gets very excited about the songs and activities when we are at home.  Her favorites include “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” “Wishy Washy Wee,” the hello song, and playing with scarves.  We’ve done “Ring Around the Rosey” a few time in there.  The first week, I held her while we walked around.  The second week she held hands and walked around by herself, but when we all fell down, she got upset and started crying!  Now she seems to have fun with it.

Every other week we go to MOPS on Tuesday mornings.  Claire goes to her little MOPPETS class and gets to play and go out on the playground.

Wednesday mornings is our Bible study.  I attend my class and Claire goes to her little class—The Blue Lambs.  She has learned her first memory verse, Matthew 28:20 (Claire says the bold words), “I am with you always.”  It’s very cute to see her say it and she usually ends by saying “yay!”  They have been talking about Moses for the last few weeks.  I haven’t seen all they’ve done, but I know part involved putting a baby doll in and out of a basket as they talked about baby Moses.  This past Wednesday, we had a special Mommy and Me lunch after Bible study.  Claire sat at a little table and ate with her friends.  Her teachers supervised while the mommies had time to visit with each other.  With about 25 kids under the age of 5, this was the madhouse you might imagine, but Claire and I had fun.

On Thursday mornings, I teach a few piano students at church, so Claire plays in the church childcare.  She enjoys getting to see her friend Hannah while she’s there.  As with MOPPETS and Bible Study, the workers always say that Claire is so happy and well-behaved.  She seems to just love getting out and playing with new and different toys!

Our Fridays are left open for play dates, appointments, and errands.  We have a full week, but we really enjoy all of our activities.  After our mornings out, Claire and I go home and have lunch and then she takes a nap.  Her nap usually starts between 1:30 and 2:00.  She’ll sleep between one and two hours.  Daddy facilitates bath and bedtime if he's in town.  She usually goes down around 8:00 and wakes up around 7:15.

Claire is getting more and more independent and opinionated.  She will say “no no no no no” if she doesn’t want to do something or eat something.  It usually involves shaking her head and waving her arms—just to emphasize her point.  She likes to take off her shoes by herself.  Claire has transitioned from calling us “mama” and “dada” to “mommy” and “daddy.”  She has a current obsession with crackers and doesn't seem to understand why she can't have them to eat all day long.  We try to get her to taste what we're eating, but she's getting a little picky.  She's still great with her fruits and veggies though.  She's started to drink a few sips of milk, but it's still mainly just water.

Claire is on the tail end of an ear infection.  She only felt bad for about 24 hours thanks to a quick trip to the doctor and her antibiotic.  When she finishes her medicine, she announces "Good girl!"

It would be impossible to count the number of words that Claire can say.  One funny word that she has added recently include mess ("mesh").  The other day, I caught her rubbing a cracker into the carpet while repeating "mess mess mess."  Claire's current favorite toys are her blocks, books, and crayons.  Her favorite books are I Wish I Had Duck Feet, Over in the Meadow, Pete and PJ, and anything with Elmo.