Ladybugs and hats

Claire colored a picture today at daycare -- this is the first time that she has brought home some artwork. Daddy and I are mightily impressed that 80% of the coloring is within the lines.

Mommy bought a new cap, and Claire was the first one to wear it. She insisted on parading around the house (and under the dining room table) with it on. Funny that she won't wear her own hats, but mine are apparently all right.

Claire's words

Here is what we think Claire is saying so far:

Cow
Moo
Dad
Down
Out
Cat

Mind you, these sound like just the first consonant and vowel of each word but nonetheless she is definitely trying to talk now! It is time for me to fill in the entry in the baby book for "baby's first word". Technically her first consistent word was "moo", as in what a cow says. Some parents might be bummed that it wasn't "mama" or "dada", but we're ok with the mooing. She's awfully cute when she moos.

I must be feeding her too much milk...

Happy Hollow

Last weekend Brian and I used Claire as an excuse for us to go visit Happy Hollow. It's a small zoo and park with children's rides, so without Claire we would not have fit in at all. She had a fantastic time despite being still too young for many of the rides. Here she is going on her first ride all by herself:

Perhaps most surprisingly, Claire LOVED the puppet show theater at Happy Hollow. She sat on my lap perfectly still and her eyes were absolutely fixated on the stage for the whole 1/2 hour of the 3 little pigs story. She laughed at all the right times and clapped when everybody else clapped. It was awesome!! Brian actually slept through the show, funny enough.

Claire seemed perfectly happy to watch the lemurs and meerkats all day, which was good because they really didn't have any other exciting animals. She was soooo excited to ride the carousel that she had trouble waiting for everybody to get strapped in -- she was just starting to cry out of frustration and then the ride started, thank goodness! Aside from that we also played on the huge playground, along with 20 billion other kids. It was madness to me and Brian, but Claire loved all the action. She and Daddy also walked through a maze together.

So now that we know our way around the park, if any of you want to join us for a playdate at Happy Hollow, we're in!

16th Month Photos

Claire's pretty good at entertaining herself these days while I'm doing chores around the house. She sits quietly (almost too quietly) and reads her books, and she pretend plays with her farm set for example. Occasionally though I hear some panicked yelling and I have to check on her. This is how I typically find her:

I'm surprised that she can even fit under the bed! She only yells because she doesn't figure out that she needs to duck her head to crawl out. Besides this little trick, she's also learned where her tongue is and she confidently sticks it out when asked "where's your tongue?"

Daddy taught her that one. We think she's also trying to identify things like teddy bear (da-ee) and kitty cat (goya-gah).

Claire's definitely comprehending much more than what she can verbalize herself. When I tell her that it's time to brush her teeth she basically runs (very exciting time!) to the bathroom and points to her big girl toothbrush. Thank goodness her toothpaste is berry flavored. She chomps away on that brush!

She has discovered where I keep the grocery bags in the kitchen recently. She loves to pull them out of the cabinet and parade around the house babbling. I wonder if she's shopping?

Happy Mother's Day!

I just had the best day! It started with Claire waking up all sunny and cheerful (wish that happened every day). She was even obliging when I put her bloomers on her head for fun. I dare say that she liked them as a hat! She wore them a lot longer than she wears any of the little hair bows that I attempt to put in her hair.


I discovered a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me in the dining room:

We went to brunch at a neighborhood restaurant which I love, and Claire was on her best behavior. Mmm mimosas! Plus by some miracle we got the following photos of both mommy and daughter looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.




Topped the afternoon off with a pedicure and shopping at the mall! Very relaxing for me, and for Daddy and Claire apparently. They both napped the whole time I was away. I apologize that you have to look at my feet, but this is the first time I've ever had little flowers on my toe nails and I think they're adorable.

I hope all the mommies out there had a wonderful day, toe nail flowers or not!

New front yard garden

Brian has been busy digging holes in our front yard. He's planted 15 new shrubs between the sidewalk and the curb, and it looks fabulous! Claire did her share by helping to pick up sticks. She and I also spent time in the back yard, weeding the strawberry patch. Problem was, Claire preferred to pick the not-yet-ripe strawberries.

Playing in the sand

We hit the beach today and Claire got to use her sand toys for the first time. I gotta say though, she didn't play with them nearly as much as Daddy did! They made a castle with a very very deep moat, which was perfect for Claire to walk laps around. Brian and I both agreed that we should have bought sand toys for ourselves long ago. The water here is too cold to swim in anyway!