Learning Things

Claire has been learning so many things lately!

Yesterday morning Claire watched me open a bag of mints using scissors that I pulled out of a drawer. Later we were downstairs playing when she found a new toy and decided to run upstairs. I didn't think anything of it because she hates to be away from me and usually runs right back down the stairs. When she came back she brought me the toy--which was still wrapped in plastic-- and a can opener. The can opener was in the same drawer as the scissors. She obviously couldn't tell the difference between the scissors and can opener--not that I want her to! But the message was clear. She wanted me to help her open the toy, and she knew what I needed in order to get the job done! Smart Girl!

Note: we have done lots of baby proofing here at Grandma's house, but did neglect a few drawers because she simply wasn't as interested in those as she was the cupboards. Obviously the cupboards have begun to loose their appeal!

Claire's vocabulary has also begun to blossom.
Though no one else would know what she's saying, heck, I don't even know what she's saying most of the time, she does have a LOT of "words." Her clearest words are "no," "mama," "dada," "byebye," "night night," "Gigi" and "poo poo." Everything else she says is context.

Last night she decided she wanted to learn to take her clothes off.

We mentioned that she was going to get a bath and she frantically started telling us she wanted to be naked. She started pulling on her shirt and managed to get one arm out all on her own. So we foolishly encouraged her in her continued efforts. She managed to get her shirt off fairly easily. She had a hard time separating her pants from her diaper and was REALLY eager to pull off her diaper. So instead of her tearing her diaper apart, I showed her how to pull off the tab. Yeah. Don't say it.

Let me say though, we dipped our toes into potty training over the last week or two and she did REALLY well. And then she started screaming at me every time she went into the bathroom. She has no problem holding it in or telling me when she needs to go. She just developed some sort of fear or just plain obstinance about sitting on the toilet. So I gave up and went back to diapers. It doesn't help that we never quite made it to the potty in time when she said "poo poo." Now she just yells at me every time she needs to go and expects me to take her to the potty so she can tell me, "no! no! no!" Sigh...

So right now I'm trying not to teach her things! :)