Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Stranger Danger!

Claire has become very sensitive to strangers.

Yesterday while we (Claire and me) were at JoAnn's, a bunch of ladies came up to us and tried to play with her and tell her how cute she was. Not all at once, but just casually as we walked around the store.

Claire cried every time someone talked to her for more than 2 sentences.

There was one lady, however, that did not notice Claire, but Claire noticed her. She stared at this lady for a long time, and then I told Claire, "You have to wave to people so they'll know you're nice. And then they might wave back." So after a little thought and hesitation, she started waving excitedly. The lady walked away without noticing, but I was excited that Claire actually tried to wave to a stranger. Of course it was when no one but me was looking so maybe it doesn't actually count.

She's also started to take less interest in Peter. She still gets excited when he comes home, but instead of running/crawling to him, she shyly buries her head in my shoulder. If I pass her off to him, she'll give him a hug and a kiss and then reach back over to me. How tiring. And a little flattering.

So when you see Claire and she just stares at you with a slack jaw, you're doing well! And if she cries, don't be offended. It's really not anything about you except for the fact that you are not me!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Beach Day!

Claire and I went to the beach yesterday!

Funny story.
We carpooled with our friends and were trying to meet other people at the beach. But we went to the wrong beach. Oh well. So we walked up and down the shore and decided to just sit and eat lunch.

Once we found out where the rest of the group was, we trekked back to the car and over to another beach.

The waves were a bit bigger here and the beach was steeper.

Claire wasn't such a fan.

I put her down before the water came up, but as soon as it hit her toes she started crying and reaching to be picked up.

After that she was shaking and clamoring to be held close every time I came close to the water. I think the water might have been too cold for her to enjoy.

She did enjoy sitting next to me on our towel though. I don't think she particularly liked sand either. She got some on her hand once when she started to tip over and tried really hard to get it off and held her hand out to me to help her. (She has little baby hands that are soft and sticky by nature.)

So our first beach experience wasn't perfect, but we still had fun.



She Cleans Up!

Yesterday Claire disappeared while I was looking for clothes in her dresser.

I turned around and she was gone.

I wasn't too worried, because she goes where she wants.

I saw her shadow on the floor from the kitchen window. She was standing in front of the garbage can.

I quickly looked at the changing table and realized that she had taken her diaper, all on her own, to the garbage.

We usually do this together right after we change her, but I didn't this time because I was going to get her dressed first.

I wouldn't have expected her to throw it away. Really I would think she would plop down and start gnawing on it. Because that's her favorite thing to do.


I was standing by the dresser in the top right corner, and Claire was at the changing table on the left

She walked out and around the wall, into the kitchen and to the garbage.
And there's the latest diaper, right on top where she left it!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Original Cherry Lip Gloss

After dinner Claire ate a few cherries. Mmmm!


She really liked them.



A clearer image of her cherry juice stained lips

We bought these berries at Costco today.

 There are a whole lot of them! And they all are REALLY good. And just happen to be organic.

And a few smiles before you go...




Sorry the pictures are kind of blurry. It was getting dark in my kitchen. But you get the general idea that she's adorable!


Thursday, June 7, 2012

10 Months Ago Today

Little Claire Annette has reached ten months!
It's amazing how fast time goes by.

So, we won't waste time trying to catch up. We're just going to jump in right where we are, here at 10 months!

The biggest development in the last month?
She walks!
On Friday June 1st she decided that she wanted to walk more than crawl. So she got control of her excitement and kept on walking. When she fell down, she would stick her little bum in the air as she pushed back up to her feet to keep going. Her balance improves every day.



If you aren't looking at her, Claire will cock her head to the side and bend so that her face is right in front of yours like she's saying, "hey mom! What are you doing? You ok?" And when you notice that she's looking at you, she gets this HUGE grin on her face that just screams, "Hi mom! I'm so happy that you're looking at me!" a lot like this picture from 8 months.


She waves, claps, and gives high fives, hugs and kisses.
She also just started raising her hands high above her head so that we will exclaim that she is so big. Then she smiles and giggles.
She likes to have laughing rounds occasionally. If she hears you laugh, she'll start laughing too. It's so funny, and she'll keep laughing because you're laughing, but it's a very forced, fake laugh. A little gravel-ly, even, which seems odd for an infant to have a gravel-ly tone.



She begs to be picked up at pretty much every moment.

She has recently taken an interest in stacking things/putting things together properly. When she's done drinking from her bottle, she reaches and grunts for the cap so she can try to put it over the nipple. Her hand-eye coordination is definitely improving!
She similarly has started trying to stack her stacking cups rather than just knock them down.

After we change her diaper she excitedly holds the dirty one as we carry her to the garbage where she reluctantly releases the soiled diaper in exchange for excited cheers and a high five.

She loves the swings at the park and is slowly warming up to the slide.
You can see her top teeth in this one

She LOVES music and bounces and raises one of her arms above her head any time that she is enjoying the tunes.

She doesn't say anything when you ask her, but she does whisper the words "dada" when Peter comes home as she waves "hello," "mama" when I'm ignoring her and she's crying to be picked up, and I SWEAR she copied me and said "vegetable" the other day when I was pulling out a jar of Beechnut's Mixed Vegetables puree--one of the ONLY vegetables I can get her to eat. She even said it one more time for Peter to hear. Two witnesses!

She's gotten a lot more picky about eating. Besides the pureed mixed vegetables, she also likes bananas and raspberries. 


She has two teeth on the bottom and still only 3 on top. I've been saying it for some time now that the last tooth to the left of her middle teeth was breaking through, but alas, it still has not come through. I can now feel the tip of it pushing out, but who knows when it will actually break all the way through the gums. It's no matter though. Claire still has an adorable smile that is now toothy with little toddler teeth.

She's only recently started using her teeth as tools. Although she's had at least four teeth for well over a month now, Claire has needed a good deal of encouragement to use them to bite her food. Obviously this lesson was not restricted to food only, but has also crossed to toys, clothing, body parts, and anything that goes into her mouth.

Speaking of things that go into Claire's mouth, she's become ridiculously obsessed with shoving her fingers down her throat so that she gags, and sometimes throws up. Most of the time I try to just pull her hand out of her throat and redirect her attention, but sometimes I am caught off-guard and shout "no" while pulling her hand out. This usually evokes raised eyebrows and a high-pitched "huh" with a shoulder shrug from Claire. She obviously does not associate my alarm and direct and decisive "no" with inappropriate and unacceptable behavior that is not to be repeated yet. Oh well. Maybe one day she'll get it.

So I know that's a lot, but she's just learning so much and is such a busy and active girl. People were asking me what we do at home to get her so "advanced." I kind of laughed because really I just let her have alone play time and together play time. Playing by herself doesn't always last very long, but usually long enough for me to step out of the mommy scene and into the few emails I've received and blogs I read. So basically a max of 10 minutes!

We sure do love our little Claire Annette!

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