Pre-trip Shopping

We are just about set for our 5 hour plane ride to visit Gigi! Am I forgetting something?
How do you entertain a 1 and a half year old on an airplane?
Only 3 more days!

Braids

It took me forever but I finally finished French braiding Claire's hair this morning! I had LOTS of trouble on the left side. Looks ok now, but I just couldn't pull hair in from the middle nicely! We'll just have to practice more ;-)

She was really patient about me starting over on the same side of her head 10+ times though. It was probably because she was watching her newest favorite show on Netflix, Mickey mouse clubhouse: road rally!
Thanks to a recent trip to Disney world by my mom, Claire now  LOVES Minnie and Mickey Mouse.  It could be worse! :-)

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! :)

Some things Easter

Here are some pictures from Easter. Like I mentioned before, Claire was sick on Easter and wasn't the happiest kid on the block. But she sure looked cute! If you ignore her face.

Talking to Gigi. You can see her sad little face with watery sick eyes. Poor thing.

My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to let Claire in on their Easter egg hunt. She was reluctant to stand on the ground on her own though.

I just LOVE how her dress poofs out around her when she kneels down.

She was really interested in what was inside because her own Easter eggs that she found at home had treats like M&Ms and jelly beans inside. Money wasn't so appealing to her.

Front view of her outfit. She wasn't really interested in being outside any more.

There are other pictures, but these actually turned out better than the ones of her alone, if you can believe that.

March

March has been moving month.

We left San Jose in what seems like a blur. 

Since being here we've had numerous appointments for housing decisions. We've made SOOO many choices in such a short amount of time! We've signed lots of papers and given away lots of money to start building our house. 

Things are looking good and almost under way. The process would be going better if we could just make up our minds and stick with a decision. I think we're finally done now. Just waiting to hear back about the last change we made. If our change doesn't change things too much, they should finish getting permits and paper work done by the end of April and break ground by the end of May. Most likely done building by the end of August. But like I said, we changed our minds and requested one more change. 

Otherwise we've been trying to get settled into our temporary life.

It's funny that I say that because almost every day I realize that this time I think of as "temporary" is actually a lot longer than I think it is. But, one month has already gone by. And yet we are still waiting to break ground on our house. 

So that has been March. 

We're certainly glad that it is warming up and feeling like spring here! I love flowers. And Claire loves walks. Unless she is super sick and only wants to sleep. 

Sooo, that's what's up here!

If you want our new address, send either Peter or me an email, text, or phone call. We want you all to stay in the loop!