Joys of Sharing

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Claire has discovered the joy of sharing! She likes to put things in our mouths, that is, something rather than fingers...finally!!! Daddy made up this game where they pass stuff back and forth. Now she does it with all her toys and even her socks.

She also loves to jump and "dance!" Her feet don't leave the ground, but as you can see, it's pretty stinking cute! :) She is getting better at walking by the day and can now walk with only a one-handed assist.

Dollhouse Bookcase

So Claire got this Dollhouse Bookcase for her birthday from her Grandpa Jason and Grandma Lynn, or "Glama," as she likes to be called. Glama stands for Glamourous Grandma.





It weighs 91.5 lbs according to the box! It came in a FLAT BOX! It took Josh a LOOONG time to put this together for Clairesey!

Claire enjoyed banging on her new Dollhouse bookcase and pulling everything off!

This Dollhouse Bookcase will be great for her to play with as she gets older!

Below is a video of Claire playing with some toys by her new Dollhouse Bookcase.

So we had a good day today! We went to the store and the clerk was all flattered that Claire was saying, "Hey! Nana! NANA! NANA! HEY!" She goes, do I look like her Nana? I said, um, no, but I think she sees these bananas (on a sunscreen ad thingy). She was all disappointed, I'm sure. :)

Then this evening we went to the Hancock Breastfeeding Group and Claire enjoyed seeing all the other people and little kids. She was 24 pounds even tonight.

Food in the Hair!

At the start of this above one she says No, No, No.

So I hoped you enjoyed these two videos. Claire isn't a huge fan of solid food. The only time she will sometimes eat is self-feeding little chunks of something. As far as words go, Claire can say: Mama, Mommy, Mom, Dada, Daddy, Dad, Baby, a Baby, Bear, Ball, Bobbi (her Carebear, which I think she was trying to call baby, but the name has stuck), Dog, Bow-wow.

At the store a few weeks ago she was saying bow and pointing at a big bow on a sales item and the clerk goes, she knows bow? I think that was just a fluke...but maybe? She uses all the words for me and Josh interchangeably, but I guess we do that too. She is also very good at saying NO. Do you want some food: no. :( What happened to signing for more?

A whole year without my Oma?

One year ago today, Claire was 3 weeks old, as seen below. One year ago today, my dad's mom, my Oma Irma passed away. :( She and Claire never got to meet in person.




One year ago today, Claire had a little infant acne going on, and she also had a lot of darker hair. Somewhere about month 4, it started falling out and by month 6 she was a baldy.




I still can't believe how fast she grew. She now has 4 teeth. Look at the difference in hair color!

A mere fluke, it looks like Claire is signing "I love you." However, she can sign for milk, more, and eat. She waves bye-bye, gives kisses, blows kisses, plays peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, and give hugs. There are a lot of other things she imitates, but these are all things I've notice her repeatedly initiating.

She isn't walking alone, but cruising well, and able to climb up all the stairs with us walking behind her. She can also climb up onto the couch and soft chairs alone. She now can pull up against anything, like just the walls or against anything semi-tallish. Her new thing is climbing on top of packs of TP when they are on the kitchen floor when we unload the car after shopping. I imagine that they are nice and bouncy.

In the video below, Daddy is helping Claire walk. She is still pretty wobbly, but she has stood alone for a few seconds now before sitting down. Any day now... Also, notice you can see her hair really good in this one because of the way the light is. It's really light hair!!!

Days with Daddy

Well we had a great weekend! Friday night we drove up to Valpo and stayed at my parents house in Valpo. On Saturday I attended a Bridal Shower for my friend Nell, who I've been friends with since 6th grade. Claire got to hang out with Daddy and some other friends a couple houses down! Then that evening we attended a backyard grill-out for my brother David, who turns 30 today!!! So Happy Birthday to him and HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! We are exactly 18 months apart. Claire enjoyed being outside and actually ate some bits of Italian Beef. So apparently she just doesn't like baby food or having people feed her! Then Sunday morning we had breakfast with my parents, aka Oma and Opa, David and Kristin, Richie, and Barb. Josh and Claire and I then took off to meet up with our college friend Jeremy and Stephanie and their little guy, Pierce who is 3 months older than Claire. We met up at Indiana Beach. It was fun seeing him walk around on the beach. I can't wait until Claire walks. It will be any day now! She wasn't big enough to do any rides, but next year she will probably be able to!


Here is Claire wearing a birthday outfit from Alex and Amanda. She now does this funny "d'oh" thing where she hits her head. She thinks it's hilarious. Do you see the basket of laundry lingering in the doorway. Why does that always sneak in the shot!?!

Today Daddy took the day off of work, which was great! We went to Uncle Bill's pet shop to look at the animals. Claire enjoyed looking at all the fish, dogs, cats, hamsters, etc., even SKUNKS. Who would want a skunk? They didn't seem too friendly anyway!