Where's Claire? I swear she was just right there.

They say it can happen like a light switch. After Claire learned to stand on her own we feared she wouldn't try crawling ever again. It's a good thing she doesn't really realize she is standing on her own.

Wednesday morning she demonstrated her will to move on her own. Dad worked with her that morning to entice her across the room. Wednesday night as mom was getting Claire's bath ready she set her down in her room (across from the bathroom). Next thing mom knew, Ms. Claire was right behind her. Crawled right across the room to see what mom was up to. Hmph. Looks like mom & dad are going to need to put the cabinet and drawer locks on this week.

The cat is no longer safe. Dad called mom at work this morning to share the news that Claire has decided that crawling under the table to get to the cat is far more effective.

Needless to say, the baby gate is now closed unless Claire is in her crib.

Claire still prefers to walk around with the assistance of someone, anyone. Just ask Grandma Jackie who witnessed a classic overtired Claire meltdown on Saturday when she wasn't walking.

Claire was busy last week with her first official playdate on Sunday and had another with Ms. Lexi later in the week. Social butterfly. Pictures from her playdate with Ms. Lexi will be posted later this week.

It's only a matter of time

Here's a quick video from dad's phone of Claire standing on her own this evening. Who wants to bet she will certainly be walking by her 1st birthday? So much for being delayed. 10 months old and already catching up.

Two front teeth

While not the top two front teeth, Ms. C has two little baby teeth poking out of the bottom. We feel them when she gives us kisses.

When mom came home from work last night dad announced that the baby gate must now be kept closed if Claire is on the floor. She deliberately rolled to the gate yesterday and took a couple 'crawling steps'. If she puts two + two together = we're in trouble. She is so intent on walking everywhere we fear she will never stop once she starts.

The letter 'M'

Mom has been working with Claire the last several weeks on the letter 'M'. All of the hard work paid off this morning. While feeding Claire some Cheerios and bananas Claire said 'mmmm'. Not long after a strung out form of 'ma-ma' was uttered.

Needless to say, it made mom's day.

Catching Up

Claire's 9 month appt went well last week. She weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz and is 27 inches long. Dad filled out the development questionnaire before the appointment and both the form and the doctor say that Claire is already catching up to her peers. Little prodigy.

She spends more time on her belly but hasn't quite gotten the hang of using her arms to move forward. She gets frustrated but keeps on trying. She is becoming more and more adept using her hands to feed herself Cheerios and pieces of rice cake. She appears to be leaning towards being a righty as she finds her mouth more often with that hand than the left. We hope that we will be able to introduce some more finger foods in the not too distant future.

NEW DEVELOPMENT: She will wave bye-bye. You really have to look for it, as it appears she is just moving her fingers a bit, but mom & dad know that is what she is trying to do. She is so cute when she waves. She likes to look at her hand at the same time.

Claire continues to enjoy her tumbling class. Up until recently she was afraid of the 'big green ball'. The class uses yoga balls with the kids and she was very scared of this large green thing rolling towards her. She and mom spent some time on mom's big red ball at home and that seems to have helped a bit. She will now sit on the ball and play a bit longer. She still doesn't like it when it comes rolling at her, but who can blame her?

The last few days have been a bit rough as she has yet another cold. This one is the worst, by far. She is very tired of the bulb sucker and doesn't like it when mom & dad come at her with the tissue. How early can we start teaching her how to blow her nose?? We're lucky we haven't had more of colds this year and hope that this will pass in the next couple of days.