Little pumpkin

Mom & dad have been trying but have failed to get pictures of Claire's top two teeth. Neighbor Mary appropriately dubbed her a pumpkin this earlier this evening. Her mouth looks like that of a jack-o-lantern. We had hoped she might make it to Halloween so we could have some fun with it (not really) but we noticed two new teeth sprouting earlier this morning. 

Claire loves to be outside, lately. The heat the last two days has put a damper on her exposure to the outdoors. She likes to visit her ladybug sandbox and grab fistfuls of sand. She actually stepped into the sandbox with mom's help last week but her time inside was short lived. 

She is showing signs of mastering the stairs going down. Unfortunately, she gets a bit distracted and turns around so her back is to the stairs. It's going to be  another few weeks before we feel comfortable letting her attempt the stairs without us right behind her. 

This is also week two of no bottle. We had weaned her to one a day right before bed but replaced that with a bowl of cereal. Mom thought it might be a bit of a challenge but Claire appears to have totally forgotten that she ever drank from a bottle. Mom & dad are also lucky that she can rotate between 2 different types of cups (one set is without handles and all are BPA-free!!) so she can always have a milk or water on hand. Lately she is really testing those limits on turning it over and setting it on it's side to see if it will leak. 

So big!

If she's in the right mood and you ask Claire how big she is, she'll throw her hands in the air.

If you ask her "how do you say (insert whatever word)", she will look at you and say "Na".

She:

• loves, loves, loves, loves blueberries,
• does not like cucumber (makes the icky face),
• likes to pick up the sand out of her sandbox and drop it outside on the concrete,
• 'helps' weeding by picking the leaves off the strawberry plant, and the grass, and the flower petals, but no actual weeds,
• is finally growing out of her 9 mos jammies,
• is patiently waiting for her new cousin to arrive (OK, maybe that one is more mom...).

13 month developments

Claire attempted to feed herself a Cheerio on her own, WITH A SPOON, this morning. We've been letting her hang onto an extra spoon or fork during meal times so she gets a feel for it and also trying to have her hold on while we feed her (the last of which she really doesn't like). At first she would pick up the Cheerio in her right hand and touch it to the spoon before putting it into her mouth. Next thing we knew, she had placed the Cheerio on her spoon and was guiding it towards her mouth with her left hand (uh-oh Dufresne's, do we have another lefty??). VERY COOL! The Cheerio fell off the spoon (it was dry so didn't stick) so she ended up missing her mouth but what an effort. Dad and mom were so excited to see her putting 2&2 together.

Other cool developments:

• She is perfectly capable of drinking from her sippy cup, but does enjoy it when someone holds it for her. (Jordan and mom refer to her as a gerbil when this happens).
• She likes to go for rides on the Gator with mom pushing her. Her feet don't hit the ground yet so she can't push herself along.
• If she doesn't like what she has on her 'plate', points to whatever she can see on the table she wants.
• Is giving kisses to the cat. She bends over and sometimes actually touches Tabitha but more often kisses the air.
• Pets Tabitha with her wrench (or hammer).

Now... if we can only get her potty trained....

Two new teeth

She is into taking books off the shelf. At least she is getting ahead of the curve by reading something she'll need for high school.

Giving Ernie kisses.
Testing out the new pool.
Showing us her 'Klingon' face.

She really does have teeth this time. Mom's not just saying it. Two new teeth are cutting through on the top. She looks like she might be a vampire for a little while as the they are not her front two teeth. We'll see if the elusive girl will allow us to take pictures of her top teeth.