Fall fun

Dad raked up some leaves Saturday afternoon so Claire could experience playing in the pile. She enjoyed throwing them in the air and plowing through the pile strewing them along behind her.

Claire stops to smell the flowers while playing in the leaves, with her handy wrench in hand just in case.


Mom and Claire stop to roll around in the leaves.

(sorry for the dark photos, mom is lazy and didn't do any adjustments!)


A couple new words have entered (down and boom), although she doesn't say these without prompting. She's certainly communicating more and more and understands a lot of what is said around her. She's been saying something that sounds like 'tickle, tickle, tickle' but we know that isn't really what she means. It sounds more like she is experimenting with 't' and 'l'.

She's found out how to take the tabs off her diaper. Mom continues to tell her that if she would like to learn how to potty train at 16 months we're ready to pull the trigger (not really, no potty yet). She also enjoys zipping up her pj's at night.

Claire enjoys singing Wheels on the Bus (with the actions) and walks around the house making the 'wheels' motion. She also likes Itsy-Bitsy Spider and throws her hands in the air at the start of the song. We've been working on Ring-Around-the-Rosy as she likes to turn around but prefers to watch other fall down :)

Her favorite books have changed in the last week, much to mom and dad's relief. We're now reading a lot of Nursery Rhymes.

Fall days

Claire headed to a petting zoo and pick up pumpkins with mom & dad over the weekend. The zoo had goats, sheep, cows, chickens and llamas. Claire enjoyed feeding the sheep and goats pieces of corn (with a little help from mom and dad). She also liked it when dad picked some grass and gave it to her to feed the calf. For some reason she wanted to head into the dirty water and our visit with the animals was cut short. 

Claire continues to increase her communication skills. She nods 'yes' when asked questions. Mom has experienced some false alarms (Do you need a new diaper, Claire?) but for the most part she is answering the question the way she wants to communicate. 

She has now learned how to get herself up on one of the living room chairs. She likes to sit in the chair and read her books. 

Big Girl

Claire's first day at ECFE went well. Dad said she broke down towards the end and sat with him for the last 10 minutes but overall she had a good time. She drank from a dixie cup and thought that was the best thing ever. Dad made the executive decision to remove the stoppers from her sippy cups. Mom & dad must now be on the lookout for thrown milk sippy's at the dinner table. Mom finally got on the stick and ordered Claire her own SIGG. Claire likes to carry mom's SIGG bottles around (empty and full!) and tries to drink from them. Her SIGG arrived yesterday and Claire has hardly put it down.
  
Claire has also begun to use her utensils a bit more at the table. Depending upon her mood, she might even eat most of her snack before bed on her own. She continues to be a good eater (even eggplant parmesan!). Mom & dad recently reintroduced kiwi again and this time it was a hit. Loves it. And ice cream. She's just like her dad and big sister. 
 


She loves to go to the park and never tires of going down the slide (on her own) and the swings.