Counting - 1, 2, 3, ah ah ahhhh

We are becoming masters in methods of distraction. As parents of toddlers have told us, meltdowns will come at any given time and out of the blue. Finding a distraction, whatever it may be, has been our saving grace.

The other night, I tried counting and was delighted to hear Claire 'count to 10'. No, she can't do it on her own straight through (she can get to 4) but if you cue her she rarely misses the next number. It's been a blast to see her walk around the house, line up her toys and start counting.

I'm not sure how much she sees the Count on Sesame Street, she's more of an Elmo junkie. She has seen him in a couple of her books and he was one of my favorites as a kid. He may be making more appearances if possible.

Sunday we headed to a birthday party for one of Pete's uncle's. I explained to her where we were going and she looked at me and said, "cake". Yes, dear, there will be cake. "Me, cake." Yes, dear, you can have some cake. Two and she already knows the best part of the party...

Yesterday, I came home from work with a bag of books for Claire from a coworker. Claire marched up to the bag and saying "presents, presents". Apparently her numerous birthday parties left an impact. She clearly gets it now. We'll have to be careful she doesn't try to open all of Hazel's presents when we celebrate her upcoming birthday!

Conversations

We have been having a good time with the new communication. This morning while eating her toast she commented on what dad was doing in the kitchen saying, "dad cut up", as he was cutting up fruit. Last night while playing with her little people she two of the characters said "hi" to each other and addressed each other by name. It sounded a bit like this:

Maggie: Hi Michael

Michael: Hi Maggie

Maggie: (babbling), yeah, (babbling), no, no, snack.

Last night she decided that she was done with mom reading to her and took over reading the book. It was quite fun to see her flip the pages and point out what was happening. Since we were reading a book that she knows quite well, she really did tell the story, in her own way.

Can't Keep Up

Mom & dad are having a hard time keeping up with Claire. 

New words are spoken every day and combination words to create phrases are coming as well. The most common phrase we hear in the house is 'me too'. Claire does not like being left out and wants to do everything herself. Things like brushing teeth have become a bit of a power struggle. 

It's fun to hear her express herself and make conversations with her Little People. While not all the words are there you can certainly see her getting into it and throwing words in left and right. She has also become quite the parrot. 

Claire now knows all her letters. Recently she and dad went to a nearby park and she could name all the letters on the sign (Nebraska). This evening, while chilling with mom, Claire counted to 4. 

Last weekend mom, dad, Jordan and Claire headed out on Grandma and Papa's boat with Aunt Angelic. Claire had a blast hanging out in the water and enjoys 'swimming'. The beach held little interest for her, except to sit in a pool of water by the shore. She also had a good time taking a ride in the dingy with mom and dad. Much like her cousin Nate, she crashed on the ride back and fell hard asleep.