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. 

15 month stats

Claire visited the doctor with dad yesterday. She had her latest round of shots, which she took well. Walked out of the door after shedding some tears and proceeded to flirt with the nurses and doctors before going to play outside for a spell. What a trooper.

Dad reported that Claire was weighed on the actual scale and stood up to be measured for her height. No more baby stuff for this peanut. And a peanut she still is...

Weighed in at a mere 20.6 lbs, only a 1 pound gain from 3 months ago. She's got to be one of the few 15 months old who had to wait this long to be turned around in her car seat. 16th %tile

Grew 2 inches to reach the massive height of 29.5 inches. 20 %tile

Head circumference is still HUGE compared to the rest of her body. 69 %tile. Those brains are growing!!!

Dad dropped the crib two nights ago to its lowest setting, as Claire is learning how those legs of hers help her climb. He was also worried that her huge brain would force her to fall over the side of the crib if she leaned out too far.

She is enjoying climbing up on her chair and sitting at her table and nearly made it onto the living room chair by placing her foot in between the seat cushion and the base of the chair. Only too soon she will be climbing all over the place. Gone will be the worry she tumbles down the stairs only to be replaced with the fear she will dive head first off of the couch.

New shoes & new words

Claire fundraised last weekend for PKD along with Logan, Robin, Nancy, Barb, Buck and Dad.

Mom and Claire were busy shopping the last couple of weekends for some tennis shoes. Claire ended up with a cute pair of Nike's that are sure to keep her stable when she starts ECFE in a couple of weeks.

She has been busy working on her words. Her nanny mentioned last week that she seems to be 'getting' things a lot more quickly these last couple of weeks. She was trying to say the word 'car' with her on Thursday evening. Claire will say the word 'nana' when you ask her to say banana and mom, dad and Jordan clearly heard 'down' yesterday as Claire climbed down the stairs.

Her number one favorite thing to do is read. She'll bring you books all day long and loves to sit on your lap while you read to her. She even tries to take books to the cat in the hopes Tabby will read to her. Mom has had to explain to her that cats don't read. She still tries to 'sit' on Tabby's lap.

She loves to be outdoors as well and is becoming more and more interested in sitting in her sandbox. Most of the sand lands outside of the box when she scoops it with the shovel but she's beginning to get more in the bucket each week. She really likes it when dad makes 'castles' and she smashes her hand on top.

She's also enjoying 'playing' with the cat. She has watched mom play with the string and finds it hilarious. She is now trying to throw the string at Tabby the way mom does and sometimes Tabby joins in the game. That delights Claire.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Claire spent two days at the mall this weekend. Mom 'needed' to go brown-dress-shoe shopping for Hazel's upcoming baptism and headed to Nordstrom's on Saturday to have Claire's feet measured. Claire enjoyed the shoe department (whoo-hoo, look out dad!) and nearly knocked a little boy over trying to get his balloon. Luckily, the sales staff are ready for this type of behaviour and promptly provided Claire her very own pink balloon. She thought that was the best thing for....about 2 minutes. Then it was back to picking up Crocs. (Her summer sandals look similar to Crocs so it is possible she thinks they are her shoes)

We headed down to the Rack (thanks for the tip Sarah!) and picked up a pair of black maryjanes. Unfortunately, no brown shoes. Claire decided that she had enough of the mall and we headed back home. Lots of driving for no shoes.

Sunday mom, dad and Claire tried again at another mall. Claire played for a spell at the playground inside but was overwhelmed by the older kids bouncing off the equipment. She thought it was more fun to walk around the atrium in her stocking feet. We lucked out and found some brown shoes at the GAP since StrideRite didn't have anything that didn't have a ton of pink.

So now Claire has two pair of 'real' shoes in addition to her Joes. Gotta start her off right.

Tissue & Water

Claire likes tearing paper. Tissue, toilet and news. (Remind any Pichner family members of a certain cat???)


Claire's first trip out on Papa and Grandma Jackie's boat. Next year she might actually fit into her infant/toddler life jacket. Mom didn't take a lot of picture, but hears Grandma Jackie has some good ones she might share. Claire loved the water, got to spend some QT with Grandma Jackie, enjoyed watching her cousins and exploring the beach. She especially liked the 'spa' her dad and big sis Jordan created for her on the edge of the water.

Cold Teeth

Promise to post new pics tonight. Light on sleep b/c Ms. Clare has a cold that wakes her up and seems to be getting yet another tooth (or the same tooth that is taking forever to come in!).

Updates:

• The nanny seems to be working out just fine. So far so good!
• This girl loves to read. All day long she brings books to whomever she can (she tried the cat yesterday). Mom & dad have hidden one or two since they have been read too many times.
• She loves to try to get Cheerios onto her spoon while eating bedtime snack (and sometimes fling them across the room).
• Mom swears she had a whole conversation with Claire last night. Mom thinks Claire might have been 'reading' a book to her.
• Throwing the golf ball up the driveway and down the driveway is a hit.