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.  

Summer fun

Saturday, Claire and mom headed up north to Duluth to catch up with a crew of mom's high school pals. Good times were had by all adults and children.

On Sunday mom, dad & Claire headed out to Como Zoo, with what seemed like the rest of St. Paul. Claire enjoyed her Dinosaur Nuggets and really dug seeing the baby giraffe go to the bathroom. It's the whole potty training thing.... Many of the animals were sleeping, which might seem boring, it if wasn't for the gorilla who was sleeping right up against the wall. It really gave the kids perspective on just how big this fella is - his paws are enourmous. Claire also got a kick out of the Tiger who was sleeping like our Tabitha cat.

The biggest highlight of the zoo trip was her first ride on a 'bus'. Shuttle buses count right? She thinks so and had a blast. She did not want to get off when we got back to the car.

Claire Loves her Buses

Claire has an obsession with buses. She loves buses. We're not sure where this has come from, other than it being one of her first words, but if you drive to our house you will often see buses drawn from chalk on the driveway and the walls of our house. So for that reason, we made a bus for her second, second birthday cake.

Mom caved, gave up wasting gas driving around trying to find a coupe car and picked one up at Menards. So far, she hasn't quite gotten the hang of driving forward, but hopefully soon. She likes sitting in 'her car' as she now calls it.

Claire got a Little People bus from Grandma Joanne and Grandpa Jim!!! She said bus about 50 times on the way home after the party. One of her first words the next morning was 'bus'. Dad is going to try to take her on a bus ride sometime in the next coming weeks.

The Big TWO

Claire turned two on Sunday. Two, can you believe it? The Whitcomb clan got together 'up north' near the Boundary Waters (Coldwater Outfitters). A great time was had and Claire will hopefully catch up on her sleep this week. She can say all of her family's names (some more clearly than others) and enjoyed spending time with Lizzie traipsing all over the Whitcomb cabin #1.

She had many firsts on this trip.

• Sleeping in a big bed (with her sister Jordan) all night. This only lasted one night, but it's a start.
• Canoe trip. She slept on the way out but did well on the way back, throwing rocks in the water and dipping her hands into the water.
• Hike. We hiked to a spot about a mile or so from the outfitter where we could see Canada.
  Bonfire. The last night of our stay.

She had a great birthday party and enjoys all of the gifts her family gave her. She will have many years of fun from her thoughtful family.

Chilling with Jordan on the deck outside our cabin.


The Whitcomb clan at the top of the hike. There might be a glimpse of Canada in there too.

The view of the lake from the top of the ridge. At the very northwest end of the lake is the set of cabins we stayed in.

Mark, Claire and mom at the near the top of the ridge. Thanks to Mark for helping to carry Claire up the hike!

Dad, Claire and Jordan getting ready for lunch at Little Angie's in Duluth.

Nearing two

Can you believe Claire turns two in a week? New words are coming every day. Most of the time they are said by repeating mom, dad or Jordan, but she is incorporating them into her everyday vocab.

Potty bribing, I mean training, has begun. We are attempting the candy dish as a reward trick but so far it has illicited nothing but tears that she can't have m&m's without using the potty.

At the age of two Claire knows her letters, colors and shapes. Sometimes her letters sound more like the sound they make than the way we say letters, but hey, we're not too picky.

Climbing in and out of the walking toy at G&G Pichner's was one of her favorite activities last weekend.

Riding in the car with cousin Ryan.

Showing us how she likes to swing by herself on the big girl swings.