3 Years Old

A couple shots from our photo shoot on Tuesday eve. Claire did very well. Grandmas - more pictures to come. We'll print them soon.

Our Big Girl

Claire had her three year appointment with the doctor yesterday. She was quite nervous, but warmed up pretty quickly. At the end she even asked for a sticker. Apparently those random trips over the last couple of years for various colds and other issues has made an impression. She was lucky enough to be offered two - and Dr. Lynn knew just the ones, an Oscar and a Big Bird (it was Claire's Elmo underwear that tipped her off).

Dr. Lynn was very impressed with Claire's ability to spell her own name and noted how well she was doing. Claire was very patient and interested when Dr. Lynn brought out the light to check her ears and her mouth. She even cooperated when asked to take a deep breath to check her lungs. We briefly discussed the challenges we are having with going number two on the potty and patience is the key. Ugh. Patience.

I think Claire may have been born with a gene pool different than her mother's. While she falls in the 48th percentile for weight (at a whopping 28.8 lbs) this is where it gets weird.... She is 37.5 inches tall. That puts her in the 83% for height. 83% people. I know things will likely change, but my kid?!?! Not something I would have ever expected.

It's pretty crazy too - in November of last year she was in the 38th% and now she has jumped significantly. All together, I was not too surprised since she moved into 3T clothing a few months ago, but still...

Mixed Emotions

We started toilet training this week. Overall, things are going well. There is some pushback, but very few accidents. Claire has no problem going "number one", but "number two" has not been consistent on the toilet yet. Patience...

Helping Papa Drive his Boat

Claire had fun helping Grandma Jackie and Papa celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. She was all over the place and very intereseted in everything going on around the river - the Stillwater bridge, folks on shore, other boats, etc. She makes a good Gilligan, no?

Pictures

Birthday twin cousins Claire & Ryan. Our two Flag day babies.

Claire 'tests' out her new jump rope.

Another action shot of Claire with her new soccer ball.

Early Birthday

Will be posting pictures later this week from our early third birthday celebration with the birthday twins Ryan & Claire. Since the Dufresne's will be gone the weekend before the kids' actual birth date we celebrated on Sunday. Which gives us time to get Claire potty trained before the next potential birthday party.

Claire had a great time. So far the item that likely cost the least (or next to the least) has been the biggest hit. A 'magic princess wand'. She was also excited for the underwear as I had purchased mostly Elmo/Zoe underwear. (Hey, when you are going to MAKE your kid give up the diaper it's best to try to find underwear she will actually want to put on.**)

She has also enjoyed her new cash register and was very excited to 'check out' some her food last evening. Pete sent a picture on his phone of Claire in her Ariel costume which she debuted this morning.

**For the last couple of months we've been prepping Claire for her third birthday. That was to be the trigger for going sans diaper. This morning she was excited to pick out what pair of underwear she wanted to wear but seemed very hesitant when it finally dawned her that she would not have the diaper on anymore. Here is how this morning started.

I am just about to run out the door for a early meeting when Claire bounces out of her room. I go to wake up her father and she noticed the pile of freshly washed underwear sitting by her door. She selects her favorite and we tell her she is going to wear those today.

Claire looks at mom earnestly and says: I'm not three.

Pete: Yes, you are. (yes, we know - technically it's not until next week)

Claire: Dad, go away. (pleading eyes to mom for which I interpreted this message: I'm not really three, am I???? Ack!!)

Pete: I'm not going away.

Claire: No dad, no. Go away.

Poor Pete. He's taking the brunt of this potty training. I expect there will be lots of laundry tonight.

Memorial Weekend

Our Memorial Weekend was bee-yoo-tee-full. We had wonderful weather and spent much of it outside. Claire's little kiddie pool was put to good use. She has now mastered the slide into the pool fun and spends much of her time going in and running around to do it again.

We decided to test run camping. It is our hope that we will have the chance to head out for a camping trip this year. So we popped up the tent in the backyard, sparked up the fire pit and invited the neighbors over.

Claire was very interested in the tent and very positive about the whole thing. She thought it was pretty cool that she was going to sleep in there with mom & dad. She, however, caught a nasty little cold at the tail end of last week and that - plus the fact that we stayed up a bit later than expected playing with the neighbors - put in wrench in our initial plan. We ended up heading inside around 1:30am when Claire awoke coughing so hard that I thought she was going to toss her cookies. Being the conservative mom I thought, "she is going to sleep in her own bed. We're not stuck at a campground where I can't put her in her bed..."

Nevertheless, it was overall very positive for her. She was hoping we were going to do it again Saturday night. A good sign.




Testing out the sleeping arrangements with dad.

Claire's dirty feet. I expect this is how she will look for most of the summer. We're very adept at washing her feet before she comes into the house.


We hosted our annual Memorial gathering with a few folks who have been swinging by for the last 4 years. It's great to get a chance to see how much the kids have grown. The time flies by too quickly and there is never enough time to catch up. Next year I swear I am taking a picture of all the kids so we can begin to capture how much they are changing every year.