Claire on the cusp of two!

 

Our Clairey girl is in the eve of her second birthday!  In truth, she has about a month and a half to go.  But everyday a little of our baby slips away as the little girl in her comes out to shine! 

The funny thing about children who have older siblings is they pick up on their silly habits.  Claire loves to drink the milk out of her cereal first, then spoon the cereal into her mouth (courtesy of Hallie).  She loves to pretend to make "cakes" by stirring together everything on her plate (Hallie, again).  She also loves to talk back -- whether or not she knows what she is saying.  Case in point -- the two of us were at the store together the other day and Claire would not sit down in her cart.  I kept encouraging her to sit down and she looked at me indignangtly and said "I DID sit down!!"  (even though she was standing up defiantly in her cart).  She also likes to deny that she screams (still a favorite past time).  She ran into the other room shrieking and when I called her name she turned around and said "I not 'creaming!"  The next day she did the same thing except she told her Daddy "I just quiet!"

Claire is doing great in physical therapy.  We put her on an exercise ball to strengthen her core muscles around her middle.  She can run in the backyard on uneven surfaces and can kick balls (even if they only go six inches).  She is starting to walk up and down the stairs by holding onto the banister.  She also is transitioning from going down stairs on her tummy to going down front facing one step at a time and landing on her diapered bum.

Little Claire is getting good at counting to ten with us helping her and loves to identify when she has two things.  She'll yell "two shoes!" or squeal "I have two Minnies!"  The other day Hallie was having cheetos with her sandwich.  Claire wanted one too and I was impressed when she said "I want red . . . no, I want yellow!"  The correct color would have been orange but I didn't even know she could identify any colors so I was wowed by her attempts.

Clairey's favorite things still have to do with Minnie.  Her favorite movies to watch are Wonder Pets (Wuh-Peh), Care Bears (Pear-Bears), Sesame Street (Street) and Cinderella (Rella).  Claire is getting a longer attention span and can therefore read books for longer.  She loves to push the cart at the store.  She could easily live off candy, chocolate, and crackers if we let her.  The only meals she eats consitently involve cereal, yogurt, or pizza.  Other toddler staples like macaroni and cheese are beneath her (even my homemade batches-- which stumps me).  She is good about eating any sort of beans -- pinto, black beans, refried.  Otherwise, she will love peanut butter and jelly one day and despise it the next -- typical toddler behavior.

She is still the ultimate mommy's girl.  "Mommy . . . I hold you!" is her most used phrase. 

  

We love you, Claire!