Friday, February 26, 2010

Claire’s First Haircut

We decided to go through with it today. Claire got her first haircut by the hands of her parents. Oh what a butcher job it is, but it has to be an improvement to her prior “do.” Please see Exhibit A if you need further convincing.

IMG_3444 Exhibit A

I have to say, it went really well. She kind of fidgeted at times but it was because Mommy was pulling on her hair and she didn’t much like that. The cutting part didn’t seem to phase her at all.

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Daddy combing her hair.
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Claire combing her hair.

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Mommy making the first cut . . .

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Ta-da!

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Mommy going all Edward Scissorhands on the back.

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The finished product. Right before going to the Fish Fry at church.

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And again after her bath.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Well Daddy’s birthday was yesterday and a big day of fun it was. He was off from work and chose to sleep in a little late and luckily, so did Claire Elaine.

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We played a lot and had fun together and Daddy took a nap.

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And then Daddy fed Claire her dinner and put her to bed.

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Then Mommy and Daddy went on a Birthday date.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Monday, February 22, 2010

When Cows Visit in the Night . . .

You get hair like this . . .

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IMG_3441We finally tried to embrace it at lunchtime but the bow didn’t last long . . . yes, yes, she is getting a haircut later this week . . .

Monday, February 15, 2010

A little of this, a little of that

So lately Claire has been getting much more expressive with hand gestures (we have not taught her these gestures, not sure we would have thought up most of them or been able to explain how to use them). We only have one on film so far. We’ll see if you can spot it below.

In other news, Claire has been shuttled around and watched by the grandparents a lot this week because we have been doing major stuff to the kitchen – paint and countertops! Woohoo! I think she has really enjoyed it but I think everyone is a bit tired. So as a reward here are some pics of Claire in her Hippo hat and hand knitted sweater from Grammy Deal.

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Reading one of her many Valentines.

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Giving a good view of her Hippo hat and operating her new Elmo remote.

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Claire answering the question -
“Where did your goodie go?”

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Super Party 2010

Claire and I had a Super Bowl Party at our house this year. Auntie Alison and Cousin Thor came and we had a great time. It was fun.

It also marked the first time Claire tasted Cheetos. Aunties can be bad influences sometimes . . .

IMG_3382Yummy!

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And today we had chili and Fritos for lunch . . . what kind of mother am I turning into? This icky sicky stuff better pass soon – it is clouding my judgment - or she is going to be a butterball at her next appointment!

Feeding Frenzy

Claire has been working on feeding herself more lately. She is very good at picking things up with her hands or putting a “preloaded” spoon or fork in her mouth. However, she needs to work on getting things from her bowl or plate with a utensil to her mouth. We aren’t having very good luck . . . 

IMG_3363 Notice at this point the spoon is in her lap.

IMG_3365 Finding other means of getting the applesauce in to her mouth.

IMG_3366 All the applesauce glory – and of course one of her favorite faces to give instead of a smile for the camera.

18 months and counting . . .

This is a little late but we didn’t go to the doc for her check-up until last Thursday and as many of you know Claire and I have been sick ever since. We have whatever is going around that Daddy brought home from the hospital a week or so ago. It has hung on longer than I was expecting. Poor little Claire just coughs until she is red sometimes but it doesn’t seem to have gotten her down. She is just running around playing as much as usual. She does take some breaks and *gasp* actually cuddles with me for a little while. Be still my heart. I hope we both get well soon but I could certainly get used to the snuggling. Anyway on to the Doctor’s Report -

She hasn’t gained any weight since the last appointment according to the doctor’s scale. She is still at 25 pounds which is the 59% (I weighed her at home more than once before the appointment at 26) and the Doctor was not concerned at all. She did grow an inch which brings her to 32 inches tall which is 55%. And her noggin is in the 95 percentile. Gee I wonder where she gets that . . . blessed from both sides and hopefully it means lots of brains!

On other notes she was ahead of what she was expected to do at this age. She should be able to point to two body parts and she can do twelve. She should be able to stack two blocks and she can do six. Being able to do a puzzle is way ahead of the game for her age. She does a lot of pretend play and follow directions really well. She is on track for speech the doctor said even though we were concerned. She easily has a dozen or so words and she should be between 5 to 20 at this point. Dr. I said they don’t have to be very clear but saying the same thing when talking about something. Just in the past couple of days she said More, Zebra and Ducky. Otherwise we are on track, she needs to drink more milk – last time we were feeding her too much – guess we overcorrected. All in all a good 18 month check-up.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Claire in the Wild

Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to take some pictures of Claire without her knowing to really capture some of the antics she gets herself into.

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Loving the Hippo perhaps too much?

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Claire caught in headlights.

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Hey, who turned out the lights?

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Just sitting in my tub reading some books.

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Can’t a girl just sit in the bookshelves for fun?

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Fishies! Real see food.

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Yea, just try and get a nice smiling pic of me lady.

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If I get it just right it stays up here.

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Practice, practice, practice.