Busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend. On Saturday we started off with a pancake breakfast fundraiser for her daycare. Then we ran a whole bunch of errands including getting plants for the garden. That night Claire played with our neighbors kid's, Louie who is almost two and Rosemary who is three. They enjoyed tossing tennis balls around the yard.

On Sunday Nana and Papa came down to help plant and mulch the gardens. Claire loved being outside while we worked, but the real work happened during her nap*.  After her nap, she took a dip in her kiddie pool.  Last year she couldn't even sit up on her own in the pool, now she is standing up and splashing.  We ended a long day's work with some ice cream.

*Claire is officially down to 1 nap a day!  These last few weeks Claire was fighting her afternoon nap and we knew it was probably time to get rid of the morning nap and go to one afternoon nap.  We tried it last weekend and it worked, so now she goes down around 12:45pm and sleeps for about 2-2.5 hours. 

Photos of Claire in her pool:

Playing "Niagara Falls" in the pool. 

'This the life, took a nap, had a snack, now I am lounging in the pool.'

She has a memory

On Wednesday Claire had her 15 month check-up at the doctor's and things did not go smoothly.  When we arrive at the doctor's she usually likes looking at the fish tank and playing with their toys.  Not this time, the moment we put her down she looked around and started banging on the door to get out.  Not a good sign.  The nurse called us back and she did not look pleased.  In the exam room we started to take her clothes off and she melted down, crying and holding on to us.  We brought lovie along and even that wasn't helping.  The nurse tried to get her height and weight but she was not cooperating.  They estimated she is 32" inches long (90th percentile) and 25 pounds (75th percentile), but she was so wiggly the nurse said they may be off by a bit.  She calmed down a bit in our arms and was somewhat cooperative for the doctor.  Then the nurse came back to do the shots and she melted down all over again.  She got 2 vaccinations and a TB test.  We have to go back Friday afternoon to have the TB test re-checked, we are not looking forward to the visit. 

After the doctor's daddy took her home and she had a nice long nap.  She woke up very happy and content, which was a nice.  We went for ice cream that night and Claire tried some black raspberry ice cream. 

Claire and her 'bracelets', she loves taking them on and off. 

'Dat'

For the past few weeks Claire has been point to everything and asking what that ('dat') is. With increasing frequency she has been grabbing her lovie and saying 'dat' while pointing at it. At first we thought it was just her natural curiosity, but have come to believe that she is trying to learn how to say 'lovie'. We try to leave lovie in the crib, but sometimes in the morning she doesn't like putting it back before we go downstairs.  I think she has figured out if she learns how to ask for 'lovie', of course we will give it to her.  Because when she says 'more', 'up', or 'out' we usually comply.  Once again she is trying to outsmart us.

We are very much loving the beautiful weather and trying to spend every moment we can outside. Plus we are now on summer hours so we get out of work at 4, giving us an extra hour outside with Claire.

Get well soon Grandma!

Claire got to spend Mother's day weekend with Mommy, Grandma and Nana; a triple dose of Moms! On Friday Grandma and Grandpa came down early to spring Claire from school and have dinner with us, and breakfast the next morning. Claire missed them a lot and loved playing, she was very sad on Saturday morning when they had to go. Later that afternoon when she woke up from her nap she walked around the house calling for Ga-ga (what she calls Grandma), stopping to look in each room for her.

Unfortunately we got a call on Saturday that when Grandma got home she was working on a ladder and fell off. After a long trip to the doctors she is home and starting to feel better (I'm sure the pain killers are helping). To make her feel better Claire wanted us to put this video of her LOVING to eat Grandma's applesauce that she makes especially for her. Its long, but I think its adorable (not that I'm bias)



On Sunday Nana (and Papa) came down for dinner and to play with Claire. For dinner we had made Claire her usual baked ziti, but much to our surprise she preferred the pasta salad made with capers, sun dried tomatoes, olives etc. The highlight of the meal for her was the whipped cream from the strawberry short cake. Here are some photos from Grandma and Grandpa's camera.

Claire playing Great Grandma Shirley's Piano

'Okay Grandma, its a Pickle? Oh goodness what did you give ME?' She wasn't a fan.

Claire using her spoon like a big girl eating yogurt at the restaurant all by herself.

'Hey this is much easier than mom and dad, I have to reach up much higher in the air with them!'

Get well soon GRANDMA!

Videos for Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend for Mother's day Claire is fortunate to be able to spend time with her mom, her Dad's mom (Grandma) and her mom's mom (Nana). On Friday Grandma (and Grandpa) are coming down to drop off Great Grandma's Piano and spend some much needed Claire time. Then on Sunday Nana (and Papa) will be coming down to have dinner. I'm sure we all will have lots of fun.

We had our first parent teacher conference at school for Claire today, she is progressing wonderfully and is passing with flying colors on everything except drool control. She is hitting all her milestones right on schedule, and her fine and gross motor skills ahead of schedule.  Here are three videos from this week.

Head, Eyes, Nose, Mouth and Belly

Every time I leave for work, no matter how short, it seems like Claire has learned something new. Over this trip away, she learned to find her head, eyes, nose, ears, mouth and belly button and will identify them if you ask. I'm told that she even tries to find her teacher's belly button, which doesn't go over as well as finding mom and dad's.

Here are some more photos from the wonderful weather this weekend.

 My girls relaxing by the shed.

 We found a Claire size Adirondack chair, she likes it much better than ours.

 Playing catch with mommy.

Daddy's home!

Claire had an excellent weekend with daddy being home.  The weather was gorgeous and we spent a lot of time outside. On Friday Nana and Papa watched Claire so Cory and I could go to Fredonia's retirement party for our outgoing college president.

Saturday we enjoyed the sunshine.  Claire is our outdoor girl, try bringing her inside before she wants to and get ready for some serious protesting.  We had to start hiding our shoes and her shoes because she thinks if you put shoes on you get to go outside - no matter what.  And while we do try to spend a lot of time outside sometimes we have to be inside, a point that is lost on a 15 month old.   

Claire is teething so she was a little more fussy this weekend.  When you feel her gums you can tell that something is going to break through soon.  She is drooling a ton and has a runny nose.

Claire loves drinking from daddy's water bottle. 

Chilling in the Adirondack chair.

Claire found a new spot for collecting stones, outside the shed. 

She grabs one at a time.

Mommy holds them for safe keeping. 

"Hey mom and dad, enough sitting, time to chase me."

Down the slide.