Eating: Claire is still loving food... a lot. It is hard to pinpoint a favorite food, but if I had to pick one I would say bananas. She gets excited (and claps) when she sees them at the store or in our kitchen. She is verging on picky, though it is only when she is feeding herself chunks of foods that she will pick and choose what she wants and doesn't want. If I am feeding her off a spoon she will gobble up anything I offer her. One night I couldn't get her to eat anything on her tray (avocados, chicken, rice and beans) so I tossed everything in the blender and pureed it. She then ate it without any problems - silly girl. I didn't keep as good of track this month of everything we introduced, but some of her new foods are: chicken, corn, beef, tomatoes, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, apricots, mangoes, beets, onions, white potatoes, garlic. I've also been less concerned this time around about other things such as seasonings, sauces, spices, etc. I made pot roast and fed it to her even though it has been cooking in beef broth, spices and Worcestershire sauce. We haven't noticed any reactions to any foods, though there are still a few (wheat, soy, shell fish, nuts, eggs) that she hasn't tried.
Nursing: Just a few weeks ago Claire dropped one of her mid-day feedings. She still wants to nurse first thing in the morning and right before bed and she also has milk one other time during the day - sometime between noon and four. It is hard to not have a specific schedule, but also nice that she is getting to be a little less dependent on just me.
Sleeping: Claire really does love to sleep. When we are at home - or another familiar place - she goes down for nap and bed time fairly easily. She doesn't like being left alone, but once she gets over that she finds her binkies and elephant and snuggles right in. We don't leave her with a blanket, but often let her fall asleep with one. It is cute to see her under-the-binky smile and watch her wiggle excitedly as we lay the blanket on her. I think she knows it is special. Claire is still napping twice each day and then sleeping about 12 hours each night. Now that our Bible studies have started up again, her schedule is pretty messed up. We'll see how this all plays out, if she will learn to sleep in the nurseries, or if she will be Miss Grumpy-pants until she gets her later nap.
Teething: We have teeth, well actually only one tooth, but we'll take it. It came on August 26 - nine months and nine days old! A little late for some, but looking back at my blog I found that this was almost the exact same time as Grace got her first tooth. I wasn't worried that teeth wouldn't come, but I am glad we have the first tooth, and survived the one night of cranky. There are other teeth just under the gums that will be coming soon, but for now we are sort of enjoying this jack-o-lantern smile phase. It's pretty cute.
Teething: We have teeth, well actually only one tooth, but we'll take it. It came on August 26 - nine months and nine days old! A little late for some, but looking back at my blog I found that this was almost the exact same time as Grace got her first tooth. I wasn't worried that teeth wouldn't come, but I am glad we have the first tooth, and survived the one night of cranky. There are other teeth just under the gums that will be coming soon, but for now we are sort of enjoying this jack-o-lantern smile phase. It's pretty cute.
Talking: The babbles are slowly becoming recognizable words. Along with panting (when she sees a dog) and book, she now says dada, hi (sounds like 'aye'), bye-bye, up, uh-oh (comes out 'uh-uh'). This month Claire decided to start signing again. She mostly says more and please, but we are working on others.
Tricks: Claire will now wave on command, point to pictures in a book or hold up her pointer when singing "This Little Light of Mine." She gives high-fives and claps. She puts her hand on her head when you say "Oh no." She is learning body parts and will point to a nose if asked.
Sisters: Not be be redundant, but I feel like I need to document ever minute of fun between these two, so that when they are 12 and 14 - fighting about anything and everything - I can look back to these days when they smile every time the other walks into the room. They belly laugh at ridiculous things the other is doing. They are unselfish, kind, and generous to one another. These girls love each other so much. Grace, though still very much a three-year-old, loves her sister as much as she knows how. And Claire, well she thinks the sun raises and sets with Grace. Her big sister is the bee's knees. There is no one who can make her laugh harder or longer than Grace. We have some great video of this from the past few weeks, and once my computer is up and running again, I'll be sure to post it.
