One Year and Then Some

The Birthday Girl

Because I'm sure Claire wouldn't appreciate me posting her one year update during her freshman year of college, I'm finally taking care of it today. Have I told you that she is just precious? Joey and I can't get enough of her and we're both surprised her cheeks haven't become concave from the 5.2 million kisses we give her each day. If you see her walking around with concave cheeks in a few years, you'll know what happened. It was out of love.

The last update I gave was at 10 months so this will encompass from that point until today.

Eating

Eating PB&J

Up until about two weeks ago she has eaten most foods like a champ. We must be in some sort of phase. She no longer gobbles down veggies and is now more selective. If cheese is near, she's aware of it. She points at it and looks back and forth between me and the cheese. This Cheese Stand Off happens almost every day. I don't mind her eating cheese, but a girl should only eat so much of it and should definitely branch out. I can see her as a teenager stating that she's a Cheesetarian.

Despite her mother willing her to like avocados (she's a Texan for goodness sake!), they're still a no go. She also refuses to drink milk. I guess I don't blame her. I have never liked milk. Incidentally, she's not really into her bottles anymore either.

She tried her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She loved it, but I discovered that we have not quite grasped the concept of taking a bite. She wanted to stuff each whole triangle into her mouth. We practiced with a muffin the next morning with a similar approach.

She prefers feeding herself so she eats mainly finger foods with the exception of yogurt.

Sleeping

We have been really fortunate with her sleeping habits. She still takes two naps about 1-1.5 hours each and sleeps from 7PM to 7AM. I really thought she would have dropped the morning nap by now, but this girl needs to sleep and surrenders immediately. The time change did of course have an effect, but thankfully her wake up time had been moving closer to 8AM anyway so we were back with a 7AM wake up time within a week. She has been a little more fussy the closer we get to her old nap times and sleep time, but it's starting to even out.

Movement

Claire started taking steps about 10 months and it felt like she was running in just a few short weeks. She is like the Flash. For a while she would try to run through things and over things, but rarely around them. We had a lot of bruises during that time. Now that she's a veteran runner, she's more savvy. This girl does not like to sit still for more than 30 seconds unless she is reading a book.

She is also a climber. She pushes things around to use them to climb up to places where she is not supposed to be. I swear she has Inspector Gadget arms because her reach doesn't seem possible.

Play

Reading with Dad

During the last three months she is increasingly truly playing with her toys. She loves books, puzzles, carrying around her stuffed animals, stacking toys, putting items in and taking them out of her purse, and toys that she can manipulate. She also loves playing with empty boxes and bottles.

She's just started paying attention to the TV. It all started with Neil Diamond on the Today Show. She never watches the TV - couldn't care less. So Joey and I have it on in the morning while we're getting ready for the day and she mostly seems oblivious. Enter Neil Diamond. He played Sweet Caroline and she was mesmerized for the entire song. John Cougar Mellencamp has had a similar effect since then. Apparently she likes classic rock'n roll. My Dad would approve. She will watch a little bit of Bubble Guppies while she's eating a snack, but really it's just during the music.

She's a pretty rough and tumble girl. She loves to wrestle with Daddy. I'm also wondering if she will enjoy gymnastics. She tries to do forward rolls, although I've yet to see her flip all the way over.

She also enjoys being outside and running around in the grass. She likes to collect leaves, acorns and sticks which Mommy is constantly keeping out of her mouth.

Independent play has increased significantly and she will go into her room and sit down with her toys or books and be content for 10 minutes or so.

Growth and Development

She's tall and slim. I really thought we would go through a chunky baby stage at some point, but it never came. She's 68% for weight and 98% for height. She now has four top teeth and four bottom teeth and finally has enough hair to hold a clip-on bow.

Language

This has really come along since 10 months. She says "mama" and "dada" and mimics a lot of the sounds we use. She is constantly babbling, talking to her stuffed animals or when "alone" in her room playing. There have been times when Joey and I have thought she has said a certain word in the right context, but we're not positive. When we visited my parents a few weeks ago she seemed to say "Ba" every time the dog was near. Our dog's name is Bo so we're wondering if that's the connection.

Testing Boundaries

Waiting for cookies

Whew! We are definitely in this stage. She is aware of what she is not supposed to touch and tests Mommy and Daddy's consistency in enforcing the rules. I have tried various methods of discipline, but I think we're about to have to go to the drawing board because things are getting real if you know what I mean. Currently, I am holding her hands together in mine for about 30 seconds (which she hates) while we talk about obeying. Her response to this is now going limp on the floor. We'll see.

Affection and Humor

This has developed even more over the last few months. She will now lay her head on Joey's chest when he gets home or when we are putting her to bed. When we hold our arms out and crouch down she will run into our arms and give us a hug. She also occasionally attempts to give us a kiss. It's usually a full open mouth kiss or a lick, but we don't care. We love that we're getting snuggles!

She laughs a lot now and seems to be aware of when she's acting silly. We've noticed a few different laughs. Her belly laughs are super sweet, but what tickles us is when she does her "Hmmph!". It's eerily adult and it's like she's amused with us all.

Cognitive

Looking at birds with Dad

I really don't know how else to term this, so 'cognitive' will have to do. It's so fun to watch Claire make connections between objects, words and actions. When we read she can now point to animals or objects when we ask her where they are. She knows where her nose, ears and mouth are and points our's out as well. She tries to brush her hair with combs and hairbrushes and "talks" on anything that looks like a phone while putting it up to her ear. She knows that her mirror and bracelet go in her purse and the shape pieces go with the puzzle. She puts utensils in bowls and pretends to stir.

This all came out of the blue. She points at things and wants you to tell her what they are. If you've ever watched the old movie The Miracle Worker, the story about Helen Keller, it reminds me of when Helen first realizes that hand signs correspond to objects and runs around touching each object and asking her teacher to sign what it is because she's made the connection. I love it! Although, we are ourselves lost for words at times. Umm...yeah, that's a mark on the wall where we bumped it with a chair when we were moving. Or yes, that's some kind of electrical thing that I don't know the name of. That kind of stuff. Her favorites to identify right now are butterflies.

Cupcake for Halloween

We are having so much fun being parents to this sweet girl! She has a lot of change on the horizon both developmentally and for our family in general. The next monthly updates should contain how she reacts as Mommy gets bigger and slower (!) and we prepare for a possible move.