Spinning

Claire's bangs are getting pretty long. I don't know that I'm ready to cut them, but we're trying to keep them out of her eyes. Below, Claire is spinning around on the floor. This normally involves striking her heals against the hardwood as loud as she can.

10 Months Old

Claire has exhibited more independence this month. She is very content playing by herself unless she is tired. She flips through her books, plays with her cars, but loves most the noise of anything scraping the floor. She babbles frequently, but nothing that resembles a word in the English language.

Claire now has seven teeth (four upper and three bottoms). There doesn't seem to be a food she doesn't like. She is still nursing, but only 2-4 times a day. We both still enjoy the experience and I will be sad to see it end in the next couple of months. She is very good with her sippy and finger foods.

Claire crawls around all over the place whether it is to chase Molly, pick up a leaf that has been tracked in the house, or to get to Momma or Daddy. When she does find a leaf, if you ask her, "Can you give that to me?" she gently places it in your hand.

Andrew used to ask Claire to, "Give me five." then she would and we would clap saying, "Yay!" Now when he asks, she goes straight to the clapping and we still reply with, "Yay!" Her clapping can be a little random. She sometimes claps when she's crying, or in her stroller while we're on a walk. We love it!

Claire likes to give Molly loving. Usually this means poking at Molly's toenails, pulling at her collar, or patting her. Molly takes it all very well and is appreciative when we help Claire with her petting and keep Claire's little fingers away from Molly's eyes and nose.

I took Claire to a Mother's Forum at church last week and she interacted well with the other babies and toddlers. She was very happy to sit in the middle of the circle playing with toys and nibbling on the cracker pieces that sprinkled the floor after 8 toddlers got a hold of the box.

Little Scholar

Flipping through books on her own, Claire is becoming quite the expert on farm animals.

Cruisin'

Waving Bye-Bye

Daily Activities

Sipping and Standing

Andrew started introducing the sippy cup to Claire at 6 months. She didn't want anything to do with it until close to 9 months. She still needs to work on tilting the cup, but loves drinking her watered down apple juice like a big girl. We also found shortly after Christmas that Claire understands how to use a straw. She'll take a few sips of my water when we go out to dinner.


Claire doesn't pull up to standing, but can stand well with the support of the coffee table. She moves up to her knees without pulling up on anything, so I'm wondering how long it will be until she will try to walk.

As of this morning (after the editing of my brilliant sister), I have finally finished putting together my pregnancy journal in publishable form through www.shutterfly.com. I'm looking forward to having a hard copy detailing my pregnancy to pass down to Claire. I know that no pregnancy is the same, but this will let her know about my experience and maybe what to expect if she decides to have children one day.

Treadmill Game

New Year, New Home

Andrew and I brought in the new year with champagne, a card game, a movie, and watching the ball drop on tv. Claire was not aware that you're supposed to sleep in on New Year's day, so she was up at 7:30am. I guess that wasn't too bad, but lead to our early nap at 9:45am.

Andrew and I are thrilled that with this new year, we'll be moving into a new (to us) home! It's a beautiful house still close to campus (0.5 miles to the science building) with plenty of space for us to grow. It is just over 2900 square feet with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a sun room, and a sauna. It has the charm of an older home that I was looking for, and the space and updates of a new home for which Andrew was searching. It is in a great neighborhood with children close in age to Claire, which I always wanted for myself as a child. We'll move in toward the end of March, around Claire's birthday. We were originally thinking the theme for Claire's first birthday might be puppies, but maybe it will be moving trucks.