Wow. So much has changed this past month in Claire's development. She can sit very well on her own (which you can see in the previous post video clip). As I've said before, it seems like she is close to crawling. She'll get on her hands and knees, but then drops down to her tummy. She scootches pretty far on her bottom when there is something she wants to reach. She has also become very affectionate this month. When she sits on the couch between Andrew and me, she takes turns giving him an arm hug, then me an arm hug. It makes me melt. She is getting more and more vocal. She makes a distinct "Da da" noise as well as some other consonant/vowel matches.
Claire now has five visible teeth. Two bottom teeth came in a couple of weeks ago which you can see in these photos if you zoom in. As of yesterday, we noticed three top teeth (front/left) have also broken through the gum surface. We have explored several solid foods this month and have quite a list of likes and dislikes.
Likes: sweet potatoes (her favorite), peas, apples, bananas, prunes, carrots, rice cereal
Dislikes: green beans (This was her first to try, so we'll introduce it again and see if she still winces and refuses to swallow. She will eat them, however, if they are mixed in with rice cereal or peas)
She does a great job eating and is always very interested in what we're eating. She seems to have hit another growth spurt this month. While she previously was content on 12 hours sleep, now it is more like 10 before she wakes up hungry. We aren't complaining though. We understand that many others are less fortunate.
We've noticed a huge increase in how often she grabs for things...anything really. If you have it, she wants it. It's difficult to keep that "go-go gadget arm" by her side. She has a special love for napkins. Which takes me to another wonderful change. She is very content in high chairs at restaurants, so Andrew and I can take her out to dinner just the three of us and not feel like we must hold her to keep her from crying. We love this!
This has been my favorite month so far. I can't wait to see what will be new for her next month.
It was very fitting that Laura and I celebrated our 30th birthday today because it was 30 years ago today that our mom's water broke. We weren't born until November 10th, but it was on November 8th that Laura decided to move towards the light so to speak. We went to Danville this morning and ate a birthday brunch together. My mom had a cake for each of us (always important growing up). Laura's cake read "Happy 30th Birthday Nahm 'A'" and mine was written for Nahm "B" because that was how we were referred to by the hospital.
