Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Play Date!

Our friend Todd and his family were in town this weekend from Dallas. Todd's wife was helping with a bridal shower, so while she was busy he and their daughter Kendall came to our house for lunch and to play. Kendall is a few months older than Claire, and they played so well together. The biggest hit was the push wagon. We took them upstairs with the wagon where there is plenty of room. I couldn't even begin to count how many trips that wagon made across the playroom. Kendall pushed Claire, Claire pushed Kendall, each one was pushed by the daddies...over and over. It was adorable.





A lot of the time Claire was totally entertained just by sitting and watching Kendall. We wonder if this is what she does a lot at daycare. We all had such a good afternoon and hope that they visit again soon!

Monday, March 30, 2009

School Picnic

On Friday Claire's school had an "environmental picnic." All of the classes ate lunch outside so that they could turn off the lights in the school and save energy. Parents were invited so Robert and I were able to go. Claire ate her lunch and then crashed mid-bottle. They only take one nap in her class (from around 12:30 - 2:30), and she is wiped out by naptime. It was a treat for all of us to be able to be together during a week day, and I enjoyed seeing how her teachers handle feeding lunch to several early toddlers at one time.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Visitors

Last weekend Ma and Bob came to visit for a few days. We all enjoyed our visit, especially Claire. She loved the extra attention!




On Saturday we had brunch at a little place in Boerne that is known for their fabulous pastries (they really are delicious) and then walked around Main Street exploring some of the shops. On Sunday we went to church, and Aunt Carol came up from Corpus for lunch and to visit that afternoon.

Unfortunately we had to cut the visit a little short when we realized Claire was developing a rash (it looked like a heat rash) and a fever, but we were able to quickly get into the after-hours pediatric clinic a few miles from our house and found out that it was just a viral rash that should go away within a week or so. We also found that she had the beginnings of an ear infection, so we were really glad we took her in. The antibiotic has a bubble gum flavor, so Claire gets excited for medicine time! The poor thing is also cutting a few new teeth, so it's been a rough week for her. She handles it so well though - such a sweet girl.

Yesterday after Claire went to bed we realized that we hadn't done a chair picture in a couple of weeks. She was having trouble going to sleep, so after listening to her play in her crib for awhile we decided we might as well go in and get a picture. This is not-sleepy-although-past-her-bedtime Claire at 50 weeks. That's right - only two weeks until her big day!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I Won!

A few months ago I stumbled on a new blog that has quickly become one of my favorites. The blogger, Brooke, is a former senior art director for Martha Stewart Kids and Martha Stewart Living. Each one of her posts is beautiful and so creative - I especially enjoy her regular posts about the kids' library books and the crafts they make. I really want to borrow the theme she did for her daughter's recent birthday - pink polka dots. How fantastic is this?

Last week she wrote a post about a new sewing book that is coming out - Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I decided that I wanted to get a copy - I've recently re-taken up sewing and this book seemed to have some interesting projects that I thought I would enjoy. Brooke designed the book and had a giveaway for a free copy. I decided to enter (through commenting on her blog), and I was so surprised to find an e-mail waiting for me this morning saying that my comment was randomly chosen from the over 600 entries. I'm so excited and can't wait to get my book - thanks Brooke!

http://inchmark.squarespace.com/inchmark/2009/3/19/the-lucky-winner.html

Memorable Moments #2

Here are some of my favorite "Memorable Moments" from Claire's teachers last week:

Tuesday
"Claire sat down and listened very well during circle time today!"

Wednesday
"Claire and Addison had a great time playing peek-a-boo together. They sat at opposite ends of the tunnel and just laughed and laughed - very sweet."
-Claire and Addison have become buddies. Addison a few months older - I guess she can show Claire the ropes!

Thursday
"Claire loved playing on the ballet bar today. Every time she pulled up on the bar she saw her reflection and just laughed."

Monday, March 16, 2009

First Birthday Present

Claire's birthday is a few weeks away, and when Nana and Granddaddy came this weekend for a visit they wanted some ideas for a birthday present. While we were out and about on Saturday, we found a great toy store that had a perfect present - a Radio Flyer Walker Wagon. There was one in the store to try out, and Claire pushed it up and down the aisles, laughing and squealing the whole time. They immediately picked up one in a box and headed towards the check-out counter. Dad put it together while she was napping, and she spent most of the afternoon playing with it.

She got comfortable pulling up and walking with it quickly, and on Sunday we took it out the basketball court. She hasn't mastered turning yet, but as long as she has someone to turn her around when she reaches the side she is good to go!

She started getting tired, so we gave her rides in it. The wagon is the perfect size for her, and she loves being able to pick up some speed. Whenever the wagon starts slowing down, she rocks back and forth trying to get it to go again.



So precious! I have some video that I'll try to post later this week to provide the full effect. I have a feeling this toy will get lots of miles put on it over the next few years.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Memorable Moments

At Claire's new school, the teacher write down a "Memorable Moment" each day on her activity report. I love reading little tidbits about her day and thought I'd use the blog to keep a record:

Monday
"Claire loved playing on the ballet bar today. She had a fantastic first day! :)"

Tuesday
"Claire really enjoyed playing with the blocks today. She walked all around the block bin."

Wednesday
"Claire was amazed at finger painting. She touched the paint, looked at her hand and wanted the paint off her hand - too funny!"
- This was her first experience with finger painting. Her paper has very few little blue raindrops on it (this week's theme is "weather") - I'm sure she wondered why her hands were turning colors!

Thursday
None (sick)

Friday
"Claire has learned to stand up for herself. If another child takes something from her, she takes it back - go girl!"
- That's my baby. She's tiny, but watch out!

Friday, March 06, 2009

In Like a Lion...

So I just realized that my first post in March is about a lion. "In like a lion, out like a lamb," right? Does this mean that my last post in March should be about sheep?

ROAR!

Claire's favorite toy right now has to be her lion walker. She can pull herself up and start walking with it. With a little encouragement (cheers and/or Puffs), she can walk all the way across the living room and down the long hall to her bedroom with just a little help getting over the molding as she goes through the kitchen (change from carpet to hardwoods and back to carpet). It's pretty far for those little legs, and she will just laugh and squeal the whole time. The lion plays music and sometimes roars, and we all roar along with it and laugh.




I feel like I've been working on this post for a few days now - we had a hectic week. Claire started her new school on Monday, and I think it's going to work out really well. The biggest transition for all of us has been dropping down to one nap (her class naps from 1 -3). She has a great time, but she's been exhausted every day when we pick her up and usually wants a short nap before her usual play, dinner, bath, bottle and bed schedule. She seems to be really enjoying it, though. I called mid-afternoon on Monday to check on her, and her teacher said that Claire is maybe the happiest baby she's ever seen. She said that Claire hadn't cried once. I'm sure there were too many things to explore, new toys to play with and new people to meet.

Things were busy as usual, and then on Thursday I got a call around lunch that Claire was sick. She'd thrown up a couple of times and wasn't feeling well. Robert and I were actually planning to have lunch together and had just made it to the restaurant when I got the call, so Robert left to pick her up and I took off to the office to gather up some things before heading to the house to spend the afternoon with her. When I got home, Robert and Claire were already there, and she was having a great time playing with her Exersaucer. She was fine all afternoon - I think she just had a little bit of an upset tummy and was fine after the upchuck. I didn't get any work done at home, but I was glad we weren't dealing with anything serious and I enjoyed the extra time with her. This is the first time we've been called to pick her up from school, so we had a great run!

47 Weeks