Fun Facts

Just a couple of updates...

• At 11 and a half months old, Claire's third tooth has finally popped through! The first of her top teeth made its appearance this week. We first noticed it when Claire made a biting motion and we heard the unmistakeable click of teeth!
  
• Claire colored for the first time on Wednesday! She actually used the crayons on paper instead of eating them! We were decorating a birthday card for our dear friend Amber, and Claire followed my lead and directed her beating of the crayons onto the paper, where she left her first artwork!
  
• She can now stand unassisted from a sitting position. I really think she can already walk but she just chooses not to. Who needs to learn how to walk when she can get everywhere by herself by crawling?? She does enjoy walking with her push-toy that her Papa and Nan got her.



• Claire has started waving in context. She has been able to wave for months, but she never would do it consistently at the right time. Now she waves at everybody - coming or going - as well as some inanimate objects.
  
• She continues to enjoy pretty much every food that we give her. I have struggled with giving her meat simply because it is so hard to chew and I just couldn't figure out how her two little teeth could handle it. Finally I had an idea...I took an organic, boneless skinless chicken breast (I wish we could all eat so well, but just Claire gets the organic chicken for now :) and ground it up in the food processor...mixed in some roasted red pepper and grated zucchini...and made meatballs! They are so easy to freeze and just pop out a couple at mealtime, and Claire can't get enough of them! She loves them!


• Claire is really starting to show understanding in conversation. She "talks" constantly and often points her finger and shakes it while she is talking. She understands and responds to words such as eat, mommy, daddy, baby, ball, piano, etc. We are working on language discovery cards and she can point to apple, banana, grapes, and elephant so far. She knows the sign language for eat, more, and all done, but her favorite by far is "more." She signs this one all the time...when asking for more food, or when she wants you to continue whatever it is that you are doing, or sometimes when she is just plain excited.
  
• One of Claire's favorite activities is simply pulling things out...of wheverever they are. I keep random objects in a gift bag in the living room...baby hangers in a little trash can...books on the shelf...crayons in a box...and every day, Claire just goes around the house pulling these and other things out and then moving on to the next thing.
  
• Finally, here are some pictures of Claire playing in the changing table that I was trying to clean out...