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I finally got smart and had Daddy help distract Claire from the oh-so-enticing paper sign during her “official” monthly portrait

Written by Daddy:
It just can’t be. There’s no way this is the very last month that our sweet girl’s age is less than 1 (turning 1 next month for those of you who are a liiiiitle bit slower on the uptake!). She has most definitely made some strides in her development, with her most impressive new trick being auditory recognition. We can say “clap clap” and she will clap (just like a monkey!). We’re trying to get her to do the “Indian call” (Native American call for those politically correct readers!) on demand, but we’re still having to show her that one before she’ll mimic us. Next thing we know, she’ll be calling out colors, animals, and objects.

She’s starting to stand by herself with much greater frequency. Before, we would have to trick her by handing her something to examine to get her to take both hands off of the couch, but at that point it was only for a few seconds before she’d plop down on her bootie. Now, she stands for longer periods of time and doesn’t seem to need to be tricked into doing it. She’s thinking about taking steps without holding on to something, but isn’t quite brave enough. She’ll be walking all over the place before we know it!

Playing with the lint roller and thinking about plopping down, hence the bent knees. But, definitely standing on her own!

She’s also taking steps with mommy or daddy while holding on with just ONE hand instead of two The earlier videos we’ve posted have us walking behind her as she high-steps her way towards the camera. Now, she can walk beside us and hold just one hand while keeping her balance - something that she couldn’t do before. Well, she could but the video we have of her trying it and face planting with us laughing at her in the background seemed kind of cruel to post. Instead, below is a short (like her attention span) video clip of her walking with mama in Pullen Park a couple of weeks ago.

Written by Mommy:
Claire’s little personality is really evident these days. She is learning how to express herself in ways other than just crying. She loves to be outdoors and will kick her legs in excitement when we open the front door to go for a walk. One of her favorite games to play is peek-a-boo, especially with her daddy. He’ll crawl from room to room and she’ll follow with a big grin on her face, just waiting on him to pop out and yell “peek-a-boo” when she rounds the corner.

We’ve been spending a lot of family time rolling around and playing in our bed. Claire loves trying to find us underneath the covers and generally just being able to flop around with out fear of hurting that precious noggin. It also wears her plum out so it’s usually a good pre- nap or bedtime activity.

Playing peek-a-boo with Daddy in our bed

We finally got around to moving Claire from her infant carrier to the Britax Marathon car seat I purchased a couple of months ago. Eric won the “Best Husband/Daddy Award” for detailing the Escape (which is now officially ours and paid for - yay!) and installing Claire’s new seat this past Saturday. I’m loving my clean ride and Claire seems to feel the same way about her big girl seat. I think she’ll like it even more when she can face forward after her first birthday.

First ride in her new big girl car seat

Claire is pretty much eating whatever Eric and I are having these days. She now eats just about anything you put in front of her, including carrots and peaches - foods she previously disliked. Yay for persistence - I thought she’d never come around! She is a dairy nut and will fight you for cheese or yogurt. Same goes for peas & carrots. Green beans, corn, any form of pasta or chicken, blueberry muffins, Nutri-Grain bars, pears and mandarin oranges are more foods she eats on a regular basis. She still gets the occasional container of baby food (trying to clean out our stash), but would prefer to feed herself.

Taking a break from destroying her bookshelf, a favorite past-time

With her first birthday just a couple of weeks ago, and the formula container getting low, I decided it was time to start the switch. Today I introduced whole milk in with her formula and she did great. My goal is to have her completely off formula by the start of next week. Her daycare provides milk and I’m REALLY looking forward to (1) not purchasing formula anymore and (2) only having to bring in sippy cups instead of cleaning and making bottles each night.

Speaking of sippy cups, we’ve been working hard to get her off the bottles completely, but it’s been a difficult transition. We still give her a bottle at night, but during the day she drinks from a soft-spout sippy cup. She can do it just fine, but it takes her a lot longer to finish because she keeps holding out for the bottle. We’ve seen a lot of temper tantrums and cup throwing lately. I guess it’s time for more persistence….

Happy baby smiling at mommy!

I’m always on the lookout for good finds on our local Craigslist. Last week I found a couple of good deals and Claire ended up with two new toys (as if she really needed them, and so close to her birthday, but I couldn’t resist). The first is a fridge farm magnetic animal set by LeapFrog. It plays cute little songs and Claire loves it. She hasn’t quite got the hang of “making a match” just yet, preferring instead to bang the animal pieces together. I’m just happy she has a fun, learning toy to play with in the kitchen instead of her previous (not baby-safe) activity of pulling down all the photos, papers, magnets and general forms of junk off our fridge.

Loving her new fridge farm animals toy

I’m quite proud of my other Craigslist find. I had been looking for the Little Tikes Deluxe Cozy Convertible Car for a while. It’s a cute little push car with a removable parent handle and floorboard so the little munchkin can power it Flintstone-style when she’s ready. Unfortunately, it is sold out everywhere. The only place I could find that still had one in stock was wanting over $200 for it (retail is closer to $70). Ridiculous! I had just about decided that this was one toy Claire was going to have to live without when a posting came online for one in our area that was in great shape for only $30. Sold! We picked it up last Friday evening and have already put it to good use several times. Claire loves going for walks in it. She is usually either chilling to the side or shifting gears like a crazy lady.

Driving her new convertible car - beep beep!

May has flown by and we couldn’t be more excited that June is here. It’s going to be a busy month - we have two birthdays (Claire & Les), an anniversary (our fourth!) and Father’s Day to celebrate. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law are flying in from Arkansas in just two weeks and we can’t wait to show them a good time here in NC.

The May 2009 photo gallery has been updated - check it out!