Claire Winter 17-18

Claire: Winter ‘17-‘18

• she learned to do a flip/roll on her own
• She’s so good at using manners except when she accidentally hurts someone. She refuses to say sorry. 
• She’s picking up on so many funny phrases and expressions. My current favorite is the “soft smile” and her wink. 
• At bedtime she loves to ask “what’s your favorite part today?”
• “Too-ie” - toy 
• She’s really loving dress up and movies right now. 
• “Gleed-up” = giddy up
• I just love her lisp. Especially when she’s in the middle of playing and she says “what is this?!” 
• She’s going through another rough patch going to bed. Her most recent excuse was that she needed to go to the hospital to hear her heartbeat in her finger. 
• Claire is amazing directionally. She can tell us which way we should go to get places, and recognizes buildings that we’ve only been to a handful of times. 
• She’s into running and hiding when she’s doing things she shouldn’t (like sneaking and eating candy, watching the phone without asking, putting on makeup...) or when she gets in trouble. 
• We went swimming in a hotel pool with the McClain girls and Claire did an amazing job swimming under water. 
• Favorite phrase: “what is this?” “Why you say no to me? That’s not very nice!”
• Bed time routine is so long, and usually I try and rush through it, but when I just enjoy it, it’s the MOST FUN time and the time when she’s most willing to learn new things!
• She loves to sit on the potty and watch her iPad. She will tell us “I need 5 more poopoos then I get up.”
• Every night we have to line up all of her princess barbies on her princess pillow. 
• She decided to dry herself off and brush her own teeth and hair after bath one night. 
• Favorite foods are still Mexican foods: taco soup, quesadilla, and blee-toes (burritos). 
• When she gets sad and cries she’s started saying “that really hurt my heart”.
• When playing with Abigail, she’s said “here you go sweetheart” “that’s right darling”. 
• Learned to wink 
• Anytime I made her turn something off or skip something, she says “hey, that was my favorite”
• “Oh, we almost-agot...” /almost forgot/, “this is imposstible!”
• When she wants to do something we’ve done before she says “like we did last week” and if she wants to do something new she will say “can we do that sometimes?”
• Got pretty sick mid-February. A virus in the chest (basically bronchiolitis). Ran a low fever for several days, was acting almost delirious, horrible cough. Used the inhaler and got amoxicillin to prevent an infection. 
• The ATTITUDE!!!! 
• Her big thing is assigning family members different characters of her favorite movies. 
• “Hey what’d I just say?!” “You never can be (or) you never can do this again” “that’s all my fault”, “remember when we do that last week” - even if it was just earlier than morning...
• Recognizes letters A, C, M, D, K and J and numbers 1-5. 

Claire's 3rd Summer

• Favorite phrases "I'll show you something" /I show ya sun-tin/, "here I am" /here my-mam/, "my box" /my bock-us/, "I'll do it" /I dood it/, "ride Philippe" /wide weeps/, "it's ok Abigail" /it go-Kay happygirl/, "not right now", "please, can I??", "yeah, sure", "Get my belly" /gech-ya ma belly"
• got a trampoline and loves it!
• Is very inclusive of baby sister
• She knows her birthday, and mine and Andrew's names
• Counted to 15!
• ATTITUDE!!!! She crosses those arms and furrows that brow and says "I don't like it" to pretty much anything. She also likes to say "ok? Ok! Say ok! Go to time out." She also likes to say "uuhhhhggg" and "it no fair".
• She has been talking about bunnies that came into her room and scared her every time we put her to bed. We have to tell her over and over that bunnies are nice. (Still talking about them almost 2 months later.)
• We had a consultation to repair her belly button. The surgeon thinks it's a cyst with possibly a tiny hernia underneath. He agreed that the bleeding isn't safe. Surgery will require her to be put to sleep and they will cut it out and search for the hernia to remove. Relatively short and easy procedure.
• She got to stay up past 10:00 one night, and the next day/night were a nightmare.
• She LOVED fireworks!
• We had a weekend at Bogg Springs. She caught her first fish and had the best time!
• If we are watching a movie, she spends most of the time saying "mama look"
• She really can't wait to go to the beach!!
• Anything with a loop (purses, bra straps, Abigail's playmat) she turns into Phillipe the horse. She will tug on it and say "come on, weeps!" Any kind of long material (belt, measuring tape, of unrolled toilet paper) she plays like she's catching fish or "Rapunzel's mama" where she lifts her up.
• Very into watching Up and Monsters, Inc. right now. Now it's Sing.
• If Abigail makes any noise, she's the first to respond. She'll say "it's ok Abigail" or she will tell me to get her. She's soooooo sweet and kisses her all the time!
• She was a champ on the drive down to the beach and the night in the hotel.
• She loved the beach and the swimming pool and being with her cousins. She started swimming without a floatie and with her face in the water!
• She did not do well at all when we tried to drive through the night. She woke every 30-45 minutes crying hysterically. She couldn't get comfortable, and was bound to wake the baby at any minute. At 1am we stopped and got the last hotel room in Jackson (so it seemed). She slept really well in the hotel and did a great job the rest of the way home.
• New phrase is "no. Not today, tomorrow."
• Imaginary play is so much fun!!! She likes to make toys talk to each other. When she wants to play that game she will hand me a person and say "mama say hi".
• She's super pumped to start dance.
• She has started being silly on purpose.
• My scale says she weighs 32.2lbs
• New words: "pepperoni" /pecamoni/, "oh, awesome!", "yes, perfect", "it's no fair", "okie dokie" /okie gokie/, "granola bar" /owa bar/, "be quiet" /be ci-wet/, "you so funny", "strawberries" /straw-bees/
• She spent a few days at Lolly and Papa's
• When she gets upset she says "I want to go night night", "shhhh, Abigail trying to go night night" or "I'm crynin (crying). I wanna crynin."
• She LOVES horses
• Started KDO in room A, had a night terror that night.
• She called black eyed peas "polka dots" and it was adorable
• She has randomly said "thanks, you saved my life", "lets get started! You excited?", "your green eyes are so beautiful, mama", "I like your Jammies"
• Hunting Easter eggs is still her jam.
• She asked "why" for the first time.

For Claire: Your last days as our only baby girl

I am so thankful for you, Claire Avery. I pray that I've never taken a single second with you for granted. You'll never remember what it was like to have me all to yourself, but these are 2.5 years that I will NEVER forget. We do everything together. You're my best little pal! I'm so thankful that the Lord gave you to us. You've taught us to love unconditionally, be patient, not compare, enjoy the small things, put away technology and enjoy the moment, and a deeper understanding of how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father because he loves us much more than we love you (and sometimes I feel like I could explode I love you so much)! I'm grateful for every day I've spent with you. I'm excited to start our new phase with you as my best BIG girl! I pray that you feel loved in a new way with a new role, and that you never feel less valued. My heart is still yours, but now it's grown to love your baby sister, too! I hope we all learn to have the best time together. You and Abigail are going to be each other's confidants. You're going to fight and you're going to play and I'm going to try my best to enjoy it all! I know that you'll be a great leader and example for your baby sister! 

I'm so proud of you, and I love you! 

Mama 

**on your very last day without a baby sister, April 30, 2017, I got you out of bed and we talked, and snuggled and ate breakfast. We played and played in the playroom. We went to church where you could see Tessa and Enoch, eat a Donut, and "sing Jesus". We went out to eat with church friends, you prayed for our table  and then enjoyed pizza and ice cream for lunch. We came home and you took a fantastic nap! You didn't want me to get you out of the bed! We made shadows, you played in daddy's car, and we played some more in the playroom. You held daddy's legs while he checked the air filter. Meme and Poppi were up here by dinner time, and you were all eyes for them! We had burritos, rice, beans and chips and salsa. You ate a great supper and played some more while watching Moana! Daddy and I gave you your bath and you were so sweet and talkative. We talked a little bit about Abby coming tomorrow, but you were mostly excited that Lolly and Papa are coming! We took our last "family of 3" picture, and then read books. We read "I am a big sister" and for the FIRST TIME you were interested in it and we talked about you being a big sister to Abigail. I hugged you and kissed you and told you how much I love you. I started to get sad, but accidentally poked your eye and you got on to me! It was a great day! 

Claire's 3rd Spring

• we started the season with amazing warm weather! She's loving the water table! She calls it the "wawa beetle". 
• A new favorite song is "head, shoulders, knees and toes".
• Has started filling in some letters while I sing the ABC's.
• More words she's now saying correctly: book, milk, Brody 
• The queen of piddling.
• She has really impressed me with how she's been acting towards babies and younger kids. It's making me so excited to see her as a big sister!
• She has a lisp!
• Her new favorite responses are "nope" and "yep".
• Very very proud of the progress she has made with the potty! She's starting to tell us more when she needs to go, and still very few accidents! 
• Had the sweetest night rocking Claire on 3/27. She lifted my shirt looking for the baby and said "hi Abby, it's me, durr (Claire)" and then she told "I love you a much" and kissed me probably 15 times. But then she had the worst night  And then slept until I woke her up at 9:20!!! 
• Had her first dentist visit. She loved the office, but started to flip out when we asked her to lay back. She didn't love having someone look in her mouth, but the dentist was able to count her teeth, make sure they were cavity free, and put fluoride on them. In and out within 30 minutes. 
• She played at the chick fil a play area for the first time. 
• She likes to pretend to be in distress and yell "help me".
• She went to spend a long weekend with meme and poppi I took it a lot harder than she did. Was SO SWEET when we met up to bring her home. She kept saying "hi mommy" "hi daddy" and hugging and kissing us.
• While with Meme and Poppi, she ran a high fever. We thought possibly a bladder infection, but she wasn't showing any symptoms.
• She's just been "off" for a little while. Hasn't slept through the night since returning from Meme and Poppi's, hasn't eaten normally or pooped as much, did not sleep well (at all) the weekend that Lolly and Papa were here. No fever, but a splotchy rash on her chest and back. 
• Very into singing songs with LOTS of personality! 
• Has started making toys talk to each other. 
• She counted to 10!!!!! 
• She sang the whole ABC song on her own!!! 
• Very into watching movies and acting the out/quoting as she watches. She also likes to quote books while being read to and singing the last words in lines of songs. 
• Her "favorite" toys are still tiny figurines. She has the Mickey Mouse characters and the princesses, and now she has little Moana characters and a troll, Poppy. She doesn't have to have them all the time, but definitely spends more time with these types of things than any other toy. Other favorites: bubbles, water table, the slide, play doh, Easter eggs and paint. 
• The closer we get to baby sister's due date, the clingier she's getting (not sure if it's a product of me smothering her during her last few days as an only child). 
• She's liking dinosaurs. 
• She only eats pizza upside down (as in toppings facing down). 
• Not as interested in electronics lately. <-- this changed very quickly after sister came home. 
• Seriously changes every day. Has some days where her vocabulary takes off, and then the next day she's back to jibberish and her "special word". (A-vee-uh)
• We are in her last few days as our one and only baby girl. Trying to cherish every second! 
• Her new response to everything is "yes" said /yeth/ and it's just the cutest. 
• A few things we did during her last several weekends as the only child: (we wanted to go to the gentry zoo but it rained every day we planned to go), special Saturday breakfasts, strawberry picking, swimming, riding "rides" at the mall. 
• She was OBSESSED with baby Kent when they came to see us! 
• We had baby sister! She was nervous and uninterested when she first met her. It was a busy night, bedtime, she just wanted to see mom and dad and Abigail was still dirty while I was still covered in cords. She brought us donuts the next morning with Lolly and Papa and busted in the door talking about bringing donuts to Abby! The grandparents said that she would excitedly say "Abby's coming home" throughout the day. She touches her head and likes for her to be in the room. She loves to make sure she has things, and wants to hold her all the time. She's very interested in how Abigail eats from mama's boobies. She always wants to give her the paci. She will just look at her and say "hiiii" in the sweetest voice over and over. She asks "Durr hold baby Abigail /happygirl/" all the time. She tells me "mama get her" when she's crying. 
• Started having accidents in her pants (and wouldn't say anything) - pee and poop.
• Current favorite words (for us to hear) weed eater /weeyaweeyer/, dinosaurs /hisaurs/, bandaid /bandem/, doc mcstuffins /doc histussins/, octopus /opicus/, heart of tafiti /harpiti/. Current favorite words (for her) "I don't like (hike) it", "durr (Claire) goes" or "durr see" and "go away to me".
• More into princesses: pretending to be one, dresses, shoes and dancing. 
• Threw up, not sure why
• We went to Benton and Lake Degray for Memorial Day. She did so well visiting and playing with family, playing with friends and swimming in the lake/riding the boat! 
• Starting to get batter at taking off and pulling her clothes back on (including shoes)
• Did a week of swimming lessons
• She prayed with Andrew The one part was "thank you daddy come home from work to play with durr". 
• New phrases: "I have an idea, a burger fries idea", "I show you suppin", "don't do that, ok? Listen to me, no, right now." (she says that all together), "I dood it"
• Pretty obsessed with hunting Easter eggs
• Favorite songs: Moana songs (how far I'll go & you're welcome), Jesus song (forever - Kari jobe), branch's song (true colors and sound of silence), 5 little monkeys 
• She makes this horrible whine/grunt/yell sound when she doesn't get her way 
• Speaking skills took off while we were at my parents for several days
• LOVES to hold, talk to and play with Abigail 

Claire's 3rd Winter

- She likes to call things shewy (like shewy trash) that she finds on the ground. 

- When she's nervous to do something she clings and says "mama/daddy I got you" in a super hesitant voice.

- She willingly lays her head back in the water, and puts her face in the water. 

- She can put together puzzles! 

- She loves to take toys to bed with her. 

- She loves looking at lights, finding stars and the moon, and talking about helicopters and airplanes, and cooking "lunch"

- Her favorite games are chase, tickle fight, spinning, and hiding in the bed = "where are you?". 

- She has taken a turn and become obsessed with her babies. We talk about them and play with them a lot. 

- In response to questions and statements she will say "yeah" repetitively and louder and louder until you acknowledge. 

- She's into licking right now...

- Outside is still her favorite. 

- She still doesn't talk perfectly clear, but her recall is amazing! We had corn casserole at a meal and later she started talking about the "yummy roll". We asked her what color the corn casserole was and she quickly replied "yellow". She loves identifying things!

- Her retell is also amazing! Last night she told me "pee pee, daddy "yay", candy, thank you!" Meaning: I went pee pee, daddy said "yay" and gave me candy. I told him "thank you"! 

- She is doing well going pee pee on the potty for candy. About to start official potty training. 

- She got her bottom back left 2 year molar 12/22/16 and the top back left on 12/27. 2 years and 1 month. 

- Started potty training on 1/2/17. Info on its own post! 

- She still cant count, but she can keep Rhythm! On an episode of Mickey Mouse, Pete says "1,2,1-2-3" and she will copy the beat but say "2,9,2-9-2". 

- She likes to scare and be scared. 

- She asks "you k, daddy" or "I got you, mommy" a lot. 

- Any time she wants to ride something she says "ride car ride car". For example, Andrew was on his bike and she said "daddy ride car bike". 

- Right now at bedtime, she likes for each of us to have our own book to look at. She even makes Brody lay down so that she can open the book for him and tells him to read it. 

- Her new word to use is "everybody" 

- Starting to put sentences together. 

- Obsessed with singing "happy birthday" (she says Happy Annie) and "the finger song" (daddy finger, daddy finger...). She says "daddy, daddy, where are you, here it is."

- She's over using the /h/ sound, but it's adorable. "Yummy hupper", "I see ho-Ana", "daddy's homing". 

- We went to our first real big movie to see Moana. She did great, but didn't last the whole movie. 

- She's just THE SWEETEST!!! 

- She's beginning to understand different days. She repeated for 2 weeks straight "Papa coming Friday". 

- We came to stay at meme and poppi' some weekend. We had "big sister" photos and video taken and she got her first real hair cut! A significant amount was cut off in the back to give it some shape, but she has a sweet little bob now! 

- She says "I love you" all on her own now! 

- If I brag on her, the thing I was bragging on not happening, will happen within a day. 

- She calls the Little Gym (gymnastics) na-kikik and lists what she does there in a very specific list tone. She says "I play, and swing, and flip, and jump, and ball."

- She's starting to get in trouble other places for being rough and "mean". 

- New things she's saying "a-back a-me" (give it back to me), "err much" (said after "thank you" or "I love you" and means "very much"), "come play", "bo bo move!", "mama hook (look)", "I'm dizzy"

- She has started actually playing with friends. 

• She told me that she needed to poop and ACTUALLY POOPED on the potty on 2/27! 
• She did her first character assignment while playing. Brody was Pluto, mama was Minnie and she was Mickey!
• mastered the art of "being cute" to try to get out of trouble. 
• Speaking of trouble...she's getting into a lot of it. The over use of the word "mine" and phrase "no mama no" while she sways at me is doing me in! 
• She's picking up so many new phrases I can't keep up!! 
• A few words she started saying correctly: Mickey, Pluto, daisy, pizza, Elsa, Rapunzel, rider (Flynn rider), ice cream cone (which I tried to get her to go back to saying Ninnie and she did) , One, burger, purple, Aladdin, bubble, kitchen 
• She got bronchiolitis mid February and something similar again at the beginning of march. (It only required the inhaler for 10 days and the fever reducer. Day 3 was the worst.) 
• 2 of our favorite things she says right now are "a-gee mama/daddy" (for again) and "what _____ haaaaaaay?" (what does ______ say?)
• She finally counted to 3! Woo hoo! 
• I was rocking her and she whispered "mama, where babby?" She lifted my shirt and rubbed my belly and whispered "there it is!" Melted. Then the next night she pat my cheek and very softly whispered "I love you mama". 
• She's becoming more affectionate with friends. She will willingly hug and hold hands and tell them she loves them. 
• extremely possessive 
• A few favorite foods: taco soup, cereal with milk, apples, fruit snacks

Potty Training

We started potty training Claire on January 1st, 2017. She was 25 months old. My main motivation was baby sister coming in the spring. I wanted to give her a good window of time to get used to this change before bringing the baby home (I still expect a little regression). We (loosely) followed the "3 day potty training" method by Lisa Jensen. Some modifications that I made: We were naked from the waist down for 5 days and didn't leave the house. I set a timer. We still put her in a diaper for nap and bed time because she has never woken up dry, so I didn't want to mess with that!

She HAD peed and pooped in the potty before, so this wasn't completely new for her. At her 18 month well check, our pediatrician suggested setting her on the potty before bath time every day just to get her used to it, and I do think that helped! I chose to start on January 1st because we were done with holiday traveling and didn't have anywhere to go for a while. It was cold outside, so we were trapped inside anyway. It would give a good 3-4 months before Abigail joins us. Her only cues were that she would tell me when she pee peed in her diaper, she liked to sit on the potty, and she would hide to poop. Her rewards were m&m's or marshmallows and one sticker for pee and a sucker and 2 stickers for poop, and A LOT of cheering (especially if she told us). We looked at her princess panties the week before and talked about them. I had a stationary potty seat that I kept in the kitchen and a potty insert for the bathroom toilet.

I kept very rough notes through out the first week just to remember the process.

Day 1:
- woke at 8:30 (soaked diaper)
- set timer every 10-15 min.
- first pee at 10:25
- 11:50 pee
- 12:30 she told me pee pee
- 1:00 pee
- woke up dry from nap and peed at 3:50
- 4:40 pee
- 4:50 started attempting to poop while playing, make it to the potty!
- 5:50 pee
- 7:50 her choice

Day 2:
- woke at 7:45 wet
- Timer every 10-15 minutes
- 8:50 pee
- 9:50 pee
- noon pee
- woke up from nap wet 2:50
- 3:30 pee
- 4:20 pee
- 4:45 pee, she told me
- 5:00 first accident (pee)
- 5:20 accident (pee)
- 5:27 pee, she told me
- 5:45
- 6:06
- 6:20
- 6:50
- 7:30
- 7:55

Day 3:
- Woke at 7:45 wet
- 8:25 pee
- 9:45 pee
- 11:00 pee
- 11:50 poop
- 12:30 pee
- woke up at 3:15 slightly wet
- 4:15 pee
(told me several times in the evening)
- 5:03 pee
- 5:30
- 6:00
- 6:40
- 7:30

Day 4:
- woke at 7:45 wet
(timer every 30 minutes)
- 8:50
- 9:45
- 10:15
- 11:45
- 12:30
- woke up slightly wet and peed first thing at 2:45
- 3:15
- 3:50
- 4:15 poop
- 5:00
- 5:30
- 6:00
- 6:30
- 7:50

Day 5:
- woke at 7:20
(timer for 15 min until potty)
- 8:30
(timer for 35 min)
- 9:30
- 10:50
- 12:30
- 4:40
(went out to eat and asked her several times and tried a few times - no accident)
- 6:30
- 7:40
- 8:00 poop

Day 6:
- Woke at 7:45
(no timer, just asked every 30 minutes or so)
- 9:30
- 10:30
- 12:15
- Dry after nap, 3:30
- 4:20
- 5:50
- 6:40
- 7:15
- 7:45

Day 7:
- Woke at 7:35 and told me she pee peed in her diaper, but still went in the potty first thing.
- 8:50
- 10:15
- 10:45 poop (at church)
- 11:45
- 12:55
- woke up dry and peed at 2:50
- accident right after going on the potty at 4:15
- 5:30
- accident at 7:00 (still went in the potty right after)

Day 8:
- did well going out
- accidents in the evening even after using the potty

Day 9:
- accidents at Snelson's house and in the car
- Started pooping in the potty, but finished in her panties

Day 10:
- much longer stretches (closer to 2 hours in the morning)
- saying "mommy" and touching panties when she needs to pee, still trying to hide for poop.

Day 11:
- Still took a while to potty after she woke up. I am still sitting her on the potty every 3 minute or so until she goes.
- Told me several times and actually peed 4 of the times.
- She survived a trip to church and Imagine without accidents.

Day 12:
- Went to KDO. Went to the potty one time and had one accident during gym time. She did tell the teachers that she pee peed in her panties.
- We had friends over and she pooped in the potty, but also in her panties and on the carpet...

Day 13:
- Great day!
- We went swimming and she had an accident coming home.

On 1/18, she came to me wanting me to hold her, and told me she needed to poop.

Week 3: zero accidents

Week 4: Accident at small group

She has done SO well. She still doesn't tell anyone much if she needs to pee pee (it's now the end of March), but she can hold it for a very long time! She started holding her poop and going in her pull up during nap time or bed time. I had to start disciplining and telling her that it made me mad, and that finally got to her. I also made a HUGE deal about how happy I was when she went in the potty and I let her pick out her own sucker. I figured out her cues that she needs to poop even when she doesn't tell me: she won't eat much at meals, she toots a lot, and gets nervous looks. We started making a relaxing environment by watching the ipad, reading books, singing songs, or even me stepping out, and she's getting much better about going on the potty!

Very very proud of my big girl!

Claire's Christmas 2016

- She loves the porcelain tree in her room.

- Her favorite lights are the color lights on her play room tree. 

- She's not super in to our Shepherd's Treasure this year, but we are still doing it. 

- She loves the baby, mommy, cow, donkey and camel from her nativity. 

- I'm thankful that I only put her ornaments at the bottom of the tree. 

- She sings along with Jingle Bells, but loves all Christmas songs. 

- We read The Christmas Story every night and she can fill in some of the blanks: a baby named "Jesus", Mary rode a "donkey", there was "no room", she lifts her arms when the angels talk to the shepherds, the wise men follow a "star". 

- Her favorite activity has definitely been cookie decorating.

- She got a doll house with people and furniture, an "All Better" book, an echo microphone and an umbrella chair. She was happy! Her favorite was probably the candy canes in her stocking. 

- She did exceptionally traveling for our Curtis Christmas! She didn't get much sleep and was only a little whiney. She had a great time playing with her cousins! 

Claire's Second Birthday

Our girl is TWO! I really can't believe it, but at the same time it just feels natural and like not that big of a deal. She's growing up so beautifully. She's her own person now with a personality that SHINES through all the time! 

Daddy was still home when she woke up, so he was able to go get her and love on her for a second. She helped me make special pancakes, and we face timed with meme, Michele and Annie to sing her happy birthday. She still got embarrassed by it, but she LOVES BLOWING OUT CANDLES! 

Unfortunately, I had a lot of cleaning and errands to take care of because we were leaving for thanksgiving vacation the next day. We went to the mall to see Santa just like last year. She wouldn't sit with him, but she didn't cry! He gave her a candy cane and she sat in my lap for the picture. We got a cookie and rode the mini ferris wheel before we left. She got a cheeseburger and fries for lunch and got to eat it while we walked around Hobby Lobby. 

We came home for her nap, and spent the rest of the afternoon playing and getting ready for the week at Meme and Poppi's. Andrew got to come home early, so they played while I cooked. The only way we could get her to take bites was to let her blow out the candles after she took a bite! We went to small group where she had fun playing with friends, and then it was time to go home and go to bed! 

I hope she always knows how loved she is, even if her actual birthday wasn't filled with all the activities that she would ever want to do. 

You are so wonderful Claire. We cannot wait to see what your third year will bring us! 

Months 23-24

Things I'm so thankful for: 

1. Her passion for her friends and family. She knows the names of people that belong to the various places we go. 

2. Her strength. Her little 2 year old body can do so much already! A worker in our church nursery said "she's the climbiest baby I've ever seen!" 

3. Her manners. She's very quick and doesn't have to be reminded often to say please, thank you or sorry. 

4. Her listening and obeying skills in public places. For the most part, I can count on her to do what I ask when we are somewhere other than home. 

5. Her lack of attachment to objects. I'll never have to worry about taking something away from her or getting her to stop doing something because she's attached to nothing! 

Things she loves: candy (specifically suckers), elephants and cows, sliding, playing outside, toodles

- She woke up with her first night of vomit in the crib. She was just whiney and it took me a while to get in there. Once we started cleaning her up, she got upset. Then she got a pedialite Popsicle, and got to watch frozen on the couch and was fine. 

She threw up again that night and again the next afternoon, and then it turned into a cold/croupe sounding thing. And Andrew got the stomach bug! 

- She finally put a puzzle together correctly on her own! 

- She says "fry" every time we drive by or through a fast food restaurant. 

- A new phrase I've been having to use way too much: "we don't eat books."

- She throws herself on the ground or hits things when stuff isn't going her way. 

- She doesn't like getting her nose sucked, so what night after I did it (she had a cold) she slapped the mirror. I gave her a stern look and she looked at me innocently and said "a bee". (She likes to pretend to kill bugs.)

- She has assigned seats for people at our table. She walks around and names who the chairs belong to (daddy, mama, Lolly, papa, claire)

- She looks for people saying "where are you" /sounds like Ariel/

- She's very good with colors now. 

- We have a shapes book and she can point to the correct shape on each page. 

- She's in a new phase where she wakes up at 11:30 and screams. The only thing that will get her to stop crying is an episode of a show and a snack. These are night terrors. 

- She says "no" and "yeah" in the most enthusiastic way. 

- She started saying "mine". 

- Now loves cheeseburgers 

- She has started saying "ummmm" sometimes when asked a questions. 

- All in the same day, she ate a bug, a flower and drank from Brody's water bowl. When asked about the bug she said, "a bee. Mmmm mmm." 

- She will willingly stick her whole face in the water. 

- She has started wanting a nightlight (projection of fish) on while she sleeps. 

- She runs like a normal person now

- She wants to hold our hand rather than just a finger.

- When she cries, she tells us "I sad" and points to her tears. 

- When she's throwing a tantrum, she spits and says "I spit". 

- She's a big daddy's girl right now. 

- Anytime we ask her if she wants a sister or brother, she says sister "Didert". She can say both of the names we like most for each gender. 

- We had a Curtis family vacation in Branson. Her attitude was definitely shining bright, but she had a great time. She LOVES rides at Silver dollar city! 

- We trick-or-treated at our church's trunk or treat and then around our neighborhood with Jack and Know. She never said "trick or treat" but did say "thank you". She mostly just wanted to sift through and eat the candy she had. 

Months 21-22

She loves dancing in circles and falling down on purpose, Disney princess movies, Popsicles, being chased, donuts, covering her face to sleep

- She likes to play in her room with the lights off.
- Every night when reading stories, she plays a "night night" game with Andrew. He will say night night and close the door, and she will shout "night night" and he will peep back in. She loves it.
- "My Nannie" came to stay with us for a couple of days.
- We took family pics in August. Worst idea, but we did get some great pics!
- She referred to herself by her name. She pointed to me and said "my mama" and then pointed to herself and said "derr". Close enough!
- Anytime she dances, she falls down (on purpose).
- She got her top incisors (completing her teeth other than 2 year molars) by mid August.
- She startles easily. If she hears a loud noise, her eyes get wide and she runs. She usually shouts out the name of whomever made the loud noise. She loves to be scared.
- She interacts and laughs at appropriate parts in movies.
- She is getting very good at saying and identifying colors.
- When she says "I don't know" and "where did he go" she puts up her hands and says "no" or "go". So cute.
- She would play on our bed all day if I'd let her.
- There are several words that stand for multiple things. Bup: cup, book, block, bird, help, up. Mao/moo: Mail, spoon, balloon. Mimmie: Minnie, swimming. Ninnie: kelly Anne and ice cream. Baba or dede: universal word for anything she's unsure of.
- She says "yeah" in the cutest possible way.
- Her new go to is to say "owwie" or "Tay" after she does anything that purposefully falling down or splashing, etc. It's very important that her audience responds with "are you ok?" Or "I'm sorry!"
- She picked up a little summer cold (runny nose).
- She was sweet at Uncle Matt and Aunt Kristi's baby shower.
- She started saying "m'on" for come on. She will say "daddy, m'on" and signal for him to come with her hand.
- She wants to go to bed at night now. I'll be rocking and ask "are you ready to go night night" and she quickly replies "yeah"!
- We got to watch and play with Ethan and Macy for a day.
- She's going through a picky eating phase.
- She started KDO (along with Tuesday morning bible study, small group and church). She doesn't do well at all at drop off! I'm hoping she becomes used to it very soon!
- She can jump multiple times in a row getting both feet off the ground.
- On a bed or trampoline, she jumps really high, gets her legs in pike position and lands on her bottom.
- Her favorite game is "get you" where we play chase or tickle.
- She's going to be a big sister!
- She is not sleeping well if she goes to bed a little later
- She likes to sleep with her pillow on top of her, but doesn't want blankets. She's no longer in the sleep sack.
- She learned to do "knuckles".
- Her new most used word is "na-by-da". She says it with a very serious face when she wants something. I have no idea.