Claire at Eleven Months!

Oh Hai there!

 No pictures last month means an excess of them now!  Claire has gone from baby to little person overnight.  She talks all the time.  She mimics us (or whoever is doing the talking) as much as she can.  She dances.  She appears to say "thank you" although since Matt and I have terrible manners, we don't believe she's heard those words. 

Here I come, Daddy!  Wait for me!

Although crawling was quickly followed by pulling up to standing, Claire has finally gotten good at the standing part.  She boogies to music, bending her knees and beating on whatever is in front of her.  She can also stand without holding on to anything.  She hasn't made an attempt to walk, but she will walk along the couch or fireplace holding on now, which is a relatively new move for her. 

Taking the walker on a walk

Nothing is safe in Claire's reach.  We've finally settled that some things will just be toys--coasters, soda bottles, shoes... We try to keep everything else away.  Since she's learned "no", it makes it easier to warn her off of things like the dog toys, the XBox, and television remote. 

Good mommies don't put the camera down, even when danger is eminent.

This stool was on the fireplace, for instance.  We have the fireplace padded, so she's safe around it, but she'd never shown this much in the stool until now.  She flung it to the ground and said, I kid you not, "uh-oh" and then looked at me for reaction.  When I said, "yeah, uh-oh" and grabbed the stool she just kept saying "uh-oh" in a really high pitched voice.  I think she was mocking me.

Look Mom, no hands!

Claire continues to enjoy the simple pleasures of Sesame Street. 

This is how she looks every time I put on Sesame Street.  Crazy.  Abby Cadabby is a good hero, I guess!

 She recognizes many of the main characters as well as the intro music.  I might be a bad mommy for letting her watch television, but the TV is going to be on either way, I'd rather her be exposed to "the Street" than... you know... anything else we watch.  This is her Sesame Street face:

Claire is now sort of feeding herself with a fork or spoon.  I have to load it up first, but she can manage it from there, put it in her mouth, and give it back.  She's really good with mac'n'cheese.  She's also figuring out what she does and doesn't like.  For instance, if I give her carrots and peas, she'll eat the carrots but fish out the peas from her mouth.  If I give her carrots alone, she'll spit them all out.  If I stick anything inside the food she's eating (like a stray pea in the mac'n'cheese) she can figure it out and get it out separately from the other food.  That seems very smart (and very picky) for an eleven month old. 

And she can still hold the juice cup... with her teeth. 

The one thing Claire simply can't figure out is a sippy cup.  We've got lots of different kinds thinking maybe she just couldn't figure one particular cup out.  However, the basic concept of tilting the cup to get the juice has escaped her.  This is her newest cup, which is nice for her because she can carry it in her teeth (all 8+ of them) and crawl around. 

It's pretty entertaining hanging out with Claire.  She's teething again and I can't imagine what other teeth she could be getting in.  She is a terror to diaper change, so we have her "help us" by holding on to something.  She actually works on brushing her own teeth some mornings.  She of course still sleeps solidly through the night, although she's always sleeping on her knees.  She looks so uncomfortable.  I've learned not to move the baby though. 

She still fits pretty true to size to all of her clothes (she's still wearing her 6-9 month clothes too though... so maybe she's finally running a little small?)  She loves bath time as it's just an excuse for serious play.  She's also started playing a bit more with Wally since she can hold her own ground.  She does scare sometimes and crawls really quickly to me and throws herself at me in a huggy way to "get safe".  Very cute. 

I'm busy working on all of the wonderful surprises for her first birthday.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  Just tonight giving her a bath made me so sad to think how much she's changed... it still seems like yesterday they handed me a new baby.  Now I have this wonderful daughter that has grown up before my eyes!

Darn! That's the end!  See you on my birthday!