Claire turned 15 months old on May 24th. She is a feisty little darling, full of energy and cuteness. She learns new things by the day, so it's difficult to list it all. It's been a great age. She is able to play independently for a bit and feed herself a meal. That gives mommy a little break from a cling-on baby. But she's still learning new things and awed by the workings of the world. It's a true joy to watch her experience the world around her.
Some of the fun developments of the month:
Kisses - Claire is very weird with kisses. She has long mastered blowing a kiss and is getting very liberal with them. She can hold court in the grocery store with her royal wave and kisses thrown around like crazy. But actual kisses are a different story! She rarely ever did that drooly open mouth kiss that young babies are famous for. For the past few months, whenever you asked for a kiss, she would bow her head so you could kiss her forehead! Within the past 2 months, she began randomly giving real kisses to inanimate objects. The stool by the garage door, Jeff's backpack, a toy--all got kisses. The she progressed to sometimes kissing my arm or leg, just out of blue while I was sitting quietly. So now inanimate objects and body parts can get kisses. I like to joke that she has problems with intimacy.
Yoga - While my sister was staying with us, she taught Claire a little yoga. Claire liked to help Jamie do some stretches. If Jamie would do downward facing dog, Claire would run to sit under her. She would scoot up close to Jamie's face and use her hand to lift her leg up like she was trying to kick Jamie in the face or make her smell her toes. Jamie would stretch her leg by holding one out to the side. Claire would imitate by lifting her leg. Claire's favorite was ab exercises. As Jamie sat on the floor, Claire would stand between her legs and hold on as Claire lifted her up and down during leg lifts.
Dancing - Auntie Jamie also taught Claire some dance moves. She can "shake it" (bounce her fists up and down) and drop it like it's hot (bend her legs up and down). And while not a dance move she also learned to throw a deuce (hold up 2 fingers and say Deuces!). Claire loves music and shaking her little booty.
Pull toys - Claire is beginning to develop this particular skill. She never really got the concept of pull toys before. Now she is beginning to catch on. She also is figuring out how to use her toy vacuum. But rather than just push the vacuum continuously across the room, she push and pulls it back and forth quickly. I assume that's mimicking what I look like when vacuuming.
Vocabulary - Her vocabulary is expanding at an exponential rate. Here's an incomplete list.
Words:
Hi,
Bye,
Night night (nah nah),
Mama,
Dada,
Auntie,
Audrey,
Milk,
Water,
Up,
Down,
All done,
Uh oh,
Book (gook),
Ball (bah),
Bubbles,
Baby,
Cheese,
No no,
Sign:
More,
Eat,
Milk
Sounds:
Moo,
Woof woof,
Meow,
Baa,
Quack quack,
Doot Doot (tweet tweet),
Snuffling like a pig
Of course, to balance all the sunshine and roses, she is continuing to
develop her little stubborn streak. She's starting to test some limits
(like climbing on the coffee table!) and tantrums are a part of a daily
life. The severity of the tantrums run from minor verbal protest to
epic tantrum where she cannot be calmed for a good 10-15 minutes. She's
had 3 of those "epic tantrums" as I call them in her short life. They are
sad and scary for mommy because her anger is short and she then becomes
distraught. She seeks out comfort, but then refuses it.
Photos!
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| Mmm, Auntie makes good pizza! |
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| Swollen, warm-to-the-touch reaction to her 15 months shots |
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| Stylin'! |
Playing in the backyard
