Up, Down, and Up Again

Clare has mastered not only climbing the steps, but coming down them as well.

Much of her evening was spent on the steps, she's pretty proud of herself :)

30 Years Of Tea Parties

Clare received her very first tea set last week; Gail brought her the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Say Please Tea Set.  The teapot whistles when it’s ready, sings songs about saying please and thank you, counts the cups and hopefully helps teach her to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’  She loves to open and close the lid and pretend to drink from the cup.  The little pieces of cake tend to get lost quickly, but they look pretty on the plate.

This afternoon Clare and Chrissy had a little tea party; Chrissy was thrilled.  Chrissy may have dirty hands and worn pj's (which my mother made), but she is a wonderful friend; she’s always up for a tea party, a walk, or even some imaginative play.  She never complains and is always happy to do whatever Clare wants to do, even if that involves being carried by the legs, poked in the eye or lovingly left to play alone on the floor.  Much like Betsy's doll Jennifer in The Best Loved Doll, she is well loved, has a smile that never goes away, and always sees the best in others. 


Hey Chrissy, you want to have a tea party?

Thank you Clare, the tea is wonderful.

Chrissy never minds when her feet or hands get chewed on.

I hope that Clare and Chrissy share many more tea parties over the years, I know I enjoyed having tea parties with Chrissy when I was little.


'It's a good thing Chrissy likes tea!' December 1982.

Stairmaster

Clare is now officially a stair climber; she can’t get enough of them.  For the last few weeks we’ve been encouraging her to put her knee up on the first step in an effort to teach her how, she didn’t get the hang of it until last night.   Jeff helped her climb a few and then sat at the top of the steps to cheer her on, she slowly but surely climbed her way to the top.  She was so proud of herself when she reached the top. 

I tired to get her second flight on video, but she only had one flight in her, so pictures will have to do.  

Climbed right into Dad's arms.

Did you see that Dad?  That was a lot of work!

Today she climbed the stairs at least a dozen times; it's a good thing I cleaned the floors today!  Anytime we walk upstairs she comes along, she doesn’t like to be left alone.  Our next lesson will be on how to come down the stairs, feet first. 

Have you seen my new trick?

Here, watch this...

I suppose this is both an exciting and terrifying milestone, the thought of her falling down the stairs gives me a stomachache.  I’m hoping she figures out how to go down on her belly feet first in the next few days, save us all from the trauma of a fall down the steps. 

A video for your viewing pleasure. 

Spring Training

This past week we packed our bags, dropped Kai at the spa, and loaded a plane to Phoenix to see our Rockies at spring training.  Greg and Gail joined us on our trip and got in some quality Clare time.

The flight to Phoenix wasn’t bad, Clare slept most of the way and when she wasn’t asleep she quietly played.  When we arrived in Phoenix Greg and Gail were waiting for us, their flight landed 30 minutes before ours.  The pile of luggage was huge; one would have thought we were moving to town with the amount of stuff we all brought.  Jeff and Greg strategically packed the Grand Caravan and we headed to Cave Creek (north of Scottsdale) where Jeff got us a condo. 

Clare and Gail playing in the airport while we waited for our Grand Caravan.

After finding the office and getting a key we unloaded all of our things and figured out the pack-n-play, we got Clare to bed, she was one tired little girl.  The men headed out to find some dinner while we ladies watched late night TV and waited anxiously for something to eat.  Thinking back I should have busted out some of the Easy Mac I’d brought for Clare, I think both Gail and I would have been happy and in bed asleep before Jeff and Greg got back with their bounty. 

Walking practice with Gail

Tuesday we took our time waking up and getting out the door. Clare and I had lunch with my old boss Marc who now works in Mesa; it was nice to see him, his wife Jenny and their little boy Keegan.  Marc had to get back to work and both Keegan and Clare needed naps so our Ruby Tuesday lunch was short and sweet, it was good to see him.  


Some morning play around the condo.

Gail brought this bouncy ball for Clare, it would light up as it bounced.  Clare enjoyed it best in her mouth, it must have felt good on her gums.

An Easter pail and some eggs, Clare liked watching them spin on the table.  I wonder if the Easter bunny will stop by our house this year?

On our way back to the condo we drove to the Biltmore Fashion Mall where there was a Vera Bradley store, I think I’ve gotten Gail hooked J We finally headed back and Clare took a short nap, we were all hoping she’d nap once we got back to the condo, but she had other plans.  We’re learning that if we miss the nap window there’s not much hope of a good nap, she fought sleep pretty hard and only napped for about 30 minutes before we all just gave up.   Dinner was Mexican from the Mexican place just up the road.  The restaurant had a pond with ducks, Clare found them pretty interesting, and I don’t think she’d ever seen real ducks. 

Wednesday we played things by ear and worked off of Clare’s schedule, we wanted to make sure she got a good nap in before heading to the baseball game.  The weather was perfect for walks around the area and a few trips down the slide at the playground.  Clare ended up having lunch and going down for a nap around her normal scheduled time.  Greg and Gail ventured out for some lunch and brought back BBQ sandwiches.  Once Clare woke up we headed to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, the Rockies new Spring Training facility.  Clare fell asleep again in the car, so in an effort to take full advantage of her bonus nap we took a detour to Buy Buy Baby, a baby store that we don’t have here in Colorado but I’ve heard great things about; it was huge! 

After our trip to Buy Buy Baby we headed to the ballpark, the gates didn’t open until 4:20, but they were practicing on the field next to the stadium so we figured we’d go watch them for a while.  We parked the car, $5 to park in what turned out to be the employee parking lot, and walked up to the ticket booth.  We got to the ticket booth and discovered the game was sold out!!!  All that was running thru my mind at that point was, you have to be kidding me, we came all this way and now we can’t even see them play!!!!  I was less than thrilled, Clare was so upset she threw her hat on the ground, if she could stomp her feet I’m sure she would have.  We decided to walk around and watch them practice, if nothing else we’d enjoy the weather and watch them do a few drills and maybe even get an autograph if we were lucky.  As we were walking towards their practice field a guy walking the other way asked if we needed tickets, woo hoo!  $60 later we had 4 tickets on the lawn, perfect!!

Patiently waiting for the game to start. 

When we arrived at the practice field they were doing drills.  Apparently one of Tracey’s (Manager Jim Tracey) big things is if the ball is in the dirt you should get to second, or take an extra base.  So, the pitcher was throwing the ball short to the catcher and the rest of the players were trying to beat the ball (catcher wasn’t actually throwing) to the base.  I decided to be one of those people that sat right up against the fence, maybe 10 feet from the catchers, close enough I could hear their chit-chat, all very neat.  All the players were there, Hot Toddy, EY, Tulo, Giambi, Dexter, Silly Spilly, and most importantly Ubaldo.  It turned out that none of the players stopped on their way to the clubhouse after practice, but we did get to see them all walk by which was neat. 

Once the gates opened we went in and checked out the Team Shop and the bathrooms.  The bathrooms were exceptionally clean and the Team Shop was exceptionally expensive.  We walked around and found a cement block behind the seats where we decided to park ourselves; it turned out to be the perfect place to watch the game.  Gail and Clare mostly walked around while Jeff and I watched the game, Greg made a new friend and talked, or listened I should say, for a good part of the game.  We finally decided to call it a night at the bottom of the 5^th inning, Clare had fallen asleep in the stroller and the Rockies were ahead so we figured it would be safe for us to leave.

I thought our seats were much better than the lawn.  

It's next to impossible to get everyone looking at the camera...

Jeff whispering sweet nothings in Clare's ear. 

WOW!  Did you see that!?!

Clare had fun pushing around her stroller, I think she enjoyed the different perspective.

Yay, Go Rockies!

Clare was fast asleep towards the end of the evening. 

Thursday we packed all of our stuff, loaded up the mini-van and headed down thru Scottsdale, seeing what there was to see.  We stopped back at the Vera Bradley store, they were having a sale on their new patterns, and then searched for lunch.  Lunch was at the Kona Grill in the Scottsdale Fashion Plaza, the patio was more in the parking garage than outside but the food was good.  After a quick Starbucks stop we headed to the airport, rather be early than pressed for time was the general feel amongst those in charge. 

All in all it was a wonderful week, quick, but wonderful.  I’d never been to Phoenix so I can now check it off my list of cities to visit.  My overall impression was that it was warm, dry, brown, most cars have tinted windows, there aren’t many fast food places (Gail noticed this), lots of cactus, some huge houses, and pretty decent shopping.  I don’t know that I need to move to Phoenix, but it’s a nice place to visit.  We were all glad to be home and sleep in our own beds, shower in our own bathroom and get back to our routine.  Clare is an excellent traveler; we’re lucky that she’s so easy going.  She enjoyed her trip and spending time with Grandma Gail and Pawpaw (yes, Greg has decided on a name!).  

11 Months

I woke up this morning to Clare calling my name; it is absolutely the best sounding alarm.  I walked in her room and she was still waking up, rubbing her eyes and holding Bunny up to her face, I could tell she was still sleepy.  I picked her up and she put her head on my shoulder, I love it when she does that. 

Each month I say the same thing; time is going way too fast. In the past month Clare has perfected her crawling, improved her balance and has even attempted a few steps with a little bit of help.  She has ventured between the coffee table and the couch, Jeff will put Bunny on one or the other and she will slowly work herself up to moving between the two to get to her, only to have Jeff move Bunny so she had to brave the gap again. Clare is in love with blueberries, not so sure about protein, learning to like milk, still enjoying Mac & Cheese, and adding new foods to her diet each day, tonight we learned she likes black olives and grapes. 

The countdown to her First Birthday is on, 31 days.  We’ll be having a small party to celebrate, nothing huge, just family and a few friends to share lunch and cake with our little Lady.  I have finished creating the invitations; they just need to arrive so I can send them out. I need to do something about a cake, I will probably make one for her, and maybe get some decorations, what else goes into a 1^st Birthday Party? 

Before leaving for work we took our 11-month pictures with Truman and Chrissy.  Clare wasn’t feeling so photogenic this morning, she was still pretty tired, and she fell asleep pretty quickly once she got in the car.  While taking her picture this morning I remembered taking her picture the day she came home, she was so tiny, now you can hardly see Truman and Chrissy in the chair. 

Mama, I'm tired...

As you can see our little photo shoot ended on a sad note, she was so tired.  

Clare, 

I love you more than anything in the world; don't ever forget.  You continue to amaze me and make me smile everyday, your voice is music to my ears and I love to hear what you have to say.  When you say my name my heart melts, knowing that you want to be with me makes my day, all I want to do is be with you.  I miss you more than you know when we’re apart; I count the minutes until I’ll see you again.  The smile on your face when I walk in the door is the perfect ending to my day; I will always come back to you.  

You are my world Little Lady, I love you!  

Got Milk?

Clare loves to drink water; she never turns down a drink and will drink 3-5oz with her dinner.  We’ve been keeping a cup upstairs so she can have a drink first thing in the morning, like us she wakes up pretty parched.  I’m wishing I’d already started using the sign for water so she could tell us when she wanted a drink rather than waiting for us to offer her her cup; I think we’ll be starting to sign and see if she’ll pick it up.

I’ve been thinking about starting her on some whole milk; Karen has been asking if she could supplement with cow’s milk at her house.  It’s suggested that you wait until kids are a year old before giving them cow’s milk; that all being said I know lots of people that started the transition earlier.  Tonight while we were shopping at Sprouts, blueberries were on sale; I picked up some whole milk to see how she liked it.  We got home at dinnertime and she was getting cranky so we started dinner immediately, dinner included a little bit of milk.  She quickly drank about 4oz of water; maybe she didn’t have any at Karen’s, and then tried the milk.  At first she wasn’t so sure, she looked at me funny as she took a drink and paused after the first drink.  But, she drank most of the milk I put in her cup!!!  I’m so thrilled that she didn’t reject it; maybe this transition won’t be so rough.  I think we’ll slowly offer her milk, a little bit each day with the hopes of having her drink cows milk primarily at Karen’s.   

Our trip to Sprouts was initiated because we were out of blueberries, among other things, and they were on sale, 2 for $5.  We picked up a few things at the front of the store and slowly made our way back to the fruit section, Jeff was getting some sort of greens while I headed for the berries.  As soon as Clare saw the blueberries she started to get really excited, kicking her legs and ‘talking’ up a storm, she couldn’t get her hands on them fast enough.  I put 3 cartons in the cart and opened the 4^th right there to give her some, good thing they aren’t charged by weight.  She was so happy; blueberries are by far her favorite food.  We added some grapes to our cart; we’ll see how she likes those. 

Straws!!

Today my plan was to get out the door by 9:30 so we could run a few errands before visiting NP Clare for her ear check. Clare had other plans, she ended up taking a nap at 10:00 and didn’t wake up until 11:20.  Oh well, I was able to get the floors done while she napped and we ran our errands after the ear visit, I will always make time for Clare’s naps.

The ear check was quick and simple, Clare said her ears looked perfect and we didn’t need to do anything further.  Clare was such a good little patient, she sat on my lap so still and didn’t make a peep while NP Clare looked in her ears, even NP Clare commented on how well she did. 

After our ear check we headed to Target for a few quick things.  I’ve been on the hunt for a good sippy cup with a straw; I want Clare to know how to use a straw so when we’re out an about she can drink without having to have ‘her’ specific cup.  We found a good cup and tossed it in the cart with our other items, Nilla wafers, graham crackers, diapers and bananas to name a few. 

It didn’t take long for Clare to figure out her new cup, she’s a water drinking fool.  The rest of our afternoon was spent pulling books off the shelf, pulling up on everything, checking on our blog and drinking water.  It was a perfect afternoon, I wish every afternoon was like this.  

Hmmmm, what is this??

Maybe I'll just grab onto this and pull it down here...

Oh, you don't want me to touch this?

Doing her part to keep the blog going, always willing to help with the computer. 

Clare LOVES to pull the books off the shelf, it's the first thing she does when she's in the living room.

I hope everyone had as wonderful an afternoon as we did.