A little update

Clare is 14 1/2 months and is all toddler! She started walking about a month ago. She is still a little unsteady, but easily makes her way from one room to another without any trouble. She is mimicking a lot of what we say to her. She loves to laugh and it is infectious. Tonight while we waited for Brian to get home from work, I would hide around a corner and she came looking for me and would laugh hysterically when she found me. She also loves music and dancing. She starts shaking her hips at the first note of a song.

Her dad can't look at her more than 3o seconds without commenting, "She's so darn cute."

A few hours to go...

In a little less than four hours, our sweet baby girl will turn ONE! She was born at 12:14 AM on May 17th, 2009. She is sound asleep after a busy day celebrating with her friends. The theme was, of course, monkeys. The same designer that did her birth announcements created these invitations for us.

We had cake (forgot the ice cream in the freezer!) which Clare wasn't sure about to start with, but as you can see quickly figured out.

Valentines - Part 2

Here are a couple of short clips from Valentines Day.

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

There is a Marchant family tradition started by my mom - the original "Valentine Lady". The Valentine Lady brings special surprises. Well, the Valentine Lady makes two trips to the Piascik house. A nice package arrived from the original - some cute ribbon socks with Clare's initial on them. We can't wait to wear them with a dress and her little black patent shoes!

The Valentine (aka Mommy) also brought Clare her very first baby doll. She has been playing with my Madame Alexander "Victoria" doll - she loves the eyes opening and shutting. Victoria is in desperate need of a visit to the doll hospital - she's missing most of her eyelashes and needs a general makeover and some plastic surgery. Clare now has her very own Pink Cheek Huggums. She is definitely enamoured by her and lights up when she sees her and wants to hold her.

A new tactic...

I'm fairly certain that Clare is working on her top two teeth. She refused to eat her dinner last night and breakfast this morning. I was willing to try just about anything tonight to get her to eat something other than puffs and milk. So, after about 15 bites total of avocado and bananas off the spoon, she started locking her lips. I gave in and let her half the bowl of avocado - this is the result...

Aren't you proud, Grammy?

We have started brushing Clare's teeth (when we remember). She still only has the two bottom ones, but they are pearly white! We brush those and her gums and then she takes a turn brushing. It's too cute! (BTW - Brian's mom is a dentist.)

8 months old!

Clare turned 8 months old yesterday - time goes by so fast. She seems to be doing new things everyday.

• She is almost crawling - she raises up on her hands and knees and rocks but ends up going backwards.
• She loves to smile and laugh at just about anything.
• She is very ticklish under her neck and under her arms.
• She has learned how to wave.
• Bathtime is her favorite time of day and Daddy taught her how to splash everywhere. We still bathe her in the kitchen sink (the new one is a big, single bowl).
• She goes to bed with little fuss now and is a good sleeper. She still gets up in the night, but goes right back to sleep when she finishes eating.
• She wakes up in the morning with a big smile on her face.
• She loves everything we give her to eat (a great eater like Mommy and Daddy). She has eaten sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, acorn squash, apples, pears, bananas, mangos, peas, and avocados.
• She is starting to drink from a sippy cup, but hasn't figured out that she needs to tip it up to get the milk or juice out.
• She LOVES any kind of music. Her current favorite toy is her Leapfrog Counting Caterpillar which plays classical music.
• She watches about 20 minutes of TV each day - "Jack's Big Music Show" is her favorite. She sits and stares at the show and dances to the songs.
• She loves to play with Brian's wallet - getting an early start.

We all survived!

I left Friday morning to spend the weekend in D.C. with Brian's sister, mom and aunt. We had a wonderful time visiting the Newseum, going to tea at the Ritz, a little shopping - including looking at wedding gowns with Susie, and seeing the Mariinsky Ballet at the Kennedy Center. Clare stayed home with Daddy. This was the first time that I had left her for longer than a few hours. Brian did a great job with Clare and they are both unscathed. He even ventured out yesterday to run a few errands. I survived without my baby girl, but am very glad to be home. It took me several hours to let go of her.

Movin, Movin, Movin

I bought babyproofing supplies yesterday. I'm not even sure where to start. I think the major endeavour is just getting organized enough that Clare doesn't have access to things she shouldn't which means putting things out of reach. She loves to play in the tupperware cabinet and has full reign in there. Clare rolls across the floor to get where she wants and has been doing that for a few weeks. Now, she gets up on all fours and then scoots to try to get where she wants to go. You can see the disappointment in her face when she doesn't get there because she is going BACKWARDS. It's too cute - I've got the video camera at the ready so I can catch her doing it next time.

Daddy's Hair

Here is more evidence that Clare looks just like Brian - today, she and I hung out at home while Brian had to go into the office. No need for hairbows today since we weren't going anywhere. We played all day long. She took 3 naps - all less than an hour, but still naps. In between playing and napping, I fixed lunch and gave Clare her first teething biscuit. I was prepared for a mess, but that was an understatement.


A few minutes into it, we had this...not too bad.

Then this...

Then we ended up with this...

Take note of the sleeves on her sweater - she and the high chair needed to be hosed down when she was done. I had so much fun watching her make such a mess. Brian says he felt like he was looking in a mirror when he saw these pictures.