So helpful!

I just found this blog and I love it, the mom cracks me up. She just did a Mom-to Mom post this week with so many helpful tips. Go here and read the comments. These people are geniuses.

Claire at 18 months

It's been a while. Here is what Claire is up to at 18 months:

She is now obsessed with books. I was a little worried because she showed zero interest before - she literally could not sit still for more than 5 seconds. But in the past month she's really gotten into them. Often times we are awoken to her on the monitor saying "Read book" and look to see her holding up one of the ones she went to bed with and straining and pointing at the rocking chair in her room. If she gets hurt or upset in any way, she immediately runs to her room crying "Passy" and "Read book" over and over. She's mostly into ones with flaps she can lift, but throws in a little "Blue Hat, Green Hat" and a few more Boynton ones.

Speaking of, we still have not broken the passy habit. I know we need to but I can't mentally prepare myself for the lack of sleep. Perhaps it won't be that bad, but I know lots of times we hear her rustling about in there and turn on the monitor to see her reaching around for her passy, sticking it in and laying back down without a peep. I fear there shall be peeps when there is no passy to be found. :-( I can't decide if we should go the cold turkey route or do the cutting down thing that several of my friends have done in the past. It's sad but I am so cheap that all I can think of with that option is "what a waste of a good pacifier!"

She's talking more and more which is so fun. She's in the "repeat everything you say" phase which is so cute to hear her say some things in her sweet little voice. My absolute favorite thing is that when you come home after being away she runs up to you and reaches up and says "I missed you!!!" in the most excited, cute voice ever. I want to eat her up. She can also say "I love you" and "Te amo" (I love you in spanish). The other night at dinner she looked over at me and goes "Te amo Mommy." So sweet. Johanna definitely speaks more spanish to her than she did to K and you can tell. She never asks for water, only agua, and uses "mas" instead of "more." Also uses "leche" and a couple other spanish words more often than english. She also loves to stand on the stairs and wait until you're not really paying attention and go "I see you!" to get you to look. Super cute.

The favorite post dinner time ritual is still run around and chase each other screaming and laughing. It is so fun to watch.

She loves to have sissy stand on her back (weird). I was of course hesitant at first but apparently K's done this when I'm not around and she convinced me "She LOVES it" and indeed she does. She laughs harder than I've ever heard her laugh and says "more more" when she gets off.

Bedtime is breeze still, which is another reason I worry about removing the passy. Drink some milk, read some books and then she requests "blankie" and you cover her up and she lays there and blows you kisses as you walk out the door. Then she just lays there and relaxes until she falls asleep, she doesn't even really read the books she brings to bed with her (although you better put them in there or else you'll hear about it!)

She is by far the more active of the two kids we've had. She is literally into everything. She is like a hurricane that comes through our house and can dismantle it in 30 seconds. She crawls into drawers, on top of bookshelves and chairs and tables, under beds. She is a whirling dervish. I'm not even explaining this well, but it's like nothing I've ever seen before. I use the word "frantic" and "determined" because there really is no stopping her. We've tried time outs but they're not so effective yet. The few times I've put her in her crib she has thrown every single article in there out and started to try and remove the sheets. She is non-stop. She also does not care to sit very long at meals and is a huge food thrower/slinger when she's done. Kind of at a loss for what to do there. I'm hoping when she starts preschool in the fall she might start to focus and play by the rules more.

That being said, we really cannot imagine life without our Claire Bear. She and Kaitlin are really the best of friends and are always looking for/talking about the other when one is not there. This makes it difficult when one is napping b/c the other is always trying to sabotage and go get sissy. But I wouldn't have it any other way! Here are some recent pics of the girls:

Taking a very important call

"Umm, let me check my schedule and get back to you"

New favorite reading spot

Cool girl!!

This ballet suit cracked me up to be so small. She was not a fan.