Today was Claire’s first day at the parent-participation preschool session. She loved it! So far, we haven’t yet encountered an activity (story hour, Little Gym, music) that she dislikes or fears. It’s a loosely structured 2-hour class where 12-18 month old kids play with their parents and the teacher leads us in songs and discussion. Then there’s a snack time at a certain location. Normally at home, I allow Claire to snack while playing and often feed her like a little sparrow while she plays. At school, children may only eat at the table. And parents take turns bringing the snack; since today was yogurt, teddy grahams, and juice, and Claire has eschewed all dairy except milk (in a bottle still), I was curious to see what Claire would do.

At first she wasn’t interested in joining us. She rummaged in some toys while I stayed at the snack table. She picked out a purse and brought it over. I helped her sit in the tiny chair and gave her the teddy grahams, which she ate. I offered her apple juice in a Dixie cup; she does not get juice at home, and I allow her to have it when we are at a friend’s house or on an outing. Since she’s still uncoordinated, I held the cup, and she managed to drink it all with her cookies. On a whim I thought I’d offer strawberry yogurt. And to my delight, she ate it! I’d started with a small amount, maybe a tablespoon. When that was gone I asked, “Do you want some more yogurt?” She said, “Yes yogi.” I gave her a larger helping and she devoured that too. When we were done with snack, we got cleaned up and left the table to play outside.

Lately she has decided she wants to chew larger bits of food: grape halves instead of quarters, larger banana slices, and to actually take a bite of a hot dog off of a larger hunk held by an adult. So her preferences are evolving, and I think seeing other kids eat different foods in a more structured setting will be good for us.

I haven’t blogged much lately since I was doing art every day, so here’s more random stuff about Claire:

• She remains very unaware of her surroundings when she is climbing on stuff at gym or preschool. She is so focused on where she is headed and does not watch for changes in threshold. At the gym it’s safer to allow her to tumble and experience the consequence (except even there exist some dangerous heights). At preschool today she wanted to walk up and down a steep carpeted incline used for crawlers, and I need to stick close by since it’s made of hard wood. Eventually she will get more coordinated and aware. Whenever she goes up stairs or tries to crawl up furniture, she says proudly, “Cimbing! Cimbing!” (No letter “L” sound)
• When people sneeze, she now says “Bess you.” And when she burps, often times she remembers to say Coo me (excuse me). It is so darn adorable to observe this.
• Claire continues to parrot everything she hears. The other day a friend said “Oh God!” and immediately we heard a little voice say “Oh God, oh God, oh God.” Must watch our language!
• Here is a list of words she has started to say: magazine (this is very garbled, sounds like “manganese”, beautiful, crying, happy, climbing, jumping, snowflake, snowman, stocking, stove, sink, oven, counter, plant, phone, giraffe, Texas (indeed!). There are more, but this is all I have at the top of my memory.
• When playing with others, she is really passive about trying to hang on to a toy she has in her hands. Other kids pull hard and, rather than resist and clutch the toy, she allows it to leave her grip, only to follow the child in a futile attempt to get it back. Sometimes she cries once a toy is yanked away, but she doesn’t assert effort to keep it. I can feel this hitting some old sore spots of my memories and am trying to be aware of the red flags (avoiding temptation to project my experience and feelings on to her). Easier said than done.
• Every time Claire sees her friend Fia, she kisses her. Claire also kisses all her stuffed animals, and other stuffed animals she meets. She even kisses her wooden snail pull-toy. Claire is really demonstrative of affection. She walks around carrying stuffed toys in a hug, with her the toy nestled against her neck, and says “Ohhhhhh…”
• Claire has one molar that has come through on top and at least two more molars puffing up her gums.
• When I am in the kitchen cooking or chopping fruit, Claire has taken to bringing a book or toy in and sitting on the floor playing with it while keeping me company. She’s my little buddy.
• We sing a little song to pick up toys, and when she hears it she now says, “Keen up, keen up” while we sing. She even puts a toy or two away (before trying to take out more).

So that’s my update on Claire! Next Wednesday her Aunt E comes to visit, and I think they’ll both have a ball with each other.