I haven’t made much effort to write here. Haven’t had much energy when I’ve been granted a little time. I have, however, lost 9 pounds since my surgery last month and am getting stronger every day. The past week Claire has battled a cold and a reaction to vaccinations, so we’ve been lying low. She had her 18-month doctor visit on the 10th (one month late) and weighed in at 21 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 31 inches tall. A friend calls her a Holly Hobbie child. She is petite, but oh so energetic and talkative!

I’m also thinking about the future of writing on this blog, particularly about Claire. There will come an age where details about her may be later perceived by her as an intrusion on her privacy. So I am considering other ways to keep people apprised, such as an email newsletter to people I really consider friends and family (certain readers here among them). However, since I’m still in the pondering stage, let me share more about Claire:

• She has lately become obsessed about smelling flowers. She wants to sniff them wherever we go — real and fake ones, in the grocery store, in parks, on walks, in the yards of houses we visit with the realtor. The other day she sniffed a daffodil that apparently had no scent and said, “Nothing happened!” after. I’m not sure if she understands that not all flowers smell, because she always says “Ahhh!” after sniffing.
• Claire is likewise obsessed with belly buttons. She commands me to “draw a belly button” on anything I draw in her sketch book: flowers, people, butterflies, you name it and she wants a belly button on it.
• She likes to point to butterflies and say, “Butterflies flutter by!”
• Lately Claire has demonstrated consoling behavior to her stuffed animals. Her current favorite lovey, Brown Doggie, goes many places with her. Sometimes she hugs him and says, “It’s okay.” She also asks if someone coughs “You okay?” This is because sometimes if she swallows wrong and gags and coughs a bit, I am alert (watching out for choking) and ask her if she’s okay.
• The other day as she was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she announced, “I’m busy!” with a big smile.
• As I wrote a check to the babysitter, she wanted to grab the pen. I said no, that I was writing a check with it. A little later as I cooked, she sat on the kitchen floor with crayons and a blank book, scribbling. Then she said to no one in particular, “I’m writing a check.”
• Yesterday for lunch she asked for cute cumbers.

Lastly, I have two tattoos, one of which is a highly stylized “Om” symbol (pictured below). Claire loves to look at them both (the other is a Celtic knot). Last week as she pondered the Om, she said that it was a man riding a bicycle. What an imagination this child has!