From this:
To this:
The party was great fun! But our little girl surprised us. She has zero interest in eating cake. She played with the frosting, but even though I put frosting on my finger and in her mouth, she wanted no part of it. She turned her nose up. She’d rather eat fruit! (I’m not complaining.)
It’s estimated that babies get between four to ten colds in their first year. Up until yesterday, Claire had caught nine colds since birth. And now she has a cold again.
It appears that this one is quick and she has no fever; a friend’s daughter had it and was symptom-free in three days, so perhaps she will be well enough that our little guests can join us for her birthday party on Sunday. I also have two Very Pregnant friends who may not be able to come, although since they don’t put her toys in their mouths and won’t hold her, it may not be an issue. We’ll let them know and they can decide.
She’s in pretty good spirits despite the sneezes and runny nose. Her grandma and father are out buying a sandbox for her birthday (which is Monday, but the party is Sunday).
It is as difficult to keep a child out of a mud puddle as it is to bathe a cat.
I’m holding Claire, giving her the afternoon bottle of milk. She is dawdling in my arms while her father and I chat on this quiet Monday afternoon. I look up from Claire’s gaze and ask, “Do you think Claire loves me?”
“Of course she does,” answers Husband. He pauses. “Her feelings are so big she doesn’t even know it’s love. It’s just raw MOM-meeeeee!”
I let the words sink in, and then I rapidly blink to clear my teary eyes. What a beautiful and apt perception.
Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
–William Makepeace Thackeray
Claire is an amazing little person. She is walking (toddling) pretty steadily now. When you ask her, “What does a snake say?” She replies, “SSSSSssss.” If she sees a picture of a snake in a book, she’ll point to it and make the sound. When you ask, “What does a rhinoceros say?” she responds by sniffing hard through her nose (we do it when we read Boynton’s Moo Baa La La La). And when you ask her what an elephant says, she lifts her arm up like a trunk and makes her best approximation of an elephant sound (imitating me).
She is applying the sound ca to cow, cat, milk, clock, and truck. She is obsessed with clocks and will point them out everywhere. Da is for dog. Tee is for any green bushy thing like a tree, bush, flowers, and see is for sheep. She says “Hi!” and waves at trucks, people, cats, dogs, her mirror image, the decorations on her bedroom wall, and especially in the morning when I get her from her crib. Mama and Dada are increasingly applied intentionally to the correct person. She points to other babies and says, “Bay-bee! Bay-bee!” If you tell her to go get Teddy, she will retrieve him. She adores soft, huggable, squishy toys.
I asked her to point to the blue fish in one of her books, and she did! I happen to say, “I see” many times a day in conversation with Claire, and she has started to copy me. I’m sure she doesn’t really know what it means; it’s simply a fun sound to make. The list goes on. She is also having me read the same few books about three dozen times in a row daily. How many times can you read Baby’s First Counting Book or The Jolly Barnyard without going insane? I’m pushing the envelope on finding out.
Lastly, she flatly refuses to eat pureed foods and baby cereal now. She eats green beans, lots of different fruits, toast with jelly, and tiny pieces of chicken, fish, and ground beef. Every day is different. I’m trying to let food be food, and find it a challenge. Must not make food a power struggle!
They came bearing gifts. They arrived at the doldrums of 103-degree afternoon. Claire chatted up a storm with them and generally delighted us all. Georgia entertained us with her talents (amazing eyebrows!) and was so sweet with Claire. It was very special to meet Karen and Georgia, as both of them are close to my heart and have helped me in many ways. Since I seem to be increasingly economical with words (forgive my laziness), I’ll let a photo speak for me. We would love to see them again, and I’m certain we will.
Claire had her first encounter with a swimming pool today. I know, I’m a bad mommy for not having taken a dip sooner. Truth is, I couldn’t find my bathing suit and I wasn’t feeling up to shopping. But I did come across it, and we went to a friend’s home to play. She loved the experience. Considering it’s close to 100 degrees, we might do this again over the next few days.
My mother sent a calendar that had gorgeous food photos with the suggestion I might use them with Claire. So today I quickly glued them to Bristol paper, which will make them less fragile. I’ll trim the edges once they are all dry. There has not been much time or energy for knitting or other creative art ventures, so in the meantime this must do.
The photos are from the Center for Science in the Public Interest calendar.
All I can say is, Claire is a fan of walking!
At the same time she has decided it is time to walk, it seems she has also decided it is time to move on from creamed, pureéd food. She has refused cereal and most pureéd fruits, as well as all pureéd vegetables. She has also been cutting back on milk and dawdling on the bottle a lot, so that I’m thrilled if she gets a mere 18 ounces into her a day. She adores tiny cut up bits of pineapple, cantaloupe, peaches, and pears. She loves her green beans and zucchini but is not so fond of butternut squash chunks (though she loved it before as a pureé). I look forward to when she is a year old and we can introduce other dairy, which I dearly hope she likes and is not allergic to.
The days hurry by like stock traders at work on Wall Street. This week we will enjoy a visit from two special people, and then before I know it, Claire’s grandmother will be here (Husband’s mom).
For posterity…
Scene: Dinnertime, 6:30 p.m. I am standing at the kitchen counter, Husband is leaning against the sink.
Me: I swear, Claire seems hungry every hour lately. I’m chopping up some vegetables for her. [Claire is clinging to my butt, whining in hunger.]
Him: What did you make for dinner?
Me: I made chicken ratatou–ee-yOUCH!
Him: Did you cut yourself? What’s wrong? [He immediately steps over to check on me.]
Me: Claire bit me! The little rascal just bit the back of my thigh!
Him: Oh, I thought you’d cut yourself.
Me: She bit me! She bit me! What an impatient little stinker.
Him: Well, she takes after her mother. [wink]
Guess who took steps without assistance today?
Claire took her first two when I was at our friends’ home. Then after her afternoon nap, Claire got to work again with Uncle T nearby for support. After many tries, she took three steps. They weren’t graceful, and they weren’t actually one in front of the other. But that’s why we call them toddlers!
She was thrilled. We cheered and clapped, she shrieked, laughed, and clapped. I didn’t get it on video this time. I’m sure we’ll soon have lots of movies of her tearing up the carpet on two feet.
I’ve been sick and am recovering slowly (I caught Claire’s cold). Uncle T is having a good time with us. Claire is doing her darndest to walk unassisted and today took two teeny tiny steps in succession. Does that count? We were visiting a friend at the time, so I have witnesses. 🙂 Claire’s sleep and naps are all whacky in part, I suspect, because she’s very busy integrating the walking. She isn’t drinking as much milk anymore since she got sick (I’m a little concerned), and I think she lost a little weight from being sick too. A mother’s job is worry. But she looks pretty healthy here! This was taken yesterday. There are a bunch of new photos and videos uploaded on Flickr for users who are friends and family on Flickr. In one of them she is saying the word “baby.” That seems to be her first distinct word.
Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention a few more tidbits. Claire really seems to favor the color blue. She always grabs for whatever blue toy (block, ball, bead); she will even grab it out of our hands. She now puts balls in her Tiny Love sorter without using the funnel. And she loves making the S sound; she often sounds like a leaky balloon. Ssssssssssss!
Uncle T arrived this morning via an early flight from Austin. He and Claire have become chums right away. Right now they are both napping, so I hope to get a few winks in too.
Claire is better; her fever broke yesterday. Now I have a sore throat and a low grade fever, and I hope this passes just as quickly.
My morning started with feeling punky and then turned odious. (Warning: somewhat gross details follow.) I was eating my toast at the table and Claire was playing on the floor. I had not done a visual sweep of the room as I have learned, having a cat, to get in the habit of doing. For some reason I happen to look over at Claire, who was sitting by the sliding glass door playing with ochre-colored chunks of something. It took me a couple seconds that it was not Cheerios. Yep, Stella had regurgitated right there, and for a couple of minutes Claire had a ball playing with all the squishy stuff. Ugh. I caught her just before she put the hair ball in her mouth. I whisked her away, washed her off, and then proceeded to work on the mess. Thank goodness for the Spotbot. It took me about a half an hour because the mess covered about four square feet. Thus began the day.
Right now she is napping and I am stealing a few moments to get this post written. So, what is Claire doing at 11 months?
I’m in the process of coordinating her first birthday party. I’ve decided to keep things simple: serve appetizers and cake, do only a little decorating, and skip the party favors until next year. The party will begin at 2:00, and the singing and cake serving will happen at 3:00. My mother-in-law will be here to assist, and I surely will need it!
Eleven months. Wow.