Boy Crazy

I took Claire to a child's program that takes place at the library. Today, there were less people in attendance then normal and I think that has to do with it being the end of summer and families getting in one last vay-cay before school starts. Less people meant more space for the kids to walk, run, and dance around. This has its ups and downs. The downside usually equates to moms chasing their child around, hop-scotching around the other parents, as their child attempts to grab at the toys that are actually props for the instructors story/song.

During one of the songs, the kids were shaking maracas and dancing about. Claire was sitting on the floor facing backwards, checking out the other parents and kids. A boy around her age ended up standing next to her. Within a blink of an eye, she was holding the little boys hand. The little boys mother was totally smitten with the scene, whereas I could only think "Oh we are in so much trouble." After the little boy took his hand away, looking at Claire like "Ummm... why did you do that," a mere 30 seconds later Claire was reaching for his hand again and this time she was doing it without even looking at him. Like, this was totally normal and they should be holding hands right now. Oh, I forgot to mention how about 5 minutes before she was shoving another little girl (again, around her age) out of the way because the little girl was peering out of the window NEXT to Claire's window and well, Claire wanted to look out of the other window.

She pushes the girls and grabs for the boys. And she's not even 15 months old. After telling this story to Casey, I saw his face flush. I think he may have had his first heart attack.

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

This afternoon I took baby and dog to the playground. It's a great compromise because Ollie MUST, MUST, MUST get out of the house. He's eyeing me as soon as we wake up in the morning. "When are we going for a walk? Now? Is it time for a walk?" argh.

I like to take them in the late afternoon because there is a 1% chance of us coming across wildlife, which means it's safe to let him walk off leash (because he'll actually listen to the commands). The path we take leads to a big field with a playground. Now Ollie can run around, mark his territory and lounge beneath the tree, and Claire could be free from the stroller. Most of the time Ollie isn't too fond of this part of the walk because it means he has to wait and wait and, oh yes, wait while Claire has fun. It's bad enough we brought her into this world, now we actually allow her to enjoy herself around him?!? The nerve.

Well, if Claire gets to play on the playground, then Ollie feels that he should get to play there too. Of course, Claire doesn't mind. In fact, she LOVES Ollie. So much so, there are times where she tries to imitate him. I'm so proud! Normally, this isn't a big deal, except when Ollie performs a feat that ignites the dare-devil inside of Claire. She has daddy's trait when it comes to no fear, which puts the fear in me, which means I'll probably keel from a heart-attack in the near future.

Here we are, Claire sitting in a tunnel that is connected to a platform that leads to the top of 2 kiddie slides. When we first climbed up to the tunnel, Ollie had scurried past Claire and was "stuck" on the top platform. Claire and I were playing peek-a-boo through the windows placed on either side of the tunnel. A couple of minutes into the game Ollie started to cry because he wanted to get down and couldn't get past Claire in the tunnel to go down the easy way. I know that Ollie can go down these slides, but when he's around Claire he regresses into a puppy and prefers to cry for attention. Having none of it, I told him to man-up and go down the slide. Not a good idea. In the very next instant I see a spark in Claire's eyes as she dashes out of the tunnel to the high platform. I quickly run around to stand between the 2 slides and try to determine where she plans on going. She chose her slide and launched herself off of the platform. Launch, not as in "I'm going to slide down really fast," but as in "I'm going to jump down like Ollie did because that looks like way more fun." Using my cat-like reflexes, I jumped half-way up her chosen slide and caught her mid-air. That's right. I'm a ninja.

As I try to get my heart rate under control, to avoid any sudden strokes, Claire is smiling like she just performed the coolest trick ever. And if that is her coolest trick at 14 months, I am going to have to brace myself for what lies ahead. We have a mini Evel Knievel on our hands.

Pooptastic!

In one 24 hour period, Claire has managed to poop 7 times. It's a delicious thought, I know. It completely baffles my mind though because I don't understand how one little body can pass so much stuff! At first I thought she had a stomach bug until Casey felt a new tooth cutting through her gums. Ahhhh!! Now I know why she needs to poop and poop and poop. It's better than her fussing and crying although I'll be very excited when the tooth comes in because changing her diaper every hour has already grown tiresome.

Wow! She's getting another tooth. My little girl is leaving babyhood and moving faster into toddlerdom. awwwww.....

Everything is a "no"

We were all excited when last week Claire made the connection and understand what "No" and the head shake means. Trouble is, now everything is a "no", even when she means "yes" and this is extremely frustrating. Now when I ask a question or know that she really means yes, I follow her violent head shake with a smiling, nodding "yes" in hopes that she'll make this correlation sooner than later.

I've also discovered that she likes to learn one thing at a time and roll with it. Along with the no's, she's learned to say "up" -- a very, definite UP. Except everything is now "up". Yes, you've got it. And unfortunately, we have a child that doesn't enjoy being taught unless it's on her terms. For example, we're reading a book. I ask her to point out the yellow flower. She does so and so I ask her to point out the green flower. That's when she whips her head around and finds something else to do because hey! She's already answered one question and can't be bothered with the rest. I really hope that this is a phase, otherwise her schooling is going to be joy.