Wow, I can’t believe it’s been a month since our last post! Claire definitely keeps us busy and so entertained so it’s hard not to collapse at the end of the day from pure exhaustion. Thankfully, we’re loving every minute of it, even the moments that test our patience. 😉

Here’s a rundown of our spunky little 15-month-old:

• Weight: She was 19.4 pounds when she went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and we think she hit a growth spurt. So maybe 20 pounds now? We will have her 15 month check-up this week so we’ll find out then!
• Loves:
  • To pretend talk on the phone. Pretty much my favorite new thing that she does! I’ll pretend to talk on the phone and hand it to her and she grabs it and walks off and pretends to have a conversation. If only we knew what she was saying!
  • To play with her tea set. It has a tea pot and two tea cups and she’ll pretend to pour some invisible tea into a cup and drink it. Toooo cute! She also likes playing pretend more in general – she’ll take a bowl and a spoon and pretend to eat from it even if it’s empty.
  • To give kisses and hugs.
  • To walk/run everywhere!! Sometimes she goes too fast for her little feet and falls but she handles falls really well. She just jumps back up and is on her way. When she gets going really fast, she swings her arms forward and backward really enthusiastically. It’s too cute!!
  • To be as independent as possible. She doesn’t like being in the stroller too long because she likes to walk around on her own.
  • To fake cry when she doesn’t get what she wants. I’ve caught her practicing her “cry” face in the mirror a few times. Such a little actress! Good thing she’s adorable. 😉
  • To walk and hold hands. Only for short periods of time because holding hands prevents her from fully exploring.
  • To store her toys or random items in our wine rack. We bought it right before she was born but now it’s completely empty. Not because we drank all the wine but because she’ll pull bottles out and put toys in there. Apparently, it’s her own storage system! It’s pretty hilarious to see when she stashes in there.
  • To dance to the Winnie the Pooh song and to the “Let It Go” song from Frozen.
  • YOGURT!!! She gets so pumped when we’re about to feed it to her.
  • Nana and Daddy’s homemade spaghetti sauces. They both made different ones but she inhaled both! We’ve never seen her eat something as quickly as she did those.
  • Straws. She loves to drink from them and play with them.
  • To walk on her tippy toes. It looks like she’s wearing invisible heels! It’s not like she’s walking on her toes and bouncing around like some people do, it literally looks like she’s pretending to wear heels. Maybe because she sees me wear heels sometimes when I go to work?
  • To play peek-a-boo. She was playing it with us today on our way to the gym. She covers her face and we’ll say “Where’s Claire?” and she’ll lower her hands and say “Peeka!”. I can’t handle how cute she is!!
  • To flip through books.
  • To play with hoses. She likes to pretend to water the plants or the grass (it’s not ever on when she’s playing with it) and sometimes even makes a “shhhh” noise when holding up the hose.
  • To wear her The North Face jacket that Nana got her. Even if it’s not cold at all, she’ll find it and bring it to me to put it on her.
  • To swim in the pool. We have a little floaty for her but she also loves to swim around with us holding her. She gets SO excited when we ask her if she wants to go in the pool.
  • To be outside and play in the dirt. She likes to grab handfuls of dirt and put it in Zoe’s dog bowl.

• Hates:
  • The Nose Frida. She hates it but unfortunately, it’s so effective that we have to use it when she has a stuffy nose.
  • When things are taken away from her or just generally when she doesn’t get what she wants. She’s started growling at us when she gets mad.
• Talents:
  • She’s sort of saying some words now. When she’s done eating, or really tired, or done doing something she waves her hands and says “ahh duh” for “all done”. Tonight, when giving her a bath it totally sounded like she said “I lub ooo” when I said I love you to her. When she’s really excited about a toy or something that she’s doing, we swear she says “this is great!”. We may be imagining these but other people have confirmed that it sounds like words!
  • She gives high fives!
  • CJ taught her how to blow a kiss during dinnertime tonight, my heart melted!
  • When she wants milk, she points to my chest and says “mah, mah”
  • When she wants something, she’ll point to it and says “mamamama” really quickly.
  • She can point to her nose, eyes, ears, hair, and BELLY BUTTON (her favorite) if we ask her to.
• Sleeping:
  • Other than when she was sick last month, she’s been sleeping pretty well. She goes to sleep around 8 and wakes up around 6 every day. Of course, there are exceptions but generally, that’s her schedule. She’s also doing the occasional 1 nap a day but sometimes she’s just too tired to wait long enough to only have one nap.

Wearing her The North Face jacket from Nana and playing with her cupcake purse

• Other Random Facts:
  • She seriously is the happiest little girl! We may be exhausted at the end of every day but thankfully it’s because we’re chasing around a happy little toddler that’s giggling and enjoying exploring everywhere.
  • She had another cold in the last month. Poor girl had a constant runny nose for about a week and she didn’t sleep so well during that time because she was coughing so much. Luckily, it seems to have gone away.
  • She is constantly on a mission. She seems like a little businessperson. So serious and determined. I asked my mom what I was like when I was her age and she said exactly the same as Claire. Like mother, like daughter. 🙂
  • She pretty much eats everything we eat except half of it always ends up on the floor or in her high chair.
  • I’m still nursing although the frequency has gone down to about 2-3 times a day. I’m not producing as much milk so we’re trying to get her used to cow’s milk. We’re trying the method of mixing it in with breastmilk first, which we’ve been successful with the past week (although not before that). It has to be warmed up, she’s not OK with cold yet. If we try to feed her cow’s milk on it’s own, we have to call it “leche” (Spanish for milk) for her to actually swallow it. Otherwise, she takes a sip, makes a sour face like “This is NOT milk” and lets it slowly drip out of her mouth.
  • She’s still rocking a pretty adorable mullet. I think, if anyone can pull it off, it’s her. Some people have asked if we’re going to trim it in the back, to make it less of a mullet, and of course not! She doesn’t have much hair so why would we cut it off? Psh. 🙂

Dirt smudged on her face, hair gently blowing in the wind, playing outside…She’s a happy girl. 🙂

And that’s how Claire has been lately. We love her so much and can’t believe how much of a little person she’s become! We can’t wait to see what she will be like in another month.