I am sooo late on this post but we have been quite busy over the past few weeks! I went on my first business trip away from Claire the week before Claire turned 13 months old and we flew to Oregon for my nephew’s high school graduation celebration last weekend. More on that later but I should say that we definitely didn’t want to leave Oregon! We had so much fun.

Reading a book and sitting with her new teddy bear from Chicago that I got her

This month Claire has really seemed to change and really seems like a toddler now! She no longer feels like a baby to us which is so sad but exciting at the same time. We are loving this age and she keeps us laughing all the time.

Our little goober

Here’s a rundown of 13 month old Claire:

• Weight: No idea! But she is wearing 12M clothes. Well, it depends on the brand because in some brands she’s 6-12 months.

• Loves:
  • To sit on our laps and read books. She’ll walk over to us and sit right in our laps and it is so adorable!
  • To walk EVERYWHERE and to explore everywhere.
  • Flipping through books on her own.
  • To rearrange bookshelves (so really… to take everything off bookshelves 😉 )
  • Sharing her food.
  • To eat any foods that Mommy and Daddy are eating.
  • To give hugs and kisses.
  • BEANS! She is the bean queen. She also loves cheese, peas, corn, and yogurt.
  • To wear her black flats or her moccasins from Nana and Papa. She used to always take her shoes off but she’s done pretty well with those two.
  • Mickey Mouse Playhouse!! I really would rather not have Claire watch much TV at all but on occasion, we let her watch that in the morning and she goes bananas for it. She bounces up and down and looks so incredibly excited. She’s quite a big fan of Mickey Mouse.
  • To make raspberry noises with her mouth, over and over.
  • To lay on Zoe (and she loves Zoe in general). Zoe has become her shadow recently and it’s so cute to see Claire running everywhere and Zoe calmly following behind her.
  • All dogs. If we’re carrying her and she sees a dog, she starts waving her arms and kicking her legs from excitement. We’re pretty sure she brightens up every dog owner’s day when she does that because it’s way too cute.
  • Belly buttons. She thinks they are hilarious!
  • To spontaneously laugh out loud. Sometimes it’s for a reason and sometimes it seems to come out of nowhere. It’s too cute!

• Hates:
  • Not a fan of cow’s milk. I wouldn’t say hate but she really is not at all interested in drinking it. I’m still breastfeeding her so it’s not an issue.

• Talents:
  • Clapping!
  • Dancing! She bounces up and down, quickly shuffles her feet, and shakes her head to music that she loves.
  • Probably doesn’t qualify as a talent but… she’s getting more hair! It’s sort of looking like a mullet right now because it’s so long in the back  compared to the top but it’s definitely coming in!

• Sleeping:
  • It varies. I went on my first business trip from Tuesday through Friday two weeks ago and, prior to that, she was waking up once in the night for a feeding. Because I wasn’t there to feed her while I was gone, CJ was able to train her to fall back asleep on her own. Since I’ve returned (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!), she’s pretty much slept through the night.

• Other Random Facts:
  • She’s become really independent over the last month. We used to dread dropping her off at the gym to work out. One time recently, we dropped her off and were cautiously exiting the play area and said bye to her. She looked up, waved “bye bye”, and continued on playing. Apparently us leaving is no longer a big deal. I’m so happy that she’s gained her independence but it is a little sad at the same time.
  • She had her first ponytail on May 29. She looked so cute!!!
  • She has 10 teeth now. It looks like a molar came in the back and another tooth on the other side.
  • She has so much personality! She’s very opinionated, determined, energetic, active, and independent. She’s also very talkative and will definitely give you a piece of her mind.

We went wine tasting with friends in Napa! It is much harder to do with a little runner.

And that’s our little 13 month old! I’m so excited to see how she changes over the next month. I always wonder how I’m ever able to come up with content on her but it doesn’t seem to be a problem. 😉