Claire’s reaction when she entered her first ever candy store. No joke! It quite possibly might have been the best moment of her life. She danced in place, lifted her arms, and laughed uncontrollably and it was the most adorable thing IN THE WORLD! For the record, she has never eaten candy before so we can only guess that the excitement was from all the colors in the store and the lollipops hanging from the ceiling.

I know, I know. We are way overdue for an update on Claire. She turned 16 months old on September 8th and you’ve heard nothing from us. I’ll take all the blame for that as I’ve been going through serious computer issues lately. You see, because Claire is so adorable and utterly delicious, I can’t help but take millions of photos of her. Apparently, I took too many photos and now my laptop is completely out of space and I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the issue. I can barely run a program on my laptop because it’s beyond full. No need to provide any helpful hints though, I have a helpful, patient, and incredibly smart husband that’s been helping me through this tough time. 🙂

Anyway! Onward to an update on our little lady. Here’s the lowdown on 16-month-old Claire:

• Weight: She’s definitely over 20 pounds now. Woo woo! Growing so much every day, it’s crazy!
• Loves:
  • To talk!! More on that in the “Talents” section.
  • The “Let It Go” and “Love is an Open Door” songs from Frozen. I’ll ask her if she wants to hear her favorite song and she’ll say “gooo” for Let It Go. And then, once it’s on, she’ll proceed to dance around, twirl, raise up her arms, and pitter patter her feet quickly. She’s sooo cute!!
  • Her Papa (my dad). When we tell her that she’s going to see him, she laughs uncontrollably and does a little dance around the house. She loves him soooo much, it’s the sweetest relationship I’ve ever seen. Once he arrives, she runs around giggling from delight and then runs up to him and asks to be picked up.
  • She is obsessed with yogurt and every type of beans. She gets pumped when she’s about to eat either of them!
  • Her Daddy!! She has been such a Daddy’s girl lately and it’s so sweet.
  • To drink water!
  • The book “Madeline”. She loves to have Daddy read it to her before she goes to bed at night. Sometimes 4 or 5 times. Her favorite page is the book with the robber on it.
  • To dance!! I am so happy about this, since I’m a dancer, and love to see her get excited for some songs.
  • Her The North Face jacket from Nana. She still loves to wear it regardless of the temperature. We really need to find a larger size in that jacket because it’s almost too small.
  • To help clean, dust, sweep, or organize. She’s becoming more helpful and we can really tell she understands us when we ask her to do things. For instance, I’ll ask her to put her dirty clothes away and she’ll bring them to her room and put them in her laundry basket. Or I’ll ask her to put her shoes away and she’ll bring them to her closet. It’s so cool!!
  • To help put her shoes on.
  • The pool!!! So many giggles are heard when the pool is mentioned or when she gets to go in the pool.
  • To go in the garage, grab a bone for Zoe, and bring it into the house to give to her. We might need to hide the bones though because Zoe is looking a little more “robust” lately. Probably from the extra gifts from Claire. 😉

• Hates:
  • When I put my hair up in a bun. For some reason, she does not like it at all and yells at me.
  • Still hates diaper changes.
• Talents:
  • She has become quite the talker over the last month. She’s getting really good at modeling what we’re saying or at least the sounds. Some of her favorite words: cookie, please, thank you (dank ooo, as she says it. Although sometimes she says it perfectly), up, down, go, doggy, all done, hi, bye bye, Papa, Daddy, mama, and bubbles.
  • Giving Eskimo kisses. I taught her that the other day and she loves to do it!
  • Blowing kisses. The cutest!!

• Sleeping:
  • It’s hit or miss but lately she’s been waking up once in the middle of the night. We’re not sure if it’s always for the same reason – is it because she started at daycare recently? Maybe she’s hungry? Maybe she needs a diaper change? Each time, something different calms her down so we take each night on a case-by-case basis.
  • She’s been waking up, generally, around 5:30am each morning. I really miss the days when she would “sleep in” until 7am.

• Other Random Facts:
  • She’s still nursing! Once in the morning and once before she goes to sleep. No signs of losing interest.
  • She started daycare on September 1. Up until then, we had a nanny at home with her. The first couple of weeks were rough because I had to go on a business trip the first few days and then she was teething too. But, I’m happy to report that this week has been going sooo well and she’s been coming home so happy! Her development has really spiked too over the past few weeks. I cried a lot when I knew we needed to start her at daycare because I wasn’t ready for her to grow up but I’m really happy that we started her now. It’s been such a blessing.
  • She’s been refusing drinking milk recently – my pumped milk or cow’s milk – from either a bottle or a sippy cup. That said, the last couple of days she’s done better with drinking some at daycare so maybe we’re in the clear!
  • She has sooo many teeth now. I think we’re at 16 now? It’s crazy!
  • She’s super opinionated, determined, and looks like such a little businesswoman. You can tell that she is always on a mission to get something done and she won’t stop until she accomplishes it.
  • She’s a really picky eater but when we serve meals, she’s eating whatever we’re eating.

Claire’s Auntie Megan started a new tradition of sending a postcard when she visits a new place. Her first postcard arrived from Canada and Claire was so excited!!

And that’s our little wild woman! She has sooo much energy all the time, has been giggling so much lately, and is such a joy to be around. That’s not to say she isn’t exhausting too. I feel like I’m always 50% on my way to passing out at any moment in time.

For the record, she has more than 1 shirt – she just happens to be wearing the same one in almost all these photos. 🙂