A January Retrospective

January was uneventful in that we did not go anywhere or do anything exciting. It was a pretty normal, laid back month consisting of horrible air quality and not enough snow. We did go sledding while there was still some snow on the ground. We learned that Claire loved flying down the hill and that I was incapable of staying on the sled.



And Claire decided that she was ready for a booster seat. It is fun to actually have her at the table with us.



Even though we had no big events this month, I feel like we have watched Claire make the transition from baby to toddler, which seems momentous. She learns a new word every day. She pretends, feeding Baby Meow his dinner and putting him to bed, cooking in her kitchen, making eggs with "spice." She has memories, even though she doesn't necessarily know how to express them. She remembers that Mimi gave her Baby Meow, the drawer where she found a plastic Winnie the Pooh figurine. She is obsessed with cats, Pooh, spices, walks, and her blankies, which she has recently started calling "babies." She likes to draw, and most often "draws" meows and Pooh. She likes to talk, but we usually do not understand what she is saying. Claire is quickly becoming Little Miss Independent. Our nap time and bed time routine has changed from Charles or I reading Claire stories to Claire sitting on the floor reading a book by herself. She does make sure that we have something to read too, and says "bed" when she is ready to curl up and say goodnight. We leave her room to a hollered "bye!" She sometimes seems to have more personality than her little body can contain. She can throw one heck of a temper tantrum, which while exasperating can be entertaining. We've been lucky in that the one public temper tantrum so far took place at the empty park as opposed to the crowded grocery store.

I feel that I have gotten to the point in motherhood that I've been waiting for. I love that Claire is so interactive, that she talks to me, has ideas and opinions. I loved baby Claire, but I always felt like I was waiting for something. In retrospect, I wish I had lived a little bit more in the moment when she was a baby, but I'm definitely at the point where I am present and the moment is most often perfect, even if exasperating.