Enjoying Fall

The Tuesday before Halloween it snowed!!!! Now, I know that this is totally normal weather for Salt Lake City, but for a girl from New Mexico, snow in October is completely unacceptable, and it nearly sent me into a massive, depressive state of mind. Luckily, autumn rallied, and we have had beautiful, golden, sunny, 60 degree weather for the last week and a half. In order to take advantage of this last taste of fall before winter really sets in, we have taken lots of trips to the park, the zoo, and just around the block, all of which have provided numerous photo opportunities.

Helping us rake leaves.

Playing in the leaves.

Playing at Sugarhouse Park.

Feeding the ducks at Sugarhouse Park. FYI: ducks don't like Pirates Booty.

Claire also acquired a new toy, a little Radio Flyer ride on horse that I found at a consignment shop. She likes to push it around, but needs help getting on and off.



We also hit a major milestone, flipping the car seat to forward facing. Claire is much happier now that her knees are no longer pressed into her chest and that she can look forward.



She's picked up a few new words, including "voff" (off), "bup" (up), and "uh-oh." She seems to be a pretty happy kid lately with less tantrums (unless we have to leave the park or come inside). She is still very busy and exhausting, but she just seems to be more at ease with herself, and we are enjoying the relative peace.

Claire at Almost Fifteen Months

I sat down tonight, downloaded photos from the last couple of weeks, and realized that I really needed to update the blog. The sad thing is, I cannot really remember what happened in September. Claire started walking shortly after my last blog post, and life has been a blur ever since, so much so that Charles and I cannot remember the day she first took off. She goes non-stop and loves her new mobility.


Along with walking came talking, most of which is completely unintelligible, and lots of vocally expressed opinions. She is saying Dug, dog, cat, tickle (ticka), kaboom (boom), giraffe, mama, dada, and okay. She likes to shake her head yes and no at appropriate times. She signs more, all done, thank you, please, and touchdown. And she certainly understands a great deal...Charles was particularly proud when she retrieved the remote control upon his request. She constantly cracks us up.

Claire went through a phase where she loved ribbons and sunglasses.


She is currently into vehicles. She likes to push them around and go "vroom." She also really enjoys several books we have filled with pictures of things that go.

We've tried to take advantage of fall by taking lots of trips to the park or other outdoor locales where Claire can burn off some energy. She loves to swing, slide and explore. I'm really not looking forward to this winter and am planning on bundling us both up and heading out into the cold.



While this new stage is exhuasting and full of new challenges (temper tantrums), we are loving it.

Claire's First Birthday

We celebrated Claire's first birthday with family and friends on August 15th. Claire's Nana Lana, Aunt Leana, and Uncle Jake all flew in to help us celebrate. Grandma Karen hosted the party in her nice, shady backyard. It was a perfect day, even if the cupcakes were a bit of a disaster.

We learned that boxes and wrapping paper were initially much more fun than the presents that came in them.

Claire taking a ride on her "sled" compliments of Uncle Jake.

Fun with wrapping paper.

Playing with friends and Grandma Karen.

Birthday cupcakes.

Yum. Icing.

Claire & Grandpa Matt.

Claire & Uncle Neal.

It is hard to believe that Claire is a year old. Time is a funny thing. It seems to go by faster the older I get. In some ways it seems like Claire has always been a part of our lives. In other ways it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Claire is so full of life and constantly growing that I find it hard to remember what she was like at nine months, or six months, or three months. I feel torn between watching her and enjoying every moment and taking the time to document all of the things she is doing. Lately, watching has taken precedence over documentation, but I feel like I need to find a better balance, because there are so many things she is doing that I do not want to forget. All the more reason to be better at updating the blog.

On the Move

It seems like Claire has become a totally different baby in the last week. Once she figured out how to feed herself, she started doing all kinds of new things. She is crawling, sitting up on her own, pulling herself up to standing, and doing lots of assisted walking. She wants to go constantly and has moved from frustration to crawling with ease. Each day she seems to have better control over her body and to be more self-aware. There have been less tumbles and bonks on the head. She throws herself into everything she does and has no fear. She is increasingly social and talkative, and we think she is calling us by our respective titles ("mamama" and "da").



Claire loves to feed herself and hasn't refused anything we've given her. She loves crunchy things, like cheerios. Tofu, zucchini, and avocado are current favorites. She can't get enough tofu and stuffs as much as she possibly can into her mouth. We now know what her chubby little cheeks are for...food storage.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Claire has also found a playmate in Bo. They enjoy batting each others paws and we are pretty sure that Claire has figured out that if she shakes a toy in front of his face that he will respond, which we all find incredibly funny.



It is hard to even remember the days when Claire could not get around on her own. While we are a little terrified of her walking and getting into everything, it is a ton of fun to see her explore and grow.

Food!

A little over a week ago we started giving Claire finger foods. For about the first week she had a lot of fun playing with her food. Knocking cheerios around, mashing bananas and dropping everything she could on the floor and into her highchair. She did not quite manage to actually get any food in her mouth or attempt to get any food in her mouth. She happily chewed on the cheerios and peaches we put in her mouth for her, but the one time she got close to feeding herself Charles and I both gasped in amazement causing her drop the cheerio in her lap. But on Sunday we had a breakthrough. I had run to the store and Charles was in charge of feeding the hungry monkey. He put her in her chair with some cheerios and peaches and turned around to fix the rest of her dinner when he heard a "crunch, crunch." He turned around to find Claire stuffing her face. It is not a very refined art and more food ends up on the floor than in her mouth, but we are both very proud of our little girl and her new found skill.