Claire at 12 Months

Dear Claire, 

Happy one year old,  my love!

You made it sweet girl, and so did we!  Our first year of parenthood and your first year of life.  What a learning curve to this whole parenting gig.  While some things come naturally, there is still a lot to learn along the way.  You are definitely a big girl to us now.  You are just different.  You have all these new faces, new sounds and new skills.  I will leave you playing in your play area to wash my hands and the next thing I know, you are speeding past me pushing your walker through the kitchen!  It is CRAZY!  Here is a picture of Daddy helping you with the walker a few weeks ago...now you just buzz around all by yourself without any assistance. {sigh}

You are nursing 2-3 times per day- morning, around 3 (sometimes) and before bed.   Just last week you started expressing an interest in real table food!!! YAY!!! You are trying everything these days!  You LOVE blueberries, strawberries, grapes, meatloaf, meatballs, peas, spaghetti, fajita chicken, cheese, and yogurt among other things.  You must be in a growth spurt because you want to eat constantly between 4-6pm the last couple of days!

You are sleeping from about 7-7 most nights.  Ever since you turned 11 months old you have just been taking one nap a day; usually around 12:30 or 1:00 for about an hour to an hour and a half.  You finally have a third tooth coming in!  It's just starting to appear on your top gums!  That should make eating much easier!

The weather has been like spring lately.  It's so hard to believe it was below freezing for a week this time last year when we brought you home.  This year we are enjoying park play dates, swinging and being outside.

You are wearing 12 month clothes now and still a size 3 diaper.  You don't like to have anything in your hair, but sometimes I get lucky and sneak a bow in while you are distracted and you forget it's there for a little while! :)  If I say the word "bow" at anytime you will reach for you hair and try to pull one out, even if there isn't one there, it is hilarious!

You say "mama", "dada" , "maah" (more) and I think you are working on "B-B" for Bindi, "Mmmm-Mmmm" for more and "Wa-Wa" for water.  You know the sign for "more" in baby sign language and although you've adapted it a little bit...you LOVE to use it to tell us you want more to eat!  When you do it you say "maah, maah" with LOTS of determination!

Here are your stats from your 12 month check-up

Height 30" (79th percentile)

Weight 20 lbs 8 oz (41st percentile)

Head Circumference 18" (70th percentile)

Your favorite toys right now are your fisher price laugh and learn kitchen...

and your Dyson vacuum cleaner!  Daddy found it on woot deals and thought you would just love it!  He was right, you are sooooo infatuated with it!  I kid you not, you go up to it and push the button and just watch all the little pieces spin around and you really try to use it to vacuum even though you can't even stand or walk yet.  It is so cute, and the best part is, it actually works!  You are already a great helper Claire!  We have to empty the little dust compartment every few days.  :)

You also LOVE your legos and your puzzle that you just got for your birthday from your grandparents.  You love Bindi and smile so big everything she is near you.  

We are just so happy that you are strong and healthy!  I can already tell that this year has lots of fun in store for us.  It seems like you were a baby for such a very short period of time.  I didn't realize you would be such a toddler already.  The handouts at the pediatrician's office now refer to you as a toddler, and not a baby.  I found that kind of shocking (and sad). I guess it's time to let you grow up some more, apparently I don't have much of a choice!  :)  Love you sweet girl!