Claire at 15 Months

Dear Claire,

At 15 months old, I would describe you as curious, energetic, always moving, intelligent, imaginative, and loving.  Everyday you are saying new things, doing new things and expressing yourself in new ways.  It is impossible to put into words how much you Daddy and I are loving this time with you.  Every day is such an adventure.  You live SO in the moment, everything we do is new and exciting and seeing the world through your eyes is so much fun for everyone around you.

Here you are "vacuuming" the house!

You are always listening to our conversations and I know that you can understand way more than we could ever imagine.  You will pick up on familiar words in adult conversations such as, "outside" or "shoes" and you will go to the backdoor or go get your shoes.  The other day I told we it was time to "go shopping" and you went right over to your little play shopping cart and started "shopping".  If we say a word such as "snack", "outside" or "mac-n-cheese" we better be ready to do it because there is no time to waste!

You surprised us all when you found a piece of grass on the floor and walked it right over to the trash can, lifted the lid, threw it in and then clapped for yourself as if you knew you did a good job!  Now we can ask you to go throw someone away and you happily oblige!  Today you spilled something and I handed you a paper towel and asked you to wipe it up and you knew just what to do!!!  My goodness...you sure are absorbing everything!  (haha, no pun intended!)

Your favorite things to do recently include playing outside, watering flowers, picking the yellow weeds that look like flowers, playing with the hose, you love to crawl on my back when I lay on the floor, playing legos with Daddy, reading books, and playing in your kitchen.

You are full of new words all the time now.  You are pointing to clocks now and trying to say clock!  You also say hi, cheese, peas, Nana, Bindi, bubbles, waffles (wa-wa), baby (be-be), WOW, bubbles, animal noises and soooo much more.  It is crazy how much you have started talking this month!  I really need to make a list as you say each word just to record it!  Everyday it is something new.

 

We LOVE your imagination!  Watching you play is one of our favorite things to do!  You are so entertaining as you feed your babies (with great sound effects I must add), wash dishes in your play kitchen sink, rearrange your play food, play dress up...oh that reminds me...earlier this evening you were having a blast "talking on your phone" and putting it and out of your purse.  Then, you put the phone in your purse, put the purse over your wrist, stood up and walked around on your tippy-toes blowing kisses, waving and smiling to your dad and I!  How on earth did you know to do that??? You are ALL girl and we love it!  You melt our heart a hundred times over!

You are currently IN LOVE with this owl towel that we bought you! 

With Texas summer just weeks, maybe even days away you and I have been soaking up every minute we possibly can outside!

You absolutely LOVE to be outside!  If it were up to you I think we would live in the backyard 24 hours a day.

You love to "watch over" the yard and you comment on every plane, bug, barking dog, golfer, etc, etc!  It is sooooo much fun!

 I honestly don't know how we're going to get through summer without being about to go out and play when we are have our 100+ degree days.  We will be finding lots of locations with water and shade and going out very early!

This was my view the other day when we were playing outside.  You were pointing to a bird and saying, "tweet-tweet"

Here you are waving and saying hi to your shadow.  You do this all the time and it makes me laugh so much.  I think it is too cute!  By the way- you are also throwing a ball now!

You and Bindi are soooo close now.  Often times I see you hugging her, petting her and playing with her!  She is thrilled to spend time outside with you.

All this time spent outside created a desire to make the backyard more cozy and we added two flower trellis' like this one.  It is so nice to see this from our living/kitchen and dining room windows!  It makes me smile every time I see it...especially since I have a great view of it from the sink while washing dishes!  I love it!

In an effort to create some shady areas without obstructing the view, we planted 2 crape mytles along the side of the house that will grow to give us privacy from the neighbors and beautiful lavender blooms all summer long!

And even though our oak tree died in the drought last year, the day lilies surrounding it are in full bloom right now and you love them!

Inside the house you LOVE to go find shoes and put them on.

Nap time is 1:00-2:30 and you sleep at night from 7-7!  You go to sleep so easily now.  You pick out your bedtime book and Daddy reads it to you.  Then you go right down without ever crying.  I love hearing him read to you over the baby monitor.  It is one of my favorite parts of the day to hear you guys snuggling and laughing together.  Tonight you were really laughing with him and even now that he has left you have taken your paci out just to laugh a few times as you lay in your crib falling asleep.  You are such a happy baby!

You still just have your 6 teeth.  4 on top and 2 on the bottom.  Your pediatrician checked and said that your 1 year molars are no where in sight...so I guess it will be a while before you get more teeth.

You are great at running errands, although it is getting harder now that you would like to get out and play and walk around.

I can't believe how many people stop and comment about you.  You just LOVE the attention and they love you too.  I'm pretty sure half the staff at the grocery store know you by name now!

As long as you have your snacks you are good to go!

It makes me so sad to think that one day you will grow up and go to school and mommy will have to run these errands without you!  I can't imagine that!  You are truly the light of my life and I just wish I could make this time last and last!  I love you so much and I love being your mommy more than words could ever, ever, ever explain!