Here are the stats:
Weight: 25 lbs 4 oz (81%tile)
Length: 33 in (84%tile)
Head: 46.5 in (56%tile)
Talk about growth spurt. While you have always been curvy, you have never been "tall." Well, you shot up these past few months and now look at you!
Here are some things that Claire is into at 18 months:
People
Claire is a people person. She still loves saying hi and bye to anyone and everyone. She confidently interacts with people of all ages and hilariously calls anyone around two years old and younger, "baby." Just today she said, "hi baby" to a two year old girl who just ate it up and said, "hi!" right back. Claire makes friends with adoring people wherever we go!
All that said, Claire is still a momma's girl and will tell anyone new (and sometimes even people familiar to her) that I am her mom (she says "momma" while patting my chest if I'm holding her or my leg if she's on the ground). She makes it clear to them that she is not going anywhere without me. Once this relationship is established, she will become your friend for life.
One thing that I have come to notice a lot in the past few months is how much Claire is drawn to older boys (yikes, right?). We have a handful of boys in our neighborhood between 5 - 10 years old and many times she prefers following them around and trying to play with them over doing much else when we are outside. Maybe it's the attention they show her or the fact that she loves to try to play what they're playing (baseball, soccer, hide and seek, etc), but she can usually be found on their heels whenever we are outside. While she seems to be drawn to the boys (again - yikes, right?), she also just adores our neighbor, Kylie, and when the boys aren't much fun, she can be found playing with her and Avery (who are undoubtably playing pretend/house/make believe).
And, it's not just the neighborhood kids that Claire gets a kick out of; just the other day at a play date in another neighborhood I found Claire inside the host's house sitting on the floor hanging with three 3rd grade boys. And, a few weeks ago at the park, she became best friends with two older boys (4th grade maybe?) who were playing football, but decided to indulge Claire in some baby catch and running races. I kept telling the boys, "thank you" while trying to usher Claire away so they could get back to their game, but they kept trying to engage her and play.
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| Chatting with the neighborhood boys. |
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| Her laugh in this photo is too much. Hysterical! |
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| We captioned this one: Their First Date. |
Talking
Claire loves to talk. She has a great ear and can mimic/repeat almost anything you say. She loves to say people's names and has a great memory, so she shouts, "hi so-and-so" many times throughout our day.
She is getting more clear with her speech, so other people (besides Jeff, Avery and me) are starting pick up a lot of what she's saying. That being said, while at her first dentist appointment recently, the dentist informed me that she has two tongue ties. While not severe cases, she said we may notice a speech inpediment or lisp as she gets older. It's hard to distinguish a lisp from general toddler speak, so I'm not concerned about it yet. We'll just have to keep an ear on it.
At this time, I would say that Claire can say around 100 words, including names of familiar faces. She puts multiple words together frequently and my favorite might be, "peas, momma" when she wants something. On my mom's birthday last week she started saying, "Papa, how are you?" (It comes out like, "Papa. How. Are. Youuuu?") What a conversation starter! She also started recently saying, "Okkkaaayyyy?" when someone is crying, hurt or upset.
For my birthday lunch, I took Claire and Avery to Islands and during our meal, Claire got into a precarious position in the highchair. She looked at me and said, "leg is stuck." Avery looked at me and said, "did she just say, 'leg is stuck'?!" We started laughing and then Claire said it again, this time loudly and with heat!
At her 15 and 18 month well visits, the doctors were very impressed with Claire's speech and communication. All that aside, I have to make a mention that at Claire's recent 18 month visit, it was Avery who pretty much handled the appointment. The doctor would ask her questions about Claire's eating and sleeping habits, etc and Avery answered calmly, confidently and correctly just like she was the mom. It was hilarious and the doctor and I were both quite amused!
Dancing/Music
She loves to dance! She loves to sing! You can pretty much just hum a catchy tune and she'll be swinging her arms and bouncing in no time. We watch Mother Goose Club Playhouse often and Claire has learned the words of many songs and loves to sing and clap along when she can. I need to get this kid into a music class!
The first video was taken before a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. She is dancing around with Avery and Kylie.
Once a month, parents are allowed into Avery's dance class to watch for the hour. Thankfully, Avery's classmates and teacher get a kick out of Claire and she is invited to dance and play with them from time to time throughout class. This video was taken during their "free dance" time.
A little grove time magic in the playroom. Those moves though.
All this talk about Claire's dancing may have overshadowed how amazing Jeff's moves are. Clearly, she gets all dancing skills from her dad.
Running
Claire loves to run. She'll run short distances just to run. Today we were on the rug in the family room and she said, "bear, cookie," which means she wants to play the game where I hold a teddy bear and she holds a play cookie and I make the bear eat the cookie all silly and crazy. Well, when I replied to her, "sure," she took off running full speed to the playroom, which is a mere 6 feet away.
This running passion isn't without its injuries. See our recent Camping post about when her forehead met pavement. That being said, she has gotten quite good at falling (or maybe just better at running?!) and can now almost always brace herself when she does tumble.
Speaking of the "bear cookie" game, I came across the video below that I snuck of us playing the "bear cookie" game recently. Oh, that laugh.
Not only does she love to run, she loves to run from people trying to "get her." We play that daily in our house saying, "I'm gonna get you." She squeals and runs around the house in delight!
Claire is such a huge joy in our lives. She is so sweet and so loving. She is funny and loves being silly and making people laugh. She is incredibly smart and picks things up so easily. She is a great eater and will try anything you give her. She is very strong-willed and if she doesn't want to do something, she will let you know loudly and clearly. She is quite dramatic and will fake cry like a Hollywood actress to try to get her way. Recently, she was upset she didn't get a piece of "chochy" (chocolate), so she spun around in upset little circles and then threw herself onto the floor facedown. She was fake crying and snuck a quick peek at me to see if I was watching and then started to fake cry again. Oh, the drama!
But, you know what? We will take the drama any day, any time, Claire Bear!
FVT and FPT
Move over, rock climbers, there's a new gal in town!
I don't even need to caption this photo of Avery's recent mani/pedi!
