17, 18, 19, and 20 Months

Our little Claire Bear is not so little anymore. She's closer now to being TWO than one. I still can't believe that she will be two in a matter of months. Everyone always warns you that they grow up fast but it's not until you have your own kid that you realize they really do grow up so fast. It's like one minute they are born and the next they are walking, talking, and becoming their own little person. I keep wanting to hit the pause button but at the same time she is so much fun at this age. So here is a little update on our sweet little girl! 

She talks....A LOT! Most of the time it's just gibberish in her own little language but she knows quite a few words and animal sounds. Here are a few words and phrases she knows:

cat/kitty (If you ask her what a cat says she will say, "Wow wow!" instead of "meow".)

dog (She will bark or howl. When we watch the Lady and the Tramp she will howl with the dogs when they sing. Haha so funny to watch.)

llama

fish (comes out "Phish")

please

hello, hi, hey

good-bye (comes out goo-bye), bye-bye

cracker (a word used for any food, not just crackers)

drink

juice

toy

wanna watch (means she wants to watch a movie)

baby

pretty

no

yes

hot

coat

snowball

ball

car (and will say "vroom, vroom")

hat

gone

go go (uses this when she wants to get out of bed or her highchair)

ok
And the list just continues to grow daily. It's nice being able to communicate with her a little better.

She is 100% girl! She loves anything girly....jewelry, hats, purses/bags, shoes, and wearing dresses. When I do her hair she looks at herself in the mirror and says, "Awww! Pretty!" If she sees me putting make-up on then she has to have make-up on too. I love how she giggles and smiles as I lightly run my powder brush over her face.

Trying on Daddy's shoes.

Wearing one of my clip on earrings. She kept it on for a full hour!

Sunglasses, purse, and a cell phone. What more do you need?

Claire loves playing outside, especially in the snow!

I was called to be a nursery leader back in September and was allowed to bring Claire with me. (Such a life saver!) Around Christmas time she turned 18 months and was officially welcomed into nursery and she loves it! She plays well with the other kids but I'm afraid she is becoming the class clown. She will sing and dance in front of the class during singing time and get all of the kids laughing and pointing at her. She loves being the center of attention and will seize any opportunity she can to do so. It doesn't help that the leaders laugh at her and say over and over how adorable she is. I told Joe once that I'm going to be that mom who gets a call from the Elementary School Principal saying, "Mrs. Reed your daughter was being disruptive in class, AGAIN!" Haha hopefully she'll out grow it?!

Claire is quite the little mama. She loves her baby dolls and babies in general. "Baby" was one of her first words. She just loves to cuddle them and push them in her stroller around the house. She feeds them, wraps them in her dirty laundry (don't ask me why, she DOES have baby doll blankets. I guess she feels those clothes are good enough for her so they must be good enough for the baby!), and she will even rock them and sing a little song to them.

Carrying her baby around on a pillow.
 Haha she was so frustrated that day because the baby
 doll would not stay on the pillow.

She would not leave the house without her baby. So the baby got to go on a walk too.

Kissing baby Claire. I keep my fingers crossed that she will have this much enthusiasm  for her siblings when we decide to have more.

Completely outfitted with sunglasses, stroller, baby, and diaper bag.

She is a pro at drinking from a "big girl cup" and can eat cereal without getting any milk on herself.

Some of her favorite foods are fruit snacks, apples, applesauce, cereal (it has to be cheerios), peas, green beans, graham crackers and milk, chicken in a biskit crackers, olives, spaghetti, ramen noodle, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and m&m's. She's really not too picky of an eater. I think the hardest thing with her is trying to find things that don't have lactose in them.

Spaghetti covered toddler and Daddy in a white shirt don't exactly mix. haha

She loves to watch movies. Some of her favorites are The Lion King, Tarzan, Despicable Me, Tangled,  Peter Pan, and The Lady and the Tramp.

She loves to color and draw. We are just working on her staying on the actual paper and not mommy's furniture. :)

She loves reading time and looking through her books on her own. Even magazines in the mail get her really excited.

She has a pretty funny little personality. She is usually all smiles and giggles, mixed in with a good dose of silliness. She loves to make people laugh and will even resort to tickling (which she is surprisingly good at) if she has to.

I told her to smile...this is what I got! 

She decided that Daddy was a good place to lounge.

And she decided to sit on his head.

She brought me this ribbon and wanted me to tie it around her head. She kept it on for a good hour.

She wanted to play with Daddy but he was asleep, so she brought her piano over and started pounding away on it. Haha he woke up pretty quickly.

Her best friend is Sammy! (Or Sam-Sam as she calls him) They really are best buds.

Claire is an awesome sleeper at night. She will sleep 8 pm-8 am no problem but nap time is a completely different story. She will scream and cry for as long as I leave her in there. Finally I started resorting to "quiet time". She still had to lay down in her crib but was allowed a few toys and books. But even that is beginning to become a huge battle. I am at the end of my rope because she is so cranky by the time 5 pm rolls around. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

She is pretty cute when she's sleeping though.

She's a ball of energy but we sure do love her! Some days I feel like she is the one thing that keeps me going. I love being her mom and feel so blessed that I get to stay home with her and take care of her. Love you happy girl!