Claire @ 18 Months

Our Claire girl is 18 months old! The cutest age ever.

Development: 

She is talking so much more  lately and has so much personality. Some of my favorite things she says are "All done, Mama!", "I love you much!", "Oh Toodles!" (from Mickey Mouse), and "Happy birthday, Nora!" 

She still LOVES her babies, Chloe and Annie. She always calls them by name. Loads up stuff from her toy room (dolls, stuffed animal, etc.) in her stroller, pushes it to the kitchen, and goes through my drawers to find more to her stroller, then pushes it back to the toy room. So busy! I love that she will play happily by herself for chunks of time so I can actually get things done around the house. 

Loves to climb up on things, dance, and do tricks. Can do a somersault! It's a little sideways but still impressive to me. Gymnastics in our future maybe? Except she's going to be TALL, so maybe not. ;)

She also loves books and coloring. She can hold a crayon really well and likes to scribble. We're pretty sure she's left handed, but we'll see! If we put a crayon in her right hand, she usually switches it immediately to the left and is more coordinated when drawing with that hand.

Claire is very social and LOVES her friends at church, Harper and Emma. They all love each other and get so excited to see each other. It's so cute. (She did great with nursery the first week. Then was sad and wanted me there for a couple weeks, but I could usually just stay the first hour and then leave once they broke out the snacks. Then after about a month she didn't want me there at all anymore. It's been great!) Also loves her friends Nora Krause and Ellie Levesque and her cousins. 

Claire also loves primary songs and nursery rhymes. She learned Ring Around the Rosie recently and loves that. 

Eating: 

Loves to feed herself and is getting better at eating with utensils. Some of her favorite foods are canned green beans (she would eat the whole can if I let her--it's weird!), yogurt, oatmeal, toast with pb & honey, and oranges.

Eats 3 meals/day + 2 snacks. Here's a typical day of meals:

8:00- Oatmeal & 1/2 banana 

10:00- String cheese & crackers

12:00- Scrambled eggs & fruit and/or veggie

3:00- Yogurt and/or toast & fruit 

6:00/6:30- Dinner (she generally eats whatever we're having and isn't very picky)

She drinks water or milk with her meals and has 1-2 sippy cups of milk each day (about 8 oz. each). We finally packed away all our bottles this month, and she really hasn't skipped a beat. We had been slowly not using them as much (and just substituting the sippy), so I think that has helped. We've also never given her a bottle to take in her bed or had a bottle as a part of her nap or bedtime routine, so that has helped as well. 

Overall, Claire has been a good eater and willing to try most things. She does LOVE her treats, so we have to be careful with that. :) She will do just about anything for a marshmallow or a chocolate chip. Ha!

Sleep: 

The last few months of sleep have been great. She rarely wakes during the night (sleeps from about 8:30pm-7:30am) and takes one good 2-3 hour nap around 12:30 or 1 each day. Her bedtime routine is same as always: bath, jammies/lotion/clean diaper/A&D ointment, 2-3 books, prayers, song ("I am a child of God"), lay her in bed.