Thursday, January 20, 2011
The Twins
One of our heifers decided to give Claire an awesome first birthday present. She's now well on her way to a herd of her own!
Monday, January 17, 2011
ONEderful Updates!
It was just about a month ago that I last posted about Claire's accomplishments, and I already have so many new updates to share for her ONE year birthday.
12 month stats: 17 lbs and 27 inches. Both right about 50th percentile on her chart.
Teeth: Holy cow is pretty much what sums up this update. One month ago Claire's first tooth was just making its appearance, and now I can see SIX teeth.
1: bottom left center
2: upper left molar
3: upper right molar (this one still isn't all the way in and seems to bother her the most)
4: bottom right center
5: upper right second tooth
6: upper right center (the last 2 were just discovered in the past week (5) and yesterday (6), so they aren't through yet either)
Feeding: Claire has been completely off purees for about 4 months now. She just hated them so we moved to table food. She is a great eater and will try almost anything. Sweet potato and yogurt top the list of favorites, but I will feed her pretty much anything off our plate, as long as it isn't too spicy.
She self feeds things like puffs very well, but has a little trouble with food if it is much smaller (like corn) or too soft (like sweet potato or green beans), because then it's fun to squish it, rather than eat it.
She has been drinking out of her straw for a little over a month and does well with it. Except that she gives us a very strange look when we give her milk, instead of the water she is used to, with the straw. I am planning to start the transition from the bottle to the cup this week. I still have about 3 months worth of breast milk in the freezer, so we won't transition to cows milk for a while still.
Gross Motor: We have a crawler!! A full on hands and knees crawler! Which means I need to officially baby proof. Around Christmas, Claire would crawl forward a time or two, then drop to her belly and army crawl/stretch to get what she wanted. About a week after that she started crawling on hands and knees when she wanted something specific. In just the last few days she's figured out that she can crawl just to crawl. She will usually start out with a destination in mind, but I love to see her get distracted and discover new things. She's also figured out she can crawl after us, and has made it from the living room to the kitchen.
Claire is also pulling to stand from the ground. She can do it on the ottoman with the lip to hang onto, or in her crib. She hasn't figured out how to reposition her feet once she pulls up, so she winds up in some pretty precarious positions if you aren't watching closely. We have another PT session with Pat Winders tomorrow, and I'm excited to have her answer some questions.
Speech and Signing: Claire does a lot of babbling and is using more and more consonant sounds. We get a lot of ma, ba, da and la sounds. She has used dada for Darren a few times when he walks into a room, but it's not consistent yet. I think she also has her first sign. We use milk, all done, more, mama, dada and few other with her constantly. Recently, there have a few times we've asked her if she's all done, and have gotten a very emphatic hand shaking in return!
Fun Stuff: Claire is the master of peekaboo and patty cake. If she even hears the words patty cake the clapping starts. It makes me laugh though, because the won't clap through the whole song. She seems to stop and wait for help with the 'patting and rolling'. The 'throw it in the oven' part is a little hit and miss too. Sometimes she'll do it on her own, and sometimes she won't. Her ring stacker and toys where she can push the buttons are hits these days too.
12 month stats: 17 lbs and 27 inches. Both right about 50th percentile on her chart.
Teeth: Holy cow is pretty much what sums up this update. One month ago Claire's first tooth was just making its appearance, and now I can see SIX teeth.
1: bottom left center
2: upper left molar
3: upper right molar (this one still isn't all the way in and seems to bother her the most)
4: bottom right center
5: upper right second tooth
6: upper right center (the last 2 were just discovered in the past week (5) and yesterday (6), so they aren't through yet either)
Feeding: Claire has been completely off purees for about 4 months now. She just hated them so we moved to table food. She is a great eater and will try almost anything. Sweet potato and yogurt top the list of favorites, but I will feed her pretty much anything off our plate, as long as it isn't too spicy.
She self feeds things like puffs very well, but has a little trouble with food if it is much smaller (like corn) or too soft (like sweet potato or green beans), because then it's fun to squish it, rather than eat it.
She has been drinking out of her straw for a little over a month and does well with it. Except that she gives us a very strange look when we give her milk, instead of the water she is used to, with the straw. I am planning to start the transition from the bottle to the cup this week. I still have about 3 months worth of breast milk in the freezer, so we won't transition to cows milk for a while still.
Gross Motor: We have a crawler!! A full on hands and knees crawler! Which means I need to officially baby proof. Around Christmas, Claire would crawl forward a time or two, then drop to her belly and army crawl/stretch to get what she wanted. About a week after that she started crawling on hands and knees when she wanted something specific. In just the last few days she's figured out that she can crawl just to crawl. She will usually start out with a destination in mind, but I love to see her get distracted and discover new things. She's also figured out she can crawl after us, and has made it from the living room to the kitchen.
Claire is also pulling to stand from the ground. She can do it on the ottoman with the lip to hang onto, or in her crib. She hasn't figured out how to reposition her feet once she pulls up, so she winds up in some pretty precarious positions if you aren't watching closely. We have another PT session with Pat Winders tomorrow, and I'm excited to have her answer some questions.
Speech and Signing: Claire does a lot of babbling and is using more and more consonant sounds. We get a lot of ma, ba, da and la sounds. She has used dada for Darren a few times when he walks into a room, but it's not consistent yet. I think she also has her first sign. We use milk, all done, more, mama, dada and few other with her constantly. Recently, there have a few times we've asked her if she's all done, and have gotten a very emphatic hand shaking in return!
Fun Stuff: Claire is the master of peekaboo and patty cake. If she even hears the words patty cake the clapping starts. It makes me laugh though, because the won't clap through the whole song. She seems to stop and wait for help with the 'patting and rolling'. The 'throw it in the oven' part is a little hit and miss too. Sometimes she'll do it on her own, and sometimes she won't. Her ring stacker and toys where she can push the buttons are hits these days too.
Friday, January 14, 2011
The Birthday Cake
was a hit! You know how some kids won't touch their cake? That wasn't Claire! She jumped right in with both hands. When it was over and done with, I was surprised with how little mess there was...I think more of the cupcake made it IN her rather than ON her.
Claire has a thing for my camera strap, so this blurry, lunging baby is in a lot of my pictures.
We had a little drama near the end of the cupcake experience. Claire managed to get about half the cupcake in her mouth at once, and she protested once we removed the huge bite...
I'm thinking that the fact it was past her bedtime could have contributed some!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Happy Birthday Claire!!
Sweet girl, where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was still pregnant and we were anxiously awaiting your arrival.
Your first few days were a blur of doctors, sleepless nights, and your first heart surgery. Things calmed down once we got home and we quickly settled into our new roles. Kisses in the morning and books at bedtime.
We celebrated rolling, sitting, and most recently, crawling. Teeth have appeared, your hair has grown into the cutest pigtails, and your smile lights up the room.
Your first year has been an amazing adventure, and I can only imagine all of the fun we have ahead of us.
Happy First Birthday Beautiful Claire!!
Monday, January 10, 2011
I felt bad...
Recently a friend used the r word. It caught me off guard coming from her, and I wasn't ready with a request not to use the word. The social situation we were in didn't offer me an opportunity to pull her aside, so I let the moment pass. This was a good friend, though, who I see frequently, and since I needed to address the issue I sent her an email.
I cried as I wrote the email. I felt bad because I know 'she didn't mean it that way'. She would never do anything to intentionally hurt me or Claire, and yet she did. I explained to her that when someone says 'don't act like a retard', what I hear is 'don't act like Claire.' The word is never used as a compliment, it's always an insult. And I felt bad that I had to send the email.
And then I felt bad for feeling bad because I stood up for my daughter.
Last night we talked. She apologized for using the word, that she didn't mean it that way, and that she didn't even know she'd said it until I pointed it out. She said that she cried herself to sleep the night she got the email. And I felt even worse.
Then she thanked me.
She thanked me for the humbling and eye opening experience. She said that as she cried herself to sleep that one night she thought about all the times, in the years ahead, that I would cry. All the times that people would, intentionally or not, hurt me or hurt Claire.
And I felt so much better.
Not because she cried, but because she thought about what I'd said, and she got it. This is someone who will not only consider the words she uses, but it wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't correct others for using the word also. Her eyes are open, and even though we both felt bad, it was worth it.
I cried as I wrote the email. I felt bad because I know 'she didn't mean it that way'. She would never do anything to intentionally hurt me or Claire, and yet she did. I explained to her that when someone says 'don't act like a retard', what I hear is 'don't act like Claire.' The word is never used as a compliment, it's always an insult. And I felt bad that I had to send the email.
And then I felt bad for feeling bad because I stood up for my daughter.
Last night we talked. She apologized for using the word, that she didn't mean it that way, and that she didn't even know she'd said it until I pointed it out. She said that she cried herself to sleep the night she got the email. And I felt even worse.
Then she thanked me.
She thanked me for the humbling and eye opening experience. She said that as she cried herself to sleep that one night she thought about all the times, in the years ahead, that I would cry. All the times that people would, intentionally or not, hurt me or hurt Claire.
And I felt so much better.
Not because she cried, but because she thought about what I'd said, and she got it. This is someone who will not only consider the words she uses, but it wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't correct others for using the word also. Her eyes are open, and even though we both felt bad, it was worth it.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Thank you, thank you!
During this year's Angel Tree, 30 children had families commit to them. In 2010, 153 children came home to their forever families, and already 2011 looks like it will surpass that figure.
While the big fundraising push of the Angel Tree is over, there are still many children that need help getting home. If you can, please consider donating to a child who is still waiting for a family, or to a family who is doing the final fundraising before they travel to bring home their child.
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