17 Months

Wow! Time flies when a baby is growing up! Claire is just as wonderful as ever, and her little personality and her own personal desires are becoming more and more evident! She still loves to be my shadow. Lately, she has been copying some of the things that I do, too. For instance, when she's running to give me a hug, sometimes I'll kneel down on the floor so she can reach me better. But recently, when I do that, she then kneels down on the floor -- three or four feet away from me! So there's no hug; there's just her copying me. It always makes me laugh! She also likes to act like she's coloring or writing. She wants to have a writing utensil in her hand, and she wants a piece of paper. Then she makes some motions as if she's writing. It seems like she wants to do this because she sees us writing.


She also puts her hands over her mouth when she laughs sometimes. That is so funny to see! And sometimes she just looks at you with her mouth wide open. It looks as if she's saying, "Oh, my!" But I really don't think she means that; it's just something she does.

She has two ear infections right now. After a number of nights of her staying awake for 2 or 2 1/2 hours after I put her to bed, and after a huge blowout diaper, I finally put two and two together and realized she might have an ear infection. Sure enough, she does. Thankfully, she was pretty much herself before I realized about the ear infection. And thankfully, she's even more herself now that she's been on medicine for a couple of days.


She also has five teeth coming in right now! They've all broken through the surface, but none of them are completely in yet. She's getting the top four teeth in the front, and she's getting one in the back on the bottom right.

This morning, Claire weighs 26 pounds and is just about 33 inches long.

We love this sweet, happy girl!

Oysters!

After the recital, we went to the Union Oyster House for lunch. The Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and is the oldest, continuously-run restaurant in the country. It opened in 1826, so it's been open and running for 185 years!!!

The clam chowder was great, and Jordan LOVED the oysters!

King's Chapel Organ Recital

Jordan and I were able to go to a mid-day organ recital at King's Chapel, which is one of the old churches in Boston.




The organ, on the second floor, is at the back of the chapel.

We heard Alison Clark give the recital. The program included pieces by J.S. Bach, Pinkham, Debussy, and others. Jordan and I both enjoyed it very much! It was one of those things that seemed less touristy. Both the music and the atmosphere contributed to that feeling.

Museum of Science

We went to the Museum of Science because it was part of the CityPass we bought, but we would have been alright if we had not gone to this museum.

There were lots and lots of kids there, and they were exploring the numerous hands-on exhibits, but Jordan and I didn't push them out of the way to have a turn. But Jordan did find a section that interested him, and there weren't many kids in this area.




I did like seeing this ring from a Sequoia tree!

It was pretty interesting to compare the rings of the tree when it grew well with the rings from the years when it didn't grow well. The rings from the unfavorable growth years were much closer together.

The other part of the museum I particularly enjoyed was a photo exhibit called "What I Eat: Around the World in 25 Diets." The Museum of Science website has this to say about the exhibit:

Each of the 25 photo essays in the exhibit includes a comprehensive list of every item that individual consumed during one particular — though not necessarily average — day, along with the total calorie count. Profiles are laid out in order of increasing caloric intake, from a low of 800 calories a day for a Maasai herder in Kenya, to a high of 12,300 one day for a binge eater in England.

Boston Public Library

One afternoon, I had some time to kill while Jordan was occupied at the conference, so I decided to walk around the Boston Public Library.



It's on Copley Square, which was very near our hotel, so I had seen it a number of times. It's made up of two different buildings; one is much older than the other. There is a nice courtyard between the two buildings.


The older of the two buildings has murals, statues,

beautiful ceilings,

and interesting architecture.

The newer of the two buildings has the children's section, which I visited, since I missed Claire! (I bet the moms in here wondered why I took a picture of all these children's books!)

I found a little duck, (like the ones in the Public Garden), and I know Claire would have liked it!

I always like seeing the American flag on display!

While I was in the library, it started pouring down rain, so I was happy to be inside and dry!

Music & the Esplanade

During our long walk, we crossed the Arthur Fiedler bridge to the Esplanade (a park), and I learned a little bit about this guy. He conducted the Boston Pops for 50 years, and he established the tradition of free Boston Pops concerts for the public during the summers in Boston. That tradition continues today.

On the other side of the bridge, we found Arthur Fiedler, himself!


We continued walking and found the Hatch Shell, where the Boston Pops concerts are in the summer time. I read that there is a HUGE July 4th celebration here with fireworks being shot off over the river to the orchestration of the Boston Pops. That sounds incredibly fun to me! (Maybe I'll go one year!)


Names of composers line the front of the shell.


Then we walked to the river and rested a bit.

Quotes were imbedded in the concrete at the base of the benches.

We watched ducks, a guy fishing, sailboats, and people in kayaks on the Charles River.

Kelly

It was definitely time for a break in our walk!

We ended up doing all this walking because this was plan B, since we couldn't get into the Museum of Fine Arts that day. I'm glad we were able to walk to the Esplanade and see all of this! I had a good time!

Public Garden and Boston Common

The first day that we really walked around Boston, we REALLY walked around Boston! (I think Jordan would say we walked too much!) Here are some of the pictures from our long walk. These are of the Public Garden and Boston Common.

George Washington welcomes everyone to the Public Garden.

Julia, Kelly, and Melanie

Cade and Melanie

Julia and Jordan

George - Doesn't he look grand?!

George with some of Boston

There were some nice flowers



There's a children's book, (that I still haven't read), called Make Way for Ducklings. These duck statues are the ducks in the book.

A swan boat - The same family has been operating the swan boats since they began in the 1870's.

Boston was founded in 1630. Wow! That is so long ago!

I'll share the rest of the walk later.

View from Above

We went to the top of the Prudential Center Tower one afternoon to take a look around Boston from above.

This looks like the Back Bay, an area of town that used to be water but was filled in with land. The streets in this part of town are actually organized in a logical manner, unlike much of the rest of Boston!

You can see the State House in the back right. It has a large, gold dome on top.

The Hatch Shell is an outdoor performance venue; you can see it by the river where the river turns.

There was a toy speed boat in the water that was going INCREDIBLY fast! It was crazy!

Fenway Park was filling up for a game!

Jordan with Massachusetts General Hospital in the background