18 Months

Claire is 18 months old today! I can't believe she's a year and a half! Pretty soon, I'll stop counting months and just count years (and half years). Wow!

Claire's 18 Month Stats:
Height: about 33 inches
Weight: 27 pounds


Yesterday my friend Jane watched Claire for me for a little bit, and she took some pictures of Claire, too. She's a great photographer. - Check out her work at her blog! I'm so excited and happy to have these pictures of Claire! Thanks, Jane!

Claire loves to play outside. With the weather turning slightly cooler, we've been able to spend a little bit more time outside. And I'm looking forward to when it cools off some more!


Claire is a happy little girl. She loves to be wherever I am when we're at home together. She loves music and enjoys when we sing songs. She does some of the hand motions to some of the songs. She loves to read books. Every morning, usually before I even get her out of the crib, she says, "boo, boo," and points to the books on her shelf.

Claire is very interested in the world around her. She loves seeing and hearing animals. Just this past week, she saw a cat at a friend's house, and she got very excited about it! She also heard a bird singing this week and said, "bir." She'll say "doe" (for "dog") or "ff, ff," (for "ruff, ruff") when she hears a dog bark through the walls of our home. When she sees the moon, she points to it and says, "moo." I love seeing the connections that she makes as she discovers the beauty and delight in the world. - It's better in person than it is in books!

Her latest thing is putting her chin on her chest and looking up with her eyes. She can hardly see us, but she knows she's being funny. Sometimes it's quite amusing because she does it in response to something we say. For instance, I might say, "Will you give me a kiss?" And then she'll look at me that way. But the thing is, she knows she's being funny. It's hilarious!

She's a great helper. She cleans up her toys very well, and she's getting more independent about it. I don't have to tell her every single step to help clean up. She knows the books go on her shelf, the Lego's go in the toy chest, and the popper goes against the wall by the tv.

She folds her arms for prayer time. (I'll have to get a picture of that! It's so cute!) Claire is a fun, happy, sweet little girl. She loves her da da so much, and I know she loves me, too. What a blessing she is!

Here's my favorite picture of Claire yesterday. Seeing her sweet face makes me smile and makes me so happy!

As a side note, today was Claire's first day of nursery in church, (HOORAY!!!!!) and she was fantastic!!! I'm so glad! My main concern was that we'd have to say bye to her twice - once when we dropped her off, and once after I was finished with singing time in nursery. She didn't really mind, though. She sat in my lap during singing time, (once she realized I was even in the room, which was after we started singing the first song!) And when it was time for me to leave, I said, "Bye bye, I'll see you later." She kind of fussed for a split second, and then she played with the other kids. Yay! I'm so happy! I love it that she can go to nursery now. She seemed to have a great time in there today!