One and a Half

Remember this great picture of Claire? Well, my friend Jane, who took this picture, is celebrating her 200th post on her photo blog by offering a giveaway worth more than $200. Check it out here! (Wouldn't it be fun to win something?!!! I love to enter giveaways because someone has to win; maybe someday it'll be me!!!)


Claire seems to be doing so much these days. I titled this post "One and a Half" instead of "18 Months" (because I've already done an 18 month post) and because it seems like one and a half is more grown up than 18 months. And Claire is definitely trying to be more grown up. She wants to be independent more and more.

For example, she LOVES it when I give her a spoon with her meal or snack. I only give her a spoon when I take off her clothes before she eats, though, because I know how messy she'll get! Just today at lunch, she had applesauce and mac & cheese. More than half the applesauce ended up on the tray, her bib, and her face. And then when she got to the macaroni, she got frustrated when she couldn't get it onto the spoon. I told her she could use her hands, but she didn't like that idea; she kept trying with the spoon. But it still didn't work very well, so she kept getting frustrated. But this is the learning process, right? She has to go through this. I can try to teach her along the way, (for instance, she still needs to learn not to turn the spoon over on the way to her mouth!), but if she's not ready and willing to learn, it's kind of futile at the moment. But I guess we all go through this process, don't we? We all have to fail in order to succeed. We have to be humble enough to ask for help and to listen to the advice we receive. Whether the issue is simple or complex, significant or not, we all get to go through this process. As I watch Claire trying to master the simple tasks, I try not to wonder about how the bigger issues will go in the future, as she tries to learn how to master them herself!

As for other things she likes to do herself, Claire likes to use the washcloth in the bathtub to wash her body. She likes helping me dust the furniture. She frequently puts on, (or tries to put on, then gets frustrated and needs to ask for help), my shoes and Jordan's shoes. She loves it when I let her walk into the grocery store from the parking lot, (instead of me carrying her inside). And she absolutely loves to look at magazines.

Claire saw the nurse practitioner a couple of weeks ago for her "one and a half year" check-up. At the time, Claire weighed 27 pounds and was 33 inches tall. (She's holding steady with those specs for now!) That puts Claire in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. And, according to the NP, "that's good because she's proportionate."