Daddy & Claire

How did I miss posting this cute photo of Dan and Claire walking hand in hand? I was about to archive my February snow photos and came across it, love it!

 

Zoomed Out

Did you enjoy the photo of Claire sleeping? Here's what was missing from the frame:



We had spent the morning at a great Asian market near Laurie's home in Astoria and Claire walked just about the whole way with Auntie Laurie. She was soooo pooped I slipped her off my back (love that Ergo!) and she stayed sound asleep.

Michael seems to be the only one in this photo who has had his morning coffee!

Eyelashes!

I love to see Claire's eyelashes fanned out on her cheeks - they're so long! Here, have a look yourself:

Because Some Pictures Are Great...And Others Just Plain Funny

So long snow!

The temperature hit nearly 50 degrees in northern NJ yesterday - time to get out and enjoy the last of the now! These photos are a nice change from all the food-centric entries of late. Cute as they were, even I was longing for something new!

I love this one of Claire wobbling along in the snow, just look at her concentrating on each step!

Does it really need a caption?

Here's Claire helping herself to some homemade yogurt. I was in the bathroom just steps away and heard "yum, ummmmmmmmmmm, yum yum." Good thing I had the camera handy, this was too funny a shot to pass up.

Caption ideas:

"At least she used a spoon"

"Why you need to supervise your toddler"

"Attack of the munchies"

"Now serving, Strawberry Claire Surprise "

Here are some photos of Claire enjoying yogurt in her high chair before she resorted to thievery.

Join us for lunch!

Here's a peek into what lunch with Claire looks like everyday!

This is from Friday's "pizza" day - what can I say, I was a student for 16 years and a teacher for 5, so old habits like pizza Friday die hard. Claire will usually join me in the kitchen to "help." She has the choice of the pots and pans cabinet to play in or the tupperware one. I'm still up in arms about which is the better choice. The pots and pans can be played deafeningly loud, but the tupperware means a big cleanup. Fridge magnets seem to keep her pretty busy nowadays too.

Once the food comes out all playing stops and on our pizza days she'll beg for bits of mozzarella just like Daddy. At least she's not sneaky about it - ahem!

Tortilla, sauce, cheese and lots of "don't touch HOT!" comments later, 10 minutes have passed and our

pizza is done! Claire picks off the cheese and then puts the tortilla bit into her mouth to suck off the tomato sauce. Only then will she eat the melted cheese. She'll sign for some water and out comes the sippy cup. Claire is drinking from a glass with a bit of help but I have to confess my love for the leak proof straw cup, especially when I'm trying to eat as well!

Lunch ends when Claire announces she's finished by scattering her food all over the kitchen. She'll look whoever is feeding her right in the eye, reach down and drop a piece of food on the floor. Of course you chalk the first one up as an accident. Then comes the double-armed swipe and you realize you weren't quick enough getting her out and the entire kitchen floor is covered once-licked tortilla shells and half eaten cheese. Yep, lunch is so over.

This "all done" method is something we're working on...and the reason all family meals have moved into the kitchen.

If you have a case of the Mondays (hi Auntie Laurie!) or just haven't met your daily quota of cute - there are even MORE photos in the slideshow below. Click on it twice to view full screen.

Caught Ya!

Dan stealing kisses in an attempt to distract Claire from her reading:

Scenes from a Saturday

You can tell by this previous post, that Claire is really starting to mimic things she sees Mommy and Daddy doing. Here are some hilarious photos of Claire dressing herself in the laundry we were folding. Dan was wearing the hat and she kept swiping it from him to wear it herself. It was really cute. I love the photo where Claire is sucking in her little gut - Dan had just asked her where her belly-button was and it appears she was trying to hide it so Daddy couldn't tickle her!

Eat Baby, Eat!

You might recognize this doll as one of Claire's Christmas presents from Grandma Caca. If you look carefully, you'll see Claire has added her own "embellishments" to baby. Yes, that is food shoved into baby's mouth...little Claire is such a toddler now.

           

Introducing my sous chef

I was going to write a nice long entry about Claire helping me out in the kitchen while making pizza dough, but she woke up ruining my plans. I'll just share the photos instead - her flour covered nose tells the story perfectly. Click on the slide show again for larger photos, you'll want to see these close up for sure!

Ok You Claire Blog Addicts :-)

                         

We've been working on a little something here so you have to cut us some slack! SOMEONE is learning to use the potty and it's a bit time consuming, but we've gone almost a week without a dirty diaper. And by dirty I mean poo...sorry no way around that one! Claire signs "potty" even when she's farting and runs over to sit on the john. Other than an accident when Dan was on "duty" <hehe> she's been doing great.

Let's hope for a diaper free baby come summer! Oh, these photos? Yes, I will be using them as her high school yearbook ad. It will be full page and absolutely fantastic.