So, fun stories....

As many of you may have noticed, I'm not a fan of mobility. While I've often said, I want her to meet benchmarks, exceeding them is simply not neccessary in this particular arena. Mobility=bad things. I still haven't read the entire instruction manual that Clare didn't come with, so I'm not sure what terrible thing she will get into first, but it should be fun. However, one milestone I'm glad we did exceed/meet is......

CLARE SAID HER FIRST WORD!!!!

So, of course Chris thought I was crazy/making it up/drinking. Possible: one of those was true. It started when we came back from Cincy. She had making constant/vowel sounds for quite awhile, however nothing that sounded like words we've ever heard of. Then, I put her down for nap last week and I hear, "MOM" over and over again. Thinking I'm crazy, I assume it's just her usually "Get-me-the-hell-out-of-this-swing-I-hate-it-and-wish-to-light-it-on-fire-I'm-not-ti.....::snore::". So, I jokingly tell Chris. He explains (in his expert child development voice) that she may be making the sounds, but she clearly has no idea who she is making them at (i.e. she is saying Mom, but doesn't mean to/has no idea what it means). Never one to lose an arguement, Clare and I have several conversations this week about the issue. They mostly go like this:

Me: Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom (times 10)
Clare: silent, scream, pinch your face
Me: Clare-bear (sing-songy voice), I'm Mommy. I love you. Say Mom, mom, mom, mom...
Clare: Ahhhhhh. Gahhhhh. Bahhhhh. squirm to get away from crazy lady....

So, through out the week, she starts saying it more. I being overly confindent, begin calling people to share. Grandmama, Steph, Becky, Heather. Anyone I think I can trick into listening while I set the phone down and walk out of the room (when she "calls" for me). Erin and Nana were saved with being out of the country and Aunt Lisa also avoided the call with me having been to her work once and realizing it's serious. So, after many phone calls in which people listen to crickets chirp, my baby eat the phone or Clare throwing toys, I've stopped calling. I have however, called Chris about 100 times to tell him.
Then on Friday I went to a Mommy's play group and took her to the nursery. While I was out, she totally said Mom to the older women that work the nursery when she was getting hungry and started looking for me. When I went to pick her up, as soon as she saw me, she said "Mom" and they told me the story. Since I didn't know these people all that well, I refrained from doing my Ally McBeal Happy Dance (like the fat little baby with one hand in the hair, I rock it out often, very similar to the Smarty Pants Dance). However, later when Chris came home, it was a very lengthy dance session. Then, yesterday Chris put the baby down for nap and she called for me. Christmas has come early. I was right (which almost matches the Mommy joy of Clare saying her first word)!

In other news, Clare has mastered a talent I've never learned. How to be quiet. I'm a bit of talker and never learned to keep my mouth shut (unless I was listening in on gossip I wasn't suppose to hear, I still get really quiet). I gave Clare applesauce the other morning and she was less than amused with it. So, I left the bowl on her tray and walked out of the room. I *knew* she was going to get it everywhere, but if it kept her busy, so be it. Sure enough, it was in her hair, her ears and she even tried to shove it down the side of her diaper. However, for 25 minutes she was totally silent. Almost as if she knew if she spoke, I would come back in and her fun would be over.

So, the message of today, is all about Clare's communication skills. :) I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. Clare will enjoying some yummy watermelon tonight. I'll be sure to write more later.