Almost...

Clare is almost a walker! She is taking several (up to 8 or 9) steps in a row! I'll be sure to get video this weekend and post it on the blog. I can't believe how fast the time goes....

pics

This is Clare's new favorite face...cute, huh?

TV

So, here is the thing about the frequency of the blog posts.

In the beginning, when Clare was 1-2 months old (which I believe is before I even started the blog) she slept. Like no body's business. This kid would take a nap every three hours. I would usually have grand plans about getting things done (like a shower or brushing my teeth). Instead, I would take a nap. Or finish whatever train wreck show I was watching during the last feeding on TLC. Then, I would walk towards the shower and she would wake. Instantly. It was like magic. So, I took showers, with her on the boppy on the floor. I would poke my head out every 3-4 minutes and make faces or sing. Hot stuff.

Then, around 3-4 months, Clare started wiggling around a little and sleeping a little less. So showers consisted of her wiggling off the boppy if at all possible. So, before I could shower, I would clean the bathroom floor and lay her on a blanket on the padded rug, on her boppy, with toys tied to the towel bar and sing songs and pop my head out every 1-2 minutes.

Next, Clare was 5-6 months, and would take 2 naps a day. And she could ROLL. Clearly a genius, she could ROLL. And so, I would place pillows all around the bathroom and she could ROLL around and sit up. However, we have a tiny bathroom. Like baby sized. So, too soon she could reach gross things, and it was time for Clare to play in her crib, while I shower. Still not smart enough (most days) to shower during nap, I would hustle her upstairs into the crib with every non-choking hazard toy and let her play, which would last 3-4 minutes and I would race through my shower, singing loudly, camp songs. Delightful. 'Cause my voice is mediocre at a whisper. It's beyond interesting at a scream. Shaving my legs became a thing of the past. Or at least both legs. There were 1 or 2 times that I would jump out of the shower with one leg shaved. Or one stripe on one leg shaved. I'm telling you, it's hot stuff.

Fast forward to now. Clare has a BFF, called tv. I'm not proud of this. I swore she would not watch tv until she was 2 years old, per the AAP. However, it's like crack. There is this show. It's bizarre. Very strange things happen on this show. Somehow I have 14 episodes on my DVR. And she freakin' loves it! Loves it! It's called Yo Gabba Gabba. I will put a link in a comment to their website if you have not yet had the pleasure of this show. And there are tons of people that sing songs on this show. And they do the dancey-dance. And they teach lessons. And life skills.
Here are some examples taught in song:
1. Don't, Don't, Don't bite your friends! Chomp, Chomp, Chomp? No, No, No.
2. Please & Thank you, Please & Thank you, Please & Thank you. Magic, Magic, Magic.
3. Try It! You'll Like it! Try It! And you'll like it!
4. Skippy, Skippy, Skip, Skip (also there is another version, called jumpy, jumpy, jump, jump...very different).

You see, people, I can't make this crap up. Because I wouldn't be able to teach Clare these skills. Sure, don't bite your friends, but you may need to in a pinch. I mean she only has 2 teeth. Who is going to take her seriously if she doesn't give a good chomp? And please and thank you are great. Great. Until you've asked someone 3 damn times to take out the trash. Then, eventually, you have to drop the please part. Because it isn't magic when you are speaking to a bad listener.
And, you may not always like it. Like deviled eggs. And things Aunt Erin eats. Don't bother to try it. It's gross. I gave Clare beets the other night. She freaked out. Lost her sh**. Cried with her mouth open, tongue out (like please get this nasty thing off, it's so gross). So, upon smelling it, she probably could have ascertained that, no, trying it would not make her like it.

That said, Clare (as previously mentioned) started waving about a month ago. So, here's the thing. I don't wave (especially not to my neighbors, the damn weirdos). Chris, the more likely of the two of us to wave, also, not a waver. So, we realized this morning, Clare learned to wave from tv! From Yo Gabba Gabba, my shower savior. All validated. We realized she waves to the tv when she hears Hi and Bye. These shows are genius. If it could only teach her cook and take out the trash, we would be golden!

Since it's mostly girls that read my blog, I think they should create an adult male Yo Gabba Gabba. Think of all that would be accomplished. We could tie it into sports or girls in bathing suits (or both!). We would have to name it something tricky. Suggestions? We could have catchy little songs. Like,
Don't, Don't, Don't PutYourDirtyDishInTheSinkWhenTheDishwasherIsEmpty
AndPerfectlyReadyForDirtyDishes..
Or something similar. We could work on the phrasing. Make it more campy.

I mean if Clare can learn to wave....just think of the possibilities!

What's new?

Clare had fun visitors last week! Aunt Heather and Great Aunt Lisa came out to visit. It rained nearly everyday, so we were forced to go to malls (oh, how we suffered). Aunt Heather was spit on several times by Clare as she tried to feed her. Aunt Heather would warn Clare, very clearly, not to spit as she put the food in her mouth (usually something that stains) and each and every time, Clare would spit it all over her and laugh. It was great to see Aunt Heather get picked on by a baby. Aunt Lisa, who is almost fully grown, was also a source of amusement to Clare. Clare has never seen a person that small. I mean, sure, other kids are that size. But an adult? It seems to be not possible. I whispered to Clare often that this is what happens to people who don't eat their veggies. We'll see if it scared her. Clare was a huge fan of Aunt Lisa. Or at least Aunt Lisa's glasses and necklace, which she attempted to ripe off of her face.
Clare also has some new talents! She can wave (hi and bye). This has been going on for a few weeks. At the mall, Clare waves to everyone who makes eye contact with her. Clare, unlike her mother, likes people and makes friends easily. So usually, I'm stuck behind the stroller, wondering if it's rude to push her away yet as strangers make faces and wave to her. I've learned (after many, many minutes of this "game") to never acknowledge the person waving or talking to her, unless they are within reach. That way, you seem distracted and not rude when you promptly push the stroller away. Because, seriously, I don't have all day. Clare, the little social butterfly, thinks it's her job to make friends with every person at the mall. I'm more of "get in, get out" kinda gal and wants to hustle. Clare does look very surprised if an adult ignores her. If she waves and makes eye contact and the total stranger on the receiving end does not reciprocate, Clare tends to smack her hands on the bar and scream at the person. This typically makes me giggle.
Clare also has some "new" toys via my Craigslist drug-deal type purchase. I'll be sure to blog more later on this on. She has a push behind walker and ball popper. Clare loves both. She and Aunt Heather had a tough time playing with the ball popper. Clare likes to put the balls back in the place they "pop" out of and Aunt Heather isn't a great sharer when the kid isn't playing with the toy correctly. At one point, Heather used the toy as a weapon to shoot balls at me. See, she's mature like that.
One of the pics above, you can even see Clare's 2 teeth! That's the culprit behind her drooling problem.
So, hope everyone had a great week! Congrats to my newest "pregnant" friend. I would advise some of you not to drink the water at the next Morris Girls Reunion. It's very catching:)

The longest post E-V-E-R...

Seriously though, this could very well turn into the longest post with the most run on sentences, ever. So, in advance, please feel free to glance at the pics, skim the text and move on. I'll understand.

I'm going to start backwards, since it's really the only way for me to remember all that we've done in the last few days/week:)

Thursday: Clare and her cousins all went to the park. Clare, loving the swings, showed up this little smarty pants girl, who called Clare a "little baby brother" one too many times. In fairness to this little girl, she had a little brother herself. However, Clare was in all pink. And I'm (maybe) just a a little overly sensitive to the boy/girl thing. Clare only avoided the pink headband because she had an adorable hat to match the outfit (Thanks again to the Webb's-this outfit was a gift from them and it fits perfectly. The shoes are the only ones that stay on her feet right now and being pink match about 99% of her outfits). So, I'm just not following how this little girl thought she was a boy. To be fair, (to me, not this gender confused child) this kid was at least 6 or 7. Way to old to be confused. So, Clare was loving the swings with her cousin Emily swinging next to her, her cousin Sammy watching and her other cousin Sierra pushing her. Well, this other little girl (who, for mental picture sake had a super bad boy haircut, just sayin') was scared of the swings. So Clare, my 10 month old (yikes!) was going higher than her. That made me giggle. However, I'm a bad parent like that. I'm also realizing that playgrounds are like high school, with little people. Clare and I also went to the ghetto Kmart to do some coupon shopping. Just to brag for a hot second, we spent $23 on a new lemonade pitcher, 2 body washes, facial cleanser, deodorant (3), baby powder, shampoos (it's a sickness), Qtips, Pringles and other fun stuff. It was clearly double coupon days at Kmart. Clare was an angel the entire time, screaming at children as they ran by and attempting to pull the tags off the shelves.

Tuesday: We went to Clare's first Phillies game! Clare was having a very exciting week with Aunt Erin and Uncle JR. We all went to see the Phillies and the Reds (which was not the night the Reds lost 22--1). The Reds came out on top and it was a good game with decent seats. Clare had lots of yummy stuff, including hot dogs, chicken fingers and fries. She loved watching all of the crazies at the game and fell asleep sitting up! Aunt Erin and Uncle JR also went down to Wildwood with Clare and I. She had lots of fun on the beach. I tried to sit on the edge and the let the waves hit her. She was not a fan. She loves the water and loves the waves. However, it scared the bejeezus out of her. She was only comfortable letting the waves hit her if I was holding her. Otherwise she was scramble to climb up me, pulling my top off in the process (nice, huh?). So, for the sake of decency laws, I held her in the water. She is no longer curious about the sand, she crawled all over the beach (the past few trips she stayed on our beach towels and just played with the sand on the edge). We also walked the boardwalk and had some yummy boardwalk pizza, which is Clare's favorite. My child will fight you for a bite of pizza. She's slightly aggressive.

Monday: We all went out to dinner at the uptown Italian BYOB hole in the wall. Always yummy food. Clare had a good time. She only threw some of her food onto the floor. Then, Clare stayed home with one her favorite baby sitters, Aunt Jessica, while we all went to AC to gamble.

Sunday: We went to Philly to do the historic tours. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (Well, most of us saw that. Clare wasn't feeling that tour from the word go, so she and I sat in the square and had puffs and a bottle), Elferth's alley, Ben Franklin's grave and all that fun stuff. Clare had a great time. She fell asleep sitting up, with her head propped up on her tray in the front of the stroller.

Saturday: We went to Aunt Ginny's house for a BBQ, which was so much fun. Then it was off to Grandmom Bohl's for the parade and fireworks. Clare's favorite (person? animal? monster?) was in the parade, Elmo. She was very excited and unsure about the whole situation. I'm not sure if it's because he lives in her tv and she wasn't sure how he got out or if she wanted to eat him, like she does her Elmo here at the house. She just stared at him. Daddy and her were in a picture with Elmo, but Daddy looks "not typical" in the picture, so it will take some fancy editing to fix it for now. Clare fell asleep during the fireworks. She was in Aunt Erin's lap, with Aunt Erin blocking her ears and fell asleep within 20 minutes. She was so tired:)

Friday: Clare had her very first cheese steak at Geno's. As a typical Jersey girl, she loved it!

So, that was our week in reverse. I'll be sure to post updates next week and then it's time for another visit: Aunt Heather and Aunt Lisa! Clare is one very lucky girl:)

Hope everyone had a great 4th!

9 Month Pictures