The Banks Family: Show me your belly

Claudia has discovered that her body parts have names and she's learned nose, head, ears, and of course her belly! If we ask "where is your belly?" she lifts up her shirt and shows us. She also likes to pat, pinch, and rub our bellies. In fact, she does a lot of hitting and pinching lately, which gets a little old. It's amazing how much she is understanding these days. She is not as verbal as some other 15 month olds, but she can definitely comprehend a lot. It's really fun to see the wheels turning when we ask her a question or give her instructions on what to do.

A week ago Claudia had ear tubes put in for chronic ear infections. We did it at Virginia Mason hospital and even though it was a surgery, it was fairly simple and quick and she didn't have to have an IV because they were able to give her the anesthesia in a face mask. The tubes will stay in for 6-18 months (they just fall out on their own) and they will hopefully keep her infection free. She did great and by that afternoon she was running around like nothing had happened. The ear surgery coincided with her becoming a "wild woman" though. Gone are the days when my little baby can occupy herself quietly with stacking cups. Now she wants to climb and run and her attention span for any one activity is only a couple minutes. It's a bit exhausting for Glen & I to keep up with her. Her agility is fairly good for her age, so she can climb in and out of a chair and maneuver on the playground well. Her favorite is the slide. She continues to be somewhat conservative on what she will try or how far she will stray from her caretaker when she's out of familiar territory.

July is always a busy month. We celebrated 4th of July with my parents, grandparents, Gina & Jeremy, and the Martinkas. Then the next week I turned 33 and Glen turned 35. We tried our best to celebrate, but I ended up having some health issues at the same time, so that put a damper on things. We don't really need to celebrate how old we are anyway. :-) I'm still recovering from a minor surgical procedure and some issues with my ulcerative colitis. Last week was tough, but I'm on the mend.

Auntie Gina got us a table & chairs for our birthdays, which turned out to be just Claudia's size. How did that happen? Haha.