Summer has arrived

We had a good rest of June, celebrating Father's Day with lots of good food and a sleep in for Glen, which is a treat for him because he's usually "in charge" of mornings. We've been swimming in our pool several times a week. Claudia likes to sing/play motorboat, complain about bugs and dirt, kick her legs, and throw a ball around in the water. As always, she's not very adventurous, but she does get that mischievous look in her eyes from time to time. She has been pushing her boundaries lately and seeing what she can get away with. She has a lot of demands and she is not shy to whine and cry when she doesn't get what she wants. She is definitely a toddler. The positive side is that her language is getting so much better. She is saying new words every day. She has been saying, unprompted, "thank you" and sometimes even "I love you" or "please", so that is really fun. Of course she will not talk at all around strangers and needs a big warm up a period with friends and extended family. She also got a new molar in, so she only has 3 more teeth to go before she gets her full set of 20 baby teeth.

We went out to Alta for the 4th of July weekend with Neely & Emilio. We were all golfing well and the weather was a perfect 80 degrees and sunny, so that was fun. We're looking forward to going out again in July with Grandma & Papa. Glen & I both celebrated our birthdays; we're both now 30-something. Claudia is super interested in birthdays and parties. She can sing "Happy Birthday" and she talks about party dresses, cake, and blowing out candles.

Finally able to break out the shorts.


And the summer food (corn!)


Playing with Auntie Nee-nee.


Grandma got a new kiddie pool for Claudia.


Splashing around the big deck.


My big girl can still squeeze into the baby bucket.


Feeding Neely a birthday cupcake while wearing a cupcake hat!


Now Claudia's turn to eat.

Talking

Claudia loves toast. She likes cheese toast (cream cheese), peanut butter toast, jam toast, butter toast, and even Vegemite toast. I bribe her with candy so that she will sit still to get dressed and have her hair done, so she likes to say "I love candy," "I need two candies," and "I love lollies." She is getting better with her numbers and can count to ten unassisted although she usually cheats and says "1, 2, 3... 8, 9, 10." She is quite interested in parties lately and is always telling me that she needs a party or that she needs to wear a party dress. We went to her friend's 2nd birthday about a month ago and ever since then she has been talking all about Hadley, referring to the gift she gave her, her party, or that she wants to visit her house. She has only met Hadley a couple of times, so it's pretty cute that she's latched onto her (in thought).

Overall, we've been having a lot of fun with Claudia and enjoying hearing her thoughts on the world even if they're mostly demands. She does whine a lot now, so I hope that phase ends soon and her regular voice comes through more. Her favorite word is "big" and she also likes the number 2. She calls Glen "big daddy" and tells us she needs a big house. Sometimes she needs two big houses. She is usually pretty girly, but has a current interest in one boy in her class, so she likes to follow him around and mimic him. So she now knows how to make monster/dinosaur noises, but she still won't play in the dirt. She has been very loveable lately and likes to give all kinds of kisses and hugs. Her favorite varieties are big and baby (little), but she also gives cheek, Eskimo (nose), and butterfly kisses (eyelashes).

Playing in Grandpa & Grandma's backyard.


Having a tea party on the Alta deck.


And splashing around.


Our condo's pool opened for the season.


It was a bit overcast, so Claudia needed her leg warmers. :-)

Potty Training

Claudia has officially started potty training. She now wears underwear to daycare and sits on the potty regularly. She still does some diapers (naps, nighttime) and we've had some accidents, but she definitely understands and wants to do it, so we will get there soon!

For Mother's Day weekend, we went out to Alta Lake with our friends the Hsis who have twin 1-year-olds. The three toddlers played well together and we got to enjoy the wide open spaces. Claudia and I "golfed" 9 holes with Glen and even though she was a little scared of the golf cart, she still enjoyed running onto the greens and rolling her ball around. Every time Glen did a practice swing she would yell "almost!" I was also treated to a dinner out in Wenatchee and a new Keurig coffee maker as a gift, so I was spoiled this year. Glen has been working a lot lately (boo), but Claudia & I have been out enjoying the sunshine whenever we can. We went to the Syttende Mai (17th of May) parade in Ballard, which celebrates Norwegian Constitution Day, with Auntie Neely & Emilio. We have also been going with friends or by ourselves stroller walking or to the park. Claudia is shy to interact with other kids and is very non-competitive, so she doesn't like the jungle gyms with the slides as much anymore (unless it's completely empty), so we stick mostly to the swings.

On the potty.


Walking to Alta Lake.


Grandma's trike was popular.


Daddy teaching Claudia to putt.


In the hole!


Dancing machine:

Our Toddler Turns 2

Claudia turned 2 on April 15th. She moved up a classroom at daycare shortly before her birthday, so her talking has really taken off now that she's with the older kids. She is stringing words together and her first full sentence was "I need my daddy." She has several phrases now that she says often and one annoying one was saying "hurry up" to Glen or I as we were preparing her dinner. It was really starting to irk me, and then we figured out she was actually saying "really hot." So we still have some work to do on pronunciation, but overall we're able to communicate with her better so that she can order us around (haha). She is also doing more potty training in her new classroom and she has been going sometimes at daycare and went in the potty for the first time at home!

Lately she is really into playing with her Glo-Doodle (either drawing herself or telling us to draw things for her), puzzles, and Duplo Legos. Also, she got a tea set and a play vet clinic for her birthday that are becoming favorites. She has figured out the concept of counting, but gets stuck on the number 2, so it's "one, two, two, two." She is not very interested in TV, but she can spot certain characters like Elmo, Hello Kitty, Dora, and Mickey Mouse. In fact, "Elmo's World" on Sesame Street is about the only thing she gets excited about and even then, her attention span is only a couple minutes. A couple of her new tricks are rolling her tongue and sticking it out and also pushing her belly out and saying "big belly".

The week after Claudia's birthday she had to two year check-up and she was 26 1/2 pounds and 34 inches, which puts her in the 50 percentile like usual. It's a rough estimate, but if you double a child's height at age two, it will give you their expected adult height, so Claudia will be 5'8". We also took her for her first haircut, although they just trimmed a little off the back to try and even it up. She sports pigtails most days to keep her hair out of her eyes. She has a big callick like her grandpa, so we don't need to worry about cutting bangs (fringe).

Off to her first day of "school" in her new classroom, Sunshine Bears


Heading to daycare in her Birthday Girl T-shirt. She was very excited to show it to everyone.


Having a cupcake for her birthday.


Opening presents at her birthday party.


And coloring with her friend.


Showing off her Easter Dress.

Vegas Baby!

Glen had a MDA conference in Las Vegas, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. Neely & Emilio joined us for a fun-filled long weekend. Claudia got to stay with Grandpa & Grandma. We booked our rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel, but we didn't realize it was the start of March Madness, so our hotel was a bit overrun by male sports fans, but thankfully our team (UW) made it in the tournament so we could participate in some of the excitement and watch a little basketball. Our first day (Glen's 5th), we took a helicopter trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which was amazing. We spent the next couple of days doing some light gambling, drinking, heavy eating, and just wandering around seeing all the neat hotels. We topped off the trip by seeing Cirque du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio. I was fighting a bit of a cold during the trip, so I wasn't as wild & crazy as I wanted to be, but maybe that's just my excuse for being old. :-)

Claudia's talking has really taken off these past couple of weeks. I think several days with her talkative grandparents helped. I called a few times during our trip and it was so cute to hear her little munchkin voice say "hi mommy." She is doing really well at stringing two or three words together and she is getting more brave about trying new sounds and repeating back most things we say to her. She has learned the word "mine" and really enjoys "no" so she can be challenging at times, but we've tried the technique of giving her two options and that seems to work. For example, if I just tell her "time to brush your teeth" she will quickly say no, but if I say "do you want mommy or daddy to brush your teeth?" she will pick one. It's a good trick. She is also really particular about her accessories these days. She has a list of things she wants to take with her to bed and a list of things she needs in order to leave the house. She hasn't latched onto one specific item like many kids do, but she definitely needs a binkie, blanket, sunglasses, hat, baby doll, etc. for different occasions.

Now that it's spring, we're finally having some sunny days, so here we are at the park.


Notice, she's holding her baby doll while on the swing.


Claudia gets shy when you put her on the spot, but here is my attempt at getting her to talk on camera.


Emilio jogged out to the Las Vegas sign one morning while the rest of us were still sleeping.


In the helicopter.


Flying over Hover Dam.


Inside the Grand Canyon.

Burr

We had a cold snap in Seattle for the last week and we even got a dusting of snow a few days, but thankfully not enough to disrupt traffic in the city. My company moved locations this week and even though we had a moving company to do the heavy lifting, we still had a ton of packing and coordination to move an entire lab. It all came together quite nicely and we're now on the west side of Queen Anne looking out to the waterfront. Not bad!

I got my biennial colonoscopy and the results were good. It just showed minor colitis and the rest of me is healthy. I don't always feel 100%, but I'm a lot better than last summer. I also saw an IBD specialist at the UW and he ordered some more testing on suspicion that I might have Crohns instead of UC, but everything has been inconclusive. It's not easy dealing with a chronic disease, but I'm very thankful that I'm able to live a normal life most of the time.

Glen & I had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year by going to The Melting Pot and having a delicious, fun, and romantic 4 course fondue dinner. We don't splurge like that often, so we're joking that we can afford to do it again in about five years.

Claudia is really thriving lately and is absorbing knowledge like a sponge. She is borderline obsessed with babies however she can get them -- real, on TV, in a book, a photo, and of course, baby dolls. She likes to push boundaries, so although we've tried it before, we put a good effort into some mini time-outs. She has to sit in this one spot without her binkie for 1 minute. We pretty much do what I learned from the TV show Super Nanny. Amazingly, it works like a charm. And I've saved the best for last, Claudia went pee pee on the potty for the first time! She went at daycare last week!

All bundled up playing at Magnuson Park.


Carrying around her baby doll and a little blanket.


She loves soap and insists on doing most of the washing herself.


She hasn't really taken to her "little potty" so we're going to try a toddler seat on the "big potty" like they do at daycare.

Maggie

Claudia started cutting her cuspids and it's the first time she experienced teething pain, so she had a rough week with a mild fever and some crying spells at daycare. It coincided with a bit of night waking and chants for a baba. We were "supposed" to cut out the bottle at age 1, but we continued doing a morning one so we could get her to drink her Miralax (for constipation) and also to bridge the time between waking up and having breakfast at school. She is almost 2, so maybe we will try then. She has already sort of moved up to the 2-3 year old classroom at daycare. She is splitting her time between classrooms now because she is one of the best kids at listening and behaving, so she is adaptable. I have nothing to compare to, but she doesn't seem as perfect at home, but maybe I'm just spoiled and she is easier than most. At home, she does normal toddler behavior like climbing on furniture, resisting going to bed, and throwing food. Overall though, she is a super enjoyable kid. We are always amazed at how clever she is. She has started putting two words together. It started simple: "hi daddy" and now she is saying phrases and working on adding colors to objects. She will repeat back about half of the nouns that I say to her. As she has added new sounds to her voice, certain words have become more garbled, which is strange. For example, Mommy is now Maggie. It's become a family joke that she says my name wrong! She is still very obsessed with the words Daddy and Nana. Nana has a double meaning. If she is holding a phone or pointing at the computer (hint:Skype), then it is her Nana in Australia, and if it is the cupboard in the kitchen, it is a banana. She has learned a good skill, understanding how to shut her eyes. This helps with soapy water in the bathtub.

Glen and I have been busy at work like usual, but we have a good handle on things and are able to enjoy our family and friend time too. I started doing Pilates again on Tuesday nights and this quarter my sister and friend are also in the class, so it's extra fun to get a little social time too. Glen has continued with his dart league on Wednesdays, so he has good excuse to go out with his friends once a week. We try our best to work in family time and date nights on the weekends.

Showing off her pigtails and holding one of her new favorite stuffed animals, bunny.