Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Everyone was healthy and Claudia brought joy to a lot of people. We started off hosting Neely, Emilio, and Gina for Christmas Eve dinner, exchanging a few presents, Skype with the family in Australia, and then church service where Claudia tried to ham it up as much as we would let her including some dancing in the aisle. For Christmas morning, we decided to postpone Santa for another year because Claudia does not understand yet, although she was pretty excited and knew something good was happening. We had a relaxing morning as a family and then headed off to my parents' house in Kirkland for our annual Christmas day celebration. Claudia is on the only grandchild on my side of the family so there is a lot of attention on her. It is easy to joke that she is spoiled, but there is also a slight bit of pressure for her behave and to be excited about every present. Of course we would all love her just the same if she had a meltdown, but it was sure nice to see her so happy and appreciative of all her gifts. She was prancing around in her new clothes and seemed fascinated with every toy she received. She also got to stay over for the night like she did on Thanksgiving so that her great grandparents could spend some extra time with her.

Claudia has learned one important task since my last posted -- she can now jump! At first she just swung her arms up, but now she actually gets some air. She also discovered that she can get more air if she does it on the bed or the couch, so we now have some trouble on our hands. She is getting more bold and can now climb on the chairs and up on the table. She is slowly but surely adding words to her vocabulary, although she still has a way to go on a lot of letters and sounds. She mostly just chants daddy and meow when she is around me, but will try to repeat most words I ask her to, and then quickly goes back to making animal noises. Compared to other kids her age, she is less book smart (language, colors, letters) and more creative at this age (20 months). She really likes imaginative play with her dolls or stuffed animals, she likes to draw and can hold a crayon properly, she loves to copy hand and body motions to songs, and she's very clever about watching adults and mimicking their behavior. She also really likes to follow directions, which is good because they encourage the kids at daycare do many things themselves (clear their plates, put away their toys, etc.)

On a sad note, my parents' cat Pepper Face died unexpectedly last week. She was only 12 years old. She was acting lethargic and not herself so my dad took her to the vet and they found a tumor in her belly, as well as diabetes and kidney problems, so he decided to let her go because she was obviously in a lot of discomfort. We will miss you Pepper.

Check out her Christmas dress and cute shoes!




I've never seen a kid so excited about a new coat. She thought this was the best gift ever!


She was so cute getting excited over each present.


At home on Boxing Day playing with her new baby buggy...


... and her giant stuffed kangaroo.


Walking around in mommy's slippers.

Happy Thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving gave us our first snow of the year. We live on a hill that turns into a sheet of ice, but our Subaru (the winter wonderland car) can handle it and gets us down to the main road that gets plowed. We were only able to work half days because the daycare was on limited hours, but that was better than a lot of people who couldn't get out at all. I quite enjoyed the snow and I hope we get more this year! The snow thawed just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, which my mom and dad kindly hosted. Events like these can be pretty overwhelming for Claudia, but she did better than she has in the past and was a little more independent especially when playing with some of her favorite toys. The long weekend gave Glen time to do his project of painting the bathroom. The cabinets are now white and the walls are light blue, which really brightens it up in there. It was a learning experience for us so it's not perfect, but it looks pretty sharp and it's definitely better than the sickly green we had before.

Claudia is such a joy lately. She is really enjoying doing things herself and mimics our everyday behavior, so even though she's too young to do many tasks, that doesn't stop her from trying to put on her own diaper or dressing herself. She still loves cats and meows every chance she gets -- at pictures in books, at her stuffed animal, or if she's lucky, at my parents' real cats. Her other current fascination is babies. She has started playing with a small doll, we now sing "Rock-A-Bye Baby" at bedtime, and she is pointing at and saying "baby" every chance she gets. We watched the documentary movie "Babies" several times together over the long weekend. She now has a purse that she takes with her to and from home, which carries either kitty or baby. Again, this is purely mimicking of me because I did not encourage a purse. She just started grabbing any bag she could find and dragging it out of the house, so I thought a kid's purse was safer and cuter than a grocery bag.

It's been hard to take photos lately because I always seem to be holding Claudia, so I don't have any from Thanksgiving and only one of the snow. Shoot. But I added a couple more from Australia that Gina gave me, and a couple from Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Claudia and Glen in the snow.


Playing inside with mommy's winter hat.


Driving the "little car" at the U-Village shopping center.


Snuggling with Grandma.


Getting a bath from Grandma in the sink.


A few more from Australia:

Gina holding a koala.


Claudia's first ice cream cone.


Gina & I at Whitehaven Beach (it was windy).


Glen & I in our wet suits heading out snorkeling.


A short video of Claudia playing with a kangaroo.

Happy Halloween - 18 months old!

As I'm posting this, Claudia is now 19 months old, but I wanted to include her 18 month statistics from her pediatrician appointment. She is 24 pounds and 32 inches, which puts her right at 50% like always! And her feet are finally catching up with her age; she is now a size 5. Claudia is up to so many new things now that it's hard to keep track. She moved up to the "Toddler 2" classroom at daycare, so by being the youngest, she is picking up a lot. She is talking up a storm. She is repeating many words we say and we catch her talking to herself practicing her words. Her favorite word seems to be daddy, but she has about 15-20 that she says regularly. Some other popular ones are no, hi-ee, wow, up, down, yeah, baby, more, and let's go. Her behavior kind of shifts back and forth, so lately she is into toys that move and make noise and less into books. Also, she is increasingly active and likes to do a "nude run" and squirm on the changing table, but she doesn't climb the furniture like some toddlers do. Some cute antics from daycare include patting her own back to help fall asleep at nap time (copying the teachers), "helping" other kids with their drawings and stickers, and always being the first in line to go to the potty or wash her hands. On a side note, we are not potty training. The daycare simply introduces it at this age in case there are some early learners, but Claudia seems to have no clue when she actually goes. I think she just likes the routine and following the teachers' instructions.

Claudia has been so much healthier this year and we've actually been able to enjoy autumn. She still seems to pick up a cold every 2-3 weeks, but it doesn't affect her nearly as badly so she can usually still go to daycare, sleep at night, and also not get an ear infection! We had a great Halloween. The weather was nice (I know, amazing) so we went trick or treating at Kirkland Park Place because they have an afternoon thing for the young kids and then my parents hosted us for a nice dinner. Claudia got to eat one piece of her candy, a Laffy Taffy, which I broke into about 10 tiny pieces. Glen and I ate the rest, yum.

Halloween costume - black & pink cat.


I realize her costume looks a bit like a burlesque dancer, but the packaging said Black Cat Cutie.


Claudia is great with a spoon so she gets cereal with milk. She also drinks out of a cup at daycare, but since we have carpet at home, we still do a sippy.


She looks like such a big girl now, especially when she is wearing jeans.

Australia

In October, we spent two weeks in Australia visiting family! Our trip went by too fast, but we had a great time catching up with everyone and showing Claudia around. Glen's parents had a big crowd to host because we also brought my sister Gina, and then the whole Banks/Svendsen family flew in to spend part of the time with us. Seeing our family was obviously the highlight, but we also showed Gina a good time by going to Australia Zoo, Sea World, and the Gold Coast. Claudia stayed with Nana, Poppy, and Aunt Jo for three days while Glen, Gina, and I flew up to Airlie Beach to go on a sailing and snorkeling trip to the Whitsunday Islands. Claudia enjoyed playing with Nana and all the toys she got for her like Legos, a baby stroller, and especially the princess chair. I think Claudia did well while we were away, but when we were with her, she was disappointingly very clingy. I suppose it's just the age she is at (18 months) added to jet lag and an unpredictable schedule, but it was a little frustrating that everyone wanted to play with her and she just wanted me.

Claudia was very excited about flying on an airplane for the first time and she was so hyper, but in a fun way that made us laugh a lot. The flights over were exhausting, but pretty good considering we were in the air for 17 hours. I can't say it went so well on the way back. There was a lot of crying and frustration for all of us. Claudia was happy to be home and back to her routine, but when she saw Nana on Skype when we got back, her eye just lit up and she seemed so proud to point and say "nana", so that made the frustrating flight worth it.

Claudia's first flight to Australia. She slept for 4 glorious hours in this cot. Then "only" 10 more hours of playing. We were lucky to get the baby row (bulkhead) on both of our flights.


Gina & Claudia feeding a kangaroo.


We got to pet the koalas and Gina even held one.


We stayed in Airlie Beach for a night before leaving on our catamaran sailboat for the Whitsundays. We had just 12 people on our boat and everyone was really nice.


Springtime is very tropical in Queensland, so we had sun at times and rain at other times, but it was always warm.


The view from our hotel at Airlie Beach (not bad!) It's a cute little touristy town that is a great launching point to see the fringing reefs that are part of the Great Barrier Reef.


Claudia's first time to the beach.

September and October happenings

I'm back posting a bit because I didn't have time to post before our trip to Australia and we did a lot of fun stuff at the end of the summer. The last weekend of September, Neely & I threw our best friend Amanda a Baby Sprinkle to celebrate the upcoming arrival of her new baby. The baby has since arrived and she's adorable and sweet (of course). Ben, Amanda, and Victoria welcomed Emily Mae on Oct 25th. I predict that the three girls will be great friends growing up.

September 29th was our 3rd anniversary, so Neely babysat while Glen & I had a "romantic" dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Okay, it wasn't very romantic, but we rarely get to eat alone, so we enjoyed just chatting and gorging ourselves on steak and crab legs. Also, Glen got me some beautiful flowers, which prompted Claudia to learn a new word, "flower".

On Oct 10th, we celebrated the wedding of our friends Pat & Joy. Their wedding was beautiful and we had fun at the reception -- Glen & I always have fun at receptions! Claudia did really well staying calm during the ceremony (hint: pencil + paper) and then hammed it up during the reception, which went well past her bedtime so she was a bit wild at times. Her best trick was running between our legs, which was a little inappropriate considering I was wearing a dress, but it was super cute, so we just laughed a lot.

And last, but not least, our friends the Booths (Christina, Michael, Mira, and Sienna) came to visit us from Washington DC. They were amazing running all around town visiting their friends with two small children in tow. I feel lucky to have spent one day with them, and their girls enjoyed playing with Claudia's big pile of toys in our living room.

Amanda, one month before Emily was born.


Flowers


At the Gilroy wedding reception.


Claudia acting silly at the wedding reception.


It was impossible to get a good photo of all of us, but here's the best I got. Hopefully I can get find a better one that actually has Christina in it too!

Shake your Bum Bum

Claudia isn't the most verbal toddler, but she sure comprehends a lot and manages to communicate pretty well with sign language. She loves pointing at her body parts and my mom taught her to shake her bum when you say "where is your bum bum?" My dad reminded me of a song we used to do as kids that includes hand motions, so of course Claudia loves it:
High Five
Low Five
Cut the pickle
Tickle Tickle!

She has added one new word, "bubble", and she is doing even more animal sounds. She has also started signing "I don't know" (palms up, raising her eyebrows), which is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I have no idea where she picked that up. She got two more teeth this month, so now she's even on the left and right, and she has 6 on top and 6 on the bottom. Claudia got her first hair trim, but I'm not sure if it was the official first hair cut because I just trimmed her bangs (fringe). Her hair is very thin and it won't stay in a hair clip or tie, so I needed to do a little trim because it was falling in her eyes.

Everyone keeps complaining about our wimpy summer and how it's already raining in September, but that hasn't stop us from getting out and about a lot. We have been visiting with family so that Claudia can show off all her new skills, going to several parks, and we even went to a Mariner's game. Claudia had a little interest in the game at the beginning, but she mostly liked all the people watching and climbing on our laps and on the chairs.

Here's a movie playing on the swing with Neely by pretending to kick her in the belly.


All the "cool kids" wear their Sounders FC jerseys to daycare on game days. I think Claudia is the only girl that does, but that makes her extra cool!


We like going to University Village because they have a big courtyard and a covered toddler playground.


At the Mariner's baseball game.


Claudia liked playing with the stadium chairs and sucking on her binkie.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Claudia is becoming quite the toddler. I'm amazed at how many words she can understand (even if she doesn't talk back) and impressed by how well she is able to run, climb, and maneuver. She is still a baby in many ways, like we give her a bottle of milk first thing in the morning when she wakes up and she still has these tiny size 3 feet. Her belly is keeping up with her age though and she's in size 18 month clothes to accommodate it! And to keep up with her tooth count, another incisor on the bottom right popped up, so she now has 6 incisors (3 top, 3 bottom) and all 4 first year molars.

She has always liked to "bop" to songs, but now she is starting to dance a bit. She likes "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" because she knows to grab her toes, and she will dance a little to The Wiggles on TV, but her attention span for TV is only a couple minutes. We have been trying out a few cartoons and kids shows in preparation for our long flight to Australia in October. We need to have as many sitting activities as we can. I'm very thankful she has taken a interest in books lately, so we will bring lots of those.

We made another trip over to Alta Lake this August and Neely, Emilio, and I took Claudia to Slide Waters Park in Chelan. She really liked going down the kiddie slides with me. Glen was able to get in some excellent golf as usual, and we all enjoyed relaxing on the deck with some good summer food and drink.

Eating watermelon, yum!


Oops, dropped some on my belly.


Climbing in and out of chairs is one of her favorite activities.


Puckering up for a kiss.


A short video at home.