Claire at 18 months!

Claire has turned 18 months old!  This new milestone has brought with it a lot of changes the last few weeks.  It is exciting to have such an active and fun little person running around, but a little scary and overwhelming when I think of all that she needs to learn and understand. 

We tried out a new pediatrician for the 18 month appointment and I really like the new doctor.  He seemed very knowledgeable and would actually listen when I talked.  Shocking! :)  Here are her stats:

Weight: 22lbs, 6oz (22 percentile)

Height: 31.5in (42 percentile)

Head Circumference: 47cm (64 percentile)

So, she has gained about 2 pounds in the last 3 months and she still has a big head!  Maybe she is top heavy and that is why she keeps falling and bruising her head.  Claire has really made a collection of bruises the past few weeks.  Check out the major bump on her head below.  She was being chased by a girl we babysat over the weekend and Claire tripped and fell right into the corner of the door frame.  It was a really bad and scary fall.  She seems to do most of her falling while she is running, trying to go too fast.

 A new thing, Claire has learned to climb our kitchen chairs....oh no!  Now the table isn't a safe place to keep things away from her.  She just loves climbing up there and finding anything she can.  Claire pulled out everything from the diaper bag and some groceries in the picture below.  She is so proud of herself!

Another change is that we upgraded Claire to a forward facing seat.  She had still been in her infant carrier until this last week.  It was getting pretty tough to buckle her in the carrier with her big poofy coat on.  Claire loves being forward facing and to point out all the cars, birds, and trees she sees.  It is a little dangerous for her to be forward facing because I always want to look back at her and see what she is looking at. :)  She has taken off her sock and shoe below, one of her favorite things to do!

 

Claire has also started nursery!  Yay! I was so excited for her because I knew she would love it and it would be so nice to concentrate in my Sunday classes again.  She has wonderful nursery leaders, one of whom took this picture, thank you Courtney!  Claire is in the bottom right, with the hot pink shirt.

Some other changes are that I have finally took the plunge and I am giving Claire only 1 nap a day.  The first day I tried it, after I thought she was really ready, she slept 2 hours!  Sweet success!!  One of the reasons I delayed is because she only would sleep about an hour, which I knew just wasn't enough.  She has slept for about 2 hours every day since then.  I am so happy she is working with this change.  Her night time sleep is still continuous, but it has been shortened to only 10 hours many nights.  I have been putting her to bed early, at 8pm, since she is only getting one nap, so she ends up waking at 6am.  I HATE that, truly I do.  I have done everything I can think of to help her lengthen her nighttime sleep again, but it hasn't worked.  I think she must just be in a phase of only sleeping 10 hours, which she has done before.  I really hope she lengthens out the time soon. :)

Another change is Claire almost has all 4 of her molars grown in.  It has taken over a month since I first saw some pearly tips poking though,  She really takes forever to teeth and she is often found chewing on her finger.  I try to give her other things to chew on, but the finger seems to be her favorite.

Claire has again really increased her signing vocabulary.  Her are the new signs (though I'm sure I'll forget some):  tree, leaf, hat, shoe, sock, car, train, boat, bike, airplane, doll, i love you(kinda), teddy bear, ball, cold, coat, washing hands, sleep, mom, dad, grandpa, grandma (tends to be the same as grandpa), horse, and book.  She is learning new signs all the time and sometimes it is difficult to keep up and know what she is signing.  Plus, many of them she does are very similar, so it keeps me on my toes trying to figure out which one she is doing if it is not clear from the conversation.  Hopefully we will see an explosion of verbal communication by the time she is 2 years old.

I've mentioned this before, but Claire just LOVES helping Jacob or I doing chores.  She loves to help push around the laundry baskets and hand me clothes to put in the washer or taking clothes out of the dryer.  I have been letting her help me empty the dishwasher and she does a great job, hardly dropping anything.  The only bad is that she wants to do it all the time, like when the dishes are dirty. :)  Claire is great at putting her toys away and even knows where most of them go.  I think she has this personality trait from Jacob, just wanting to help and do a job well done.  Hopefully this trait will last when she actually has to do chores!

Our sweet girl at 18 months!