Springtime goings-on

Claire continues to amaze us every day. She's so verbal, and now will tell us stories, sing to us, and even make up new lyrics to tunes she knows. (They usually make sense, too.) The stories are most often memorable events from the recent past:

"'Member yesterday [often last week or even longer ago], when my cousins came over, and Bailey scared them, and we watched the Cwedibles ["The Incredibles" - we love how it changes the whole thing with her version - not nearly as exciting], and there was a WOBOT!?!"

"'Member yesterday, when our gawbage fwoated away, and Daddy held me, and you went to get the gawbage?" (We've had a ton of rain lately and our garbage did, indeed, float away last week.)

We love hearing her stories and the things that stand out as memorable to her - they often make us laugh. Falling and hurting her eye (which healed nicely, by the way), going to the park, or riding the carousel are also common stories. "'Member yesterday...??"

Telling Daddy stories...

...and cracking him up

Her verbal skills are quite impressive, but she does still have some toddler-isms. For example, she uses W for L and R in some words ("Cwaire," "pway," "swide") and Y for L at the beginning of other words ("yuhv," "yion," "yibwawy"). She also flips the word "animal" into "aminal" and sometimes calls a rooster a "wack-a-doodle" (her own invention). But the toddler-isms are few and far between, really. She's getting so grown up...

Nana came to visit us over Mother's Day weekend, and she got to do a 5K with Claire and me that Saturday. She even came in first place for her age group - yay, Nana! It was a wonderful Mother's Day filled with family and lots of love ("yuhv"). I'm very grateful to be this little girl's mommy...

With Nana at the run

With Mommy on Mother's Day - Claire still wishes both me and Graham a Happy Mother's Day out of the blue...

On April 27th Claire had her first "big girl" haircut at an actual hair salon. Brenda just cut her bangs, but Claire liked wearing the teddy bear cape and sitting in the big chair with Mommy.

Claire's latest favorites:

• Doing things herself. "No, I WANT TO DO IT!!" is her new mantra. We're trying to get her to ask a bit more politely, but she's definitely more independent on a daily basis.
  
• Jumping. She loves to jump, both straight up and "long jump" style.
  
• Going to the library. "And I'm going to pick a BOOK!"
  
• Going to the park and sliding down the curly slide.

Hold on to your hat!

• Helping pick up sticks in the yard and put them into the bag. (A similar favorite is helping put laundry down the laundry chute.)

Big helper girl

• Crab. Her favorite meal we make is California Roll Bowls, which are mock-crab, avocado, cucumber, brown rice, and sesame seeds. She just gobbles it up. If you ask her what we should make for dinner, the answer is usually, "cwab."

Claire's first attempt at eating rice with chopsticks - she did pretty well!

• Diego. As in, from "Go, Diego, Go!" on Nick, Jr. She went through a brief "Word World" and "Between the Lions" stage, but that didn't last long. We're trying to learn Spanish as a family, so we got her started watching "Dora the Explorer." She still likes Dora, but she LOVES "Duh-eggo." She's picking up Spanish words very quickly, and can already count to ten and say several other words/phrases.
• Cooking. She loves to pretend to cook, especially cupcakes and macaroni and cheese. "It's not weady yet!" She also loves to help us cook. She helps me make oatmeal and tea in the morning, and likes to add flour, sugar, spices, and other ingredients when I'm baking.

Claire's day care had pictures taken in mid-April, so we have another installment of "The Forman Babies" for your enjoyment:

Mindee at 2 1/2

Claire at 2 3/4

Graham at 2 3/4

Have a marvelous summer!