You Turn Your Head For a Second and...

Claire makes her own fun with the containers of formula in the diaper bag.

Pickles Please

Claire tried her first pickle this weekend during lunch at Macados with Cheryl.

Anyone who has had lunch with me knows, 

I'm a HUGE pickle fan!  

This certainly seems to be something Claire has in common with Mommy.

P.S.  Thanks for the pictures Cheryl!

Daddy's Little Helper

This spring while Daddy does the mowing, 

Claire plans to help with the trimming.

With Cheryl & Claire at the Colonnade

Mommy's college roommate, Cheryl, has been visiting this weekend. We've had two very full days of Charlottesville and Lexington.  Lots of lunches, history, girl-talk and wine.  Yesterday Daddy kept Claire all day.  Today we took Claire on our beautiful walk around W&L campus. We paused to let Claire play in the grass in front of the colonnade.

Live Blogging... Girls Day at Monticello

One Thing I Learned Today

Do NOT hand the baby random items from the front seat of the car in an effort to stop the screaming in the back seat.  For example, my glasses.

Luckily these were about $10 at Target.

  Another reason not to buy expensive sunglasses.

A Little Bedtime Reading

Pat-a-Cake and Other Debacles

Note to Parents:

Do NOT try to stage performances for blogging purposes.  You may end up with similar results.

Results Below:

I Can Pat-a-Cake, But I Won't Like It...

Why Would I Pat-a-Cake, When it's MUCH More Fun to Stand in the Highchair?...

Complete Anarchy!

She really can pat-a-cake, complete with rolling and marking with a "c" motions.

Signs of Spring

Daddy and Claire took a stroll yesterday to inspect the signs of spring in our yard 

(daffodils and blooms on our Bradford pear trees). 

Below are some images from our yard:

Who Needs a Stroller?

Claire has recently managed to turn everything, that isn't glued to the floor, into a tool for walking.  We expect her to just take off and start walking any minute.  We're not in any hurry!  I'm not sure we can handle a Claire that is even MORE mobile.

Congrats, Dr. Marsh!

This morning, I left David totally in charge of Montessori duty while I headed over Afton Mountain to attended my friend Jamie's dissertation defense.  It was excellent!  It was so great to catch up with all my UVA friends.  It was great to see you all!  Congrats again Jamie!

Extreme Condo Makeover

My parent's condo in Florida has been under reconstruction the last few months.  Their friends the Senkovich's totally managed the condo remodel.  They picked everything, including paint and furniture.  Today at 1:00 was the big reveal!  Very exciting.  Claire can't wait to visit and spend the night in her new room.  

See you in June, Grandma!

For those who are interested, I posted all the pictures on my Shutterfly share page.

Big Girl Baths

Claire has finally outgrown her infant bathtub. 

 She now enjoys her baths in the big tub.  

Full Disclosure

I realize most of my posts would lead you to believe that Claire is world's sweetest and cutest baby. :)  There are many instances of behavior, however, that is less than charming.  For example, the pictures below show Claire's latest trick of spitting out her food onto her hands and rubbing it all over highchair tray.  Not only less than charming, but quite disgusting...

OK, I guess she's still pretty cute.

StairMaster

Claire's new favorite pastime is climbing the stairs. 

(Under Mommy's supervision of course)...

Hey Mom, look at me!

Here I go...

Almost there... 

Hmm, now what?

Look, more stairs!

P.S.  Claire would like for me to point out her green apparel meant to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  Hope you all had a happy one.  I didn't wear green and managed not to get pinched.  Claire, however, did bite me twice.  (Another new favorite pastime.)

Happy Birthday, Cousin Kaden!

Happy Birthday Cousin Kaden!

Do you remember that time we went to the beach and you sang me the Shamu song?

I hope we can do it again soon.

Love you,

Claire

Happy Easter, Kathleen!

You may be asking... Who is this Kathleen?

Well, I ordered Claire a way over-priced, personalized Easter basket for her first Easter from Pottery Barn Kids.  The basket came today and the liner was personalized with the name Kathleen.  I guess that means that some poor little Kathleen out there is wondering why her Easter basket is meant for Claire.  No worries, they are shipping us a new one today.  

So far, Claire doesn't get what all the excitement is about.  I can't wait to see her when the basket is filled!  Which begs the question,  what exactly do you put in a one-year-old's Easter basket?