Big Girl

It's amazing to me how quickly a child learns.  As a first time mom I have no other children to use as a baseline, but I can't believe how many new things Claire does and says from one day to the next.  She picks up on everything it seems.  This morning on the way to daycare this is the conversation that I heard her having with her Nemo fish.......

"Hi Eemo (Nemo)!"

"Good mornee (morning)."

"You steep (sleep)???"

"You wake up??"

"Mommy, lets dance! (a message to me to turn up the music)"

I love hearing her have a conversation with her toys.  I think it's so cute!  I also love that she likes music and likes to dance.  On the way to daycare we always turn up the music and sing and dance.  She loves it and so do I. 

She's also really started to assert her independence and doesn't want help with anything.  She wants to do it herself and she lets you know.  One of her knew phrases is "I do it mommy!"  It's cute at first but gets frustrating fast because she doesn't want help with anything and it takes forever sometimes for her to do what she wants to do.  Some of the things she doesn't want any help with include:

Washing her hands and face.

Getting her own snack and opening it herself.

Brushing her teeth (This is a problem).

Popping her own popcorn.

Playing her dvd's.

Turning on her music player.

Reading her books. (She insists on reading them to us.)

Picking out clothes and shoes.

Making her own waffles.

Picking out what cup she will drink out of.

Insisting on certain foods and drinks for dinner.

She also picks up on things that I would have never thought of.  For example, Daniel's dad (Paw Paw) came in for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  He drank his coffee most mornings out of a blue West Point mug that Daniel and I rarely use.  This past weekend, I used that mug for coffee and Claire immediately told me "Paw Paw's mug mommy!" and proceeded to take it away from me.  Paw Paw had been gone for over a week at that point but she didn't want me drinking out of Paw Paw's mug........too funny!

Here are a few pictures of our big girl.

Last weekend I was putting laundry into the dryer and turned around to see Claire in the bonus room reading a book all by herself.  She was so engrossed in this book that I don't think she even knew I was taking pictures.

Then she decided to help me with some household chores.  She vacuumed her trampoline and her slide.  What a big help!