My baby can read?

Sheila had left me a note this morning asking me to work with Claire on her number recognition. We started by flipping through the old flash cards and then worked our way to randomly looking at numbers, letters and colors. I wanted to show her how I wrote PURPLE using the color purple so I spelled it out to her letter by letter. She seemed to like doing that so we did it for the rest of the colors. Even though it is cheating, it is still neat to see her reading.

What's My Name

We are transitioning from "Hey you guys" to using actual names. Claire has told me on multiple occasions that her name is not just Claire but rather Claire Naustdal. I then asked her what her full name was. She looked at me with a confused but challenging look. I told her one time and now she insists that her name is Claire Nadine Naustdal. I find it funny to listen to a two year old correct me with her full name.

Lovin' the outdoors

Our budding artist

Today I took out the water color paints for Claire. It was fun to watch her paint. This was the first time that I noticed her actually coloring within the lines and using different colors for different parts of the picture. Of course she doesn't stay inside the lines completely, but this is a big advancement from how she has colored  before. Instead of just scribbling on the page, she has started to color the pictures on the page. Very neat to watch Claire continue to advance every day!

We love to play!

It is so wonderful to have so many great resources close to us. Claire and I went to the Children's museum again today because it is so close to our home. I love to sit back and watch Claire use her imagination and explore with new toys. She is so smart and is growing up so fast. I think we will need to get her a toy cash register so she can play store with her mommy!

Chee-agga, chee-agga, chee-agga...

Busy day at the Children's museum

Claire and her friend, Taylor, went to play at the Children's museum today. The girls had so much fun playing together and we ended up staying for over 2 hours! It was so much fun watching them interact together and observe them thinking creatively. We had such a fun day, we had to stop for an ice cream cone on the way home!

Dance with me guys!

Jeff has created a CD of a few great dance songs for Claire. Tonight when I got home from work, Claire was all fired up to dance. We hit the "dance floor" and showed off our moves. It was very neat to listen to Claire sing to the songs. She has learned some of the words to a few songs and will sing along. I just love how every day Claire amazes me in a new way!

Our busy weekend

Jeff and I finally had a weekend off together. We spent New Year's Day going to an Aeros hockey game. Claire loved all of the activity and was very interested in the game...for the first period at least! It was a good thing we brought along the DVD player to keep her entertained for the rest of the game since after the first period she was asking if it was over and if she could go home! We love Dora sometimes!
                                    
 We got to get a quick picture with the mascot after the game. Claire clung to me for dear life and wanted to be as far away from "the wolf" as she could (even though she kept asking to go see him  the entire game).

                                         Monday afternoon we were able to go to the zoo.
                              Claire thought it was pretty neat to sit on the gorilla for a picture.

                                            Claire and her Mommy, snuggling in the tepee.

 We have finally gotten Claire to go into the tunnel through the fish tank without having to go with her. Now that she is comfortable going alone, she likes to go many, many, many times!

Happy New Year!