This Just In! Clara Waving!

In going through the downloaded video from the weekend, Julie found that Ted managed to get Bird flapping her wing, so to speak. As you can see, a "Hi, Clara," gets you a series of waves. Wait for all of them!

The Beginning of the End of Bottles (and Pumping!)

Clara's biggest news of the weekend is that she has dropped the 3pm-ish nurse, and thus, the 3pm-ish bottle at daycare, beginning tomorrow (an endeavor otherwise known as the Beginning of the End of Bottles--and Pumping! Hooray!). Hence the determined merriment upon her waking up from her afternoon nap. Yesterday, the first day sans 3pm nurse, Baby Bird had a big snack of bananas and Cheerios. Here, we pause to note that B. Bird LOVES her a banana (one might say she is bananas for bananas!). She is a relatively precise and neat, and a rather quiet eater. Very dainty. Julie felt pretty confident that Bird was ready for this no 3pm nurse step, but to be on the safe side, she had the hours between the end of afternoon nap and bed all planned out. Post-banana and Cheerio snack, the Birds went to Paint Your Plate, one of these paint your own pottery places. This particular chain could probably be nosed out of the market in a heartbeat given its completely lackadaisical approach to service, but for now, it's the only game in town. Julie was glad she'd gone once before, with Joe, when he was about nine months old, as she'd learned the lay of the land enough to fly solo on this critical Merriment Mission. Julie put Clara in the Moby and they painted a plate, a platter, and pedestal bowl (with Clara's handprints made to look like birds) for a little over an hour. As you might expect, Julie did most of the painting. Clara was much more the muse, and spent most of the time considering objects from Julie's bag that were handed to her, but the Birds had fun, and Clara didn't seem to notice that she hadn't nursed, so Mission: Merriment was a resounding success.

Full of Sunshine

In other Clara news, we can report that she is both waving and clapping up a storm. Apparently, she and her little friend "John-John"* spend a fair portion of their day waving to passersby at the door to their room, and greeting all who enter with mad flapping of their arms. If Clara so much as hears "hi," or "bye-bye," she is waving. She will not, however, as of yet, wave for the camera, and so, Dear Readers, you will have to imagine this utterly charming site. Oh, she is full of sunshine! And it is not to be contained.

And clapping! Today, after Julie had nursed her, and the Birds were settling in for a nap on the big bed upstairs (Clara on top of Julie's chest all tucked up), Julie opened her eyes and happened to find Clara propped up on her elbows. Clara's face broke out in a huge smile and she clapped for all she was worth. Fans, it was darling, and Julie smiled, but snapped her eyes shut lest Nap Time turn into Clap Time, and soon enough Clara conked out.

As usual though, she popped up right at three, and was raring to go. She found Julie's nook, with its cover open and bent back, where she then discovered and pulled out the Little Gym summer schedule of classes that was folded in half and tucked inside the nook cover. She was HUGELY pleased with herself, and even more so when she unfolded it! She was very much all "Check. It. OUT! Check ME out--!!!!!" By this time, Ted had come on the bed, too, and the Bird was spinning all about in a valley of blankets and climbing up its sides, toting the Little Gym brochure as she went. We have no picture because one is loathe to break such spells, you know? Again, you will have to use your imagination to picture one B. Bird's delighted face as she clapped and cavorted.

But we do have video from Friday! We were actually trying to record her waving, but got some clapping instead! (We also got some great footage of Berenice.)

*Remember when Joe was Joe-Joe? Apparently doubling up on the boys' names that begin with J and are one syllable is a popular thing among the teachers at KinderCare.

Ms. Super Pooper Trooper

Here she is. One Ms. Super Pooper Trooper, on Friday evening, in another daycare stunner. True, this particular ensemble is not as terrible as some, as onsie and pant are at least from the same collection, but the collection is perhaps not the strongest we've seen from the fine folks at Carter's. Needless to say, perhaps, this outfit was not that in which Clara went to school, but she pooped her way through the week at a furious pace. Much laundry being done at Raleigh House. One day, she went through all her spare pants (three) and so was picked up in pants that were "borrowed" from a "friend." So that would have been her FIFTH pair of the day. Whoa. We are pleased to report, though, that her top, right tooth (hers) did finally break through this week, and she was a less prodigious pooper by weekend's end.

A Science Lesson From Joe

It's a new month, which means a new theme in Joe's room at KinderCare. This month's theme is. . .the sky! Today, Joe and his classmates discussed things that are found in the sky. When we asked him about things that are found in the sky on our way home, he told us clouds, and the moon, and the sun, at which point, he began expounding upon the sun and the moon: "The sun has light. The moon does not have light. The sun shares it's light with the moon." This last was repeated several times. As Ted noted, it's perhaps not scientifically accurate, but what a nice sun! And what a fun son.