Movement

Clare has turned into a crawling, waving, standing, moving machine. I have started crawling after her all around the house taking things away from her (which of course, she finds to be HILARIOUS). She loves shoes that are left out on the floor. She loves the cat’s scratching post. She loves Mommy’s purse. Everything is so new! And exciting! I wish I still felt that way about things. (Although I am pretty excited about the Coach purse I bought. At the outlet, but still. It is Coach!)

We visited my grandparents in La Crosse last weekend. Clare wanted, more than anything in life, to touch the decorative (sharp) coral my grandmother has on a coffee table in the living room. Every time she saw an opening, she charged for it. She did not give up or forget, despite being momentarily stymied. When the menfolk got up to go do manly things in the basement (ahem, install a new flat screen TV), Clare crawled out of the room after them. She will not be denied her adventure! She kept turning around and looking at my sister and me to see if we were going to follow her or not.  I got the sense she didn’t want us to. How can she be so independent already?

She has mostly given up the army crawl, and it is fun to watch her tear across the floor. I am glad she likes crawling, because my mom (an elementary school principal) says it is good for reading development. And of course, since I love reading I want my daughter to love it, too.

Busy sorting through her books.

 As for the standing – up until yesterday, she only stood up every 10 tries or so. Yesterday, though, she suddenly seemed to master it. When we were at my grandparents' house, she stood up using the couch as support. She stood there for a few minutes, basking in praise. Then, she just lifted her hands in the air and let go. Luckily, I caught her before she fell – but she looked pretty darn pleased with herself.  I have a feeling a few crash landings are in her future. That reminds me – when she first started standing, she was holding the side of her crib. She started to slip, and held on for dear life. She looked at me wide eyed – terrified that she was about to fall.  She was whining and whimpering – it was so funny, because of course, she would just have landed on the mattress.  That she was standing on. It would be so interesting to know what is going on in their little heads at times like those.

She waves hello and goodbye, and seems to understand what she is doing. She waves goodbye to me when I drop her off at daycare. I love how babies wave – opening and closing their little fists towards their own face, because of course, that is what it looks like when people wave at them. I swear she said hello the other day, but I might have been hearing things.

She has started posing for the camera, too. My dad had the camera out in La Crosse – Clare was sitting on my grandpa’s lap making the funniest little faces as he pointed the camera at her – just the cheesiest grin you’ve ever seen, head tossed back, so proud.  The only problem – she poses after you’ve already taken the picture. I guess she is not ready to audition for America’s Next Top Model just yet.

I wonder how many calories I would burn if I moved as much as Clare. I crawl after her, but that is about the extent of my exercise these days. I think I’ll just let her do the exercising for the both of us.

A home video! I know you're excited.