Happy birthday

Claire is the big 1 today. That's right, 12 months, 365 days, um, 525600 minutes. (Or is it 925600 minutes? I think it is 5.) She has made me laugh, cry, walk away out of frustration, pull my hair out, and love her more each day. What a good kid she is. We are truly blessed.

Here are some of the funny random things she does:

She found a little hair pick in her toy box. It actually goes to her ponies. But she knew exactly what it was and tried to brush her own hair with it. Maybe Alann brushes her hair with it, but she didn't learn it from me. The things she knows just blows me away sometimes. She saw my hair tie and tried to put it in her hair. Same thing with her little bows and clips. If she sees them, she tries to put them in her hair. She tries to put shoes on her feet (including my snow boots one day. That was hilarious) and knows where socks and pants go. She helps us dress her now and puts her arms through the holes usually without asking, though she does need guidance.
She knows when she is in trouble and when she is doing something I don't want her to do. I know she knows, because she runs away when I catch her. She loves to pet and kiss the kitty, and likes the dogs, as long as they are behind the gate. She hates socks, and usually takes them off. She hates hats, and takes them off and then tries to keep you from putting it on again.
She loves olives and green beans and grapes. I can usually get her to eat those without any problems. She hates baby food. She will eat cottage cheese and applesauce if I am eating it, but wants nothing to do with pureed food otherwise. She does like yogurt. Sometimes. She loves chips and dip (chili, beans, salsa, anything). She loves junk food, even though we have tried hard not to give her too much. She loves french fries and hates potatoes in any other form (usually). She always wants what we are eating. She doesn't really care for guacamole, but will eat it if we are. She loves pears and rice chex. She disdains cheerios. She will sometimes eat puffies, but prefers the chex that she KNOWS are in the same container (when we are out).
For some reason, she loves to put her feet in the dog food dishes. Maybe it is the sound? I don't know. She also likes to try to pick them up and carry them around. She loves any toys that involve balls. She loves to smash things together to hear the sounds. She loves cabinets and drawers (thanks Grandma Sev) and likes to pull all the dish towels out of the drawer. She loves anything that she decides is "her size"- travel size toothpaste, contact solution, my leave-in conditioner. Anything she can get her little hands on she will carry around. She still forgets if she puts things in both hands. If she is eating with both hands, she usually forgets there is food in her left hand, and will ask for more, then be surprised when you point out that she has some in her left hand. She is probably right handed. (sigh.) She signs eat, more, open, all done, and drink. She hasn't figured out what open means yet, other than it means I will open "her" laptop for her. She uses open a lot (it's the newest) to try to figure out when it is appropriate. She LOVES people, especially babies and kids. She is a social butterfly. She loves the Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock. She plays with cars more than she does dolls.
She loves to help Mommy. She will carry things for me around the house, and wants to hold EVERYTHING I put in the cart when we are shopping. She has two teeth (FINALLY!) and you can start to see the first one when she opens her mouth. It is really weird. I am having to get used to it. I hit it with feeding utensils and it looks weird. I am just so used to seeing her without teeth, that seeing this little white spot is funny. She loves to walk outside to the car by herself, and she is currently fascinated with my keys. She knows that keys open doors. She is so tall she can start to reach table tops. She still has a limited grab, but it is growing. She pinches the sippy cup lid when she is done with it, and drains all the rest of the formula. We have to watch her carefully to make sure she doesn't give herself a formula bath. She loves bath time, and would bathe every single day if I let her. (It's too dry here to do that.) She loves to unroll the toilet paper. And rip it. And I've caught her eating it once or twice. She loves to ride on her little push car. It's a ride-on / walker toy. She loves to be pushed around on it. She doesn't so much care for the rocking horse yet. She loves anything electronic, including but not limited to Mommy's camera, cell phones, remote controls, and the TV. She is currently obsessed with sitting on things and people. She babbles incessantly but doesn't have any real words, though we are working on making mama mean me, and not want, which is how she currently uses it. She does seem to know dada pretty well. She is definitely Daddy's girl, but plays and loves on me too.

All in all, she is a joy to have here and I'm glad she is with us.