Doing that thing you do....

So, we are in the middle of home improvements. Yay! We are ripping out the paneling in the office, making that into our bedroom, then painting the bedroom, making that the office/ nursery (sort of) and then taking a vacation (I wish!). Basically, the bedroom now will someday contain my computer desk, my sewing desk (which I will keep clean so Alann can use it as his desk), the changing table, and the recliner, so that I can change and nurse Alex in the middle of the night without waking Claire or Alann. Alex will sleep in our room. But that is all a post for another day.
Today, I want to talk about my little darling Claire. She just AMAZES me. The things she learns, and how fast. Alann taught her where her nose is. She doesn't quite understand that everybody has a nose. If you ask where Daddy's nose is, she points to her own. But he said "it only took 4 tries" before she started pointing to her nose. She is discovering her body more and more. Today in the bath she was pinching the skin on her tummy. I don't know if it itched or if she had just finally noticed it felt stuff. She also loves her feet. If you ask where socks go, she points to her feet. The funniest dressing thing she does is this: if I ask her to sit down so I can put pants on her, she comes over to me, does her ostrich impression (forehead on the floor), than rolls over onto her back with her legs in the air. I have no idea where she got this. She knows how to sit down. She does it fine if I ask her to sit so I can put socks or shoes on her. Maybe this is just more fun?
Also, in the last few days, she has recognized that I want her to be quiet during prayers. When we say a prayer before a meal, she folds her arms very nicely. When we say family prayers, she will at least sit down and drink her milk, instead of running all over her room like she used to do. And at the end of the prayer, she says "TADA!" She knows exactly when to say it too. She doesn't wait until we say amen, she says it right after we say "Jesus Christ". (It helps that Alann and I tend to end our prayers the same way.) Anyway, it just cracks me up. She just started doing it spontaneously. I correct her, and tell her to say Amen, but I will cherish the days of prayers ending with "tada" because it does my heart good.
She is learning more and more things. She has learned how to blow out through her mouth, mostly thanks to daddy playing bubbles with her. And she is trying to say "poop". I know, not that great of a word, but a useful one given that we hope to potty train sooner rather than later. She has the P sound almost down.
Kisses are still mostly open mouthed, but she will give them if you ask, and more frequently without asking. She puts her blanket on things and then kisses them through her blanket. Not really sure what that is about. The other day she kissed the diaper pail like that. We put an end to that REAL quick. She also has kissed my vacuum and other random objects that way. She also does it to the cat and the dogs a little. The dogs don't really put up with it.
Now that her horrific respiratory infection is mostly gone, she is eating better. She was coughing and just miserable all last weekend. She is still coughing and a little phlegmy, but she isn't miserable and she is sleeping a lot better. And now she is eating again, which makes her mommy happy. She is pretty adventurous about her food choices. I know I can always fall back on green beans (of all things) if she won't eat anything else. Or grapes/raisins. She loves them both. But she is getting a lot better about just eating whatever we are eating. And about telling me when she is hungry. That I am very grateful for. Today, she did the hungry sign, on my mouth. That was a little strange. But she did want to eat, so I fed her.
She is just loving going outside. I have to keep the front door open (screen locked) most of the day so that she can look out or she gets upset. And sometimes she grabs my hand and takes me to the front door so that we can go outside for a walk. I think I have mentioned this before, but if she wants something that she can't reach, she will grab our hands and point to whatever it is. Sometimes, she takes you to a completely different room or place to get whatever it is she wants. Which still amazes me that she knows things are in different places. I didn't spend a lot of time with young kids growing up, so I am always shocked when she does something that I think "she is WAY to young for that". She knows how to drink from a straw, reasonably competently. She still likes to do it just to do it, and then spits the stuff out sometimes if she isn't really thirsty, but when she is thirsty, she drinks well. That only really took a week or so to accomplish.
My little girl just keeps growing like a weed. They sure do grow up fast.