Clare the Toddler

A few days ago was Clare's 18 month birthday, and a few weeks ago she finally started walking. I think I can finally consider her a real toddler. Here is the Clare as we know her now.

1. dictator - My girl is bossy. It's her way or the highway, and she's not afraid to be vocal. Even though all she does is babble, she will still point her finger, scowl her brow, and baby babble yell at any kids she sees not acting as she would have them do. I've seen it on many an occasion. My mom says that if she ever does join the convent, she will settle for nothing less than being the mother superior.

2. Party tricks - She is an excellent performer. We have trained her to do 'guns up', imitate animals, cross her puddgy little fingers, blow kisses, and much much more. Almost every night Kevin throws her in the air, flips her in her arms, and even does this cheerleader one handed, above head hold with her.

3. Snuggle buddy - I am not a morning person and luckily Clare doesn't show signs of it either. Every morning, I get her out of bed, change her diaper, give her a cup of milk and bowl of dry cereal, and then I proceed to lie curled up on the floor for at least an hour. After exploring her toys, Clare inevitably crawls next to my lifeless body, snuggles up close, and sucks her thumb. The stillness only last in short bursts, but I cherish every moment of our snuggle sessions.

4. Good listener - I've had to watch what I expose her to, because she's more aware of what I thought was just background noise to her. The other day while driving around, Lady Gaga's new song, Alejandro, was on. In one of the lines of the song she says the words "dad", and from my back seat I hear Clare squeal "Da-Da". I promptly switched the station to a Christan radio. Heaven for bid, my baby learn about "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick" from Ms. Gaga.

5. Poo-Poo Talk - While she knows mama, dada, and many animal noises, nothing gets her more animated than poo-poo. She farts, and she excitedly yells 'poo-poo'. You mention that you need to go poo-poo, and she'll grab her diaper and say it too. You tell her you need to check her diaper, and she will claim it's poo-poo even when it is not. Poo-Poo is exciting stuff in our house.

6. Elmo Who? - I have yet to really introduce her to the wonderful world of kid's t.v. She just thinks Elmo is some red creature on her diapers. But that doesn't mean she doesn't still watch some t.v. As for my two guilty pleasures, she is a big All My Children and Oprah fan, though the commercials are the most interesting parts to her. Other than that, we try to keep the t.v. off.

7. Flirt - Ever since she was a baby, Clare has had some major male crushes. When she sets her eyes on a guy she likes, you can immediately tell. She slips on this shy smile, tilts her head to the side, lowers her head, and makes her eyes all googly and cute. She generally likes either guys that look like GQ models or tall african american men. And age doesn't seem to bother her either. Her two most disturbing crushes are her uncles; Matt and David.

8. Terror on 4 wheels - She maybe be an extremely shaky walker, but get that girl on her mini car and see her fly. I've seen her pull a U-turn, in reverse, one hand holding her sippy cup, and all in just a few feet's space. I think she'll turn into a better driver than me, although that's not saying much.

9. Mae Hater - Though her love for our cat was what first inspired Clare to crawl, all of that has now twisted into some sort of jealous hate. I've seen her purposefully step on Mae while she was sleeping, yank her tail till gobs of hair comes out, and I'm pretty sure today she dropped her sippy cup out of her high chair when she knew Mae was underneath. Good thing this cat has 9 lives. She's going to need every one.

10. Good kisser - Clare's favorite new trick is to kiss me. Sometimes they are sweet little pecks, sometimes they are open mouth, tongue sticking out, licks, but all of them are always adorable.