Open Mouth, Insert Fist

Claire's hand-eye coordination has really increased over the last week or so—her current obsession is getting that hand into her mouth and sucking on it. (Interestingly, it usually seems to be her left hand.) She's getting better at it, but sometimes she gets close without quite landing it in there. This results in her sucking on her wrist, her arm, or the air in general, and we'll hear extremely loud slurping and smacking noises coming from her swing, or wherever she happens to be at the moment. And, just like her big sister before her, Claire is now showing ZERO interest in the pacifier. This is probably a good thing in the long run, but I remember wishing that Elsa would take a pacifier, since it seemed like such an easy way to stop the screaming. : ) Oh well—we managed without the paci with Elsa, so I suppose we will with Claire too.

Lately Claire spends most of her time looking like she's trying to punch somebody out. Her little fists are always swinging around, trying to land on something. She especially likes taking swings at the monkey from her play gym. She's just determined to KO that poor little guy.

Another development is that last night she laughed for the first time! For the last several days, she was making a sort of grunting, gurgling noise when she smiled that seemed vaguely laugh-like. Then last night, I was grinning at her and she definitely giggled. Just the first of many times we'll hear her adorable laugh. She thinks it's especially hilarious when Daddy raises his eyebrows at her—another kid with another eyebrow fascination, and yet another way in which Claire is taking after her big sister.

Claire continues to eat like a little piglet, although how much she eats is still quite variable. She'll go all morning without eating anything at all, she'll eat about 4-5 ounces at lunch and another 4-5 for a midafternoon snack, and then she'll binge on 15 ounces or more during a three- or four-hour span in the evening!

It seems as though an actual daily schedule has emerged in the past week—and, well, Claire's definitely not a morning person. She still tends to sleep basically the entire morning, waking up for a couple of hours around noon (unfortunately, on the days when Elsa still takes a nap, that's usually when Claire is awake). She then takes another shorter afternoon nap, and is usually most awake in the evening hours, from around 4 or 5 p.m. until about 8:30 or 9 (and sometimes later). The hours between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. are definitely the most challenging of my day, especially when Bob isn't home, since Claire is eating so frequently at that time, plus Elsa needs dinner, some attention, sometimes a bath, and then bedtime. Claire is off-and-on when it comes to sleeping at night—some nights we get at least a seven-hour stretch, but last week we had several nights in a row when she was up every two or three hours. Yuck!

Sadly, I think we're already getting to the end of the "sleeping wherever and whenever" period. Claire still reliably sleeps in the car, the stroller, or even the grocery cart (as long as it's moving), but she has reportedly been a little fussy at the gym daycare lately. I have a standing appointment with a personal trainer every Monday and Wednesday at 10 a.m., which is right smack in the middle of Claire's usual morning nap. So she's tired, but she doesn't seem to want to sleep there anymore—I think she has trouble falling asleep in the hectic atmosphere. She used to snooze through our entire visits, so I'm bummed that's no longer happening. I may end up changing my training appointments to late morning (11:30 or so) to accommodate her, but of course that means no more naps for Elsa, and she still does need a nap some days. I'm slowly getting to the point that I'll be glad when Elsa outgrows naps entirely, because I'm sure the day is coming soon when Claire won't sleep on-the-go at all anymore. So if Claire takes a morning and an afternoon nap, and Elsa takes a midday nap, that really doesn't leave any time for going anywhere or doing anything!

But Claire is such a delight, we all love her so much. Here's a drawing Elsa made of herself and her baby sister, just hanging out. Claire, of course, is on the left, with her hair sticking up. : ) Two sisters, spending time together—hopefully there will be many such moments in the future.