Miss Independent

It's crazy how every day it seems like Claire does something new and grows up a little more right before my eyes. In an effort to assert herself, she has recently decided that she is tired of taking bottles and us feeding her; she prefers to feed herself and usually prefers whatever we're eating on the table instead of jar food (can't blame her, really). She also babbles to herself when she's eating; I think she picked that up from watching her dad and I. Luckily, we passed that 9-month milestone with the whole wheat thing, so the world is wide open for her except for the main allergens: shellfish, egg whites, milk, and nuts. I'm also grateful that she's not a picky eater and seems to love all new foods. I hope she keeps that up!

You can just tell no good will come of this

Oddly enough, the school still reports that she eats her food and drinks her bottles (she's finally up to 8oz), so it's just at home that she thinks she's Miss Independent. I'm considering having the school also feed her from their menu (save some money!), but I'm not convinced yet ... it seems like their fare is so sugary and full of sodium and nitrates. Not exactly what I want to be feeding my babydoll quite yet. At least the jar foods are organic and not full of preservatives even if I'm not Martha Stewart enough to make it myself.

She's so proud of herself, you can't help but laugh

Claire's also crawling like a madwoman and pulling up on everything. She'll actually stand on her own for a second or two when she forgets to hold on to something, but so far it's purely accidental. One of the most fun things is that she now dances whenever she hears music. Sometimes it's a little sway from side to side, sometimes we get a head bop, and other times it's an all out full-body wiggle-wiggle. She's waving bye-bye to things and people, and she shakes her head no when she doesn't want something. She's slowly learning the nod as well, and I'm trying to teach her gongxi-gongxi (hands together thanking).

Probably foraging for more food. She likes to harvest her dropped food after the meal.

The last few days, her sleeping has seemed to gone awry. Even as I type right now, I'm listening to her cry it out yet again. :( Not sure what's up, but the girl has been waking at 12:30am (but sometimes puts herself back down) and then again about 4:30am. The 4:30 is the killer because that's when she stands up in the crib, holds onto the side, and just bawls until you get her ... which she then proceeds to want to play (which I do NOT indulge or at least make her do it by herself in the dark) for an hour or two before falling back asleep (usually with me on the couch or in a bed). The last two days, the falling back asleep was until 8 or 9 in the morning! Luckily it was flexible enough at James' work this week that he could wait until she woke, but I have a feeling we need to get her back on track pretty soon. I blame it on teething (I try to blame everything on teething .. hehe).

The roll is almost bigger than her head!

James and I are staying in Dallas this year for Thanksgiving, and all of our families are staying in their respective cities as well. We just happened to all see each other during November somehow, so I guess the urgency isn't strotng enough to deal with the traffic. My parents plan on coming to Dallas over New Year's before they head to Taiwan for Chinese New Year, and we'll see his family in a few weeks in Austin when George's baby is born. Instead, James and I are hosting an "Orphans' Thanksgiving" for all the folks who can't be with their families this holiday weekend. Food, drinks, and football ... sounds like a great combination!

Just a slight drinking problem