For the Record

At some point, I intend to put together from my blog and other sources, a baby book for Claire. Lately I've been posting a lot of pictures and not much text, because I know that most of my "readers" these days are really just looking for pictures of her. But there are certain things that should be recorded for posterity.
Such as...
Claire absolutely LOVES "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" - in fact, singing this song (with motions, of course) is my new way to catch her smiling on camera. When I do the motions, she brings her hands together and mimics me a little. She's not coordinated enough to do the motions yet, but she's thinking about it. This tells me it's time to start getting serious with the baby sign language, as I have a good feeling she's going to pick it up with no problem very soon.
Claire has a security blanket now. It's a small Winnie-the-Pooh blanket my mom brought down for her when we first told her we were pregnant. It has some different textures and makes rattly and crinkly sounds. Claire mostly likes to chew on it and likes for me to make it dance while I sing the Winnie-the-Pooh theme song.
At her four month check-up on Tuesday, Claire had moved into the 75th percentile on both weight and height. (Previously she had been in the 50th on both, except for her first check-up when she was in the 10th). She weighed 14lbs 8oz and was 24.5 inches long.
I had a pretty good idea she was really growing when we visited our friend MCW last weekend. Unfortunately, neither that MC's mama nor this MC's mama had a camera to show that they were basically the same size. If you scroll back through blog posts you will find a picture when Claire was 6 weeks and MCW was 12 weeks and they were vastly different in weight and height. While MCW is longer than Claire now (she has a pretty tall daddy and brother), she and Claire weigh the same. Wish I had had a camera for that get together!
Claire likes to grab things with her feet. When she went to the doctor and the doctor was listening to her chest and such, Claire wrapped her feet around the doctor's arm. She also likes to do this when I change her clothes or diaper.
Claire can roll from her tummy to her back on her own, but she doesn't really like to be on her tummy that often unless she's sleeping. When you catch her in just the right mood, you can put her on her tummy and she will lift her head and push with her feet. She has even scooted enough to grab hold of her Pooh blankie. Just today she is showing interest in trying to get from her back to her tummy, but is really frustrated when she can't get her muscles to cooperate. She can almost get to her side, so it's only a matter of time before she's got that way down as well.
Claire is completely fascinated with her dogs and cat, especially Colson (see her four month picture). I don't really let the animals get all that close to her, but Colson managed to sneak in a kiss on her ear while she was in the jumperoo the other day. Each animal is different. Irving, the cat, ignores her or sniffs her, but mostly wants her to get out of the way so he can have his mom back. Soozie is a little over-excited still, but seems alternately interested in and scared of Claire. I've started to try to give Soozie attention when I hold Claire sometimes so that she won't feel threatened, because Soozie was the only one I worried about when it comes to how she would handle the baby. She does well with the cat, so I'm hoping she'll get the point that Claire is not a threat. Colson is a gentle sweet baby so he loves Claire. He is afraid of all of her toys, though. For those of you worrying about my pitbulls (and cat) mixing with my baby (Nene!), please know that I do not let any of my animals have any interaction with Claire unless Geoff or I am holding her, and even then, she's out of the animals' reach. I know all animals well enough to know that until Claire is my size, she's not going to have unsupervised interaction with 80lb dogs!
Claire really likes to hear herself talk now. She mostly makes these noises that remind me of a parrot or loud bird. She seems to be experimenting with volume and likes to squeal to get attention (as if there isn't someone practically staring at her during every waking hour of the day). Occasionally when she cries, it sounds like she's saying "Nani! Nani!" I want to get this on video for her grandmother.
I guess that should suffice as an update for Claire's current activities and such. We'll get some more pictures going on the next posts. We have some family time coming up with Christmas next week, so pictures and videos coming soon.