The emerging personality of Clare

Clare is approaching 16 months, and her awesome little personality is emerging each and every day. Here are some of the highlights:

Talking
Clare talks non-stop, a trait she shares with her father and sister. She also very loud and call fill the entire chapel at church with her little voice. And I say little just because she's a little person, not because of the volume. Here are some of her current words:

• Bye. One of her first words. If you pick her up and put on a jacket, it's 'bye-bye' time. She will also accompany it with a wave.
• No. This is her favorite word, and she says it about 1,374 times a day.
• Go! When we were potty training Lena, we would often race her to the bathroom, starting with the phrase: "Ready. Set. Go!" Clare picked this up, and if your say "Ready, set" she will say, "Go!"
• Up. She uses this to ask Dad to toss her in the air or to ask to go upstairs.
• More. We have taught both the girls baby sign language, and more is one of the basics. So she will now sign and say 'More.'
• Mama. Much to Kathleen's chagrin, this does not only refer to her; it also refers to basically everyone in the family.
• Ball. We play ball, we watch ball, so it's natural that this is one of her first words.
• Bottle. Sounds a lot like Babbo, so Kathleen's dad was pretty excited when Kathleen and the girls visited.

Movement
Clare has become a very fast crawler, motoring all over the house. She also loves climbing the stairs, and can even come down the stairs by herself as well. She can't walk yet, but she does walk along furniture and she can stand on her own for a few seconds.

Play
Clare loves to play with toys, she loves to tickle and wrestle with Lena, and she loves to play with Mom and Dad. Probably her favorite toy is an interactive farm where she can press buttons and get farm sounds and songs. She also loves music, and will instantly start bopping at almost any song.

Our cute little Clare is growing fast.