Like rearranging the furniture, opening drawers and cupboards, pushing around the laundry basket, inspecting anything new in the house (like boxes, bags, and magazines), finding things on the floor, crawling under the table and chairs, chasing the dog, and pushing all of the buttons on the remote control. Whew! Sometimes I wonder why I buy this child toys, since she’d much rather play with household objects than her toys. The other day she got a hold of a wet washcloth from the kitchen and played with it for a good 20 minutes.

Behind these sweet little smiles there is a strong-willed little girl. One of her latest words is “no.” She doesn’t say it defiantly yet, because, honestly, she doesn’t need to. Her whole little attitude is pretty defiant. When we tell her not to do something then she views it as a challenge to continue doing exactly what she was doing. When I tell her “no no” to something like running into the street she giggles and says “no no no no no!” while running even faster. For the most part our little girl is a joy, but I can tell that “obedient” and “compliant” are not words we will ever use to describe her. I try to remind myself that’s OK, to follow the old saying that “well-behaved women rarely make history,” but the other old saying is that “challenging children give their parents gray hair.”

Clare is starting to really imitate us lately. In this picture she has a hold of J’s iPhone and is having a very serious “conversation” with someone. I’ve also seen her wiping her nose with Kleenex and then throwing it away (imitating my allergies), and trying to put on our shoes. She’s also sometimes pushing her little cars around saying “vroom vroom” and other signs of the beginning of imaginary play.

Lastly a picture of Clare and I cuddling. I can’t get enough of this girl!

So we’re back home from Hawaii (and have been for a week now) but I have these pictures in the blog this week because I wish we were still in Maui. That and it’s been such a whirlwind for me that I haven’t taken out the camera this week.

All of the pictures in this post were taken in the Iao Valley on Maui. It was a cool afternoon trip that we all took into the rain forest in the mountains. There were a few days toward the end of our trip when the ocean conditions weren’t very beach/swimming/snorkeling friendly so we all went inland. It was a pretty minor hike, but it was fun to see a different part of the island.
Our trip was J’s first time in Hawaii, and he loved it. He went snorkeling just about every day, including spending probably an hour and a half out on our last full day there. He saw a few turtles, a shark, huge parrotfish and got himself a nasty sunburn. He also took surfing lessons while we were there (I have those pictures somewhere…), went out on the boat ride with Dad and I, and pretty much loved the island outdoor life. We adore the Mexican coast, but there is something special about Hawaii.

Our trip home was uneventful. Clare did great on both flights (thank goodness!) and adjusted to being home really well. I haven’t adjusted quite so well, in that I was back in the office on Friday, and then had to work part of the day Saturday and all of Sunday, not to mention the next week. I’m looking forward to a whole two days of weekend to finish up laundry, tidy up around the house, and actually relax at home with my husband and daughter.

Some fun things about Clare at almost 15-months:

• She is seriously the most verbal one-year-old ever! She repeats just about any word after us (chicken, rice, bean, spoon all being said during dinner), and has a vocabulary that includes “walk,” “rock” (both as in a rocking chair and as in a rock on the ground… and she knows the difference), “bath,” “bonkey” (monkey), and “banky” (her blanket). More then that she “chatters” in a way that is very much like English pretty much constantly.

• She is becoming quite the little social butterfly. When we’re at the grocery store, or anywhere really, she usually sits in the front of the cart greeting everyone (and I meaneveryone) with a wave and a “Hi!” If the person doesn’t respond to her then her “Hi’s” become more insistent and often louder. We’re trying to get her to realize that not everyone is just waiting to respond to her, but this may take a while.

• We’ve started Clare in a new in-home daycare on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Up until now she’s been home with either me while I was working from home, J, Adam, my mom or some other person watching her. It’s been piecemeal and increasingly difficult as Clare is getting more complex and wanting more attention. Gone are the days when I could get a whole day’s work done while she slept peacefully in the sling. So we found a very nice lady named Ami near our house who watches a few kids at a time in her home. This last week was Clare’s first time over there and she took to Ami and the kids without batting an eye. Seriously, I hung out with her for about ten minutes and when I went to give her a good-bye kiss she didn’t even want to stop playing to let me kiss her. They do all sorts of fun outings to the library, park and community center and Clare LOVES the other little kiddos. I know we’ll probably go through a phase where she cries when we leave her with either Ami or Adam, but it hasn’t happened yet. In fact on Thursday morning she ran to the door as soon as I put her shoes on and banged on it yelling “bye! Bye! Bye!” She had her shoes on and was ready to get out and start her day with her friends.

• As independent as she is though, our girl is still our sweet little cuddle bug. On Thursday night (after a big day of playing with her friends) we played a little game of “Pass the Clare” at our house where J and I sat on the floor at opposites sites of the room and Clare ran between us pausing to give us each a big hug and kiss. She literally went from J to me and back to J for ten minutes giving out all sorts of loves. She’s not always so sweet and loving (especially at the end of a big day) but there was all sorts of joy pouring from our house that night.

Lastly, the big news in the family is the announcement that JP and Deb are expecting Clare’s first cousin in April! Baby Dion (aka Peanut) is very loved already and we can’t wait to meet him/her! Now we just have to figure out a way to get the three of them to move back to Oregon…

We call this her “serious disco baby” pose.

I’m so glad that Adam caught this picture! Clare has been making this face for a few months now and I haven’t been able to get a picture of it. I have no idea why, but it’s a favorite expression.