She is pulling herself up on everything. Not only is she pulling up but she is creeping along holding onto furniture and getting into all sorts of things. She’s also transferring from one object to another and starting to experiment with standing without holding onto anything. She hasn’t figured out how to get down yet (besides yelling for someone to help her) but she’s strong enough to hold herself up for quite a while.

Clare has started to really enjoy her stuffed animals, particularly “Monkey” and “Henri the bear.” She talks to them, gives them hugs and kisses, and carries them around with her. She’s also been very affectionate and gives us lots of hugs and kisses too. They’re pretty precious.

Everything, from toys to the washing machine, receive a pointed index finger and “bah.” I’m not sure exactly what “bah” means but she sure points out the world around her.

She continues to love food and eating. Her favorite foods are still meat and fruit, though strawberries and cherries may be outranking blueberries and favorite fruits. She also really likes buttered toast and pasta with butter and parmesan. She’ll pretty much eat anything, but she likes to feed herself thank you very much. Unfortunately for her there are certain foods, yogurt for example, that need to be spoon-fed to her. She tolerates being spoon fed but we’ll all enjoy the days when she can feed herself with a spoon.

Fortunately this month she’s started drinking water and juice out of a sippy cup. Phew – I was beginning to think it would never happen. She’s partial to grape juice, but, since I’m the one who does her laundry, I prefer water.

She is the most joyful little girl. When she laughs her face lights up and her whole body shakes with joy. She also loves to laugh and giggle, particularly when she’s tickled. So we do a lot of tickling around here.