Ahhh – is there anything more lovely than spring in Oregon? Tonight Clare, Sadie and I went out for a nice walk before bedtime. I showed Clare all of the flowers that were blooming, letting her sniff some of them and touch the petals (and tried to keep her from eating them). She laughed at the dogs who walked past us and yelled at the cars driving on the road. It was a nice way to unwind from the day before dinner. We’ve gone for several long and short walks in the past week and spent some time out on our sadly neglected back deck. I’ve started blowing bubbles for Clare, which she alternately ignores or is confused by.
A few fun things for the past week. Our little music aficionado has started to ‘dance’ a little bit. Specifically, when you sing Row Row Row Your Boat she starts to ‘row’ forward and back. OK, so maybe it’s not dancing in the technical term but it’s moving along to the music. We usually ‘row’ her as a game when we sing so now she does the motions herself along with the song.
Another little fun milestone is that Clare is showing signs of understanding language. I was reading her a story and I pointed to a photograph of a cat and said “look at the kitty.” She smiled and started to pat the picture of the cat. Not only was she able to recognize that the cat in the picture was the same as ‘her kitty’ Prowler, but she recognized the word for it. I was pretty proud!
Lastly, we have some new specials in the expanding menu at Chez McPherson. Clare is now particularly fond of blueberries and cheese. She took to cheese immediately and now it’s become a fast favorite. I got her to eat 2 servings of green beans tonight but putting little pieces of cheese in each spoonful. More and more I’m encouraging her to feed herself by putting food on her tray. If there are blueberries, cheese or avocado they are usually eaten first then she might be convinced to eat the other fruit, veggies or bread. It often takes some convincing and distraction though – songs during mealtime are common place now. I wonder what our neighbors think when they hear us singing “I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas” all the time.