We started off the Christmas celebration with a visit to Santa at the downtown Macy’s. Clare was really into the Santaland decorations, especially the train (which promoted a few “chugga chugga choo choos” and the ‘reindeer’). She was less enamored with Santa and turned into a clingy little monkey as soon as she saw the big guy. As you can see we remedied it by me sitting on Santa’s lap with Clare on my lap. She hung onto me pretty tightly, but she did talk to Santa compare shoes with him, and give him a fist bump on her way out. All in all, not to bad.

Obviously, Clare much prefers Santa Daddy to Santa Claus. She really got into opening presents on Christmas Eve, especially the paper and bubble wrap.

The payoff: A happy little girl on Christmas morning!! Clare approached her Santa loot very carefully, with a lot of exploring, but as you can see she loved it. I think she spent all Christmas Day climbing on and off her little chairs, setting all of the dishes on the table, opening and closing every door, turning every dial, etc.

Presents aside, we had a great Christmas with family. Mom made a prime rib on Christmas Eve night, and J made a Mexican fiesta feast on Christmas day complete with beans, rice, pork shoulder, and tortillas from scratch. All this while battling the brutal cold that I’m finally over.

These are the pictures that Clare’s beloved Manny Adam took in November. There’s mostly just a lot of pictures of a busy little girl, but I love how Adam captures Clare’s various expressions in her activities. I’ve also included a few pictures of her and her buddy G. I haven’t put any with G’s face (it’s not considered polite in the blog world to post pictures of a child’s face without their parents permission) but you’ll have to imagine that most of Adam’s pictures are of Clare and G playing together.


Her first time running across the bridge all by herself!

This face makes me laugh!

As the weather gets colder and wetter, the layers become more important.

Lastly a picture of Clare and little G laughing during snack. She just loves her days with her “boys.” When we pull up in front of the house she’ll start yelling “Adee (Adam)! Gee! Adee! Gee!”

Dear Clare,

Hooray! It’s Christmas season in the McPherson household! I love Christmas, and I especially love celebrating it this year since Clare is old enough to enjoy parts of it. First order of business, get a Christmas tree. We haven’t gotten one in the last two years for various reasons and I really missed it. So last week I told J that over the weekend we were getting one, come hell or high water. Fortunately for everyone, it was a clear, dry (if cold) day to head out to Sauvie Island and chop down our tree.

Clare was getting over a cold, but she liked tromping through the trees and playing with Grandma and Grampa.

Finally! The perfect trees!

The finished product! When Clare saw the tree after she woke up from her nap she clapped her hands and said “pwetty!”

J is making mashed potatoes for our Thanksgiving dinner

Spending four uninterrupted days with Clare gave us a front-row seat as she learned some new tricks. She’s started saying words along with her signs. She’s signed “milk” “all done” “more” and “food” for a while now. This last weekend she now says “mulk” or “ah-do” along with her signs. She’s also now saying “pwees” when she signs Please. It melts us every time and usually gets her whatever her little heart desires – even if it’s more blueberries instead of vegetables for dinner.

A few things I want to remember about 16-month-old Clare

• She walks on her tip-toes. No wait, she RUNS on her tip-toes. I walk on my toes too so it always makes me smile to see my little “twinkle toes.”
• She’s still very, very silly. For example, she’ll periodically walk around with one foot up on her toe and the other flat-footed. J calls it having a hitch in her giddy-up. I think she does it just to amuse herself. Of course we also find it pretty funny. Adam says that at least once a day Clare makes him laugh out loud with her antics.
• She’s becoming pretty coordinated, considering that she was kind of a clumsy baby. She is kicking, throwing, pulling, pushing and climbing pretty well. Maybe there’s hope that some of J’s athleticism got to her.

• 
• Clare is really starting to play with her stuffed dolls and toys. In the picture above she put her doll in the rocking chair and is rocking her. the other day she was “reading” to her bear, and then brought Bear over to me so that I could read to both of them. Literally, she put Bear in my lap and then sat down next to him. It was pretty sweet. She also hugs them and gives them kisses – and then she throws them on the ground…
• She is also starting to enjoy coloring (scribbling) with a crayon and finger painting.
• “No!” is becoming a favorite word. One morning I greeted her and asked if I could have a good morning kiss. She frowned at me and said “No!”

We’re gearing up for a quiet Thanksgiving at Casa Mac, but I think we’re all looking forward to tucking in with our little family and relaxing.

These are the pictures that Adam took in October of Clare in her nannyshare. I love how he captures her unique little expressions. If you aren’t Clare’s grandmother or mother, you probably don’t find this post all that interesting since it’s pretty much all pictures of little C.

We’ve returned from our grand family tour of the SE. My joke was “6 days, 3 states, 1 car, oodles of family.” This is pretty much true, since we flew into Atlanta, drove to watch Greg graduate from Office Candidate School, spent a few days in Montgomery, Alabama with Aunt Donna the Great and her husband Mike, and finished with a few days visitin’ the McPherson relatives in Nashville. It was a great trip, with lots of time doing this (see picture below). Well, not necessarily sleeping but riding in the car.

First stop was Columbus, Georgia to watch our favorite soldier graduate from OCS. J’s best friend/brotha-from-anotha-motha Greg finished a long training and we were proud to stand up and cheer for him when he received his honors.

Then we moved on to spend a few days with Donna and Mike in Alabama. We had a nice time at their beautiful home and took these pictures on our little hike near Fort Talouse.

After that we drove up to Nashville for some country music, bar-b-q (and sushi), and more family visiting. It was a lot of moving for our trip, but it was worth spending time with everyone. The trip was actually a lot less stressful than I was worried it would be. We all traveled well, especially Lil’ Miss. Several people complimented how well Clare did on the planes, in restaurants, and everywhere in between. Considering how structured we keep her routine at home she really did well with catching naps in the car, lunches consisting of cheese, fig newtons and cheerios, new foods (including Clare’s first sushi!), and lots of hugs and kisses from new people.

This is me, Darlene (Oma), J, Wayne (Papa), Jan, Clare and Nanny at the Chihuly Installation at the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville.

Three generations of McPhersons

Clare and her beloved Papa. He just adores her!

Finally we finished our last day at Centennial Park in downtown Nashville with Papa and Oma. We fed some geese (until they scared Clare), watched the squirrels, played in the dirt and on a train, and just enjoyed the end to a wonderful trip.

Clare was a sport about the whole costume thing. She was doubtful about the hat, but once we got outside she kept it on. My main trouble was trying to get a straight picture – she didn’t want to sit still. Apparently lady bugs are busy!

Here are some pictures from our trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grampa’s house. We only went to a few houses of the neighbors. Clare found the whole thing a bit confusing, but she did seem to enjoy a few M & M’s at the end of the night. I suspect she’ll be more into it in the next few years. As with last year, it was more for our enjoyment but between my dad’s cat-o-lantern, the costume, and the candy we all certainly had fun with Clare’s second Halloween.