Yay, communication!

Claire seems to have figured out that talking's not all that bad. Lately she's hit the long-awaited for "language explosion" - not just with words, though - phrases and sentences, which we're loving.

Lately we've had:
"That's a horse." - to Ray while watching Backyardigans
"Over there." - telling Ray where his shoes are.
"Down there." - telling me where her hair rubberband fell
"More water." - well, you can probably figure this one out
"No." - not thrilled with this one, but it was bound to happen.

And she's also less shy about making animal sounds - the other night Ray got a "moo" and a "buzz" and she's developed a respectable "woof."

There's a fountain at the Reston town center near Arlington. Kids aren't supposed to play in it, according to the sign, but they really shouldn't have made it so tempting. Claire and two older girls were chasing fountain spouts when we were out there last weekend. Claire got soaked, but loved it! (until she fell and skinned her knee, then we dried her off, changed her and had a good mexican lunch...a skinned knee tends to be our natural ending to most things).

Spaghetti night!

yum! Despite the mess, Claire's getting better at using her fork and spoon. She definitely prefers the spoon. She's developed a move we'll need to patent - as she puts the spoonful of food in her mouth, she uses the back of her other hand to make sure all the food actually gets into her mouth.