Claudia's dance recital was a big success.  She did two routines; one ballet and one Hannah Montana.  After dancing we went to Friendly's for dinner and Claudia and Molly ate a whole bunch.

Claudia has her big dance thing on Monday.  We can't wait.  She has had a pretty good day today.  She is fighting off a cold, but seems to be making it (we hope so!!).  

We had a good time shopping for dinner.  She is such a big girl.  

This video from two years ago was mentioned in a book that I just ordered by the jazz critic Howard Mandel: Jazz beyond Jazz. He says its on p.205 if you are at your library.

I think it may be mentioned in Oliver Sachs new book as well--Musicphelia. The youtube page says it links, but I haven't read the book yet. Anyone have it?

Interesting.

We are very proud of Claudia. Today she walked over 1.5 miles in the March of Dimes walk that Mommy was in. Molly walked in the stroller. There was even a really big hill and it was hot! She is a real trooper.

Tonight she asked to sit in a regular chair and got out of her toddler high chair thing. She is growing fast. She looks taller everyday--although I don't think she is growing much. We are also very close to getting a big girl bed. She sleeps so well we are a bit cautious of changing but she is eager.

I love watching her run with this basket.

Claudia had a very nice lunch with her Godmothers and Aunt Tootie today in Danbury.  She was very pleased to realize that the Easter Bunny had left something for Claudia in Boston and Elizabeth and Kerry had brought it to her.

Claudia is pretty much all better now.  She just gets a few moments of crankiness each day.  We are working on remaining polite during those times.

Claudia getting a little better. Afternoons are tough as she crashes. Her face is still pretty raw. She went to class yesterday and will get out today as well we hope.

Claudia is pretty sick again.  She's trying hard, but its not easy for her at all.  Her nose is pretty raw and she is coughing good.  Sleep isn't flowing too smoothly.  I wish she would take naps.

Molly and Mommy a bit down too.

Claudia heads back to Haskins Lab today.  She is a good test subject.

It was fun to watch Claudia at dance class yesterday.  She likes her teacher so very, very much.  She is so polite in class and it is fun to watch her talk to the teacher about her day as she doesn't do that with everyone.

She is very excited about her present for Molly and the parties.  She picked out decorations and everything.  Wait until she figures out that Molly gets more than one party (one in CT, one in PA).

"Claudia what do you think Molly will be when she grows up?"

Long pause.

"My sister!!"

Claudia has been working hard on Molly's birthday present.

Claudia has been out and about a fair amount.  She visited the Zamary's Friday night and had fun boxing with their Wii game.  Yesterday she had fun at a birthday party.

We are working together on building Molly a special birthday present.  Claudia has been doing the measuring and drawing all the lines for me.  I hope to put it together (rocking chair) so she can start painting.

Claudia rebounded on Thursday and was able to go to see Peter, Paul and Mary with Mommy.  It was a truly special night that I (mommy) am so grateful to have shared with her.  We both got all dressed up, dresses, necklaces and bracelets.  We also had our hair done at Claudia's beauty salon in her room.  As soon as we found our seats we found out that the lady next to us was named Claudia as well!  Claudia thought that was really neat and opened up to her right away, showing her everything from her shoes to bracelets.  

The concert was great, and they sang all the songs that Claudia knew so we were lucky.  I thought she was going to jump out of her seat when they started singing Puff!!!  She did a lot of clapping and singing.  It was so great to experience this with her as I remember them from my childhood.  Three generations enjoying Peter, Paul and Mary!!  That is amazing in itself.  She lasted about 2 hours which was perfect and we got out before the crowds.  Since then we have been playing a lot of Peter, Paul and Mary games :)  

Claudia has been pretty sick the past few days with a cough and a bit of a fever.  She didn't go to dance class yesterday and we are hoping she improves.  Claudia and Mommy have big tickets to see Peter, Paul, and Mary on Thursday.

Claudia is really excited to go to DisneyWorld.  Now, we don't have any plans to go, but she is excited anyway.

She is sleeping a ton.  She often sleeps from 9:00pm-10:00am.  Even 11:00am some days.

Claudia has been having lots of fun at various activities.  Her favorite activity right now is to play dance class at home.  We do that a whole lot.  Claudia knows the names of all the kids in her class.

Claudia is a turtle.

She got this yesterday.  

On my iTouch there is a matching game which is very similar to the traditional game using cards.  Claudia does very well at this and completes the screens quickly, much quicker than me.

So I'm taking my turn and I am struggling:

Daddy: "I'm not doing so well"

Claudia: "its OK Daddy, just take it real slow and you will do fine"

Claudia has been cooking a lot lately.  We are trying to get her to try new foods and it seems to help that she is a chef.  She eats fairly well, but we want to explore green foods and she won't really eat meat at all.

We almost enrolled her in preschool this Spring because she liked one place so much but we think we will wait until the fall.  That gives us another season on Monkey Business.  

We have a lot of pictures to get up.  Hopefully today...

Claudia loves to watch Cesar Milan--The Dog Whisperer.  Last night we are watching TV.  The dog on the show is misbehaving, barking, etc...

Claudia: "Daddy, that dog needs the Dog Whisperer".

She wrote her name all by herself yesterday.  Miss Colleen also said it was her best day yet at Monkey Business; leading groups, speaking up, etc...

She is growing like crazy.

Claudia is pretty much an imagination machine at this pont.  We are constantly performing little one-act plays ("I'm Cinderella and you are the Prince!").

While Mommy was at the gym yesterday I am sitting in the kitchen.  Claudia picks up her maracas and keeps marching by chanting "Festa, Festa, lets have a Festa!".  She marches from one end of the kitchen 4-5 times.

Finally a light bulb goes off in my head:

"Claudia--do you mean fiesta?"

"Oohhhhhh"

Claudia loved going to the Beauty Shop last week (and we loved that she let somebody brush her hair).

Claudia did well at her 3 year (!!) appointment yesterday.  She is 39" tall (90th percentile) and 37.25 pounds.  She did well on everything.  She has a bit of an issue with her jaw.  Most of you notice she juts it out a bit and we will have the dentist check it when we go in March.

She did well on all the letter tests.  "Claudia, do you know the first letter of your name" "Yes, I do! C-L-A-U-D-I-A".

Claudia is spending New Years Eve watching Live from Lincoln Center. She seems to love it. She also loved watching the Barck Obama recap on the news. Now shes watching the Tiger Woods recap with Mommy.  Big party.

Molly loved the NYPhil as well. She was intently watching (even stopped her from crying).

Today Claudia is Aunt Susannah. She is spending the whole day as her. Sometimes Mommy is Mimi, but currently Daddy is. Aunt Susannah says Tyler is at work making his cookies and brownies for the party.

Aunt Susannah is asking me to come in because its time to feed all the dogs.

Last night Claudia had her first birthday celebration and had really nice cake! We think we might go bowling tomorrow.

Claudia Quotes today:

As she is making bread pudding: "Silly Daddy, I'm not a chef, I'm a cook". "A chef's hands must stay clean!"

"Daddy, I don't think we should start a fire tonight because Santa will come down the chimney and I don't want him to burn".

Claudia had her dance performance today. She really enjoys dance and working with Miss Rachel and Miss Jonelle. It was a fabulous performance as

you can see.

Claudia made Fruit-Bread Pudding tonight.  She did all the mixing and measuring.  It was really good!

Also notice our clustrmap on the right got reset.  Lets fill it up again.

One day Santa stopped by while Claudia was eating cake. Santa tried to distract Claudia from eating cake. It was no use! Claudia was going to finish her cake!

Claudia is a great traveler and had a lot of fun over Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania.  Her Uncle Mark and Aunt Joan were there and she had lots of fun with them.

More stories later.  Pictures on flickr.

Claudia has been half waking up most night around 2-3am. I don't know if its because it has been colder or the heater kicks on or something. She has been going right back to sleep, usually. This is a bit odd as she normally never wakes up.

We went to the Cross Country banquet last night and we are going to a concert tonight so Claudia has been hopping from place to place. Next week we head out for Thanksgiving which she is really excited for.

Lately Claudia has been trying many more foods. Usually she is a decent eater but she has been more adventurous lately. She loves Egg Nog!

Claudia was the youngest kid at her friend Allison's birthday party this weekend.  She did real good, but it took a lot of brain power to keep up.  Everyone wrote their names on a bear for Allison and Claudia was very proud that she did it too.

Claudia visited NYC for the first time today.  She went to FAO Schwartz and then spent about an hour in Central Park.  Daddy took this photo of the two beauties bathing in the sun.

Claudia had a great halloween.  Pictures on flickr.  We had a nice little party, the weather was great, and all the kids seemed to have fun.

Mimi just finished a week up here in Connecticut and is travelling back to PA.  She was a bit sick the past few days sow e hope she feels better.

Claudia has had some fun playing Elmo games on the computer but she really did well yesterday helping Marcelino find his letters. The game involves finding letters on the keyboard as papers flutter to the "floor" on the screen. She picked this up very quickly and was pecking away in no time.

This morning around 5am she wakes up--hanging over her bed rail--screaming. She is an odd sleeper. She sleeps very well and consistently--but I think she moves around a lot.

Claudia is having lots of fun at both of her classes and is hopefully becoming more independent. This independent streak can be trying at times (no!) but she works very hard to be polite. Sometimes this builds up and she goes off the deep end (completely), but all in all she is very well behaved girl.

She is very excited that Mimi and Aunt Susannah are coming on Saturday to see her and Molly.

Claudia picked THIS picture to put on the website.

Signed by: claudia

Claudia fell off the couch yesterday, hit the table and got a really ugly bruise. It swelled up like a golf ball.

But, she is fine and tough. She went to her cousins baseball game and kept saying "Look at the boo-boo on my forehead!".

Claudia went to the Garlic Festival today and had a fun time.  Its been a warm weekend here (just like last year.....).

She rode the big swings on the rides!  You know, the swings on the end of a twenty foot chain that spins around.  She is a big girl.

Claudia can do H, A, T, O and a few other letters by herself.  She loves her tracing books.

Claudia is working very hard on her pre-school workbooks. She loves to write her letters. She can recognize upper case and lower case and can draw rough letters if we talk her through it. Mommy thinks she would do the workbooks all day if we let her. She focusses very, very well.

Every night as we get to bed Claudia will say "We better hurry up--it'll be Friday soon".  She always gets the day right.

One of her heroes is definitely Julie who runs on the cross country team.  After we turn the lights off at night she likes to hear stories and she likes to hear stories about Julie and how fast she runs.  

She is watching some news and recognizes Barack Obama and John McCain.  She points it out whenw e hear their names on the radio.

Today she went to Monkey Business and "only cried a little bit".  Hopefully that will improve.  She had a couple rough weeks being there by herself in big girl land.

Posted new pictures on Flickr.

We use this blog for many reasons, but I think the main reason is to keep a diary of what Molly and Claudia do. This is their "baby book". We know that friends and relatives (and random visitors) to this page are often viewing this from a large distance and can't always be here in person as much as they'd like to be.

We'd appreciate it if you would "sign the book" today and leave a note about who you are an where you are reading the blog from.

Thanks!

Claudia likes dance class.

Claudia had her first dance class today. She paid really good attention and came home and practiced everything. She had a really good time. She is much younger than the other kids.

She is a really good kid.

Claudia swam all by herself in her floaty suit yesterday! Nobody held on!

Claudia had a pretty busy week. On Monday she went to the Labor Day parade in Newtown. On Tuesday she went to Mommy's softball game and sat on the bench and talked the entire game. On Wednesday she went to Daddy's school and then out to dinner. On Friday she went to the Bethelem Fair.

She also found time to visit her Uncle Rick and Aunt Pidge.

Claudia starts "school" next week at Monkey Business. She is very excited.

Claudia has had a definite routine to going to bed since she was 8-9 months old. I have to say it has worked very well. She never wakes up or complains. It is certainly her routine.

1. Bath or "tickle shower". Dry off in very specific routine. Put on pajamas (must include socks).
2. Mommy (and only mommy) detangles hair.
3. Brush teeth.
4. Give Molly kiss and hug. Give Daddy (or Mommy) kiss and hug.
5. Run to bedroom.
6. Pick out three books to read.
7. Lay down next to crib with white blanket. Mommy or Daddy next to her with blue blanket. Only recently has Claudia allowed Daddy to do this part.
8. Read books. Usually Claudia reads them to us.
9. Crawl into bed. Arrange "friends".
10. Cover with 2 blankets. Turn on fan, turn off light.
11. Tell two stories, maybe three. I always tell Cinderella. Wait about 1-2 minutes for sleep.

In the morning she crawls out of bed, stands in the middle of the room and goes "Mommy?, Mommy?" and waits for us to come upstairs.

We are back from our family vacation at Lake Dunmore in Vermont. Claudia did lots of swimming, eating, and playing. This was the year of "I can do it myself".

She stayed for three nights at Mimi's cabin. She was a very big girl. No problems at all.

More pictures and stories posted soon.

Claudia has big muscles.

Claudia is auditioning for a job in Uncle Tyler's restaurant.

Lots of new pictures posted to flickr.

Day four of complete potty training is going well. Claudia has been making it fairly easy.

Last night we went to a Carnival with some friends and got home a bit too late. Claudia definitely likes her bedtime!

Claudia had lots of fun playing with Kerry and Margo on Sunday. She talks about them ("And Elizabeth!") a lot. She was very polite and waited for everyone to sit down before starting her lunch. She tries hard to be a good girl.

Claudia is beginning to really enjoy acting out plays. She can do the whole Backyardigans Volcano Sisters episode. She is also starting to "act" with the other Backyardigans. So if you notice that she is talking to "Pablo" be aware that you might be playing a part in a play at that moment.

Claudia watched about two minutes of Wizard of Oz on TV and then came up with her whole "Bad Witch" story the next day. She remembers everything.

She is starting to be able to count in a more effective manner ("that's four, we need one more to be five") and is able to recognize some words as we read (Santa). She is just starting to work on holding crayons a little more productively so she can draw circles and such.

There are summer concerts in Southbury three nights a week. We try to go a few times per week (in addition to Quassy).

Claudia is really having fun with her dancing. We will try to get a video. It is fun to watch.

Claudia had a nice visit from Margo and Aunt KA today. Last night she went to a party for Miss Lisa and Jake who are moving to North Carolina. She had fun, but she is a bit slow because she has been a little sick

We went to see Wall-E the other day and Claudia did real well until the end when it got "too noisy" so we don't quite know how the movie ends.

Claudia had lots of fun at Noah's birthday party yesterday. She swam and played on the Slip-n-Slide and was sure to be ready for when the cake came out!

Claudia prepared treats for Maggie's birthday. We realize that she REALLY pays attention, but watch how she "unwraps" a Hershey Kiss just like Mommy.

More pictures and video posted on flickr site.

Tomorrow birthday party (Claudia) and wedding (Brandt-Kasey-Molly). Sunday birthday party (all). Then done for awhile!

We have been replacing all the windows in the house. Next week we hope to finish that since we have tree people coming to take down some huge dead trees. Danger-danger. Then its time to paint the house.

Claudia had fun at Taylor's birthday party. Claudia has a lot of birthday parties to go to these first weeks of July. We had two last week and three this week. Lots of excitement.

Claudia also got a new tricycle that she is really pleased with.

Claudia's friends Noah and Leah came over last night. Claudia had a good time with everyone.

She is back in her independent phase since we got home where she goes a bit off the reservation for about an hour each day. We are working on being polite during those moments.

So far we have had a nice trip to Pennsylvania. It started with a four hour trip from home. We didn't stop once as Molly slept right the whole way. Claudia was very patient. We had a few issues with sleeping arrangements but Claudia eventually agreed to "camp out" with Daddy in the living room. She eventually found herself under the chair. She hasn't slept away from home since we went to Boston last year so when we actually got to sleep time it was a bit of a shock.

Last night she went to the Parade and saw some of Mimi's friends. She liked sitting on her chair and watching everything. When she got home Aunt Susannah was here and they set up the tent. That was fun, but she wasn't ready to sleep in it yet!

Today was the big day as Claudia rode Wendy. She rode Wendy all over the place and did really well. She was pretty nervous at first but she got right on and had lots of fun.

Claudia has been a busy girl. She had visits today from her friend Taylor and Mrs. Werner stopped by. We also had fun when she realized that there was a steady stream of water dripping down from the light onto the kitchen table ("Daddy? What's that?"). Luckily Daddy was home.

Tomorrow we make our first trip to Pennsylvania in almost a year. First trip with Molly!

Claudia got her hair trimmed tonight and was a very good girl.

We had a good Fathers Day today. Claudia did lots of nice things and worked hard to make it a fun day. We watched a bike race in the morning and went to see the Kopecs in the afternoon. Claudia had lots of fun swimming. She had TWO naps today, and usually has zero. She is pretty wired and Kasey is reading to her now. Hopefully she crashes quickly as Molly is just getting started with her hiccups!

So we are passing the Medical Building in Southbury. Claudia and Molly go there for their baby doctor stuff and their dermatologist.

Claudia: "Grandma doesn't go there"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Claudia: "She has a different dermatologist"

Me: "Wow, Claudia thats a big word! I didn't know you could say that".

Claudia: "Its easy Daddy. Say Derm, then atol, then o, then gist. See?"

TV Buddies.

Claudia went to the track end-of-season picnic tonight and got a T-Shirt! She is very excited.

Tomorrow Claudia goes to see the Backyardigans!

Pictures and video are being uploaded to the flickr site right now.

Daddy arrives home...

Claudia: "How was work Daddy?"

Daddy: "Good, Claudia, thanks for asking"

Claudia: "We had some ravioli for dinner and saved some leftovers for you"

She will be making dinner herself pretty soon...

We know there will come a time, but we are real lucky to have Claudia as a daughter. She is a such a good girl. To be able to go to a restaurant or the bookstore and not really worry about her makes life so much more fun. She is starting to make up stories about things which is fun "Once upon a time Aunt Tootie went to the...." She is really getting into her fingerpainting and her reading. She sits for good long books now and I think we could read to her all day and she would be OK with it.

She still gets real nervous in crowds which is hard to watch but we see signs of improvement. She certainly doesn't respond when she first meets people but we try to draw her out a bit. She went to a birthday party last week and it was fun to watch her talk with the other kids ("This is a fork!"). She loves to talk on the phone with people and find out what they are doing.

I hope to get some pictures up tomorrow. Busy week at work.

Claudia had fun at her friend Ben's birthday party yesterday. She made some new friends. It was a little hot so she got a little tired but was a real good girl. She even climbed up into their treehouse!

Claudia went to a graduation party for one of Daddy's former students in Derby yesterday. She saw lots of people who hadn't seen her since she was six months old. Claudia was a good girl and introduced Molly to several people.

She surprised me yesterday when she identified each of her fingers one at a time (pinky....ring finger.....middle finger....). Its hard to keep up with her. She is a sponge and remembers everything. She can identify all the plants in the garden that she works on as well (panzies, tarragon, etc...). She loves being in charge of the garden.

Claudia went to her cousin Monique's band concert last night and was a very good listener. After the show Monique took Claudia on stage and showed her a bit of the school. We had fun dancing in the parking lot as we left. The school has lots of STOP signs which Claudia loves to read. Her next favorite word to read is "Applebees".

This is how Claudia waits her turn when we play T-Ball. Its very important to wait your turn! She had lots of fun with Elizabeth, Kerry, Aunt KA, and Uncle Kenny on Sunday. She was very excited to wear her blue dress.

Claudia has been a really good girl the past week or so and has been getting to bed much easier. Baths and combing of the hair are still a bit of a challenge.

Claudia had fun with her friend Taylor yesterday at the park. She also is starting to get some chores like watering the plants. She definitely likes having jobs.

And she remembers everything. She knows who gave her every gift, who has a diving board in their pool, and what everyone said.

Yesterday Claudia came to the girls track meet. She had lots of fun. She jumped on the mats, ran around, drank from the water cooler, showed everybody her funky glasses, and best of all she got to talk to Julie! Claudia really likes Julie.

She is still fighting this rash. She is a very patient girl. We think it might be a few things. Kasey thinks maybe strawberries are the culprit.

We are looking for programs for her to get involved in. We think probably a dance class, an art class, and maybe a singing/theater type class. Trying to find something appropriate that is taught by legitimate people is a challenge.

Twice a day for about ten minutes it seems Claudis goes off the deep end for a bit. She is certainly two at this point. She is asserting her independence a lot more and we are working hard to give her something to do to make life a bit easier. Her brain moves very fast and keeping her occupied with one child around was much easier. Some things that were easy are hard now (and the opposite) as we make this transition.

We are working hard on her shyness as we know this is the source of a lot of her "moments". At the same time she has been having nice conversations with a lot of people and is starting to open up a lot more to people. We thank everyone for your patience.

She is very excited that Uncle Kenny and the Kopecs are coming over this weekend. She has figured where everyone is sitting and all the details.

OK...Claudia is getting to bed. Cross your fingers.