This weekend Mat's friend Seth was in town, and we had an opportunity to take some long overdue pictures:

 

 

 

We went out to dinner at the Italian place down the street. Seth took pictures:

 

 

 

 

Our waiter, who was from Boston. 

 

 

 

Little Nikita says, "We will bury you!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire Helen's facial expression, 2017-2020 

 

Feats of Strength

Claire continues to develop at a pretty amazing rate. Just now she reached up to the table top, picked up a 15 ounce can of tomatoes with one hand, and handed it to me. She was easily able to grasp it off the table top above her head in the palm of just one hand and carry it effortlessly. That's quite a change from just a month ago.

-M

Dog and baby just had a crayon feast on the living room rug. Lovely. At least they are playing nicely together?

In less waxy news, today we procured her a baby sized arm chair (and baby sized ottoman! Oh, the Lilliputian dream world that is Land of Nod!). We'll take pictures soon- I have never seen a person so excited about furniture as Claire Helen was about her chair. I am really reappreciating the genius of off the ground seating. She and her papa are having a grand time playing catch- she in her chair, and he leaning up against the couch. When she has to go chase the ball, she won't throw it back to Mat again until she is in her chair. Hee hee.

A trip to Whidbey Island to get out of the heat. Not all of us are completely thrilled. 

 

 

The other night Claire Helen had a friend over, and said friend wanted up in my lap a couple of times, which prompted Claire Helen to exert ownership over said lap. Until the friend wanted down, at which point she found mama laps terrribly boring. 

Some pictures we took a minute ago. 

 

 

 

 

Majorette Claire Helen, and 6 months pregnant Stephanie 

Hello! Usually there are pictures immediately following a post, but I should warn you now that this is not the case today, as I am not on my home computer, and besides we have not taken an especially large number of photos since last week. But I will change that later today and then post some.

No one is reading after that announcement, are they? No matter. The great thing about a digital audience is you can pretend they are as engaged as you want.

Tonight, our lack of reliable babysitting means that Claire Helen will attend her second ever wedding (don't worry; kids are invited; we aren't those people. But "invited" and "easy to care for at a formal event" are two different things), and her first ever traditional Korean wedding ceremony. I do hope she doesn't set anything on fire. Last night she attended her first ever outdoor chamber music concert, meaning she will have a more cultured weekend than the entire state of Kansas. She did very well, and made very fast friends with a woman down the hill who was probably trying to enjoy some solitude on a lovely Friday night. But Claire Helen was willing to share her squished up cherry tomatoes- her highest token of esteem.

The reason she was so able to intrude upon strangers' spaces so well is that she has gotten extremely fast at walking(and marginally capable at running). She practices very hard every day, and even, I think, intentionally sets up obstacle courses every morning by emptying the entire contents of her toybox and any shelves under 3 feet high onto the living room floor and hallway. There is no other explanation for the particularly dangerous pattern of wheeled little people toys and loose magazine pages she manages to devise every day than a very serious obstacle course. This tests the agility of all the occupants of the house more than we would have desired, but you can't argue with results, and she has definitely sped up.

She likes to test her newfound speed everywhere, including and especially parking lots and city streets. Her speed provokes a near hysterical reaction in her very pregnant mother, and is probably very funny if you don't really have a concept of empathy for panic. As a result she is getting carried across parking lots far more often, and she is not a fan. She tends to writhe and squirm and turn into 200 pounds of liquid mercury the way only a 25 pound toddler can. When she finally decides that her efforts will be for naught, she sighs heavily, and says in the smallest, most pitiable voice imaginable, "Me down."

Oh, would that toddler tragedy was not so funny.

We have been swimming almost every day to keep out of the heat (82 degrees and no humidity. We Seattle-ites are melting.), and though Claire Helen has yet to be convinced that putting her face in the water and blowing bubbles is anything like a worthwhile activity, she is very good at standing on the side and jumping to mama, whether or not mama has been made aware of the plan.

She plays a version of dress up, carrying around my tank tops and camisoles, with the straps up to her shoulders, and pretends to get dressed when I do, and twirls around with her big girl clothes. It's pretty cute. She also tries walking around in either Mat's or my flip flops with very little success, but much intensity.

Breaking news! We have found a sitter! I am going to go practice my powers of not focussing at least 40 percent of my active brain on Claire Helen's whereabouts and what she has in her hand/mouth at all times.