No more diapers, feeding herself and other big girl moments!

A few weeks ago, I saw that there were only 3 diapers left. My husband and I sorta promised each other that before the pack is finished, Claire wouldn't need them. We decided to make another bedtime routine of getting Claire to go potty before she goes to bed. It's a bit of struggle because she thinks it's really fun. So, she'd go about 5 times before she sleeps. This would be around 11pm-12am. That's our fault. That's another thing we're gonna have to work on. Our aim is for her to be in bed by 9pm. We'll probably do this when we introduce her to sleeping in her room. Anyway, we are so proud of her! Not only have we saved tons of dollars from diapers, she's really grown and its becoming obvious that she's a fast learner!

Claire seems to love drawing and writing. She doesn't draw or write anything in particular. She just doodles and stuff. What we noticed in particular was that she learned to hold the pen by herself or maybe by just observing how we held it. No one taught her this. I was thinking she got this skill from TJ. Her fine motor skills are very good. So, we decided to see how she would do eating by herself. She was really good holding the spoon. Now, we haven't introduced her to eating with a spoon and fork. For now, it'll just be one or the other. It gets really messy but it's so cute to watch. It also seems that she eats a whole lot more. She loves her rice and noodles. She doesn't like it when I just give her "tinapay" (she calls it "pie") or bread for lunch or dinner. With this new skill of hers, I can now eat my own meals in peace. hehehe!

I've always believed that children will always follow their parents lead. We are their first teachers. So, as early as 6 months, I've encouraged TJ and the rest of the family in the house to always say their please, thank you's and excuse me's. It's really paid off. The other night, I noticed that Claire says, "thank you" or in her own words, "Tiku" like second nature. Her "sorry's" are cute. She says, "tetem".

I am so proud of her. She's just turning 20 months this Dec 1 but everyone thinks she's 2 or 3. She is so smart, sweet and at times a little monster. But at the end of the day, when she's realized she's been bad, she'll say, "Mommy, tetem..Mommy, huug".

I love you Claire...