Daycare Day 3

Today was Clementine's third day of daycare. Apparently, I am the only one having a hard time adjusting to this transition.

Dropping Clementine off in the morning was something I anticipated being difficult. Yeah, it's not. Once she's in her classroom and set down she crawls away from me so fast she leaves me standing in the dust! She can't wait to see what all of her new friends are doing. I'm not kidding when I say she is the most social creature I've ever known.
The last few days I have been sort of hanging out awhile to make sure she adjusts. But I'm ready to admit here that it's really a time for me to adjust. She doesn't notice or care if I stick around! She's too busy climbing, rolling, visiting her friends and kissing the mirror in her classroom.

I'm relieved that Clementine likes school so much. She has been having so much fun that she's plum tuckered out by the end of the day. I miss her while she's there during the day but I know she's happy and safe there. This is a big change for our little family but the new normal is a happy one.

I see so much of Cameron in our offspring. The cute button nose, the sweet little chin, those to-die-for eyelashes (I'm jealous I don't have those beauties) and her enormous feet. But every once in awhile, I see that she got a few of my attributes.

Take this picture for instance:

There are so many fabulous things to say about this picture: how much I love these two people, what a fun day we had, that Cam was wearing both long Carhart pants with TWO shirts (one of them long sleeved) in 90 degree whether.

Let me get back to my point, Clementine has one or two of my attributes. That hairline is definitely mine. But this picture shows the most unmistakable trait she got from me. Those EARS! I passed along the gene for large pixie ears to my beautiful bald baby. Eventually she will grow hair long enough to cover those babies but for now she's working 'em!

During the heat wave I gave Clementine my empty, super freezing cold glass. She loved playing with the cup. It cooled her down and it didn't take long for her to notice that if she growled or yelled into the cup, the sound was pretty funny.

Notice the *actual* baby toys scattered around the floor. All those choices and she goes for a cold glass!

She got a little carried away growling into the glass. This made Jack concerned for his baby sister. He came right over to investigate.

Jack is a very protective older brother. Clementine is a very goofy little baby.

Social Butterfly

Our little Clementine has always been a social creature; she takes after her father (har har). She loves to meet babies in the grocery store, pass other babies in strollers when we are out on walks and she lives for baby play dates.

Naturally, daycare is like Disney World to Clementine. She officially started this week. Yesterday I stayed there for about an hour before letting her stay and play for nearly two hours. Clementine did great, it was *ME* bawling like a 9 month old as I walked from her classroom to the parking lot! Seriously, I did the ugly cry and everything. I was crying so much I scared the dog when I got home!! (What? I'm sensitive!) Today was better; I did not cry at all and Clementine got to stay and play for 3 hours! She loved it! As soon as we pulled into the school's parking lot Clem was excited, kicking her feet and smiling. She's such a grown up girl!

She's a0lready picking up new habits--so far they are good ones. She is making new sounds, climbing better than ever and she slept wonderfully last night! Love that!

As much as I miss her during the day, I know how much fun she is having at school. She loves her new friends and is having a blast at daycare.

Bounce House

Clementine had her first experience in a Bounce House last week.
At first it was pretty fun...
she had the whole place to herself!

But then she realized she had the whole place to herself and wasn't so sure she liked that...

and like all good things, too much is just too much.


See her teeth?? Let me zoom in so you can get a good look in there!

Big Adventures

This weekend, Clementine and I went down to U.P. to spend the weekend at Ya-Ya's. Since it's a three hour drive each way, we broke up the road trip with a few stops.

First, we stopped to see our friends Madeleine and Bella!

Can you tell these kidlets are used to having their pictures taken!? Look at these adorable subjects!

Clementine loves to play with kids and especially babies around the same size as her. Bella is about 8 months older than Clementine but they had fun holding hands and reading books together.

There's Janna, my Mama-Mentor. She's helped get me through the last 9.5 months and talked me down off my freak-out ledge more times than I can count.
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After our play date we continued south to pick up portraits we had done a few months ago. Clementine was sick of being in the car by this time and the temperature was above 85 degrees! More poor girl was Over It and needed a break. We pulled over in the Marie Callender's parking lot in Federal Way, found some shade and chilled in the front seat having a bottle together.

Clementine liked sitting shotgun with mama with the air conditioning on and a delicious, cool bottle.

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We finished our errand in Federal Way, went to visit Ya-Ya at work then went to the mall. What a busy day!

The next morning we just chilled a bit as the temperatures were over 90 degrees on Saturday! Clem and Ya-ya hung out kissin' on the couch.


My cousin Brian was home from Japan so we went to a delicious BBQ with the whole fam at Aunt Carolyn's. Clementine had fun being a ham and entertaining the crowd.

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Now we're back in Bellingham, the weather is finally cooling off and we're ready to start our new normal routine that will include daycare. Clementine is excited to go to school (she told me so herself), I'm excited to start this new stage in our lives but I sure will miss our morning nap and free-f0r-all-snuggles!

Is that my daughter?? I think I can see all the way up to her brain!


Here are some Clementine updates:
**She is 17lb 7oz--putting her in the 20th percentile for weight and 28 inches long which puts her in the 40th percentile for height!! YAY! We finally broke out of the fifth percentile for height and weight!!!!
**She is super giggly all the time
**She talks and sings all the time. She says things like ma-ma, mo-mo, da-da, and wheeeeeeeeeeewwwwww. She still likes to blow raspberries and pat her mouth while she sort of hums to make funny sounds.
**She has learned to share and take turns in the last few days--she will chew in a washcloth, hairbrush, binky, remote control, etc. then offer me a turn to chew on it. Once I brush her hair in the morning, she wants to hold the brush to my hair, too! It's adorable!
**She is in love with Jack. At least nine times a day I have to say things like "Stop licking the dog!" Jack loves all the kisses he's getting. Unfortunately I caught the two of them french-kissing under the desk yesterday. Blech.