Clementine by Numbers

It's official! Clementine is a true toddler now. 18 months old; 100% genius.
18 months is my new favorite age. There are so many fun(ny) things to do with (to) this little lady!

I was going to do another "18 facts about this 18 month old" type blog, but I don't think I have 18 facts!
Let's see how far we get:

1. In the last week, Clementine has learned five new words (go, Kirby, pee-pee, night-night, and bear). Thankfully she is still oblivious to swear words
2. She is 32.5 inches tall
3. She weighs 27.75 lb
4. Her head circumference is off the charts. It's 50 cm! The developmental pediatrician had to be consulted! My head is also larger than average (58 cm) and Cam's is Guiness World Record worthy (64 cm). We had to be measured to make sure this enormous melon is genetic rather than worrisome.
5. Her favorite food is red bell peppers. It's gotten to be such an issue that before heading into the produce aisle I have to give her my keys or a packet of sticky notes to distract her. Once her sights are set on red bell peppers, there is nothing else in this world that matters more.
6. She has started singing and it's so beautiful! She sings like a woeful mariachi band "Aye yi yi yi......aye yi yi yi!!"
7. She knows where her belly button and nose are
8. She knows where my belly button is and likes to show strangers we meet in public this fascinating part of my body
9. She knows what a dog, cat, lizard and duck say
10. She can sign "more," "all done," and "friend". We're working on "please" and "poop"
11. She can kick a ball
12. She can CLIMB!
13. She loves to brush her teeth
14. She has discovered our cat Penny's tail. She has the scratches to prove it
15. She has 12 teeth totally in--three are working their way through the gums
16. She still thinks anything that fits in her hand and has buttons is a telephone. She makes a lot of phone calls--they mostly go like this: "Hello? Hi. Yeah. Hi. Yeah. Yeah." click.
17. She can destroy a shelf full of books in less than 5 seconds
18. She loves food but always seems to want what's on my plate more than she wants what's on her own!

We are so in love with this little bug of ours. She is such a sweetheart and she spreads joy to everyone she meets.

Our Plantation

This weekend we put together what I like to call a little vegetable garden.
It's nothing fancy but it's our first so I'm excited.

Before:



After:
Yes, I already put stakes in so that poor pepper doesn't fall over.

I Love This House volume 1

There is so much to love about this house; let me count the ways:

1. Love the storage
2. Love the skylights
3. Love that the roar of frogs at night is deafening
4. Love our fenced backyard (and so does Jack)
5. Love that the sun seems to flood our home at all hours of the day
6. Love the sunsets we see from the front porch
7. Love Clementine's cheery purple bedroom
8. Love my deck
9. Love the blank canvas (that would be our walls)
10. Love that it is ours

Easter

Easter this year felt like an actual Easter. Clem was able to help dye and find Easter eggs, we ate too much candy and the sky poured buckets and buckets-making it impossible to get outside this day!


The Easter Bunny came to our house during Clementine's afternoon nap. Her basket was filled with peeps, egg shaped sidewalk chalk and new pink spring sandals for more walks on the beach.


Clementine LOVED finding the Easter eggs. She loved it so much she hid them all in Cam's shoe and wanted us to experience the same joy. She was very pleased with herself.



She did not, however, love eating Peeps. She took one bite then tried to feed the rest to me or Jack. Neither of us were takers, so she wiped chewed up Peep on her drums. That was a fun treat for me to wipe up!

The Children's Museum

The highlight of Spring Break 2009 was our first trip to the Skagit Valley Children's Museum, which is just a 30 minute drive from here. I want to go there everyday. I'm pretty sure Clementine would be on board with that, too.


The Children's Museum had just about everything an 18 month old could wish for.
A sheep to pet (later she found a hairbrush and brushed its hair, too)

A horse to ride
Oh, jeez....stairs to climb. This girl has not yet learned her lesson.

And a steering wheel to spin around (she's a future sailor!)


A tunnel to climb through (or just play Peekaboo w/ YaYa)

A semi truck to "drive" and play with all it's buttons. Clementine loved turning the windshield wipers on and off.

And, of course, fishies to watch in the aquarium. Here is Clementine kissing the fish.



We had so much fun at the museum. Clem was engaged in all the activities for just about 2 hours (a lot for this active little girl). She could have stayed there all day! We'll definitely be back there soon!

A Total Ham

Clementine has already used most of her material on Cameron and me. We always laugh, but there is nothing like a fresh new audience member to perform for. Luckily for Clementine, my mom came up to visit for a few days last week and Clem utilized each second to play up her talents and work on her stand up comedy routine.

Here she is stealing the show at the scrapbook store; wearing YaYa's glasses:
This one made everyone laugh, even the two cashiers were loving this bit.


Here is her climbing routine. She has a whole system down to climb up the chair to get to the couch to climb on the pillows and reach things she's not supposed to have.
Luckily, this time all she was really climbing for was YaYas lap.


Notice the tongue in this next one. Where there's climbing, there is lots of tongue.


And bath time just wouldn't be bath time if there wasn't a duck eating performance included!

She knows she's cute.
AND..........Scene.

Today at the Beach

Our day at the beach:


Doesn't she look ready for an adventure?




She loved watching Cam throw and skip rocks
She immediately put this rock in her mouth.
Here's Clementine giving me sandy kisses on the beach
It was so beautiful and sunny out. She loved it. I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time there this spring and summer!