Swimming Days are Here Again

The floatie arms are gone and in less than 2 weeks Sean is putting his head under the water and swimming around the pool. He knows how to swim over to the side and monkey walk his hands back to the steps or he can lift himself out on his tummy and get out of the pool. He also jumps in, pops up, and swims over to Dave in the pool without any help. So much for those swim lessons we have a little fish on our hands. Sean can not wait until Dave gets home because every day he takes him in the pool. The temperature in the pool is 82 so it is starting to warm up.

Claire has even joined in to chill out in the pool with her crab. She loves the water and smiles the entire time she is in. She just laughs when she sees Sean jump in the pool. It is amazing how she is so observant and knows what is going on around her.

USA Fitness

Sean said that he was going to fly on the web string like Spiderman.
We went to open gym at a local facility and Sean was in heaven. He played for 1.5 hours and was nonstop. He loved going up on the horse and jumping in the foam pit. At one point I turned and saw him scaling a 5 foot ladder and jumping off a platform into a rectangular pit. I guess you could say he is not afraid of anything these days.Another shocker was how Sean listened during the stretch session and wanted to sit next to the instructor. Wow what a champ!

In The Grass

Claire is always full of smiles except when you take her for her 6 month pictures at the photo studio. We tried everything and still we did not get but one smile. So we have resorted to these types of pictures when she is not stop.

Claire is 6 Months

On May 10th Claire turned 6 months. She was 26 inches long (50th percentile) and weighed 15.6 pounds (30th percentile). She had a great doctor appointment with a couple shots.

Right now Claire is:

-holding her bottle on her own

-sitting up unsupported

-babbling all the time

-rolling over front to back over and over around the floor

-grasping objects and transferring them between hands

-up in crawl position, crawl/slithers across the room to get objects

-loves light and sounds around her/loves to watch people

-likes to grab and eat Sean's hair when he sits near her

-eats fruits and veggies, cereals, and cries for more food - LOVES FOOD!

-smiles, smiles, smiles!

-spits up all the time and we hate cleaning the floor and our clothes

-sits in the stroller by herself...goodbye car carrier

-hates the jump-a-roo but loves the Exersaucer

-has bright blue eyes and auburn hair

-loves to be held to go to sleep and likes to be rocked

-can be really fussy before bedtime and naps

Cruising the House

Claire is nonstop and unstoppable these days. I have to watch her every minute or she is on the tile or getting into trouble. She loves to play with Sean's toys although they are not appropriate or safe for her. She crawls/slithers across the room in record speed to get something she wants. In the last week or so she started to get up on her hands and knees and do the rocking thing. She is trying to get the coordination down but now she props herself up with her butt in the air and then sometimes likes to topple over.
Since Sean refuses to wear his clothes in the house we only get wonderful underwear shots of him around the house. As soon as he is in the house he strips down and leaves his clothes in the dust. So hope you like our "naked babies" as we call them here.

Tub Time

Sean has been asking about this day for weeks. "When is Claire going to take a bath with me?" Well now that Claire is sitting up independently we have moved her out of her little tub and into the big bathtub. Sean loves to give her bath toys and play with her.

On the Driveway

Sean is nonstop on the scooter. He loves to take it to the park or ride down to the mailbox and get the mail. He is unstoppable.

Claire is chilling in the stroller and now she does not need the car carrier anymore since she is sitting up and can see the world...one more thing to leave behind.

Camera Ready

Oops I realized that I never posted this. Sean and his wacky smiles.

Active Little One

Claire has sure brought a ton of joy to our family. She is all smiles (most of the time) and glows when you call her name or say "hi!' to her. We were in the grocery store the other day and everyone gravitates towards her and can't believe how much she smiles when spoken to.

"Are you talking to me?"

This sitting up thing is totally overrated. Why does mom want to take 100 pictures of me?

Starting yoga a bit early? Claire is showing us one of her newest "downward facing dog" yoga pose. Now we have to make sure all the little toys are picked up because she is finding a way to get into everything. I placed a plant on the floor when I was cleaning the other day and she crawled over and dumped the plant on her. So much for cleaning, now there was dirt all over Claire and the rug.

Summer is Coming!

Sean has been to the splash pads at least 3 times since they have opened about 2 weeks ago. He said the water was cold at first but now he is starting to like running through the spray to cool off. It has been really nice outside lately so we are not in desperate need to cool off quite yet. The last week was in the 70's and now this week it may reach 95. Well looks like 100 is not far off.

Instead of making 2 posts I figured I would condense this and have a couple pictures of Claire also. At the top she was hanging out at the splash pad and spending some tummy time in the morning (below). Who can resist the cute smiles she gives you every time she talks to you?

Train Ride

We have been on so many trains lately I can't keep track. Every time Sean sees a train he wants to go on it. So Sean went on this train at least 4 times and he was able to bring Claire along for the ride.
Here were a couple of palm trees at the park..paradise!

Encanto Park

Dave always seems to find these gems when he is on vacation. In the city there is a park with a bunch of kiddie rides that are perfect for kids Sean's age. We did not know what to expect when we got there but it was a blast to hang out there for over 3 hours.
Sean loved the airplanes and this was the third time he went on the ride. It was perfect to go during the weekdays.
Sean would say, "Mom, look at me!" He wanted to spin the wheel in the middle but Dave said, "Not this time!" He did not want to get too dizzy.
The dragon roller coaster was a keeper. The lady would slap Sean's hand each time it went around and he would not get off the ride when it was over. Good thing we got the wristband so he could go on over and over again.
We called this the Transformer spaceship...too fun!

Wildlife Zoo Aquarium

Sean was able to touch the sting rays when we were in the aquarium but the only thing he wanted to see was Nemo. Who would have thought with the penguins, octopus, sharks, white alligator, and sea urchins right in your face you would be worried about a small clown fish?
I loved how the reflection came out in this picture!
Sean and Dave waiting for the sky ride so they could have a birds-eye view of the park and all the animals. Sean really enjoyed this and waved the whole time he could see the people on the ground.

Lions and Tigers, OH MY!

Claire's newest place to hang out is in the sling. If she could be in the 24/7 that would be her choice. After a while I just need a break but we left the stroller in the car and walked around the Wildlife World Zoo for a couple hours and she was great. Plus she was able to see so many of the animals.
Claire in the sling watching the animals as Sean and dad check out the rhino. Sean loved to run around, in fact, we thought he liked to run away from us more than look at the animals. The animals were so close and Sean was able to feed the giraffe.
Tigers don't scare us! At least when they are in the cage behind us. We could not believe how close the tigers came. It was funny because last year when we went to this zoo the white tiger was right near the fence and we got some similar pictures. Claire loved to wear her hat and walk around. It was windy and the weather was absolutely perfect so that made for a great day!
"Tigers are my favorite!" Sean shouted as we saw the tigers. He also liked to look at the giraffes, ostriches, jaguars, and monkeys. Sean even saw a wolf eating his rat for lunch. He kept saying, "what is he eating?" We were beat when we left the zoo and Sean slept the entire way home and went upstairs for a couple hour nap.

Cutie Pie

Claire is still a bit wobbly when she is trying to sit up and needs to be propped because when you try to put her in the sitting position she immediately goes to a standing position and wants to stand there. So we have been letting her do what she wants with a quick hand and major supervision. She loves to watch Sean play with the train table and see the trains moving.
Now that the sun is out in full effect we have to go get Claire a ton of hats. At least she is not opposed to keeping them on right now. It is great for shading her face.
Claire loves to see what is going on around her so spending some time in the jump-a-roo has really helped her to get the scoop on what is going on. She does not like to be there for very long so then she is switched to another place.
If you see Claire on the floor she loves to get up on her side and then turn over onto her back. She rolls all over the floor this way and we have to be very careful now because she is finding her way over to the tile rather quickly. She is scooting her bottom and has been sticking her legs up in the air. She is getting ready for yoga with her "downward facing dog" position.