Claire's first day at "school"

One of my friends from our international adoption group told us about a nursery school in our neighbourhood where your child can go for two and 1/2 hours a day for two days a week. The toddler class is very small - just 9 kids - and the teacher and her assistant came highly recommended.

I knew immediately that I wanted to look into this for Claire. Although we do several classes and other activities together, she rarely is comfortable enough to really be herself in those settings for several possible reasons: too many kids, not a good fit in terms of the activity, or too large a physical environment. I've often thought that my presence may hinder as much as it helps in those settings: although I offer comfort, she would rather be in my arms than join in the play and be her usual fun self.

Claire and I observed at the nursery school last week and it was obvious Claire would love it there. The teacher and her assistant are incredibly warm and genuine people, the atmosphere is cozy and calm, and the kids all very gentle. I was thrilled to receive the good news that Claire could attend in the fall on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I was just as happy to learn that a spot was immediately available on Tuesday mornings.

This morning, Claire started "school". As per the teacher's instructions, I stayed until she was settled in and then I quickly sang our goodbye song, wished her a fun morning and left. She began howling as I left the room. Yow. The way she was soon sobbing left me to think she'd cry the entire time, which just tore at my heart. We have left her with family and a couple of close friends before but never with people she barely knows.

Thankfully, my friend Marianne knew how tough a morning it would be for me. We arranged in advance that we'd go for coffee and then shop, shop, shop. Of course I couldn't stop thinking about Claire but Marianne definitely helped to distract me. Perhaps more importantly, my morning plans ensured that I wouldn't go back to the nursery school and disrupt Claire's adjustment to her new surroundings.

When I returned to the nursery school, Claire was fine! The teachers were so happy to be able to give me the good news that she had done really well. She cried very hard for the first 45 minutes but from there they were able to calm her down. From that point until I arrived, she had jumped, danced, and laughed! Hooray! She had such a good time in fact that when it came time for Claire and I to leave together, she didn't want to go. Definitely a good sign!

Claire is very much looking forward to going back to school and keeps saying "tomorrow?" I found out that there is no class next week because of spring break unfortunately, but I'm sure she'll get back in the groove the following week.

Here's Claire outside her school doors on her very first day of nursery school. What a big girl!

Claire's dream coat

On Holy Thursday, an Easter package arrived for Claire from her Baba and Dido (Paul's parents). Inside was the most beautiful gift: a "Glad Dreams Coat" by Bunnies by the Bay, complete with a bunny hat and muff. The coat is advertised as a true "hareloom", and has the following inscribed inside: "Once within this dreamy coat, danced a dainty lass. Remembering all the glad dreams, to her daughter, the coat will pass."

Claire loved the Sesame Street gift wrap!

The coat and accessories came inside this beautiful storybook box.
Claire patiently modelled her glamorous outfit for the camera:And now all ready for church!
On behalf of Claire, a huge thank you to Baba and Dido for the prettiest coat in the world. We could tell Claire felt like a princess in it!

Easter visitors

Good Friday got off to a wonderful start with a visit from Rod and Marianne. It seems the Easter Bunny was a little overzealous and dropped off a basket for Claire at their house two days early! She received the greatest treats - chocolate, stickers, a book about Thumper, and a purse (!!). Shortly after lunch, we welcomed my brother Randy, his wife Cindy and their soon-to-be five-year old daughter Amelia (Mia). They drove up from Saskatoon to pick up a puppy nearby. Here are Mia and Claire enjoying some playtime before going to get their puppy.
Once they arrived back at our house with the puppy, Kitsya hid and Claire and Mia played mostly around the puppy's kennel for the most part. Take a look at Mia's puppy and guess her name ... yep, Lassie!Mia was not only a great "mama" to her new puppy, she was a great older cousin to Claire. Claire followed Mia's every move, and Mia was gentle and fun-loving with her little cuz.

Claire's egg-cellent adventures

On Thursday night in preparation for Easter, we dyed eggs. Claire loved telling us what colour to dip an egg into next. She seemed fascinated by the whole process. Here she is placing the finishing touches - stickers - on some eggs.Claire made her bunny hat at nursery school on Tuesday. (We went for observation last week and she officially begins this week for 2 1/2 hours a week.) She calls her bunnies "hoppies" so it follows that she calls her hat her "hoppy hat".
On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny hid eggs in our house for Claire to find. Paul and I were amused to see her open up each egg upon finding it and eating the treat right then and there before proceeding with her egg hunt. Kitsya followed her around the house the entire time. We're pretty sure Kitsya was after the foil - one of her favourite toys - on Claire's chocolate eggs.
Searching very thoroughly ...
Ah, enjoying some downtime after the hunt!

Hoppy Easter!

We had a nice combination of relaxation and visits with friends and family over Easter. We stayed in town here rather than travelling back to see family but we were lucky to have my brother and his family visit for a night.

I'll do a few posts to capture several themes of our weekend. The photos in this post capture Claire leaving snacks for the Easter Bunny at night and then seeing in the morning what the Easter Bunny left for her.

We arranged some snacks for the Easter Bunny after Claire had her nighttime milk and snack.
Although Claire had had her milk and snacks already, it became apparent she wanted more:
And more! She ended up polishing off all of the Easter Bunny's milk and had bites from all of his cookies.
Well, it turns out the Easter Bunny didn't mind sharing his milk and snacks because he still gave Claire her treats!

This is Claire's "Mmmm, Mmmm, good" face. Our girl definitely loves chocolate!

Claire meets another set of honourary grandparents

Good family friends Dennis and Elaine were in town this weekend for a trade show / conference, and we were thrilled to be able to finally introduce them to Claire. For those who may remember from one of my earliest posts, Elaine is the one who made the adorable care bears for Claire and me. They (E and D that is, not the bears) also happen to be the parents of Kelley, one of my best friends, so you can imagine how much I saw them growing up. It was nice to finally have them over for a meal after all the dinners I enjoyed at their home!

Claire was just recovering from being ill so she wasn't her usual self. However, she warmed up quickly after dinner when Elaine demonstrated her exceptional Play-doh skills.



Before long, they were sharing laughs and hugs like old friends.Claire even invited Dennis for tea, which he kindly obliged. Elaine and Dennis have several grandkids of their own and it shows!Thank you, Elaine and Dennis, for visiting with us! As always, we had a wonderful time with you! We'll do our best to get to Humboldt for a visit soon!

Splash!

Until yesterday when the weather turned chilly again, Claire and I were having great fun splashing around the neighbourhood. Claire loves her new rubber boots and doesn't seem to mind getting soaked by the water when she's out.

The puddles were at their best on Tuesday, and as Claire and I splashed that afternoon, I wished I had the camera there. After dinner, Claire was only too happy to splash again, this time for the camera.

The photos below demonstrate Claire's various splashing techniques.

#1. The assisted jump (She can jump on her own but she loves the height she gets with an assist.)

#2. The one-foot stomp.

#3. The fast walk n' splash.

#4. The kick and spray.

Claire's best friend turns two!

It's hard to believe that Claire's friends - and that Claire herself in a month - are turning two! Today, Ava turned two. Here she is at her home yesterday:

We were thrilled to also share a meal with Ava's family on her actual birthday, today.

James found a great hotpot place in Chinatown. Athough it doesn't offer individual hotpots like we had our first night as a group in China, it was definitely a great find! Claire and Ava sat opposite each other, and once the hotpots were in place (we had two), it didn't look like they could see each other. No matter - they partied after their meals! Here they are with Helena reacquainting themselves:


In no time, the girls were running through the restaurant, giggling, tickling, jumping and kissing. But I managed to capture a few of their more sedate moments.
As always, Helena was the big sister every girl would want. You can see how much she truly enjoys her little sis, and she extends that same enthusiasm to Claire each time she sees her.

Ava was a proud two-year old, confidently answering "two" with a shake of the head every time she was asked her age. She was also talking up a storm, which was really fun to hear.

It was an honour to be invited to Ava's birthday meal. In the short time we've known Ava, Beth, James and Helena, I somehow feel like we've become part of each other's extended families. Here's the gang (minus Helena) during our meal.
Thank you again, Beth and James, for including us in your daughter's special celebration. We had a wonderful time!

Potpourri

Claire is a major cookie monster these days. Her sweet tooth is enormous! She asks for cookies at all times of the day, and I've been known to give her a cookie for dessert at breakfast. She needs the calories, after all!

Thankfully, Claire's appetite in other respects is good at the moment too. Some favourites lately include soup, noodles, sweet potato fries, shrimp, cauliflower, broccoli, mixed veggies, corn, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes, oranges and pears and anything she can dip in ketchup.

Claire plays with her food a lot. Sometimes peas get stacked to become snowmen, other times pears get pushed around as squealy cars. On Monday, she tore up a piece of ham and said it was a puppy. With another tear, it became a fish. After another twist of the ham, I said, "What is it now?". She looked at my wrly and said, "ham". Like duh, mom.

In our downstairs playroom right now, we've set up one of Claire's fantastic Christmas gifts from her godparents: two playtents connected by a tunnel. Claire loves her tents but I think Kitsya likes them just as much! Claire can spend hours ripping up pieces of newspaper and rolling into kitty toys which she then throws into the tunnel for Kitsya's amusement.

One of Claire's exciting new developments is that she'll finish a line for me in her books. It occured to me the other day when I was reading to her that I should ask her to finish the line. After all, she hears the same stories over and over again that I was quite sure she knew the words. Wow, does she ever! In doing this, she is now saying words that she hasn't said before, which is always wonderful to hear. Although I ask her to repeat words after me frequently throughout the day, maybe she just needed new motivation to say more words.

For the last month or two, Claire has been big on identifying things in the house as "Mama's", "Dadda's" or "Baby's" (she insists on calling herself "baby" despite our protests that she is a big girl). I was surprised when she started using possessives. Other times, she identifies objects as being a Mama, Dadda or Baby. Or instead of identifying "who" something is, she'll simply state its colour as she goes about her merry way. She knows pink (it comes out as "pimp"), purple, orange, blue, yellow, green, brown and grey (I think). She doesn't seem to get the idea of red - she always identifies it as pink.

We're taking a break from Kindermusik and have been in gymnastics instead since mid January. I regret not keeping her in Kindermusik, though, because she loves it so much. Gymnastics not so much. She does a lot of the same activities at home with a huge smile but maybe the gym or all the kids overwhelm her. What is certain is that she loves seeing Ava at gymnastics. It's been really nice seeing Ava and Beth there each week, even if we don't get a lot of time to visit.

Claire is showing her independence more and more. You can tell she is really proud of herself when she puts on her own pants (even if the back isn't comletely pulled over her tiny bum), shirt, sweater and socks. Unfortunately, she loves undressing herself just as much. In the kitchen yesterday, she suddenly stripped down to her diaper and didn't want to rectify that situation for at least an hour. She also loves dressing up in all sorts of gear. I have lots of play clothes for her but I really need to clear out a trunk I have so that it can provide easy access to her play clothes. Here she is in one of her latest getups.

Claire is still wild about the Backyardigans. She has seen a couple episodes of Ni hao, Kai Lan - a new show about a Chinese girl of that name. She seems to enjoy it but I probably enjoy it more.

Outdoors, Claire prefers to walk on the snow or ice, even if there is a nice dry patch of sidewalk right beside her. Yesterday while out for a walk, she decided that the snowbank would make a nice bench.

With the warmer temperatures, ice and snow have melted to form puddles which Claire can't stay away from either. I just have to find some rubber boots small enough for her. I'm off to Walmart later this week to check out their selection, since I've checked out most of our other options already. If I do find a pair, I'll be sure to post "splashy" pictures in a month or two!

A big "hi" and hug to Paul who is out of town on business for a couple of days. I hope these posts - two days in a row! - have given you a bit of a Claire fix.

Easter baking

I have wonderful childhood memories of baking with my mom, and I hope to create the same sort of warm memories for Claire. To that end, she and I did some Easter baking this week. We made sugar cookies using my favourite recipe - my mom's of course!

Claire loves mixing things! This is her little nook in our kitchen.

Claire was pretty good at rolling the dough! (Okay, she didn't do all of that.)

Claire was really excited to cut the cookies using Easter shapes - especially the lamb which she referred to as ba ba dee (ba ba black sheep).

Claire had to try everything I did. She was probably about as good with this as I was!

Claire's favourite part of all was putting the sprinkles on the cookies ... and in her mouth. I love how her little hand looks digging into the sprinkles bowl.
Claire's little apron from our friend Marianne has bunnies on it so it was the perfect accessory for our Easter baking!