Daddy showing her all of the goodies she will someday get to have.
A bit confused as to why some stranger is rubbing her ears...
Both Daddy and Claire are saddened by the piercing gun.
Thank God I have only two ears!
Showing off those lobes...
Exhausted after that whole ordeal. I just want Mummy!
A trip to The Disney Store with Daddy makes everything all better.
Claire is constantly moving these days, so it's almost impossible to get a good picture of her. We do, however, have lots of videos. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out how to upload them myself. Hopefully Steve can help me get those loaded this week. In the meantime, you'll have to settle for these lovelies:
We keep the toys that Claire plays with most often in a basket in the living room. We pick them up every evening as part of her bedtime routine. And then every morning, she empties them all.
Talking to her toys... 
Claire has never liked pacifiers - until recently. It turns out that they make great teethers. She never holds them in her mouth or sucks on them. She just chews on them.
Claire spends a lot of time pulling up, standing and cruising around our furniture. Her favorite thing to pull up on and walk around is the ottoman.
The skinny on our girl:
Claire is 26 3/4" long (25th percentile). She weighs 16 lbs 2 3/4 oz. (10th percentile).
She went to the doctor today for her nine-month checkup. Everything about her is "perfect!" And I'm quoting her pediatrition. They did a blood test for iron levels, white blood cell count, etc. She is smack dab in the middle of the normal scale for everything. It just doesn't get any more perfect!
Claire's favorite game is "Where's Claire?" (our version of peek-a-boo). She will hold a blanket over her head or in front of her face while you ask, "Where's Claire?" After she's deemed that you've asked the question an appropriate number of times, she lowers the blanket and giggles. Then we play again.
Claire loves to dance. If she's sitting when she hears music, she bobs her head from side to side and sometimes waves her arms. If she's standing, then her dance is an all-out booty shaker. It's too cute!
Claire crawls anywhere and everywhere and climbs over anything in her way. She keeps me very busy. (Can you tell it's naptime right now?)
Her front two bottom teeth came in at the same time. She's drooling a lot these days, but I can't see or feel any teeth on top yet.
She says "DaDa" and "Mama" a lot, which, of course, we both love. She also waves and says "bye bye." She makes a lot of vowel and consonant combination sounds, but so far I haven't been able to distinguish any other words and certainly not any that have any meaning that I can tell. She has also started making a clicking noise with her tongue. We credit this little sound to Parker and Bryce (children of friends of ours) who have seemingly created their own language of clicks. Claire is ready to join the club, so look out, boys!
Claire tried some new foods this month: blueberries, blackberries, oatmeal, ham and pineapple, sweet corn casserole and harvest vegetables. She loved everything but the corn. We reintroduced beef, strawberries and green beans. She loved the beef and berries, but the beans made her gag. We've also been giving her squash again, but in small amounts and usually as a combo food. We will soon be starting a few table foods - overcooked veggies, mashed potatoes and overcooked pasta.
Claire is beautiful and happy and perfect! Happy 9th, Baby!
Claire also gave her first valentine - to her daddy. This is Claire's first attempt at coloring. It's more pounding of the crayons leaving dots behind and dragging them across the page leaving lines, but it's adorable in our book.
ice in the river
We love visiting St. Louis. They have so much to do. In fact, second only to Washington, D.C., they have the most free attractions of any U.S. city. We usually head straight for Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo, which is absolutely fabulous. But since it was so cold, we decided to try some free indoor attractions this time. First stop:
Yes, folks, we took our baby to a brewery. I wasn't really sure about this little visit, but Steve was excited. I went and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite fascinating. This brewery was used to make yeast and soda pop during prohibition days, and they proudly show that off as well as the beer. And, most importantly, Claire saw her first horse - a Budweiser Clydesdale.
The stable, complete with stained glass windows, is beautiful. (In fact, all of the architecture at the brewery is amazing. You can tell that at least at one point in its history, the owners had way too much money that they didn't know what to do with it. Every building is ornate inside and out, even the bottling plant.)
inside the stable next to a Clydesdale (note the stained glass windows for the horses to enjoy)
After the Brewery, we headed to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. It was amazing! I have never seen anything like it. It's decorated completely with mosaic tiles. Do click on the link and look at the pictures on the website. (You don't have to click on anything on the site. It automatically starts a slide show for you that is amazing.) I just wish that we had been able to take better pictures. I would definitely visit again. Just to put into perspective how long it took to complete this beautiful work of art, work was begun the year the Titanic sunk and was completed during the Reagan administration. Amazing!!!
Claire was doing a little exploring of her own. This cathedral has an eight-second echo. Claire loved that and tested it out repeatedly.
Here is the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott trial took place. Due to Steve's schedule, we were never there early enough to tour the building; but it's beautiful.
St. Louis is a beautiful and wonderful place to visit. We go at least once a year. I can't wait until we can go back and take Claire to the zoo.
