Birthday, cont.

In the evening, Xia-Li stopped by to help celebrate.




She instructed Claire on the art of opening packages.





She guided her across the floor to her balloon.



She and Claire finished off the night with some french vanilla ice cream.



Claire loves ice cream, as I presume most babies do. She learned the sign for it within minutes of her first taste.



She also liked her candle and came precariously close to melding her finger to its flame.



Xia-Li taught her how to blow it out.


She made it through the evening with no signs of an ice-cream headache.
Not a bad first birthday.

Birthday girl

How old are you Claire?



That's right!

Claire woke up on her birthday knowing her age. And within minutes she caught sight of her presents. They stopped her in her tracks while she took in their pretty wrapping paper and ribbons. Then she went to work.



Among her first presents opened was the magnadoodle from her dad.



She drew on it for a while in her peck-peck-peck sketching fashion.



Then she converted it into a phone.



But it wasn't long before Claire abandoned her new gifts for a good-old fashioned toy for the ages:

An empty milk carton.



Not for long!!!!



The bright red wagon took some getting used to.



More to come....

Another winning costume

No, she's not celebrating any Election Day victories. These shots were taken days earlier. But it's a good thing they are a bit out of focus.



This is a girl who likes to strut in the near buff. Think: "Pat your tummy and say, 'Bleayh!'"

A winning costume

Forget that itchy Gator suit, those annoying Buckeyes, the fluttering Ducks.








Claire knows a real rising star when she sees one.


When I got home last night, I was greeted by a girl in the best suit I've seen since David Byrne Stopped Making Sense.




I always knew, from the way she kicked in the womb a year ago, that we had a little linebacker.