Cuteness squared

A recent visit from Sophie and her parents. The pics speak for themselves. These two just get cuter each day.





As Sophie's dad said, can't wait til they start having sleepovers. (I can)

4-word phrases and more

Never in my imagination of being a parent did I think I'd be measuring my child's growth by the word count of her sentences.

This past weekend, as I made breakfast, Claire dumped out all her barrets on the kitchen floor and said "Da. Play Claire." Which I translated to mean, "Dad, play with me."

It wasn't a request.

On Monday, at Dana's, Claire said, "Take the shoe off," her first known use of "the."

She's also taken to bossing Dana's dog around. "Mo! Outside!" she says as Mo naps. She claps her hands to get Mo to move, Dana reports.

We had a breakthrough last week with the potty too. She was walking around the back yard naked when I realized she was holding a bucket behind her butt and saying, "Pooh." I asked, "Do you want to sit on your potty?" She replied, "Uh-huh!" We ran inside, located the potty and brought it out to the back patio. She sat on her potty, clapped her hands, got up, stuffed it full of toilet paper...but never actually used it. Oh well! Baby steps, right?

Earlier this week, she wet the doormat on the back porch and immediately (and repeatedly) pointed out her accomplishment to us. "Wet! Wet!" she said. "Claire, wet, wet." We both nodded furiously.

Yesterday, Dana reported another four-word utterance from Claire as they walked around the neighborhood: "Loud! Build new house." Doesn't that just say everything about the state of the home construction market around here?

Bradley reunion III

Whodda thunk. When we gathered nearly a year ago for our first labor and delivery class that we'd still be getting our then-fetuses together when they were 18 months old to run around and chase bubbles and ignore their parents' chat about sleep deprivation and discipline tactics.

First, for comparison's sake, see Hardhats'posts on the first Bradley reunion.

Now, here's what those critters look like:

Liam




Alana





Jude





and the parents, who sat back, trying to look like pros.



Our lone absentee was Kosta and that's 'cause he now lives in the Mediterranean.



These kids are healthy. Kosta's mom had wagered via e-mail that someone would announce the expectation of their second. She lost. This crowd's not quite there. But bets are being taken for the next get together.

Fun on the Fourth

A sunny 4th of July in Oregon? Must be global warming.

No matter. This little girl donned her "lello lhat" and a shot's worth of sunscreen to take in our town's not-so-little kids' parade down main street. It featured a big fire truck, classic cars and two fighter jets cruising overhead. Otherwise, it was dominated by bikes and wagons decked in red white and blue. Claire caught a lollipop. Zia-Li, Hank and Lisa joined us. Soon, we abandoned our sidewalk perch and merged into the parade.







The parade dumped directly into a downtown BBQ where we scarfed burgers and sought refuge in the shade.



On the way home, Claire fell asleep atop my shoulders, her left cheek resting atop my head. After we all napped, Claire woke for a run in the Elmo sprinkler. Who needs firecrackers when there's "whahy" sprouting out of a plastic doll?



Dad had to end the evening with a school lesson in ABCs, which you can view for a short time here.

First haircut

It had to happen at some point, right? Saturday, Claire's head went under the scissors for the first time. She sat on her mom's lap in a barber's chair and overcame an initial flurry of tears to get her first haircut. It took less than 10 minutes. By the time it was done, she was saying "hi" to the stylist. The root-beer flavored lollipop helped.



Her mom is very proud of how her hair turned out, sans bangs. She took multiple photos while Claire gnawed on a lemon.



She's officially ready for summer.

Eat. Bay-bee

Play time.