Grandpa's visit

My dad came to visit in May after his time in Torrance with the Fujinagas. We took full advantage and put him to work on a retaining wall as well as Claire care. We hate to pass up free babysitting! Claire hoarded the Wheat Thins but shared her bunny crackers.

Father's Day 2011

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco with nary a cloud, very little wind and summery temperatures. We took as much advantage as possible. After a detour to some neighborhood open houses (getting renovation ideas), we hit the neighborhood playground.

Mini Car Rally

The daycare fleet has expanded!

Officer Claire

Patrolling the backyard at day care in the new cop car. Taking the job very, very seriously.

Brewer's Helper

Matt needed to "rack" the latest batch of beer on Sunday which first called for cleaning the carboy. Claire thought this looked like fun and volunteered to scrub.

One year, Four Months

New words: shoes, cracker (sounds like "taco"), apple, buddy, dada (old word, new meaning: banana) gesundheit (might have been a fluke, but 3 of us heard her), all done
New teeth: lots of molars
New activities: giving hugs and more coordinated kisses, sitting on laps unsolicited

Snapshots of Day C(l)a(i)re

We receive some adorable, amusing and silly photos of Claire sent to us most days. These are some of the most memorable from the last couple months.

After a bath, before dressing.

Excited for meatballs!

And another bath. This time with shades.

Ring Around the Rosy

I arrived at day care one Friday afternoon to see the remaining 4 children lying quietly on the floor. I don't know about other day cares but this was quite unusual! Ellen was playing ring around the rosy with each kid in turn and, best of all, they waited patiently(ish) for their turn. Quite a trick! And a dizzying workout for Ellen.

Playing with the Hamper

Claire spent some time in the spare bedroom playing with her laundry hamper. She makes some sounds of frustration, but know that I did not torture her and she repeatedly pulled the hamper over her head even knowing that she may encounter challenges removing herself.