Claire and "Coco"

As most families do, our family uses nicknames on occasion. Over the past 19 months we have found ourselves calling Claire, "Claire-Bear", and Chloe has been "Clo-Clo" or "Coco." A few weeks ago we discovered that Claire calls Chloe "Coco" on a regular basis. Also, when Chloe sees a picture of herself she identifies it as Coco. I am now wondering if this will stick and our precious little Chloe will become a Coco. This morning, Daddy (Mike), jokingly said to Chloe, "Oh, hi Cuckoo-Cuckoo" and Chloe responded immediately...."No! Coco!" We sure laughed at that. Chloe calls Claire "Sissy" much of the time.

It was a fun week, as usual. Below are the girls playing "Ring-Around-the Rosy", their own special version. They are, as everyone says, little sponges at this time of life. I noticed today as I read nursery rhymes mostly to Chloe, as Claire played near by, that each time I paused at the end of a phrase Claire would throw in the final word to the phrase. Not only was she multi-tasking already, :):) it was amazing to me all that they have absorbed that we haven't even realized.

In the pictures below the girls interact with Papa in a couple of different ways. Here they are both holding on to a pen and "writing" with Papa's help.

And....they love to unfasten and fasten Papa's shoes and take them off, and are very fascinated by his orthotic that he wears on his leg as well. On this day they got his orthotic off too. As you have probably guessed, Papa is pretty much game for anything when it comes to Claire and Coco.

Some sisterly smooching. I love it when they hug and kiss each other. There is nothing more precious. Usually with lots of giggles.

Mommy and Daddy got a delivery this week. Never mind what was in the box...the box provided hours of fun. They colored on the outside and enjoyed lots of time inside the box.

Sisters holding hands in the stroller on our walk....

This last little clip is a game of bumper cars in the kitchen. Lots of fun!!

Becoming Big Girls!

Below Chloe shows us one of her favorite hats. I hadn't seen this for some time but week before last she had it out again....she loves it. Here is more video of both girls doing their somersaults. Last post I only had Claire performing, this week both girls are taking part.

Claire and Chloe continue to increase their utensil skills. Below you can see them enjoying spaghetti-o's which was one of their Daddy's favorite toddler foods, and then enjoying one of their very favorite meals, rice and beans. The video includes some interaction between the girls at lunch time.

Rice and beans....yum!

Chloe, in particular, has begun to attempt to dress herself. Here she demonstrates putting on a pair of shorts. She got both legs in one side but it was an excellent try. She also is quite good at taking off her clothes...

When the girls first could walk, many months ago now, I would march around the house with them saying, "march, march, march". Now Claire has taken over the leader's job and she is leading the march.



Each week brings a new level of independence and growth. This past week they had their 18 month check-up. Mommy and Daddy report that they did very well and had minor reactions to their shots and blood tests.

Playtime!

Since Claire and Chloe's playtime is their "work", I would say they worked hard this past week.
We had another visit to the park, always lots of fun. Below Claire is doing what she really loves, swinging!
Since we had to wait for one of the infant swings, Chloe and Grandma shared this swing.

"Look Mommy and Grandma, I can swing no hands!"

Sisters swinging together.

Uncle Jon pays a visit and takes time to explain something very technical to Chloe. She is definitely our gadget girl. She loves phones and cameras and is able to press buttons and and change pictures and settings readily.

What is Uncle Jon reading?

Claire's first ponytail....more like a single pig-tail.

One of the activities of the week was perfecting their somersaults. Below is Claire, and somehow I must have missed Chloe's. I love how they somersault and then clap for themselves, especially Chloe. I'll have to get that on record next week. :):)



Papa and Chloe play with a ball while Claire naps. As I am filming, Chloe decides she wants to see Papa's picture on the camera from earlier that day.

Weekend in Oregon!

These are the sweet little faces that we said "good-bye" to this past Thursday before taking off on a weekend away. Here Chloe smiles big for the camera.


Claire shows how she loves to eat lizards. :):)

Papa just might be explaining to them that we will be gone for a few days. But then again, he might just be entertaining them.

Two little faces. Behind them you can see some roses that were part of an anniversary celebration that Mike and Paula had this past week. Claire stood looking at the roses and babbled some big long sentence which included, very clearly, "Mommy, Daddy, flow-flow", "Mommy, Daddy, flow-flow", (flow-flow is her version of flower). Obviously she got the concept that those flowers had something to do with Mommy and Daddy. I thought it was amazing.

Sisters hugging.

On our way to Oregon, we stopped in Eureka for the night and had breakfast on Friday morning with our dear friend Susan. She took us to a charming little place called Gill's By the Bay. Below are some shots of flowers and the setting. We ate outside on a beautiful sunny morning. The flowers were new to Norm and I and are called Godetia and are apparently grown primarily in coastal areas. They were stunning.

Next stop was Fern Canyon a long-time favorite place for our family. We were first introduced to the location by our friends Susan and Billy many years ago. We hiked into the canyon and enjoyed again the beautiful ferns and water and serenity.

We stayed in Gold Beach at Ireland's Rustic Lodge. We had never stayed there before and it was an interesting experience. The cabins are very old, and quaint, but clean. Below is the fireplace in our cabin and the following picture is the view from our window towards the ocean.

The highlight of our trip was a jet boat excursion up the Rogue River with Jerry's Rogue Jets. It is a repeat activity for us, we have done it several times previously, and always loved every minute. Below our boat is engaging in a water fight with some rafters going the opposite direction. Our captain was full of energy and antics and we laughed the whole day. We got wetter than we ever have before, but that just made it more fun. The rafters, as well as our boat, were equipped with a few water guns...long tubes that suck up water and then squirt quite a distance.

We had dinner up river at the Singing Springs Lodge. Below are our friends that enjoyed the weekend with us. Standing are Connie and Wayne and seated Chris and Earnie. Along the trip we saw deer, osprey, bald eagles, a bear, and many other ducks and birds. It was a very refreshing weekend. It is good to be home however, and tomorrow I see the girls again. Can't wait!

18 Months Old!

This week included a fun visit to the park. Below you see Chloe enjoying the swing. It was a busy place and they had to wait for a turn. Both girls were quite patient.



Claire and Chloe in the "boat"....Claire wears her hat proudly, Chloe likes to remove hers at every opportunity. Here they were in the shade so it really was no problem.

Claire with her frond from a plant.

Chloe crawling through the serpent.

Papa joined us after a while, shown here with Paula and Chloe. He sure didn't want to miss out on this great day.

Claire rides the sea horse.

Chloe drops for a snack break. I think she was eating a fortune cookie.

Chloe climbing into the drawer. Grandma was able to get this picture before Daddy made her exit the drawer.

Another "America's Got Talent" video of Claire. We are getting closer to getting a complete song. This morning the girls rode to church with us and Claire sang the entire way. She carries a tune remarkably well. We are working on "Jesus Loves Me" and she knows quite a bit of that song too. Chloe just smiles at her when she is singing. Chloe does some songs also, but not for the camera. :):)