Happy Halloween!

Or, as Miss Elsa says... "Roar!"

Cutest lion on the block

Trick or treat!

Checking out her loot

Pumpkin Mania - part 2

Yesterday we finally got around to carving the pumpkin that we got two weeks ago. I figured that we really needed to get it done before Halloween!

We started the process while Elsa was napping but she woke up in time to see Daddy in the middle of the action. I think she was pretty impressed with Daddy's skillz!

Hard at work

Mmmmmm.... pumpkin!

I should have recorded a video... Carl was trying to scare her with the ghost.

Look what Daddy did!!

The end result... Ooooooooh!

Pumpkin Mania... and 21 months

This is a double post... showing off some fabulous October pictures and celebrating Elsa's 21 month mark.

As Elsa gets closer to her second birthday, I simply can't get over the fact that my Baby really is no longer a baby..... WAAAHHHH! (Yes, I'm reserving the right to be a big baby about this baby-no-more moment). I was super excited as her first birthday approached but I would be perfectly happy if this second one could be delayed a bit longer. That is really all that I want for Christmas!

Sadly, that just isn't going to happen. Each day, she's learning something new and showing us that she is growing up into a little lady. This past month, she learned at least 10 new words, which really blows my mind.

She's also proven that she has a bit of my clumsiness in her, which we unfortunately learned through her first (hopefully last??) bone fracture. Thankfully, it did not require a cast. And, just under two weeks later, she is back running around like the crazy toddler she is.

Of course, with all this growing up that she's been doing, she's also been getting cuter by the day!

Pumpkin patch! Elsa had a blast picking out a pumpkin and checking out the farm.

Posing pretty for her "official" 21 month picture.

Modeling the super cute Halloween outfit from Grandma Olga. New favorite picture!

As you can see, we also took a trip to the pumpkin farm this month. Elsa had a blast exploring the farm and picking out a pumpkin. Our pumpkin is sitting by our front door and Elsa has to proudly point it out each time we pass by. Perhaps she has a future in pumpkin farming?!

20 Months!

A little late posting this... again!

Several weeks ago, Miss Elsa hit the 20 month mark - just 4 months to go and she'll be 2 years old. I seriously cannot believe how fast time flies when you have a little toddler afoot.

This past month we've been doing some reading on toddler discipline. Miss Elsa is doing her job of testing boundaries and we want to make sure that we guide her correctly. I've found that LOTS of outdoor playtime and intentional one-on-one attention goes a long way in reducing naughty behavior. She is also grasping the concept of "counting to three", so we've been doing that as well. Of course, there have been plenty of time outs, and I'm not entirely convinced that she views those as punishment.

Despite her naughty moments, Elsa continues to be a pretty easy going kid. She's full of fun and giggles and moments that make Carl and I chuckle. Especially as she continues to get a firm grasp on her communication skills! She's been accruing some new words and phrases; the most recent ones being "all done", "Elmo" and "tooty". I'll let you guess what "tooty" means...let's just say that I pity the person who accidentally passes gas in public when Elsa is around - she is totally going to tattle on you and make sure everyone knows what you just did!

Here's the Little Miss on her 20 month birthday, smiling pretty for the camera and then hamming it up!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Miss Elsa to date!

She kept insisting on closing her eyes...

Elsa's favorite pose! She kept scrunching her eyes close and opening her mouth. After each picture was taken, she'd run over to look at it on the camera and was super pleased with the outcome, lol!

Cooling Off in Monterey

We've been having a bit of a late summer heat wave in Sacramento, so Carl, Elsa and I took a quick trip to the central coast this week. We had planned the trip over a month ago in conjunction with our wedding anniversary (6 years last Sunday!), so the timing of the heat wave was a nice coincidence.

Carl and I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We try visiting it at least once every couple of years and had been excited to share the experience with our Little Miss. She loves animals of all shapes and sizes, so I was fairly confident that it would become a favorite place for Miss Elsa as well.

I think it's safe to say that I was right.

The aquarium has several play areas for the little ones, providing the right mix of education and opportunity to blow off some steam. Elsa was in love with this seal tunnel!

Both of my children having fun with crayons.

Look! Fishies!!

 This was also Miss Elsa's first trip to the ocean. We made sure to set aside a bit of time to play in the water and sand. Next time, we'll try to devote a little more time by the shore, as she had a blast!

Hello from the beach!

But I wanted to SWIM in the ocean, Daddy!

Cool! Green and slimy!

Deeper - let's go deeper!!

Dinner Theater - Claussen Style

Elsa has adapted a weird new meal time routine - she requests demands show tunes from her Mama. Given my horrible singing voice, I'm a bit afraid that the Little Miss is tone deaf.

Our current set list includes Itsy Bitsy Spider, New McElsa (my own little spin on Old McDonald, often includes silly "farm animals" like Bear Bear and Daddy) and, her new favorite, The Wheels on the Bus.

Mama is getting tired of this new routine. And a bit scared that Elsa will throw a fit the next time we go out to eat and Mama nixes the whole Itsy Bitsy Spider in public thing. Hopefully she'll soon realize that Mama is not the best (or second or third or fourth best) singer in the world and stop requesting her own personal dinner theater!

We Have a Jumper!

Elsa hit the 19 month mark a couple of weeks back and she decided it was time to be a big girl. So, she hunkered down and went to town trying to master jumping.

To help coach her along, I developed the habit of saying "1 - 2 - 3, Jump!" and then she would bend her legs and try to jump.

Last week, she started getting her feet off the ground about half of the time and now she does it every time. It's cute to see how proud she is of this new skill. The only problem is that now she associates "1 - 2 - 3" with jumping. Totally backfired when I tried to discipline her the other day by counting to 3... oops!

Here she is right after accomplishing a jump for the first time; enjoy!

And because I didn't get a 19 month post written, here she is at 19 months:

Grown Up Playroom

Our family room has been making me depressed lately. The furniture was mismatched, old and tired. Elsa's toys had taken over the space. And there are never enough seats for our guests.

So, Carl and I sat down to figure out what we could do to give the space (and me) a bit of a pick-me-up. And I am soooo happy that we did!

I think after you take a look at the following pictures, you'll see why.

The ugly before (and yes, I purposely didn't pick up Elsa's mess before taking these pictures):

Toys, toys everywhere! And if you look closely, you'll see the sagging tv stand.

Pay close attention to the permanently squashed down cushions.

And here is the after:

What we love most about this couch is that it's modular - you can rearrange it however you want. So, when we have people over to watch a movie, we'll be able to rearrange it so it's a longer couch and use the middle piece as a separate chair.

Perhaps my favorite part of the room, was also the lease expensive. We purchased a table and chair set from Ikea and painted the top with chalkboard paint; now it's an awesome spot for Elsa to color (and also works great for snack time).

We love the new, sturdy tv stand and Carl was finally motivated to mount our TV!

As mentioned in the pictures, I absolutely love Elsa's new table and chair set!! Elsa does, too. In fact, she even volunteered to supervise the construction of the set.

Big Girl - already 1.5 years old!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I really suck at blogging!

This post will be a combination of Elsa's 17th and 18th months because I simply didn't get around to doing them individually. Sometimes it really is no work and all play at the Claussen house ;-)

Elsa Marie has been continuing to grow and develop.

• Motor skills: Over the past two months, her balance has greatly approved and she's now running around the house. She's also been trying to jump (super cute to watch!), walking up and down the stairs (while holding our fingers) and shaking her groove thing. And - the oddest skill to date - has learned how to walk with plastic Easter eggs on her fee (I have yet to determine how this skill will help her in the future...).

My little weirdo Easter egg walker

• Cognitive skills: Elsa's little brain is a sponge! We're constantly surprised by her ability to identify objects and connect concepts. The other day we were looking at a picture book with foods. When we got to the page with a hot dog, she started boogieing about because she connected the name of the food with the name of a song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - The Hot Dog Dance.  

• Communication: Elsa now says about 15 words/phrases. It's fun to see her work through a new word and hear it progress from baby talk to correct pronunciation. She also knows  five baby sign words/phrases. My favorite is "Thank You", which she signs and says at the same time. We have a feeling that we're on a brink of another language explosion, as she's been babbling away non-stop during the past couple of weeks. 

• Growth: We went to the pediatrician last week for Elsa's 18 month appointment and found that she's holding steady on the growth charts, still weighing in at 60th percentile for weight, 70th percentile for height and 90th percentile for head (she just can't escape the Claussen noggin). In terms of pounds and inches, that's 23.6 pounds and 32.5 inches. 

• Dental Update: Elsa has almost a full set of chompers! She has all eight of her front teeth, all four of her first set of molars and is working on her top two incisors.We keep thinking that she's going to get a break from teething and then all of the sound she's gnawing on her hands and drooling again. The brave girl is taking it all in stride and shows little sign of pain. With all of those teeth and a tiny chip from one of her many stumbles, we decided that it was time to take her to the dentist. So Grandma and I accompanied her last week. Elsa was very interested in seeing what the dental hygienist was doing while cleaning my teeth but wasn't took keen to let the dentist take a look. A compromise was reached and she eventually opened her mouth for the hygienist but a full exam and cleaning will have to wait until February. The good news is she loves brushing her teeth, so we're all confident that her teeth are healthy and happy.

Showing off her pearly whites

Go "AHHHHH"

Last, but certainly not least, here's some pictures of the Little Miss from June and July. I had a bit of an "oooops" moment when I discovered that I put her in the same outfit for her 17 and 18 month pictures.

Smiling pretty

Trying to recreate our favorite picture from way back when she was 5 months old.... but she wasn't having it.

Celebrating on the 4th!

Happy to be 1.5 years old

Sweet Sixteen

After being so sick a couple of weeks ago, Elsa has been a total sweet pea - even with two molars popping through her gums (and I can't imagine that feels that great); so I've decided to title this post "Sweet Sixteen" in honor of her 16 month birthday!

We don't go to the doctor again until 18 months, so I don't have any official measurements, but there has been some fun developmental progress to report:

• Walking: This past month, she has gained a HUGE amount of confidence and skills when it comes to her walking. She zooms around the house, especially at about 5:30 p.m. every evening because Dada is finally home to play. I fully expect her to be running by the end of this month. 

• Dancing: She's started dancing more to music, which is just about the cutest thing ever. When I turn on the car, she immediately starts bobbing her head to the beat of the song on the radio. And when we let her cruise around the second floor of our house, she makes a beeline to our clock radio to turn on the tuneskies. 

• Word/Sound Identification: This past month, we also started to work more on animal sounds and body parts. She is close to saying "Moo" for cow and "Baaa" for sheep. And she can expertly point to her hair, ear, tongue and belly (she already knew eye, nose, mouth and toes).  

•  Communication: Elsa has mastered the skill of negotiation. She's now tall enough to see what's on the kitchen counter, which has started to create some interesting situations. For example, early last week, she eyed a bag of Cheerios on the counter. She immediately started saying "yum yum", signing "more" and walking toward me. She then pointed at me and then at the Cheerios while giving me what I have dubbed the "death glare". I'm fairly certain that if I hadn't given her some Cheerios, she would have found some goons to break my legs! And if these tactics hadn't worked, she would have moved on to her other approaches - an innocent smile, batting her eyelashes or even offering her treasured Lovey as a barter for whatever treat she's after.

And, as I'm sure you have learned to expect, I have to share some pictures of the Little Miss from her Sweet 16:

Cheese!

Turning up the tunes

No time for hair brushing... I just want to play!

Easter and Granny!

Ok, my last couple of blog posts have been somewhat out of order, but please bear with me! I finally got all of my pictures from April downloaded from my camera to my computer and I want to share them with everyone :-)

We were blessed with a visit from Uncle Chris, Bedstefar and Granny just in time for Easter back in April. Uncle Chris and Bedstefar drove back home that Monday, while Granny stayed for an extra couple of days for some special girl time.

We somehow didn't get a family picture on Easter but did get some with the Little Miss and Granny and Fairy Tale Town. Here are the pictures of the cutie:

Elsa's Easter Egg - she lost interest in the Easter Egg Hunt after finding her first egg

Checking out the chicks at Fairy Tale Town

We love slides

There's no time for sitting!

Elsa's favorite part of the zoo (we rode the panda in honor of Uncle Chris!)

Monthly Update

I have gotten so far behind with the blog lately. Here is Elsa's 15 month update... 3 weeks late (oops!).

Elsa has been keeping us on our toes, so to speak, moving around the house and exploring everything that is in her path. We were a bit concerned because her walking was progressing slowly but our concerns were put to rest at her check-up with the Developmental Specialist. They said that she's doing great with her language and fine motor skills. Her gross motor skills (mainly walking) are a bit behind but they gave us some resistance training exercises to do with Elsa to help her get up to speed. We're seeing huge improvements already.

She also has been growing and gaining weight, but a slower pace than before. There's no concerns with this - once babies start walking, their weight gain tends to slow down. And her pediatrician said they have their growth spurts at different times, so they tend to go up and down on the percentile charts. Here's her stats from her 15 month appointment:

Head Circumference: 48 cm - 93%

Height: 31.25" - 69%

Weight: 22.2 lbs - 60%

And, here are some pictures of the cutie pie!

What's that?!

Bathing beauty

All done!

Resting with her good pal, Donald

Mother's Day, Claussen Style

Carl and I decided to celebrate Mother's Day a day early this year. As many of you are aware, the month started off a bit rough, with Elsa being sick. So, on Thursday afternoon, I decided I deserved to celebrate the holiday a day early... and since it was "my" day, I got what I wanted :-D

We kicked the day off by meeting my Mother-in-Law, Joan, at Old Navy. I recently got another free samples share for Old Navy through Crowdtap and I decided to share it with Joan. The sample share was for a free pair of shorts and we both agreed that we'll need plenty of those as we chase after the Little Miss this summer!

Choices, choices, choices

Found my pair!

Joan rocking her selection

Thank you, Old Navy and Crowdtap!!

After our mini shopping spree, it was off to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Elsa kept us all busy by throwing her grilled cheese, bananas and cup all over the place. Thankfully, she kept quiet and didn't hit any of the waiters!

Then, Joan whisked the Little Miss back to her house for some girl time while Carl and I went to the movies. I honestly can't remember the last time that I went to a movie in the movie theater. I have a feeling it must have been at some point last summer... but it may have been when I was pregnant, which was super uncomfortable and not fun!

After the movie (which was The Hunger Games, btw), we did some quick errands and picked Elsa up from Grandma's. We were all rested and happy. And then I got a big surprise - a box of flowers were waiting for me at home. Carl has never been a big flower guy, so I was completely caught off guard. His response? "You can thank the Marketing people at ProFlowers. They kept hounding me with emails!"

Spoken like a true guy.