Wading Pools in January

It's official, our kid is definitely a Californian. Granted we had a wave of very nice weather, but getting in the wading pool filled with water from the hose on January 18 is still not right. She was enjoying running around the backyard without clothes so much, she pulled her pool over to the grass and waited for it to be filled! Fortunately, she didn't stay in too long.

My parents came out for a week and I'm really not sure who had more fun. Claire got to take lots of walks with Papa, and Gramma helped with Claire's potty training. They all went down to the playground, read plenty of books and tired each other out! Brandon surprised me and took all of us to Disneyland to celebrate my birthday. We had a great day. Claire wasn't too horribly impressed by the rides, but she was interested in Mickey and Minnie. We had lunch with GGP and Aunt Emily met up with us later in the day. It was a very special day and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

We also went to the zoo with my parents and got the royal treatment from our friend Jessi. She works in the Childrens' Zoo and brought us into an area to see some of the animals. She brought out a hedgehog, an ocelot, a fossa and a screech owl. Claire thought they were all really cool, but it would have been even better to play with all of them! She did get to pet the hedgehog, but the fossa or ocelot would have been much more exciting. We also got to see the baby gorilla- he even had diapers on! We all needed to take naps after such an exciting day!

Claire's other excitement is learning to use the potty. Brandon and I never thought we'd be dancing around and cheering for a child to use the potty, but we are definitely doing it! Claire

started taking quite an interest in her toileting a couple of weeks ago and hasn't wanted her diaper on, so we've jumped into the potty training. She's actually been doing quite a good job and is very proud of herself! We'll save the graphic pictures of her progress from all of you, but Uncle Shaun can tell you about them if anyone really wants to know!

Claire is definitely becoming a little girl. It's really crazy how fast she's gone from being this little baby to this independent (so she thinks) toddler. She continues to exhaust us and challenge us, but she can always make us laugh! We hope all of you enjoy the pictures and get a chuckle from them as well!