7 Months

Claire is now 7 months old. Over the last month, she grew her two bottom teeth. It took a little while; we could see them just below the gums for about a week, with the gums bubbling up a bit. Finally, just as she turned 7 months, they popped through, the first a day or two before the other. That week before they finally came through was pretty rough. She woke up during the night a lot more than usual, one night even waking every two hours. Since then, she's waking up twice every night and expects to have a bottle before going peacefully back to sleep. I have been very tired. Otherwise, she's a good little sleeper; she doesn't give us too much trouble going down. I put her in her crib, put her lovey on her head (which she promptly pulls off, but for some reason she cries less when I put it on her head), walk out and close the door, and she talks to herself for a little bit before going to sleep. When she wakes up, she will usually call out. She has started to pattern her call after her brothers' calls, or so it seems. When we are awakened in the night (or morning) by her call, it's hard to determine at first which child it was. Claire is our first child who will lay quietly in her crib for a bit upon waking. Sometimes, I go into her room and find her laying completely still, in sleeping position, but with her eyes open and her finger holding her paci in. Then, as soon as she sees me, she lifts up her head and gives me her sweet smile.

For the past several weeks, Claire has been babbling "dada dada", which of course Paul interprets as his parental name. Clearly, she's just making easy sounds, but we will let him believe as he wishes. She's also been saying "babababa" more recently.
Claire is not crawling yet, but she does get up on all fours. Anyway, she gets wherever she wants to go by scooting around. She still loves her brothers and they are still great at making her laugh. She particularly loves to pull their hair. Actually, she loves grabbing and pulling hair on anyone's head.

In May, she went for her first swim. She loves the pool! When we sit her on the edge of the pool, Claire literally throws herself into the water. It is the cutest thing ever. She loves to kick and splash in the water and has never seemed to mind the cool water or getting her face splashed.
Claire has the best personality of anyone in the family. I think we will keep her.