Nothing exciting ever happens in January

Claire is obsessed with cats. Her favorite toy is a little white cat she got for her birthday that she calls Kitty Kitty. She sleeps with it, she rides in the van with it, she drags it around stores. It's pretty raggedy looking, even though it's a young cat of less than 3 months. She has a bigger cat that actually used to be mine as a child, a Pound Purry if you will, that she calls Kitty Cat. She only sleeps with Kitty Cat. Mimi and Pop Pop have a cat named Santa. Claire loves that cat to death. Luckily for Claire, Santa is deaf and can't hear her coming, so Claire gets in lots of cuddles.

She has also taken to pretending we are her kitties. She will pounce on top of us or squeeze us tight, all the while squealing "ohhhh, my sweet kitty kitty. Come here kitty kitty. Oh, kitty kitty. Eeeeeee". The girl is a nut! 

Even when she's not pretending we are her kitties, she sometimes gets a little wild with her lovin'. She's a very affectionate gal and she gives the best squeezes. 

With only one attempt, Claire became proficient at climbing out of her crib. After she did it the first time, she was so quick at it that as soon as we had closed her door after putting her to bed, she was opening it and walking out. So, there was no longer any point to keeping the crib rails up. I long for the days when she couldn't escape. Now it's impossible to keep her in her bed if she doesn't want to be there (and she seldom wants to be there). She shows up in our bed multiple times most nights. Sometimes I'm too tired to bother putting her back. 

Another thing she has become proficient at is disrobing. Clearly her clothes are too accessible because multiple times throughout the day I find random clothes strewn about her room, and sometimes she is wearing an outfit I didn't originally dress her in, though it may be backward or inside out. Lately I find that I have to put her back in her pajamas about 5 times before she finally goes to bed. When she does wear pajamas, her favorites, the ones she will pick every single time if she's given a choice, are her "tigers" which were originally purchased for baby Sam. 

Nathanael decided he was a Cardinals fan, at least for one night. I don't even know what game was being played, or really even which sport. Ok, ok, yeah, I know it was football (right?). But he came downstairs and requested help affixing his team's name on his forehead so that he could appropriately cheer them on. 

After playing over at Max's house, he discovered that Max had a pulley system on his playhouse. Nathanael came straight home and persuaded Dad that he definitely needed a pulley system on his playhouse. It was an easy sell. Of course, when he wants to be, Nathanael is an absolute charmer. I think I can predict his future career path. 

Sam was honored in his class for being among the handful of students who had passed all of their timed multiplication tests (through 12s) without any errors. He's known the multiplication facts for years, but the "no errors" element is tricky. He found the mock graduation ceremony to be embarrassing. 

Sam was also the first runner-up in his class spelling bee. He was runner-up to Chelsea, a cute Asian girl. The Asian girls in his class are among my favorites of his classmates. They are sweet, kind, and obviously good kids. And Sam likes them too. He and Chelsea got to participate in the school spelling bee. Sam was very confident and excited to participate. He was disappointed that he didn't go further. He was out on "tassel", spelling it instead "tassle". Chelsea was the next one to get out after Sam. 

For the boys, the highlight of the month was definitely the trip to Monster Jam! Sam had been before with long-lost buddy Henry, but Nathanael had been dying to go for a while. On the day of the show, he was so excited! He declared "we are going to have the time of our lives! I am, for sure, because it's my first time."

Claire is making real strides towards potty training. No, no she is not. Months ago she began striping herself of her diaper, whether completely dry, full of pee, or full of poo, without consideration of her surroundings. She did it outside, she did it in the hallway, she did it in the playroom, and in the kitchen. I gave the potty training thing a go for half of one Saturday. She was very resistant to using the toilet for anything other than sitting, smiling, and wiping her clean, dry bum. And let's face it, I don't have time nor the desire to relegate myself to sitting in the bathroom with her for however long it takes until she decides she's ready to wear panties. So, last week I bought two more giant boxes of diapers. She's making great strides at changing her own diaper. She has been practicing on all her dolls.