Clare's Love Affair

For better or for worse, Clare has discovered television. I am not anti-television by any means, but I am pretty firm that my 3-year old only watches 30-60 minutes a day. We don't get cable, so Jamie only watches videos, which is a great way to have control over what he watches (especially when he gets older). While I shower, Clare usually plays in her walker upstairs while Jamie watches his show. But now, Clare has her own shows, too. #1 on the list is Blue's Clues. (So much better than Barney!) Clare loves Blue's Clues. She chit chats to the TV and is quite enthralled with the show. Jamie is playing at a friend's house today so I can get some beach packing done. Clare is very mommy-clingy these days, but Blue is an acceptable substitute for 20 minutes of productivity.

I cannot believe it is September already. Where has the summer gone? The summer is not quite over for us yet. We leave on Sunday for the beach. I cannot wait. We have not had a family vacation since we went to the beach last September. And, although we had an awesome time at the beach last year, there was this cloud hanging over us that Clare's second cath was going to be a few days after we returned. Thankfully we had no clue how bad Clare's cath was going to be (that's when she had her pulmonary stents placed and we had our first experience with seeing our child in the ICU on a ventilator). Also, last year, Clare spent the majority of her sunbathing in a covered playpen (being only 5 months old). At night, she did ride in the Baby Bjorn when we took our evening walk on the beach, but the daytime was too hot and sunny for her. So I am looking forward to seeing how much Clare enjoys the beach this year. She loves playing in the sandbox at home, so I hope beach sand is just as fun! I'll have lots of photos to share when we get back.

I really should get off the computer and actually get something done before Clare realizes that Blue actually is not an acceptable substitute for dear mommy!

P.S. As I was downloading photos later today, I found this one - proof of Clare's other new love affair, this time with beef teriyaki. We had take-out Chinese the other night, and Clare was "eee eee"ing at Shawn to try his beef teriyaki. He let her have a taste and that was it - she wanted the whole stick to herself. She gnawed on that for the rest of dinner! When I pulled out the leftover beef teriyaki the next day for lunch, Clare remembered her new passion. "EEE EEE!" more insistently this time until I, too, relinquished my beef teriyaki.