I've been blessed with an awesome full-time job. Finally! I'm now an insurance producer for Allstate Insurance. (If you live in Michigan, and you want a quote, please let me know! I'd love to have your business!) The only downside is that the commute to my office is an hour long. This quickly turned my nine-hour work day into an eleven-hour work day.
I don't mind do much. I love my job. I find myself being excited to end the weekend and get back to work. I thought it would be several years before I actually found a job I enjoyed, but this job is wonderful. I love helping people, and feeling like I earned my paycheck, and this job gives me both. I get out exactly what I put in.
Now, onto the real purpose of this post, my sweet Clara Leanne. She's almost 18-months-old. She's in day care 11 hours a day, which leaves me maybe a few hours a day. It's a difficult adjustment for me after being home with her all summer, but Clara is thriving! She loves daycare, and I'm fortunate to have the best person for the job.
Clara finally started walking about six weeks ago, and ever since, she's been all go go go. She has expanded her vocabulary a bit. She often says, "dada, hi dada, bye bye baby, no-no (complete with finger wag, which I'm pretty sure she gets from me), night night, grandma, dog, cat, tree, out... etc.
She helps me with getting her dressed, and often walks around the house with an arm through a discarded pair of her own pants. She helps me clean up, and pick up her toys. She turns the light off in her room and turns on her night light all by herself when it's bedtime, and goes to bed readily. She USED THE POTTY for the first time, which we won't keep pursuing at this time. I'm stoked that she's interested, but still too young to understand the concept.
Clara has a deep love for books, which makes me excited for the future learning we have yet to do. She'll often pick a book out of her basket in the living room and crawl into my lap with it, waiting to be read to.
She loves animals. Any animal. Anywhere.
She gives kisses with her tongue out, and weirdly sticks her hand down the front of my shirt when I pick her up at the end of the day. Some kind of weird hello, I'm guessing. She gives the best cuddles/hugs and pats my back.
She's fantastic.
Anyways. Here's some photo updates. I'd love to hear your comments! Also, we wouldn't mind if you voted for us on TopBabyBlogs.com, to give us a boost now that we're back. We missed you! On to the summer photo dump!
