Making Clara giggle

Yesterday, Matt asked Clara for a kiss and then pretended to fake cry when she shoke her head no. Clara thought it was HYSTERICAL! She started to laugh every time he did it. Too funny.

Baby, Kitty, Duck

Lately, Clara has categories the whole world into three categories:

1) Baby (but she says Daddy because she has no B's)
2) Kitty (still Titty)
3) and DUCK

She started to do the bird symbol when she says it. Ducks include, but not limited to, eagles, frogs, any bird, and of course ducks. Most animals that have four legs and are furry are kitty's and basically everything else is a baby.

Clara also started to say Banana today. She says "NA NAAAAAAAAAAAAA". It is pretty cute. Amanda and Ryan got her a shopping cart and it has a play banana. She LOVES it.

She also started to make a dog noise. It is sort of like panting but it is more breathing in and out of a puckered lips.

She seems like she is communicating more and more everyday!

This weekend we went to hang out with Carrie, Eric, Patrick and Colin. She had a lot of fun with them. There was also another little girl there named Evelyn who sort of looks like our Evelyn. Everyone was older than Clara and she tried hard to keep up! Matt was playing a chase game with the kids and Clara was slowly following them screaming loudly and holding a hotwheel close to her body. It was so funny. They would all be ripping around the corner and a few minutes later, Clara would be toddling around the corner putting around with her cute little dress and tights on yelling in happiness. I wish I had taken a picture!

Spoon wielding, ear throbbing maniac

Clara used her spoon for almost all of her breakfast this morning. Pretty impressive. She was eating Cheerios and she ate them pretty much all with her spoon. Except for the pile of soggy Cheerios on her chest and in her lap.

On Friday, Clara got diagnosed with her first ear infection. I felt so bad. I took her in because her cough was getting a little worse. At first, the doctor listened to her lungs and said she was going to get better soon, but then he checked her ears. He said it was pretty bad. She is on 10 days if amoxicillan. SHe seemed to be having a hard time laying down when she was sleeping and has often been waking up crying really hard. My poor little girl.

Please

After reading an article in Newsweek last week that stated something along the lines of toddlers that know sign language are around 11 months ahead of their non-signing counterparts, Matt is totally into teaching Clara signing. He successfully taught her "Please" in a matter of two days and now she does it. It is SO hard to say no when she says "Please". Just now, she was trying to open a drawer that she is not supposed to get into nor can she get into herself. She first asked for help, and when I said no. She said please. And when I still said no, she threw herself on the ground!

Sick again

Clara has a cold again :(. She is a bit clingy and cranky over the whole thing. She woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night crying pretty hard. The other day, she was hugging me so tight and cuddling on my right shoulder that she was squeezing my neck. I was trying to transfer her to the other shoulder because I was on the phone and she was laying on my earphone microphone, but she wanted NONE of it and got pretty upset. Matt calls that the koala bear. She can hold on pretty tight.

She was pretty clingy all day today. And you make the wrong move and WATCH OUT! She was pretty testy today.

Clara's new favorite breakfast

Clara's new favorite breakfast is Cheerios with milk in a bowl and spoon. She gets SO excited when she gets it. She does the hum and the kick, the highest of compliments. Good thing I buy Cheerios in bulk from Costco. Between Matt and Clara, they are disappearing fast around here.

Clara is really walking around now. She does it for the most part of the day. Her only task is really to toddle around. She does have her spills here and there but she takes them in stride and keeps on a-walking.

Her latest thing is how to tackle the step between the kitchen and the family room. She always used to scoot over it on her butt but now she is trying to figure out a way to walk down it. So far no luck. Her legs are just too little for such a big step. Yesterday she tried to go head first for some reason and fell off. Did not cry though... that's my girl!

Kisses please

When I ask Clara for a kiss, sometimes she will shake her head no, and then I will gasp, and then she will laugh a little. She will then pick her head up, pucker her lips, and humms like she wants a kiss. It is so darn cute. She makes that same humming noise when she kisses something in a book, or in general whenever she wants a kiss. She asks for kisses a lot!

Cheese

At lunch today, Clara said "Cheese" for the first time. I was saying cheese over and over again and she finally said it! Her favorite food is now labeled.

Clara was a bit crazy today. All over the place and a lot of yelling. Her nap schedule is a bit messed up lately. They say when they start walking, which Clara does more and more every day, that their nap schedule gets a little crazy.

It is so funny seeing Clara walking. I was in the bathroom filling up her tub and around the corner she calm toddling away. It is sort of funny to watch Clara walk when she is tired because she gets really sloppy. Falling all over the place and not really paying attention to where she is going and what she is doing. When she is tired, she will just throw her body at her destination. If it is you, that's OK because you can catch her. But if it is a toy, not such a good turn out.

Following more one line commands

When I ask Clara for a kiss, she will either raise up her head for a kiss or slap you in the face! It is pretty funny though. It is so sweet when she does want that kiss. Clara will also retrieve things if you ask her to. I asked her the other day where her shoe was and she looked down at her foot (which was missing her shoe) and she looked around for her shoe.

Officially Walking

As of yesterday, I would say that Clara is officially walking. When her friends were over, she was toddling around more and pretty much kept it up all day. It also seems like she is doing less of the penguin walk and more of a real walk! Today at her gym class, it was the first time she was really walking around. She is so funny because she will start to walk but does not do the best job stopping. When it is Matt or I that she is walking to, she basically throws herself at us because she knows we will catch her! Matt was telling me that she did that to my grandmother and she basically let Clara fall face first into the ground. Nice.

Clara thinks walking is funny. Sometimes as she is walking with her hands up and out, she just starts to laugh as she walks. She usually also has a big smile on her face. I think she is having fun with it.

Happy New Year

Welcome 2006! We did not do to much for celebrating since we just stayed at home. We paused the movie at 11:00 to watch the ball drop in NYC. Clara started to cry in her room right when Dick Clark was counting down. At midnight, our neighbor was lighting some fireworks and we were worried that they would wake Clara up! Luckily, she stirred a few times but did not wake up.

Today, Clara had her playgroup friends over. She had a good time playing with her friends. It was the first time we had playgroup here. She really likes to watch the other kids play and sometimes has a hard time sharing her toys :). She seemed to practice walking a little bit more as she was watching the other kids walk.