Monkey Smile

Clara has this funny smile that we have dubbed the Monkey Smile. She smiles really big and squints her eyes and looks up. She does it so randomly and she just sort of started to do it when you say Monkey Smile. She does make it cheesier and bigger when you say Monkey Smile too. So cute.

It is a much more pleasant experience than the Monkey Family I had to endure in college...

Where's your nose Clara?

Clara touched her nose for the first time today when you ask here where her nose is! I have been asking her for about a week and she does touch her hair when you ask her where her hair is, but when I used to ask her where her nose is, she would touch her hair instead!

Nik was over and I was trying to show him that she touches her hair when you ask about her nose, but instead, she touched her nose!

Now when she touches her nose, she decides to stick her finger up her nose. Since it is already there, why not!?!?!?

All about the hugs

Clara LOVES to hug me. It is so sweet. She will come up and reach for the hug and puts her head on my right shoulder. Sometimes she pats my back.

Stinky daddy

Forgot to mention, the whole time I was gone, Matt did not shower once because he could not find the time. He was stinky!

Gone for a weekend

I left Clara with Matt so I could go to Mols wedding. She did well but I don't think she slept into the morning one night and was up with Matt at 4 AM. She also was a bit whiny, might be teething or missing mommy.

When they picked me up at the airport, I caught Matt outside of baggage claim and hopped into the backseat of the car. Bad move, Clara wanted me to hold her stat and of course I couldn't. We ended up stopping at McDonalds so we could get out and I could eat lunch. She was not too happy to get back in the car! Overall, I think she missed me because I was required to cuddle for most of the day yesterday with her. She is the sweetest.

Clara's fun new things are: slapping her skin, mostly her tummy and chest when she is naked. It is hilarious. She now also pats me on the back when I hold her with her head on my shoulder because I often do that to her. She asked for milk this morning when she woke up and drank a whole sippy cup worth. She loves her moo juice!

She is learning more every day. The day before I left, she started taking steps into the great wide open. She is becoming a big girl!

Walking like a crazy monkey

Clara is def getting more confident with walking. She has been taking more and more steps and it is so funny to watch because it is so exaggerated. Her arms flap out to the side sticking straight out and she sort of walks with her legs sticking out to the sides. It is pretty neat to watch. I am going to be gone for a couple of days starting tomorrow and I hope that I don't miss too much while I am gone! I will be sad to miss any of it.

Directions to Matt for Molly's Wedding - his first weekend alone with her - just him!

December 2005

How to take care of Clara Rose

Daddy’s first big weekend alone with his little girl!

In the morning

When Clara wakes up, don’t forget to give her water, change her diaper, turn of the heater and humidifier.

Breakfast

For breakfast, give Clara some milk, ½ banana, toast strips until she tells you she is all done.

After Breakfast

It is play time and time to change Clara’s clothes.

Naptime #1

When Clara is tired put her down with her lovey and kitty. If it is chilly in her room, turn on her heater. Clara likes to be read to before her nap.

Lunchtime

Clara eats around noon. If you are hungry she is too! Feed her grapes, cheese stick, ½ a turkey slice, and some starch like veggie puffs, cheerios, bread, etc. I give her the starch last. She drinks milk with lunch as well.

After Lunch

This is a good time to get whatever you need to get done outside of the house. Please make sure you bundle her up no matter what her complaints are. AND SHOES SHOES SHOES please.

Naptime #2

Whenever she is tired.

Play time again

Play until dinner. She is most cranky and clingy at this time so don’t expect to get ANYTHING done other than be her sounding board.

Dinner

Mac and cheese is always a popular move. Try and give her at least one fruit or veggie with this meal. There are canned peaches and canned veggies (which I have to go buy so if there aren’t any I forgot to buy them- overcook the ones in the freezer, follow directions). If you get take out, Clara likes pasta or pizza. Make sure she does not eat too much of that or you WILL see it again later.

Bedtime

You know how to do this well so have fun! Give the BBD lots of hugs and kisses from her mommy!

Don’t Forget

1) The baby doll must wear socks and preferably shoes at all times
2) Turn on her humidifier and heater at 77 degrees on oscillate at night

3) Try and keep her hair back so she is not a shaggy dog. A clip is fine, just don’t put her down with the clip to sleep.

NO MORE SUCKA SUCKA

Clara and I officially stopped nursing on Sunday (12/4/05). I was not planning on stopping it that soon but they day sort of got away with itself and it made itself into a good day to cut out the last feeding. I believe it was last Wednesday when I realized that I was going to have to take the pump with me if I did not have here weaned by tomorrow. So I slowly started, took one feeding out after a few days and then Sunday rolled around and I had one feeding left to go, and between staying at Ryan and Amanda's for Evelyn's party and the Switchfast Holiday Party, we did not have time to feed her.

I must admit that Clara really only seemed to mind once or twice when she was being put down for a nap or bed, but I had a hard time with the transition. I always appreciated that time with her as a nice quiet cuddly time where I could play with her hair or rub her cheek. I always found it worth while, that year of nursing when I started to feed her and she was content and rolled her eyes, or closed her eyes in happiness.

That I will surely miss.

Though I cannot believe that I did it for so long and now she is a toddler that is almost walking!

She is certainly getting close, taking a few tentative steps here and there. She has made more headway in talking which is pretty funny. She says dog, doll, duck, done, kitty, mama, and dada. She also repeats sounds too. Nothing like teaching your one year old to moo!

Whine much?

Clara is SO whiny right now. She got a cold when we were in Pittsford and she is particularly crabby about it right now.

Clara is getting better at taking a few steps, maybe a little bit more adventerous! She really thinks about if before she does it and it is pretty great when she does take those steps. Watch out!

She is also doing a bit more sign language. She is doing the scratching thing (which looks just like MILK so not sure what to do about that) for the kitties and does ALL DONE all the time. I think she started to do more when we were away but it looked like clapping so who knows! I am sure it is though because she certainly understands the concept. When you ask her for more and she sees the plate of toast strips, she will point at it or drop the toast in her hand in order to accept more.

Clara has been getting up earlier and earlier. It might have to do with being in a different time change while we traveled and the fact that someone was willing to get her at her first peep in the morning.

Clara's new favorite toy is Hokey Pokey Elmo. She likes to dance to him. Grandma even got her a Elmo Get Up and Go book and she dances to that too. Today is the day we go to the toy store for her Christmas gifts so I am excited about that! Thanks Grandmas for funding her toys!

BIG STEPS!

Clara has been taking a lot of big steps lately. Yesterday, she was even crouched and stood up and then walked away a few steps. She really will crawl for her new kitty.

Clara just was doing something funny. She was playing with Grandpa's pool triangle and was putting it around her waist. Though she got mad when she could not take it off!

First Steps!

Clara officially toke her first steps today. She was standing near the television and in order to get over to the fireplace, she took two steps to get over there. Later, she took a step or two towards me from the fireplace. She is also getting a lot braver when it comes to walking with me, she will do it with one hand! I am excited :) She did this one day short of her first birthday!

DONE DONE DONE

Clara's new thing is she says done over and over again. "Done, done, done, done". She just sort of says it whenever. It is so cute.

She does all done when she is eating pretty much all the time now. I love it, I really hope she picks up some more sign language.

Clara's first birthday party

Yesterday we had a little party for Clara's birthday. Ryan, Amanda, Evelyn and Kelly came over to celebrate! Clara had a great time and was SO crazy after the party. She got all of her presents from my mom, Cherie and us yesterday. I think the hit of the presents was the giant pegasus that we bought her and the Hokey Pokey Elmo that my parents got her. She also really loves the Wizard of Oz thing. She likes to put all the characters from one bucket to the other. I had never seen her play with one toy for so long.

She kept kissing and hugging the "StarButt" as I have named him and it made her laugh when Matt made it dance.

Clara and Evelyn had their first taste of chocolate cupcakes made by Bad Aunt Kelly. Evelyn LOVED it and Clara had more fun watching Evelyn make a chocolate mess of herself than actually eating the cupcake. It was pretty funny.

Evelyn is completely walking now. It is so funny to watch her do it, it looks so darn uncomfortable to watch a baby learn how to walk. She seems to prefer scooting and crawling though when she wants to get somewhere fast. Evelyn is SO SO much bigger than Clara. Clara looks darn small next to her.

The funniest part of the day was when I gave Evelyn the same present that Amanda gave Clara. Too funny, the cute little backpack from a little bit of this. Very sweet!

After the party, Clara was completely crazy after her nap. She played and played and laughed and laughed. I think she liked her new toys!

Almost one

I cannot believe that Clara is almost going to be one. That just boggles my mind. I was looking at pictures of Clara's older pictures from when she was a few weeks old and she has grown so much since then.

She is learning so much now and is so interactive. We have been trying to teach her more sign language. She is having a very hard time learning "More" since it usually involves food and she gets so desperate about food. She will do it if we show her, then show her how to move her hands. But then she defaults to pointing and screaming. She is a stubborn one. She did do all done on her own will, she does that one sporadically.

My sweetheart

Clara is so sweet. She kissed a kitty in her book today. She and Smithers are really getting along well these days. Smithers lets her "pet" him but sometimes she gets really excited and starts to pound on him. I have taught her "gentle" and she does it sometimes! It is pretty funny because she starts to pet instead of pound at makes this "ss sss ss" sound which is similar to kitty. Matt and Clara spent the weekend at the Morans while I went to ND to see the Tennessee game and she was pounding on Colin and Carrie told him to be gentle so she did the same thing. Started to pet him like a kitty!

YELLING!

Sometimes I feel like Clara yells all day long! AHHHH!

I think she is having a hard time with the fact that I am working sometimes when we are home together since we no longer have a nanny. She is ALL over me while I am at my computer and when I pick her up, she cannot decide if she wants to be up or down. She is a little nuts that baby!

Well, it's official

Clara ate cat food

Standing!

Clara has been standing mroe and more lately. It is so funny because she is standing but does not really seem to be acknowledging the fact that she is doing so. For the longest time, she would not walk with me like most babies do. She would walk with her walker (LOOK OUT!) but for the most part if you had her two hands her legs would buckle underneath her.

Anyway, so I just pulled Clara away from playing with the cord to the iPod speakers and put her down in front of the toy box and she stood! For a few seconds too. The longest I have seen her do it.

Carrie

So we let Carrie go. I feel really bad about it because I am all about guilt, though I know I should not feel that way. We really gave her many chances and sometimes I feel taken advantage of. But I do feel bad that Clara and her have created a relationship and now that is over because Carrie made some poor choices. But there is not much I can do about that. It got to the point where I felt I could no longer trust Clara with her and that is certainly something I had to end.

Duck Du Du Du

Clara said duck through out her whole bath today. Duck du dudududududu. She is so funny. She seems to be saying Kitty more and more. We were in her room and she said Kitty when she saw one of them in the hallway before I even saw him, so she told me a cat was there!

For some reason, she had a cry fest this afternoon. I think it was because I was telling her no to touching my laptop and she might have been hungry. She seemed much better after dinner. She had some leftover pizza and I made her some pasta with peas and threw some tomato sauce on there.