clara | 11 months

The past 11 months have flown. I cannot believe Clara is nearly one year old. She has changed so dramatically, especially in the past month. The last 5 months Clara has been the happiest, most joyful child. She giggles like crazy and is constantly talking, playing, climbing or on the move. She is into EVERYTHING, much to her sister's dismay. She loves to cuddle and will always stop playing for a quick love. She occasionally gives kisses but always will lay her head down on your chest or lap. The feeling is mutual. We are SO. IN. LOVE. with our petite little Clara Eloise.

D E V E L O P M E N T 

Clara is a girl on the M O V E. Until a few days ago she has been racing around the house on all fours. She crawls soooo quickly. She has also been practically running around the house using her walker toys (and everything else). She has rearranged the house using chairs, laundry baskets. etc as walking apparatus. She has been cruising for the past few months and over the past month had started to bravely take a step or two unassisted from one piece of furniture to the next. Now (into the 11th month) she has started WALKING. She took a few steps at a time if someone was close enough to grab if needed and yesterday she walked all the way across our living room. Nora has even been yelling that Clara is walking when we aren't even in the same room with her. 

Clara is also a C L I M B E R. Muchhhh more so than her sister was. She tries to climb everything. We laugh because she constantly has a leg up trying to climb, even though she isn't remotely close to getting those adorably chubby legs up on her goal. Because she is a climber, she takes regular falls. We have childproofed everything.

Clara is also a T A L K E R. She is constantly babbling and making noises. She has several words:

• "Na-na" : Nora
• "Da-da": Daddy
• "Ma-ma": Mommy
• "Nigh-nigh": Night night
• "Do": Dog
• She signs, "milk," "more," and "all-done"

Her comprehension is really coming along. It is so fun to talk to her now. You can tell by her expressions and reactions that she understands a lot of what is being said to her. She can follow simple commands like "splash" and "wave."

 Until about two weeks ago, Clara just had the bottom middle teeth. Then, the right tooth next to the middle came in. Then... we had a big boom, some blood and "ta-da" the middle, upper teeth. We can tell the left, upper (next to the middle) is RIGHT there.

Clara has finally graduated to 6-12m clothes and will be moving to size 3 diapers at our next shipment!

S L E E P

We are still doing amazing in this department. Clara goes down easily at 7 pm after a typical nighttime routine of bath, lotion, pjs, vitamins, brush teeth, milk (I know this doesn't make sense after brushing teeth), rocking for a few minutes and bed (with owl lovie and pacifiers). Ok...like a million pacifiers. 

Clara naps twice a day. She usually starts laying down all over the house saying "nigh, nigh." Shes finally gotten extremely easy to read. 

T H E  S C H E D U L E

5-5:45 am: BF

6:30-7 am:Wake-up

7:30 am: Breakfast 

 9 am: BF + nap (used to be a solid two hours, but she has all of a sudden reduced to 45 min-1hour)

11:30 am lunch

1:30-2 pm BF + nap (also usually 1 hour recently) 

4:30 pm: BF or snack

5:30 pm: Dinner

6:15 pm: Bath

7 pm: BF + Bed

E A T S 

Clara is a great eater...when she wants to be. She used to heartily finish purees (from spoon or on her own via pouch).  Now, purees are hit or miss and she pretty much refuses veggies in a pureed form. I don't totally blame her. She had two favorite pouches, the Plum Belly Blend and their blueberry, banana, oat, sunbutter, chia seed blend. We brought tons of these to Chicago (for Neal's ultrasound conference) and apparently overdid it. She is less than interested in these now.

Breakfast favorites include whole milk plain greek yogurt with almond butter and occasionally with strawberry jelly, any kind of fruit and toast. Toast is this girls jam. She will eat it plain, with butter, with almond butter, with jelly, with cream cheese...etc. She LOVES it. I try to make her eggs regularly, but she usually takes a few bites and leaves the rest behind. 

Lunch is often wheat crackers + cheese + fruit (blueberries and strawberries are her favorite) or quesadillas + fruit or grilled cheese + fruit (ALL on whole grain breads or tortillas). Clara is OBSESSED with smoothies.

Dinner can get interesting. This is the area we try to  adventure from kid staples, but maintain as much ease and healthfulness as possible. A HUGE challenge. The girls often refuse to eat much, but sometimes suprisingly eat a TON. Our consistent dinner successes (less adventurous) include homemade Chipotle bowls, quesadillas or burritos, pasta + veggies, veggie burgers + baked beans + fruit.

We rarely eat out, but both girls LOVE Panera, Jimmy Johns and pizza. 

She is amazing with cups. She can easily drink from any sippy or straw cup shes given without coughing or choking.

 "All done"

F A V O R I T E S

• Loves to dance . She dances every time she hears music or on command to "rocka-rocka" or "dance-a, dance-a."
• Loves to brush her hair. She proudly puts the brush or comb on her head. Still HATES headbands.
• Still LOVES the bathtub. She splashes like crazy and tries to climb in the tub if you are not fast enough getting her in.
• LOVES the pool. We recently took her to our rec center pool for the first time. She and Nora had an absolute blast walking, crawling and playing in the water.
• Still LOVES to play "peek-a-boo."
• Still is obsessed with Nora's teepee (shes getting one for her birthday). 
• Newly obessed with the play kitchen (her little one or Nora's bigger one). I recently moved it upstairs so the girls could more easily play with it. 
• She also loves Noras baby dolls and loves rocking them in the cradle. 
• Loves jumping in her crib with Nora. She is in L O V E with her big sister.
• Loves being outside but she is neutral about riding in the stroller. She'd much rather be on the move herself.
• She hates diaper changes, bibs, and car rides (still).
• Absolute favorite foods are blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, smoothies (she can drink us under the table) and toast.

T H E  S T A T S

Weight (home scale): 16.4-16.8 lbs ? (10-12%ile).

P H O T O S

XO!

Caity