Eight Months

This past month has been a big one for Clarita's development. She has learned to clap, wave, give high fives, crawl, and pull herself up to stand! It is so fun to watch her develop all of her new tricks, and she is so very proud of them!

Tongue twisting

Our lives have finally started winding down and we actually had our first free weekend in at least the last six months. It was nice to be able to get stuff done around the house and spend lots of time with Clara. I think she enjoyed it as well!

Find the babies...

Cousins squared!

Clara moved to her own room this month and it has been amazing. Apparently we should have done this at the six month mark like I had initially planned. That is when she started waking up at night and I am lazy and did not want to have to walk upstairs to console her. Turns out she doesn't need consoling, she actually needs to be left alone. Clarita still wakes up sometimes during the night, but is able to put herself back to sleep. Sometimes we'll hear her fuss on the baby monitor, sometimes she sits up and plays, but it is short lived and ends with her sucking her thumb or putting her pacifier in and falling asleep. On morning I found her sleeping folded in half like she had sat up and then fallen forward. She was sucking one thumb and grabbing the bars of her crib with the other hand! I really wanted to take a picture but didn't want to wake her up.

Reading before bed is fun!

This month it seems like we can actually see the wheels turning in Clara's head. She knows what to do with her toys (a favorite being to throw them) and has very strong opinions about what she likes and dislikes. Clarita is not quiet about these opinions and will scream bloody murder if you do something she does not like (take a toy aka necklace, phone, remote away from her or lay her down when she wants to sit up). When Clara is tired of a toy or you give her something she doesn't want, she chucks it aside or pushes it out of her way before moving on to the thing she wants.

Clara still loves people and loves talking. It sometimes sounds like she is singing! Clara also continues to love animals and thinks it is the best thing in the world when a dog (especially a little dog) licks her face or she is able to pet one of our cats. Baza actually lets Clarita pet him sometimes and even lets her lay on him. She thinks this is awesome.

Cuerpo de Paz!

Clara has developed favorites with her food and likes dairy products, especially goat cheese and plain Greek yogurt, more than anything else. She has started choosing what she wants to eat sometimes. She does this by refusing to open her mouth until she is given what she wants (usually a dairy product). She will allow her yogurt to be mixed with other foods so we do this when she is in a picky mood. Clarita continues to love all foods and has yet to dislike anything. We have started giving her more complex foods since she hasn't shown any allergies. She really liked quinoa pancakes and quiche. There are always refreshments after church and one day Clara wouldn't stop grabbing my food. I had recently given her eggs so I decided to let her try the spinach quiche to see if she would eat it. She loved it and ate an entire bite sized quiche (just the egg part)! She acted like she was still hungry and there were no more spinach quiche left so I gave her a bite of a ham quiche. She refused to eat it so I took that as a sign that she wants to be a pescatarian like her mama!

Meeting cousins Annalis and Paige and Auntie Monica

Clara loves Emily and Sophia

Clara started crawling this month. At first she only crawled if she really wanted something. Now she is everywhere and into everything. She also loves to stand and jump! She tries to pull herself up on everything including our legs. Clara tries to stand up in the middle of the room by pushing herself up but hasn't quite mastered that concept yet. I think that our lives are going to get a whole lot busier now that Clarita is mobile!

Clarita's Stats

Weight: 15.8 pounds  

Height:  26.5 inches (measured standing up by her growth chart)

Head Circumference: 43 centimeters

What Clara Wears

3-6 and 6 month outfits still fit her pretty well

Things Clara Loves

Mama and Dada, nursing and bottles, going for walks, naked baby time, her "soothie" pacifiers (especially her monito and Bevo), baby exercises, car rides, the Baby Bjorn, her pouch, reading books, being a baby airplane, drooling, the exersaucer, people, taking showers in the Bumbo, playing with her toys, her teethers, animals (especially her cats), eating solid food, playing peek a boo with Dada, anything with a rough/bumpy texture, cardboard, paper, the jumperoo, crawling, standing up

Things Clara Does Not Love

Waiting, going to sleep when she’s overly tired, diaper changes, being told "no", getting dressed, having her face or nose wiped

How Clarita Sleeps

Clara still sets her own schedule during the day. She usually takes at least one long nap (sometimes two) and a few cat naps. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 (the time change confused her). Clarita sleeps in her sleep sack in her crib. She usually falls right to sleep. Clara sometimes wakes up during the night, but is able to put herself back to sleep. She wakes up in the morning between 6:15 and 6:45.

Nicknames

Baby Butter, Clarita, Snugglepuff, Snuggles, Wiggles, Baby/Bebe, Bambina, Sapita, Munchkin, Drool Monster, Birthday Twin

Foods Clara Loves

Avocado, sweet potato, carrots, lentils, green beans, bananas, plain Greek yogurt, beets, applesauce, eggs, cheese (especially goat cheese), quinoa pancakes, butternut squash, roasted eggplant, plums with cinnamon and nutmeg 

Monthly Exciting Events

November 10, 2013: Clara starts crawling!

November 7, 2013: Clara's first haircut (thanks Bri)!

November 6, 2013: Starts clapping and pulling herself up to stand

November 4, 2013: The tongue twisting begins

November 1, 2013: Sleeps in her crib for the first time (and the good sleeper returns!)

October 31, 2013: First time trick or treating (she actually grabbed the candy)

October 30, 3013: Starts giving high fives on command

October 27, 2013: Starts eating in the booster seat

October 25, 2013: First time going to the zoo

October 20, 2013: First time attending a half ironman (go Dada go!)

Monthly Pictures

Off with the headband, attack the monkey!

Movember

Last year a bunch of our friends participated in "Movember". This entailed growing out their mustaches and raising money to support testicular cancer (getting rid of it, not encouraging it). Kevin's cousin Ashley's husband Yayo (wow that's a mouthful, we'll refer to him as Tio Yayo from now on) had testicular cancer and is now cancer free so they did this in his honor. Tio Chino was one of the participants and when he shaved his mustache he asked Tia Laurie to marry him so Movember is near and dear to our hearts. Russell bought Clarita a mustache pacifier right after she was born declaring that she could participate in Movember because she would raise more money than he ever could. I made her a Movember page at the beginning of November but then forgot all about it. So here's the link: mosista.co/claraparkinson. Check it out and watch her mustache grow (seriously it will)! Donate if you feel compelled to, it goes to a good cause. Clarita loves Tio Yayo (I mean he is one of the only people who can speak to her in her preferred language) and wants to celebrate his being cancer free and help other people achieve the same goal by promoting testicular cancer awareness and research (she's already a little philanthropist!)!

Mustache preview

Clara's First Haircut

If you've seen Clarita lately you know that she was rockin' a pretty impressive baby mullet! It was getting out of control and her bangs were in her eyes (and really just a point down her nose) so I decided it was time for a hair cut. Kevin was opposed to the idea because "she's a girl she needs to have long hair". I assured him that she would still have long hair, it would just be more even and cuter. I also told him that he would have to answer to Clara when she looked back at her baby pictures and asked, "Why did you let me have a mullet?!"

Before (look at that pointy bang)

This does not do her mullet justice

Party in the back!

I considered cutting Clara's hair myself and then quickly realized that would most likely turn into a disaster since I can't cut hair and she never stops moving. So yesterday we headed to the beauty salon. Our friend Bri was already chopping my hair so we brought Clara along for a cut. Bri did a great job of cutting Clarita's hair even as she wiggled around trying to see everything. Clarita even got to wear a big cape which at least kept her hands from grabbing everything. She kept moving but somehow Bri managed to cut her hair (and get it pretty even!).

Getting a haircut is so much fun!

Clarita now has some cute little bangs and no more baby mullet! I have a nice short hairstyle that will be super easy to take care of and more difficult for Clara to pull!

Bangs! Such a big girl!

Showing off her new clapping skill

The party's over...

Clara's First Halloween

We take Halloween seriously in the Parkinson household! Kevin and I love dressing up so Halloween is just an excuse to don a costume. This year Halloween was a week long celebration complete with numerous festivities!

We began last Friday with Zoo Boo which was Clara's first trip to the zoo. The local zoo in Fresno is pretty good and Kevin and I have had a membership for the past three years (we don't go that often but like to support the zoo). Each year they have a Halloween event but we had never attended. This year we headed out and met Tia Alyssa and Tio Rene and Tristan and Teagan. All the kids dressed up and had a great time. The zoo was decorated for Halloween and there were different businesses set up handing out candy. Tristan loved running around getting candy and Clara loved it too. She actually reached out and grabbed most candies and then proceeded to chew on the wrappers. Clarita loved all of the people and lights and smiled and squealed away. After the zoo we went to dinner and Clara and Teagan practiced grabbing each other and holding hands.

Kevin, Ovejita, and Smurf Tristan

Piglet!

Alyssa may have knocked Frankenstein over...

Saturday was our group of friends' annual Halloween party. There is a theme each year and this year was a "homeless Halloween". Kevin and I struggled with this theme as it felt like we were making fun of homeless people, but in the end decided to be good sports and dress up. I was a homeless hooker, Kevin was a homeless person, (aka he wore his work around the yard clothes) and Clarita was our pet monkey. We had a good time, Clara especially loved all of the people and lights. Since I wasn't too into the theme I didn't take a lot of pictures but I managed to get a few of Clarita la monita (and homeless pregnant Sarah and Reedcito!).

Will work for cookies!

What a nice family picture...

Saddest homeless people of the night

On Sunday we headed to Hillcrest Farms, a local pumpkin patch. They also have a steam train so we met up with los Ramirez and had a fun filled cousin afternoon. Clara loved the train, I think she really liked the wind in her face. She also loved the hay bales and pumpkins. She ate quite a few handfuls of hay while we were taking pictures of the kids and tried to crawl after the pumpkins. (And she actually ATE the hay because I found some in her poop the next day...it does not digest in case you were wondering!) She squealed with delight the entire time and even managed to scare a little girl by squealing right at her! We had a great time!

Los Ramirez on the train

She loved the wind on the train!

Cousins!

Trying to grab the smallest pumpkin

Ready to eat some straw

On Thursday, actual Halloween, Clarita was very busy. She began the festivities at Trunk or Treat with La Abuelita at church. People decorate the trunks of their cars and hand out candy, stickers, etc to the kids walking home from school. Since my mom is retired now she was excited that she would be able to participate in this event which takes place right after school gets out. Clarita wore her sheep costume (since my favorite church song as a little girl [and to this day] was "I Just Want to be a Sheep"), and my mom was a shepherd. My mom said that Clara had a lot of fun watching all of the kids and that she stayed awake and happy the entire time!

Ready for Halloween

Passing out candy

Trunk or Treat!

Kevin's cousin, Charlyse, had a Halloween party later in the evening. Kevin dressed up as a kangaroo and I was a monkey (both made by my sister). Tristan really wanted to see Clara's monkey costume so she was a monkaroo! I figured that is the end product when a kangaroo and a monkey have a baby! Clara wore her monkey costume and I made her a little pouch! She went trick or treating to a couple of houses and then hung out and watched Baby Eden and played with her glow stick. Clarita was really into the glow stick and screamed when I took it away from her. Before we left, Scott, Charlyse's husband, gave Clara a million glow sticks and she was the happiest baby around! On our way home, we stopped at Ashley and Yayo's house for one last trick or treat. Clara fell asleep on the less than five minute drive and slept the entire time we were there. I guess Halloween was just too much for her!

Smurfette and Monkaroo

What do you get when you cross a kangaroo and
a monkey? A monkaroo!

Trick or Treat! 

Baby Eden and Larry

Charlyse and Ryland the vampire

All decked out with glow sticks

In Dada's pouch