Eleven Months

Clarita continues to become more fun each day. This month she really developed an awareness of everything around her. She responds to commands in English and Spanish, and loves to point at things she wants or likes. We really started watching "Baby Signing Time" this month and Clara absolutely loves it! We were surprised at how quickly she picked up the signs. She will do them with prompts in English and Spanish (does that make her trilingual?) and often spontaneously signs more when she wants something (figuring out what she wants is the hard part!). Now that she can communicate she seems to get less frustrated. If she's hungry she signs "eat" or sometimes "more eat" and gets fed.  And she can eat a lot!

Yard work is fun!

Hurricane Clarita

Playing with Reese

If you haven't noticed Clara is obsessed with pacifiers. She has one in her mouth in most pictures and I realized that we better start limiting her pacifier time now or it will be a really difficult habit to break later. Turns out it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I started giving them to her only at nap and bedtime, and when in her stroller or car seat if needed. Aside from a few times where she became really upset and needed a pacifier for a few minutes, she didn't seem to mind. I also took away her soothie pacifiers and gave her the more age appropriate (and dentist recommended) pacifiers so maybe she just doesn't like them as much. I got animals to hook to them so she still has something to cuddle. Clarita has also discovered stuffed animals this month and loves to give them hugs and kisses. This may also have helped her to transition away from the pacifier because she has something else to snuggle. Hopefully this trend keeps! Clara also gave up bottles this month. It was really easy, she just stopped wanting them! She still has milk with her meals, and I nurse her in the morning and at night, but she doesn't miss her bottles.

What's better than a pacifier? TWO pacifiers!

The little Wiggle puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. This month she ate cat food and when I took it out of her mouth she cried then five minutes later went back for more. She also ate grass, dirt, and of course cat fur. She can spot cat fur from a mile away and crawls full speed ahead hoping to get there and put it in her mouth before someone notices and throws it away. Many a tantrum have ensued because we took the cat fur away from her before she could eat it. Clara also ate some poop this month. She was in the Bumbo in the shower playing with her duck while I washed my hair. Next thing I know Clarita is chewing on something. I knew that it could only be one thing and hoped I was wrong. Sure enough she had pooped and grabbed some when it came up the front of the Bumbo. It must have been good because as I held her under my arm trying to wash her off and the poop down the drain she kept trying to grab more. All I could do was laugh!

Eating a pear sin dientes

Aside from when I had to take steroid eye drops Clara has never had a diaper rash. This month she got two bad ones in a row. The night before she was perfectly fine and the next morning she woke up with a terrible blistery rash both times. We're not quite sure what caused it. Perhaps she is finally going to grow a tooth? Or perhaps it was eating her body weight in oranges? It doesn't seem to bother her, but I hate it.

Happy birthday Abuelita!

Hanging out with Cam and Bri

It's never too early to learn to vacuum

Clarita's Stats

Weight: 16.8 pounds 

Height:  28 inches 

Head Circumference:  17 inches

What Clara Wears

9 months clothes fit her pretty well. She has worn a couple of her 12 month outfits but they are huge and the arms and legs have to be rolled up.

Things Clara Loves

Mama and Dada, nursing, going for walks, naked baby time, her "soothie" pacifiers (especially her monito and Bevo), car rides, the Baby Bjorn, her pouch, reading books, being a baby airplane, people, taking showers in the Bumbo, playing with her toys, animals (especially her cats), eating, playing peek a boo, anything with a rough/bumpy texture, cardboard, paper, crawling full speed ahead, standing up, walking with her walker and around furniture, empty bottles, phones, remote controls, brushing her "teeth", running up and down the stairs with Mama, Baby Signing Time DVD, stuffed animals

Things Clara Does Not Love

She is such a happy baby that there aren't many things Clara dislikes. However, when she encounters one she lets it be known with screams and lots of tears. These include waiting, being told "no", having her face or nose wiped, having things taken away from her

How Clarita Sleeps

Clara takes an hour and a half nap around 10:00 and another around 3:00. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00. Clarita sleeps in her sleep sack in her crib with her pacifier. She generally falls right to sleep. I wake her up around 6:45 to get her ready when she goes to Kevin's parents' house, but on days she doesn't have to leave early she wakes up between 7:15 to 7:30.

Nicknames

Clarita, Snugglepuff, Snuggles, Wiggle, Baby/Bebe, Sapita, Munchkin, Birthday Twin, Monkey Butt

What Clara Eats

Clara still doesn't have teeth but apparently they are not necessary for eating. She picked out a pear and ate half of it one day! She also ate the peel on a banana. She will eat pretty much anything if she can feed herself or it is in chunks. Some new foods she tried this month are Joe's Os, strawberry, cantaloupe, kiwi, oranges, veggie burger, tofu, bell peppers, squash, mushrooms, mahi mahi, peas (one of her new favorite foods).

Sign Language

Clara can sign eat, more, please, thank you, hat, ball, sleep, and baby (her favorite). She will do her signs spontaneously or to prompts in Spanish or English. She will also wave hi and bye and shake her head yes and no.

Monthly Exciting Events

February 14, 2014: Clara starts taking steps without holding on to anything!

February 10, 2014: The pointing begins

January 20, 2014: Clara starts signing "more"

Monthly Pictures

Un Dia en la Vida de Clarita

7:05: I hear the baby monitor start beeping like the camera has been turned off. When I check it, it is off and I hear Clara squealing upstairs with Dada. Apparently he was watching the monitor and saw her standing up and decided to get her up. Dada changes her diaper and they play.
7:17: I go up and Clarita says adios to Dada and I nurse her.
7:25: We get ready for our run which involves dressing Clara in her super warm kitty suite.
7:45: Leave for our run. After about 3.5 miles she becomes silent and I think she’s asleep. Turns out she’s just silently watching everything.

8:45: We get home and Baza escapes. We chase him around for awhile (Clara loves this) and then lock him in the garden. I strap Clarita on and we hang her freshly washed diapers. She helps me to put the clothes in the dryer.

9:04: Time for a late breakfast of oatmeal with chia, cinnamon, and peaches. Clara is still hungry so she eats a baby banana too!

9:20: We brush our teeth (or gums in her case) and then it’s shower time. Clarita “reads” a book in her bumbo while I shower and then squeals with delight as I wash her.

She loves to brush her "teeth"

So many toys to choose from

10:00: Clara gets dressed for the day.

10:10: Clarita is really tired so we read a book before nap time.

Picking out a book

10:16: I put her in her crib and she plays with her animals for a couple of minutes and is asleep by 10:25.

11:45: Clara is wide awake playing in her crib. We do a diaper change and head to the kitchen where she plays with some lemons while I make lunch.

12:08: Clarita starts signing eat so I put her in her booster seat and we eat lunch. She loves her grilled cheese sandwich, kiwi, blueberries, and milk!

12:40: Clara watches her “Baby Signing Time” DVD. She actually lays in the bean bag the entire time amidst squeals, lots of pointing, and a few signs.

1:10: We got outside to do yard work. Clara isn't super excited about putting on her hat and tries to pull it off. She gets distracted by her toys and plays on her blanket. The little Wiggle waves to all the cars and people going by. Most of them stop to wave back! She also eats some cheerios (and grass) as a snack when she starts signing “more” while holding the container of cheerios.

"Why do I have to wear this?"

2:35: We head inside for a diaper change and get ready for her nap.

12:49: Clara starts signing “milk” so I nurse her and she falls asleep.
2:56: Nap time.
4:20: Tia Laurie and Abuelita stop by for a visit and our talking wakes the Wiggle up (I don’t think they were too sad about this). She wakes up super happy and plays with them for a little while. She is really excited about a package that came while she was asleep and keeps pointing at it and crawling over to stand and bang on it.

Tortuga hat!

"Don't leave Abuelita."

4:45: Tia Laurie and Abuelita leave and I give Clara horsey rides through the house. She loves this and uses her legs to push herself up and down while we bounce around.
5:00: Clara plays in the kitchen while I make dinner. It looks like hurricane Clarita came through as there is a path of destruction including lemons, cat dishes, syrup, and plastic containers in her wake. I feed her some Joe’s Os on the floor to tide her over until dinner (I just mopped I promise).

Cat doors are fun

Who doesn't feed their baby Joe's Os on the floor?

5:30: Dada gets home and they play and he changes her diaper.
5:58: We eat a dinner of salmon, peas, broccoli, focaccia bread, and oranges. Dada gives Clarita oranges before she is finished with the rest of her dinner not believing that she will refuse to eat anything except fruit after that. Turns out it’s true and she proceeds to eat her body weight in oranges. Luckily she had already eaten a bit of other food so it wasn't too big of a deal.

6:45: Clara is finally done eating oranges and we play in living room while Dada finishes cleaning up. She becomes very upset when I take the remote away from her and throws a fit.

"Wait, I made the TV turn on?"

"Give me back my remote!"

7:10: We walk to store where Clarita becomes obsessed with two mangoes and cries when we take them away from her to pay for them. She holds onto them the entire way home!

7:37: We get home and unload the groceries which Clara loves because she can stand in front of the open refrigerator and try to grab things from inside.
7:45: One last diaper change and Clarita gets ready for bed. This takes forever because she crawls away after each article of clothing comes off.

Baby prison (notice that she's eating her hippy teething necklace while trying to grab Spikey)

8:05: We each read her a story.

8:15: I nurse Clara and she falls asleep while nursing.
8:22: The little Wiggle is out for the night and doesn't wake up until 7:15 the next morning!