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