Sunday, September 28, 2014

First Year Fiestas!

Last weekend was another busy weekend. We had two first year fiestas to attend. Carver turned one on September 17 and his party was Saturday, and Eden turned one on September 21 and her party was on Sunday. Clara had a blast at both of them (we did too). It was fun seeing so many little ones at the parties. Two years ago there was just Reedcito and now there are a ton of little guys ranging from three (Reedcito) to newborn!

Carver's party was an ice cream party complete with a ton of ice cream made by a friend of his mom's. It was super delicious in exotic flavors like tea honeycomb and sea salt caramel toffee. Luckily Clarita just happened to have an ice cream dress to wear! She was too distracted by all of the kids to care much about the ice cream and was content to have a few bites. She spent most of the time playing with five-year-old Daylynn. They were so cute together! Daylynn led Clara around by the hand, gave her a party hat to wear, and rocked her in a chair! It was a fun party and Carver was cute as can be!

Blanket full of babies

The glasses were a hit!

Ice cream parties are messy

Clara and Daylynn

Talking to the birthday boy





Eden's party was heaven for Clarita. There was a bubble machine which meant a constant stream of bubbles! She was mesmerized at first and then ran around chasing them all! There was also a little ball pit which the kiddos had a ton of fun playing in! Connor taught Clara how to throw the balls out the top, but she just doesn't have the arm that he has... She also loved jumping in Eden's Jumperoo (apparently you're never too old for that) and playing with all of her toys. And of course eating cupcakes. Clara was intrigued by the fact that the tiny Clarita sized cupcakes had flowers on top. I think she wanted to eat those too! After Eden blew out her candle, Clara grabbed it and licked the frosting off. I wasn't paying attention and she ended up eating a chunk of the candle and cried when I took it away from her. That girl! Eden was a perfect little princess and even wore her crown for the majority of the party!

I'll get you bubbles!


Balls!

Hi Lyla!

Hunky Henry


mmmm wax




After Eden's party we headed up to Three Rivers to see our friend Phil and his family. Clara was exhausted and fell asleep before we even pulled out! The McClarty's came too and Clara had fun playing with all the kids. Phil and his wife Kelly have two daughters, Maya and Lana, who are four and a half and two, and Kelly's sister was there with her two kids. Add Clarita, Reedcito, and Kierito and it was a super fun kidzone! Highlights for the kids were the kiddie pool and spa, acorn hunts, and the croquet mallets! Highlights for the adults included an amazing dinner and great company! It was a super fun weekend full of friends!


Reedcito sharing acorns with Clarita

That face!

Beer bottles = fun toys

Fast forward 15 years and this will not be ok!

Ice also = fun toy


This will also not be ok in 15 years...

Learning Spanish

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

18 Months


This month has been a busy one! We've been on the go so much and Clarita has been a trooper! She truly loves people and is usually happy as long as there are people around and she is busy. She's attended baby showers, parties, and even made a few road trips.

Supervising Ashley open presents

Coloring with Charlyse

Clara especially loves other kids and has a lot of fun when she gets to play with them. She gives hugs and kisses but also a few smacks if they do something she doesn't like. We're working on better manners. We're also working on sharing. She's generally pretty good about it but sometimes does not want to share or has to have whatever anther kid just picked up.

Rocking Conner


Eating is still hit or miss. Clara loves something one day and wants nothing to do with it the next. Her staple is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She always eats these and asks for more! She also insists on eating cereal with Dada for breakfast. Not just any cereal either. It has to be Blueberry Morning with Grapenuts and uncooked oats on top. I tried giving her Cheerios and she told me no. She's also really into Goldfish crackers. And she prefers the Goldfish brand not the Annie's bunnies. She picks those out and feeds them to us while she eats the Goldfish or pes as she calls them!

Who doesn't want peas as a before bedtime snack?

The next day she wanted nothing to do with peas

Clara has started talking up a storm. I can't even keep track of all the words she says. I'd say she probably consistently says 75 to 100 words and repeats everything we say. She also still babbles away in her alien language, but more often than not she babbles real words. She is still difficult to understand, and many of her words sound the same, but Dada, Abuelita, and I generally understand her.



So patriotic

Speaking of Abuelita, Clara has become even more obsessed with Abuelita this month. Every morning we talk about what we are going to do that day. I always ask her where she is going or who she is going to see and her answer is almost always "Aba." I will list other people and ask her if she wants to see them and she says, "No, Aba." When Abuelita gets here Clara is generally standing by the door looking through the windows calling Abuelita's name. As soon as Abuelita arrives Clara says, "Bye Mama" and is done with me. I think they have a lot of fun together! She also loves Tia Laurie and when she hasn't seen her in awhile spends the whole night stuck to her cuddling!

Tia esnugles!

Clarita is quite the little goofball. She loves being silly and laughing. She and Dada always take selfies and her new favorite thing to do is stick her tongue out for pictures. She also thinks that we are horses and if we lay on the floor she is immediately on top of us bouncing up and down and shouting "neigh!"


"Bib"

Sometimes we read like this

Tongue selfie
Naked tongue pea eating selfie with Dada!


Eating can be a messy affair


Clarita's Stats

Weight: 20.2 pounds 
Height: 31.5 inches 
Head Circumference: 18 inches

What Clara Wears

Clarita still fits well in her 12 month outfits and size four shoes. When she was in disposable diapers while traveling her clothes were big and her shorts almost fell off!

Things Clara Loves

Mama and Dada, going for walks, naked baby time, pacifiers (especially her monito), reading books, people, playing with her toys, animals (especially her cats), eating, playing peek a boo, running, phones, remote controls, walking up the stairs, Baby Signing Time DVDs, stuffed animals (especially her monito), getting the ABCs sung to her while pointing at them on the wall, being swung through the air, swinging, sliding, being outside, water, swimming, blowing bubbles with Abuelita, dancing, shoes, esnugles

Things Clara Does Not Love

Not getting what she wants or being told no is at the top of the list. Wiping her face/nose are still generally disliked although she is getting better. She also now dislikes having her hair combed.

How Clarita Sleeps

Clara now takes one nap usually somewhere between 12:30 and 1:30 and sleeps for 3 to 3.5 hours. Except for when she is with Abuela Sheri then she sleeps for only 1.5 to 2 hours (we're still trying to figure that one out). She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 and has been waking up between 6:30 and 6:45. She sleeps in her sleep sack with monito, dos pinguinos, and her chuponcito. 

Nicknames

Clarita, Snugglepuff, Snuggles, Wiggle, Baby/Bebe, Sapita, Munchkin, Birthday Twin, Monkey Butt, Loquita, Midget, Pipsqueak, Wigs, Loqs (short for Loquita) (thanks Mama) 

Sign Language

This is my last month recording this. She doesn't sign as much now that she talks so much. She still likes watching Baby Signing Time and signs if she doesn't know the word or really wants to get her point across. She signs eat, more, please, thank you, hat, ball, sleep, baby, banana, water, milk, bird, dog, cat, mama, dada, hurt, shoes, socks, wash hands, frog, book, dirty, all done, car, bus, train, apple, horse, yes, no, bath, bubbles, airplane, boat, bear, balloon, bubbles, cow, corn, cold, game, hot, monkey, cereal, elephant, mouse, fish, peach, sheep, music, outside (the real sign), wind, phone, leaf, grass, tree, star, down, carrot, moon, good, day, time, nice, sun, happy, cry, go, juice, me, you, grandma, grandpa,  Clara made up her own sign for motorcycle in which she squats down with her hands out in front of her and says vroom vroom (she also does this for bike), she also made up a sign for outside that looks like she is turning a deadbolt, and has a sign for tomato where she puts her hand to her mouth like she is biting a tomato and smacks her lips, and duck is her entire hand like it's quacking.

Talking

As I said above, I've given up trying to record her words because there are too many. She probably says between 75 to 100 and repeats everything. She has started making two to three word sentences such as, "Bye Mama work." or "Dada go?" when she wants to know where Dada went. She understands inflection and changes hers accordingly if she is asking a question or making a statement. She now says her name "Cawa" or "Caca" which is the cutest thing ever!

Teeth

Still only four. Two on the bottom and two on the top. We can see two more on the top on ether side, but they haven't made their way in yet. I swear one pokes through the gum and disappears again.

Monthly Exciting Events

September 1, 2014: "Swims" all the way across the length of the pool by herself (thanks to her bomb swimsuit)
August 27, 2014: Fafa's first time babysitting solo
August 23, 2014: Start snorting while laughing

Monthly Pictures



She loves reading!

She does not always love taking pictures




Saturday, September 20, 2014

Adventures of a Traveling Baby

Last weekend we headed down to San Diego for my friend Mikaela's wedding. I had to go to LA for work on Thursday so Dada and Clarita met me in L.A. Thursday night. This meant that Dada had to drive Clara three and a half hours by himself. He was a little worried, but it turns out he is the baby whisperer! Clara did not take a good nap that afternoon so that was not a good omen. We figured she would sleep on the trip, but turns out we were wrong! They left at 5:00 and Clara was silent the first half hour. Anyone who knows the little Wiggle knows this is a rarity! They proceeded to drive all the way to L.A. without stopping once, without Dada giving Clarita a single toy, and without her sleeping or crying! Nothing short of a miracle! They got into LA around 8:30 and met Tia Biffy, her boyfriend, Kevin, and I at a bakery where we ate and she ran around crazy! She was really excited about the hotel, especially the pack n play for her to sleep in! She slept all night and I woke her up after 7:00 the next morning when I needed to get ready.

Hotel beds are more fun!

Clara and Dada played while I saw more patients at the state hospital Friday morning. We met Tia Biffy and Kevin for lunch where Clarita had a fun time pretending to sleep with Tia Biffy and flirting with Kevin. She also ate a lot of salsa so she must take after Dada!





Kevin squared


Sleep Tia Biffy!

We headed to San Diego after lunch and Clara fell asleep right away. She woke up when we stopped to get gas and refused to sleep more even though she was tired. About a half hour from San Diego she had a melt down and was inconsolable. We stopped at a rest stop and let her run around for a little while. She had a lot of fun chasing sea gulls and was not excited about getting back into the car. After a little tantrum she settled down and played for the rest of the drive.


Birds!

Nature diaper changes are the best

Clarita was definitely excited to get to San Diego and get out of the car. We stayed with my friend Nicolette and her husband Jeremy. They have a two-year-old daughter, Bennett who Clara loved! The girls warmed up to each other right away (maybe they remembered meeting a year ago) and Clara had fun coloring on Bennett's dry erase board. She also loved their two dogs and told them to sit and "no no no!" when they tried to lick her. The girls went to bed early and we got to hang out with Jeremy and Nicolette and catch up.

Saturday Dada ran 18 miles (he's crazy) while Clarita and I went to Bennett's soccer practice. Clara made a couple of new friends on the playground who she chased around and played with. They were five and seven and thought Clara was a new toy. They carried her around and chased her! Clara played "kitchen" with them and assisted in making sand pies! After soccer we headed to lunch where the girls enjoyed french fries (Clara discovered Ketchup and insisted on dipping her fry into it and licking it off over and over). The girls had fun playing in the fountain and were so sad when it was time to leave. They were exhausted and both went down for naps as soon as we got back.


Nicolette and Jeremy were nice enough to watch Clarita while we went to the wedding. It was a lovely wedding and we had a lot of fun dancing the night away. Since Mikaela loves to dance this was the perfect wedding for her! Nicolette and Jeremy said that Clara and Bennett had lots of fun playing outside. Clara went down the slide about a million times and they played with the water table. Clara went right down for them and did not wake up until the next morning.




Hanging from the moon!



Sunday we headed out early to meet Tio Josue and his girlfriend, Rachel, for breakfast. Before we left Clarita and Bennett got some last minute playing in and Clara even pretended to feed Bennett with her doll bottle! It was super cute. Clara also stole one of Bennett's library books and colored all over the back page with dry erase markers! I guess she doesn't quite understand the concept that all books are not coloring books yet!







We had breakfast with Tio Josue and Rachel, who just moved back to San Diego from San Francisco) and Clara had her first piece of bacon which she devoured. She also devoured fruit and pancakes so I guess she was hungry! After breakfast, we headed to the beach for a wedding brunch put on by Mikaela. We had some yummy donuts and fruit. Clarita was really upset we wouldn't let her have a donut, but decided that the fruit was good too as she inhaled an entire bowl of it! She played in the sand and collected seaweed. She was not such a big fan of the water washing over her feet and ran away from it.





After brunch we headed to Irvine for Hadley's first birthday party! Clara fell asleep on the way there and was rested and ready to go once we arrived. She was very excited to see Baby Hadley again as well as play on the playground at the park! Hadley was ever so cute in her pink dress and flower headband that she liked to pull off and throw. She wasn't so sure about her first cupcake, but Clara knew what to do with hers. I was a little surprised that she knew what a cupcake was since she has only had one and that was six months ago. She insisted on eating one and loved every bite. She was very sad when I told her she could only have one.













We left the party around 3:00 and headed home thinking Clara would fall asleep again...wrong! She refused to sleep. We stopped to get gas on the grapevine and let her run around. She was not excited about getting back in the car. We stopped in Bakersfield for dinner and Clara actually ate some of Dada's hamburger. She preferred Mama's grilled cheese though! Clara got really fussy when she got back in the car, but wouldn't sleep. After crying and fussing for what seemed like forever, she finally fell asleep around 7:00. Traffic was horrible the entire drive home and it took five and a half hours! Clara was out when we finally got home and did not wake up when I took her out of the car. I laid her on the living room floor and she slept there for an hour while we unloaded the car and put everything away. She didn't even wake up when I changed her diaper and put her pajamas on! It was a very long weekend, but filled with fun and friends! Good thing Clara is accustomed to the life of a traveling baby and generally pretty flexible and easy going, it makes our trips much more enjoyable!