23 Months

Right now Clarita is at a super fun age! She is like a little sponge soaking up everything around her and it is so fun to watch. I wish that I could learn as many things as she does in a day and have such fun doing it! She is generally so happy and fun loving. However, she continues to be super opinionated and stubborn and that happy little girl can turn into a screaming little girl in 10 seconds if she does not get her way. She usually reserves these tantrums for Mama and Dada (how very sweet of her).

Giant sleepsack thanks Tia!

Clara now knows all of her upper case letters and gets very excited when she sees a letter for one of her favorite words. We'll be driving or walking somewhere and I'll hear her shout, "C Clara! D Dada!" I like that such small things make her so excited. She can sing the ABCs correctly in English and most of the way through in Spanish. She continues to love to sing and has mastered The Itsy Bitsy Spider. I often hear her singing to herself in the other room as she plays. Clara has also finally learned how to spell her name. For the past couple of months she insisted that it was "ARA Clara" which was funny because she has known that her name starts with C for a long time yet she left it off. In the past week she started saying "CLARA Clara." 

Yoga

Who doesn't read naked?

This little Wiggle is always in motion going a hundred miles an hour. I used to think that I had as much energy as little kids but turns out that I can't keep up all day long (or after a long day at work). Clara wears me out! Luckily she is able to entertain herself so I can at least make dinner in peace most of the time. She has been a little clingy this month, especially when I get home from work, so I have had to wear her in the carrier a few times while I made dinner. She says she is helping me to make dinner which I guess in a way she is!

And also ride their horse naked

We've had an resurgence of chuponcito obsession this month. She was doing pretty well not having it during the day, but this month she has become inconsolable on several occasions when she wanted it. Clara will be perfectly happy and then out of nowhere start screaming, "momo momo momo" (she still calls pacifiers that even though the monkey broke off hers awhile ago). Sometimes we can distract her and she forgets about it, but sometimes she screams like she is being murdered until she gets her beloved chuponcito. I have decided that she is going to be 15 and still sucking on that thing! The funny thing is, she has never really sucked her thumb. She will chew on her hand, but the thumb has never been substituted for "momo." I think that when her teeth are bothering her she uses chuponcito as a teether. Therefore I have convinced her that two of her teethers are chuponcitos. They work sometimes but sometimes she requests "momo, yellow one" instead of a teether. 

Ashes!

Although we have not actually started potty training (and I never want to), we have been talking to Clarita about going pee pee and poo poo in the potty. I have noticed that when she runs around naked she seems to be much more aware of her bowel movements (perhaps why the run around naked for a weekend potty training method is so popular). She has told me several times that she either needs a diaper or needs to pee pee. When this happens she sits on the potty and generally after 10 seconds declares "all done" without actually doing anything. This is usually followed by "uh oh pee pee floor" a few minutes later, but once she actually went pee pee in the potty and we celebrated by washing her hands with soap and water (her favorite part about the potty). Hopefully she will continue to improve and potty train herself, but I'm not holding my breath.

I need glasses

Sweet cousins

Crazy dadas!

Clarita's Stats

Weight: 23.2 pounds 

Height: 33 inches 

Head Circumference: 18.5 inches

What Clara Wears

18 months clothes and size 5 shoes fit perfectly

Things Clara Loves

Mama and Dada, going for walks, naked baby time, pacifiers, reading books, people, playing with her toys, animals (especially her cats), eating, playing peek a boo, running,  Signing Time shows, stuffed animals (especially Momo, Bafa, and Pigo),  being swung through the air, swinging, sliding, being outside, water, blowing bubbles with Aba, dancing, shoes, esnugles, baths, letters, coloring, crafts, anything related to music, trains, looking at photos, singing, touching her eyebrows

Things Clara Does Not Love

Being woken up from a nap, not getting her way, and being helped with anything or having someone else do something for her that she wants to do herself, especially brushing her teeth. We have made some headway on this front by having her animals brush her teeth for her. Sometimes she thinks it is really funny and happily obliges, but sometimes she says no way and screams the entire time.

How Clarita Sleeps

She's still taking one two and a half to three hour nap and goes to down between 1:00 and 2:00. At night she has been going down around 8:30 and getting up around 6:30. Clara sleeps in her sleep sack with an entire zoo of stuffed animals, her chuponcito, and two blankies which often get kicked off in her tossing and turning.

Nicknames

Clarita, Snugglepuff, Snuggles, Wiggle, Baby/Bebe, Munchkin, Birthday Twin, Loquita, Pipsqueak, Wigs, Loqs, Puff  

Talking

All the time, nonstop. "I need..." is her new favorite saying. She has started using pronouns rather than always saying her name. She still speaks mostly in English but has been throwing more Spanish words in, especially with me.

Teeth

Eleven! Four top front, four bottom front, two top molars (one on each side) and one bottom molar.

Monthly Exciting Events

February 8, 2015: Pees in the toilet for the first time!

January 31, 2015: First time roasting marshmallows

January 28, 2015: Gets both feet off the ground while jumping

Monthly Pictures

Que pouty face!

Whistle while you work