Clara's first birthday

Clara turned one year old yesterday!

(yay!!)

This month we've been dealing with her changing sleep schedule.  Some
days she is like the "good old days" when she goes to bed with very
little fuss after our standard bed routine (bath, bottle, book (brush
teeth) then sleep.  Some days (especially with the lost hour this past
weekend) she stays up til 9 PM (or later!), tired but refusing to
sleep unless there is someone in the room with her.    The cry-it-out
technique doesn't work too well because she has figured how to make
herself throw up when she gets very upset (and who wants a baby to
pass out from exhaustion in their own spit up? so we have to go in and
change all the sheets etc if it gets to this point).  The good news is
she is sleeping 12 hour blocks with a good 3 hour nap.

We started a new activity for Clara--gym class! It was awesome the
first night since she came home so exhausted she went right to bed (no
such luck after tonight's class).  She is the youngest in the class
(the only time we could attend is really meant for slightly older
babies--or at least babies who walk well, and Clara is still in the
cruising stage.)   We have a circle activity (she spends a fair amount
of time studying the other kids and pointing out the pictures of
cookie monster and elmo on the walls).   Afterwards, there are a few
obstacle courses, her favorite is a little sloped bridge with handles
on each side, so she can "walk" without our support by holding on to
the rails.  She is not a big fan of the parachute game afterwards
(afraid when it falls to close to her head) but loves the bubbles and
stamp at the end.  They sang "Happy Birthday" on Tuesday and she got
a special birthday stamp :)

One of the many late nights, Clara was sitting up in her crib and out
of no where started clapping.  She started giggling and I shouted for
Jason to come up and see (he has been trying to teach her this for
several months).  She loves to point, especially to photos of us.  She
is always wanting to know what things are called, using the universal
"grunt and point."  She loves to learn, always trying to "read" a book
(aka turn pages, point to things and talk to herself).  She has
learned how to use her stacking colored "doughnuts."  She watches a
few minutes of Elmo every day and on weekends watches a little "Dora
la exploradora" on the Spanish channel.  Most of the time though, she
would rather be exploring her world, and especially Picaso's cage.  We
haven't purchased and push/pull toys yet, but she still manages to
push everything she can.  She likes to climb the stairs (but can't go
downstairs yet).  She's a busy girl these days!

Clara remains a good eater, still eating whatever we eat (she's a big
fan of tomato sauce).   We haven't really transitioned to a cup yet
(she does use a cup with a straw and I guess we'll have to make the
transition sooner than later) and I think the bedtime bottle will be
the last to go (our crutch to get her to sleep).  She can use a spoon
when she wants to (ie. when she is hungry) but other times will just
throw the spoon to the ground knowing that we'll feed her and she
doesn't have to go through the hassle of bringing the spoon to her
mouth.

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician's office for her well-child check
and some shots (poor thing). She cried but forgot about it when the doctor handed her a Barbie band-aid. Her growth percentiles were 95th for height and 75th for weight so she is healthy growing baby.