My 10 month old - How far she's come

Today Clara turns 10 months old. What is she up to? She has given up crawling almost completely and prefers walking everywhere instead. And she getting pretty darn fast at it. She also likes to do anything dangerous she can come up with. Examples: she climbs into her rocking chair and tries to sit on the arm rest. She climbs onto of empty boxes, the ottomans in our living room, and just about anything else that is remotely sturdy enough and low enough for her to grab hold of. She has been perfecting her stair climbing and can now go up quite well, but has also started to come down them slowly.

She enjoys babbling to herself, but most of it is baby gibberish. She still has about a 4 word vocabulary (Dada, Kitty, Titty, and rarely Mama)... but she also pointed out a dog to me last weekend and said Dawdga. So maybe that's 5 words. And when she gets angry she will shake her finger at the object of contempt and babble in a disapproving tone. It is adorable.

She is becoming a much pickier eater. She turns her head away from anything on a spoon (creamy yogurt being the one exception) and only wants to eat finger foods she can feed herself. This is causing a little trouble in that she still only has 6 teeth (4 on top and 2 on bottom). Her favorites are bananas and Gerber pasta pickups (for non-parents they are little toddler size ravioli without sauce). Clara also snacks on cheerios and goldfish crackers. I've been letting her try more and more table foods... except for sweets, we're saving cake and ice cream for her first birthday. She is still nursing, but mostly as a comfort activity rather than for nourishment. We've also introduced whole milk in her sippy cup...tried formula for more nutrients, but that did NOT go over well. Below you can see how messy these self-feeding sessions can be - this particular one involved toast with grape jelly (and no, I have no idea what I was thinking).

After her messy dinner times it is time for bathy. For bath time she has graduated to the 'big tub' even though I think she would have preferred to stay in the sink. Her assorted rubber duckies (she has her own flock) all join her for her nightly bubble bath.

Nighttime has also gotten a lot easier for Mom and Dad. Clara sleeps through the night almost every night. Or when she does wake up and cry she has learned to sooth herself back to sleep. Of course these long sleeping nights have resulted in little to no day time naps, but the trade-off is working ok for our family.

In about a week and a half we have planned Clara's first visit to Disneyworld - and yes, I know she won't remember any of it... but I will and I can't wait to see the awe and excitement in her eyes. Don't worry, I've got the camera charging already.

This week in pictures

My little dreamer...

Last weekend, Clara enjoyed attending the first birthday of our neighbor Addison. The party was at our neighborhood park.


And just hanging out with Mom.

Clara Walking

It has been less than a month since Clara's first steps, but she seems to be getting this walking thing down. Of course it helps that her Great Aunt Pat got her some awesome pink Crocks.