Katie Left Her Computer Unguarded

This is a guest post by Mitch. WARNING: the subject matter of what you are about to read is 100% male. Being the resident male in the household, I was the only one willing to "man-up" and tell it like it is.

The other day Clara was playing and started to get her grunt on. Katie took her into the bathroom, sat her on the toilet, and Clara did her business. That alone is pretty impressive. Even more impressive... that's the fourth time she has used the toilet for its intended purpose. She has been known to use it for unintended purposes though. Who doesn't want to splash in a random bowl of water?

Great story so far but nothing that would make a me too proud.

Later that evening I got home from work, and Katie yelled from the other room, "MITCH, will you unclog the guest toilet."

I quickly replied, "Why? I NEVER use THAT bathroom."

"Because YOUR daughter clogged it up today."

At that moment I didn't really know what to think. I was overcome with emotion. My eyes started to water a little bit. My throat tightened up, and as a tear* ran down my face I realized why I was so proud. Because deep down inside, in places no one wants to talk about, Clara had a little bit of me in her. 99.9% of the time she's the cutest, most girly, little one-year-old I know. Which means we couldn't be any more different. But every once in awhile, when no one is looking, just like on this beautiful Spring evening, she shows that she is indeed my daughter. And what dad doesn't want that.

*parts of this story might stray from the truth to enhance the overall effect of the post

The Celebrating

I can't think of anything more fun than watching my little baby begin letting go of the sofa, letting go of my hand, and taking those first few awkward steps.

For Clara, it all started with one step, taken on her first birthday.  She's since added steps, improved her balance, and gained boldness.  Over the past two weeks she's worked on her walking every day.  To date, the most she's done is seven "Frankenstein-style" steps together.

I watch on, in giddy excitement, as my baby amazes me with her newly forming abilities.  And of course I have to scoop her up and dance around to celebrate each of her new accomplishments!

And so it goes.  I position Clara standing next to the ottoman, scoot back a few steps, and invite her to walk to me.  With a giant grin on her face, she lets go, takes a step or two and falls on me.  We celebrate.  I swing her high into the air twice and then give her a giant hug, flinging her from side to side.  Clara giggles and squeals.  I reposition her, and again she walks, this time giggling before she even lets go, knowing what's coming at the end.  Two steps later we celebrate.  The third time she completely fails, tripping over her own feet and falling flat before she ever lets go of the ottoman.  She doesn't know the difference though, because she's already squealing and giggling as she fumblingly crawls to me for a celebration.  I scoop her up, and just as before, we celebrate.

I hope she knows that she's loved, so much, despite anything she does or doesn't do.  I will continue to teach her and show her that as she grows.  Walk or trip, we have so much to celebrate in this precious child that God has given us.

As a matter of fact, the celebrating just may be the best part.

Clara at One Year

 Weight: 23 lbs. 13 oz. (85th percentile)  Starting to thin out just a tad now that she's a speed crawler it seems.

Length: 31.5" (98th percentile)  In other words, it's pretty darn hard to find a 12 mo. white female baby any taller than Clara!

What she can do: She can take two steps together, put objects into a container and take them back out, point, repeat sounds, throw a ball (kind of), run little cars around the floor, and use some limited sign language.



What she likes: She likes turning the pages of her books, throwing things on the ground, strawberries, melon, frosting, cheese, and most foods she tries, the remote, her outdoor swing, walking while holding our hands, her friends, and "talking" a lot.

Sleep: She sleeps through the night except when she's sick.  This month I invented my own sleep training method where I offered her a sippy cup of warm milk when she woke up at night rather than nursing.  She was mad, but eventually drank some.  Then, when I put her back in her crib she would cry but soon fall asleep because there was no hunger to fuel her crying (unlike the Ferber method where you don't feed the baby or pick her up).  After a few nights she quit waking up, just like that.  It was never the food that she needed, she just liked the comfort of nursing in the night.  That was a happy success.  Unfortunately she's been sick lately, so she wakes up some and I end up rocking her back to sleep.  It's a bummer to be awake at 2am, but it's sweet to rock a baby back to sleep.

Other information:  Overall, she is a happy, fun, curious baby who likes to be on the go!

Celebrating the Big 1.0

Clara's first birthday party was today.  It was fun to gather our closest friends and family together to celebrate her.  

I'm especially thankful for Ryan and Crystal and Clayton, Amanda, and Zoe who came down early to hang out and help set everything up for our Sunday afternoon party.  It was so nice to have some help, and fun to spend some time together.  Ryan and Clayton were brave enough to take the babies to the World Bird Sanctuary while the ladies stayed back to decorate and prep food.

These are some pictures (taken by Ryan), from the excursion.  

Clara just starting pointing this week.  She picked up this "one-year-old skill" on her birthday.  

Click the image to enlarge.  It's pretty funny.

Crystal paused us to take a family photo together before the party started.  I'm glad she did!

 Clara "bashed" a cupcake for our entertainment.  She was slow to dive in, but once she had a taste of the cream cheese icing, she got pretty excited.  She vigorously shoveled it into her mouth, hand over hand, until only a clean cupcake was left.  That wasn't quite as interesting to her, but she did naw on it a bit.

Having fun playing in icing.  ...oh, and I confiscated the cake, she didn't eat it all...

It was a delight to be surrounded by family and friends.  We are so incredibly blessed by the people God has placed in our lives.  Thanks to everyone who came or sent your wishes!  :)

No Big Deal

Mitch and I have taken to tagging the phrase "no big deal" on to any statement we make to each other about something unexpected and amazing that Clara has just done for the first time.
I think of it as our way of poorly/comically masking our "stereotypical first-time-parent" extreme excitement at everything new she does.  But lets face it, it's awesome to see your baby girl do new things so casually while you have no idea when and where she learned them.

Lately we've been yelling things across the house like:
"No big deal, Clara's just standing."
"No big deal, Clara's just putting the rings back on her rocking tower."
"Clara's walking along holding only one of my hands right now, no big deal."

"No big deal" is code for "This is a big deal!  And you need to come running right this minute to see it!"
It's fun.  This little girl is learning so much every day.

Oh, and, no big deal, she just took her first step on her birthday yesterday. :)