18 Months!

My baby is 18 months old!  She looks so much like a little girl now--body growing leaner (less baby fat) and hair growing longer.  She's a smart little girl, and definitely understands and responds to everything we say.  She doesn't miss a beat, and is always listening and acting accordingly.  She's proficient in pointing, and slowly is picking up new words, or mimicking what she hears.

 She's a pretty compliant child, even though her curious nature can get her into mischief.  But whenever I say "Let's go change your diaper." "Let's get your coat on." "Let's go to bed." etc, she happily goes along without any fuss.

She had her appointment with the dr. last week and comes up average in measurements.

Height: 32 inches (50th %)
Weight: 21 lbs. 8 oz. (40th%)
Head: 47 cm (70th %)

She has been doing some teething, working on some molars.  She still only has the 4 main teeth on top and the 3 on the bottom.

Clara is my climber.  She loves to climb up the kitchen chairs to sit by Eli (and will proceed to climb onto the table when I turn my head).  She can climb up her highchair, turn herself around, and get properly seated all by herself.  In fact, it became such a fun game for her (and a scare for me) that we had to take the foot rest off her chair to prevent her from climbing.  I just hope she doesn't climb out of her crib for a LONG time!

Clara is a water lover!  She would play in the bath all day if I let her, and lately I've found her trying to climb in it even without the water!  She was so fascinated with the washing hands phenomenon that she HAD to get in on the fun!  Whenever Eli finishes washing his hands, I fill up some water in the sink and let her play for a while.  I know she'll go crazy with excitement with all the water play ahead in the summer.

Clara's become very interested in body parts.  She can point to several of them when asked, and she loves pointing to them on me and having me name them.  :)  Her favorite body part is of course the belly button, which she loves to display on many occasions.

Clara gets very sad whenever people leave or close doors to her.  Even when I walk out the door for just a minute to defrost the car in the mornings, she starts crying.  She sure doesn't like to feel like she's being left out of something!



We had some inches of snow early in January, and I had to go out to shovel and clean off my car.  Eli of course wanted to go out to play, and I knew Clara would have a field day if I left her inside (even if she could see us from the window).  So I put Eli's baby snowsuit on her, shoveled a spot for her to play (up by the porch), and gave her a small shovel to scoop with.  It was her first time out in the snow!  She was loving it at first, and kept putting snow in her mouth.  But Clara was not content in staying put, and she tried to go exploring.  Naturally, she fell (pretty hard to walk in that bulky suit), and struggled getting back up again.  By then the snow was starting to get on her skin and she'd had enough (this was all under 5 minutes).

So while she LOVES watching it snow, she's not quite ready to play in it.  :)

Clara's a busy bee!  She's always on the go, trying hard to keep up with Eli.  I don't know if it's because Eli's always playing dress-up, but Clara now loves wearing hats on her head.  It's pretty cute to see her in Eli's knight helmet.  :)

She's very interested in the potty.  As soon as I say I'm going to the bathroom she drops whatever she's doing to jump up and come with me.  She's good about keeping out of the toilet when it's not in use, but she is so fascinated with what goes in during.  :)

Clara's a great helper.  She loves to help empty the dishwasher, put trash in the trash can, pick up toys, and fetch me things.  She especially loves to bring everyone their shoes.  :)

Clara received a stroller for Christmas, and boy does it go everywhere with her!  She always puts her dolls together in it, and they often get stuck in funny places.  She's such a good little nurturer already.  It's amazing to see that divine quality evident in her at such a young age.  She LOVES taking care of her babies--wrapping them in blankets, giving them bottles, "burping" them, and of course taking them for walks!  She's so fascinated with any real-life baby we're around.  She'll be a great big sister someday!

Loves talking on the phone!

Really enjoys this stacking toy!  

Clara definitely loves all things girly!  She loves to help pick out a hairbow, and to go through her clothes every morning.  She HAS to have some lipgloss and lotion whenever she sees me put some on.  She carries around my toiletry bag or buckets and treats them like purses.  

Clara and Eli can be such good little buddies, as long as Eli's in the mood for it (which unfortunately is not often enough).  The two of them giggling together is for sure the cutest sound ever!

Clara loves when we sing (or when Daddy plays the guitar) and she always sways her head back and forth, smiling big and bright.

Clara CAN be a terrific eater, but she's starting to turn her nose up to food that I give her.  To help her eat better, I made up a little "Nom-nom" song.  She took to it right away and it does the trick every time!  Another way to help her eat more is to give her a dipping sauce.  She loves them all--ketchup, bbq sauce, salad dressings, gravy, salsa, sour cream, peanut butter, syrup, you name it!  It's practically become a requirement that she has something to dip her food in now.  She's also starting to feed herself with a spoon.  She's very proud of herself when the food actually makes it into her mouth!









A few weeks ago we had a few days of mild weather, so we were able to take walks around the neighborhood and play at the park!  Such a blessing to have that in the middle of the dreary, long winter.  Clara has even more fun at the park as a good walker!  I got some cute giggles from her on the swings.

So fun to watch this girl grow!