A Year and a Half

For some reason, 18 months seems like a big milestone – Clara is close to 2!  

It’s amazing how often we say to ourselves “she is so much fun right now!” Clara spends her evenings and weekends reading books, dancing to any tune she can find, playing peek-a-boo with the curtains and blankets and running around in the basement with her 30 second attention span. She got a tent for Christmas and she insists we all sit in it together. She loves her tea set and her legos. If you could make a living identifying animals and making animal noises Clara would be set for life! We have a built in check on our phone and computer usage because Clara spots us immediately and demands “up, up, up” like a maniac because she LOVES to look at the photos and videos.

It’s been a big month for Clara. She moved from her nursery to a “big girl room”. Don’t worry – she’s still in her crib. It’s amazing to watch her strategize to get her pacifiers out of her crib (which she “knows” are only for bedtime). She’s generally a really good sleeper which we are still very thankful for. I’m not messing with that! Let’s hope that continues as we re-enter the newborn stage with her little brother or sister in a few weeks! She knows her old room is the baby room and loves to go find the little toys and other baby gear we have in there. We hope that letting her play with those things now will help get it out of her system for when the baby is actually here. 

 

Clara will give lots of hugs and kisses these days. Melts our hearts every time. She also loves to give high-fives and say hi! and bye! with great enthusiasm. She’s talking more every day. Some of her favorite words are “more”, “dad”, “ball”, “up!” and “book”. I’m hearing more and more “mom”. Magically, she still says “yes” more than “no”! It seems to us that she understands almost everything we say to her. It’s fun to watch her learn to communicate. 

Daycare tells us she’s the most active kid they’ve ever seen. We try and take it as a compliment! She is definitely full of energy and opinions, but we are blessed by her cheerful disposition. She almost always has a smile on her face and generally listens to us pretty well. It’s really a fun part of parenting to learn about your kids’ personalities. 

We’re so excited to see Clara as a big sister. She loves other kiddos – let’s hope she loves the one living at her house!