Clara at Seven Months Old

How has more than half of Clara's first year gone by already?

As is usual with babies, she's still growing and changing constantly.

First time in a swing--she loved it! (in April)

Her mobility has increased and thus her access to siblings' toys, shoes, and other sundry items has become reality. "Help, Mama! Clara's gettin' my stuff!" is a cry I hear often these days. She loves to get into the big kids' toys--especially their Duplo. (We're careful to keep her separate from the new Lego that they're all enthralled with.) She also likes to roll and army-crawl over to the shoes by the front door and gnaw on them.

Clara can easily roll back-to-front and front-to-back these days, and she's started to use her rolling strategically. No longer does she tuck her head down when she scootches--she either uses her arms to pull herself forward with her head up, or she gets on hands and knees, rocks, and then plunges forward toward her goal (though she's doing less plunging now). She's definitely fine-tuning the army-crawl--and getting faster! She's good at aiming for things of interest and staying on target till she obtains them (or is thwarted by a big sister or brother).

Just in the last few days, she's figured out that I'm often in the kitchen--so she works her way to me from the living room. I love seeing that sweet, expectant face peek around the wall as she pulls her way through the dining room into the kitchen!

We borrowed a Bumbo from friends when Clara clearly outgrew the Rock'n'play and the big kids broke the bouncy seat. I needed something in which to contain her sometimes. The Bumbo has worked well for that. She is usually content in it when the other kids are playing around her--she loves to watch! But she can get herself out of it if determined (and if I haven't put on the tray); and she gets antsy in it sometimes, or just rebels against containment. Typically she prefers to be free and unrestrained on the floor . . . or held by Mama.

She seems to be on the verge of both crawling and sitting well. She can sit unassisted for a little bit before toppling forward in pursuit of something or throwing herself back, sure someone will cushion her head. 

Abby and Clara

Clara was very interested in our food at mealtimes and often grabbed at Jeremy and my plates when we held her on our laps. So I think we introduced solid food earlier to her than to the other children--a little before six months. She tried watermelon first of all and certainly enjoyed it, after the initial shock of something other than Mama's milk.

Since then she's had lots of food. I've tried to give her a taste of quite a variety of things. She loves to gnaw on a carrot stick, suck on tomato slices (lots of these available!), gum cucumber spears, and lap up yogurt from a spoon. I've also given her cooked egg yolk and scrambled egg (the yolk was easier for her to eat), peaches from our back yard (both white and yellow), broccoli, cooked zucchini and crook-neck squash, avocado, banana, peanut butter, chicken, radish, raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, oatmeal, pinto and black beans, green and red bell peppers, several sorts of cheeses, kefir (in a smoothie) . . . I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting!

We've given her servings of our meals when appropriate, too. She seemed to like Dutch baby pancake, Ma'loube, lentil-rice casserole, chicken tortilla soup, pesto pasta, and chipotle pinto beans just fine. The bean skins are a bit hard for her (I mash the beans up with the back of her spoon), but overall, she's handled textures better than any of the other kids. I haven't bothered to puree anything. We just mash food with the back of a spoon and feed it to her lumpy or pinch off small pieces for her. While she occasionally makes a face or spits out skins and other harder-to-swallow bits, she's generally amenable to everything we offer. She loves to eat and will welcome bites of anything.

Of course, she grabbed at the spoon when we started feeding her solids, but she seems to have learned the "no hands" rule for spoon-feeding pretty quickly. She'll even hesitate in grabbing a proffered carrot or some-such, seeming to check if it's okay for her to take it.

Sweet, smiley girl!

Perhaps she's even on her way to becoming a cheese snob: she's tried sharp cheddar, Colby-Jack, feta, Parmesan, Romano, and fresh mozzarella so far! She seemed to like the hint of balsamic vinegar on the mozzarella from our Caprese salad, too.

Clara loves to be outside, just like her older siblings did (and still do). Although it's gotten hot in the last couple weeks, I try to give the kids some outdoor playtime each day. I'll put Clara in her Bumbo on the patio to watch them sometimes, with the fan blowing low on her if the mosquitoes are bad or it's just too hot. The big kids' games and antics keep her happy and entertained, though she does try to pick grass or get sticks if they're within reach.

Jeremy helped her slide down the slide one evening . . .

Still our growly girl, Clara makes lots of noise when she wants. Sometimes it's at 4 a.m. Once she woke us in the pitch black of early morning with a happy growl, and Jeremy nearly leaped out of bed in fright, thinking a wild animal was in our room!

While she likes to "converse" with coos, growl, squeal, laugh, and sometimes complain and cry, Clara still doesn't really babble. I've heard her make a "mamama" type sound a few times, but not often. She certainly knows how to express her eagerness and impatience for food at mealtimes, though!

 
I've noticed Clara developing some stranger anxiety in the past few weeks, but it was especially obvious when we went to Flagstaff this past weekend for Daniel (Jeremy's brother) and Lauren's wedding. Granted, being in a new place with lots (not just a few) new people and disrupted schedule probably contributed to Clara's clinginess.

Clara in her wedding finery

Thankfully she really warmed up to a good friend of Jeremy's family--Desiree--and her husband. They graciously held her while I readied the ring bearer and flower girls (Josiah, Lydia, and Abby) and handled them during the ceremony. Clara was so happy with them! So while she's a little unsure of leaving Mama, she's still our content and mellow baby--and pretty friendly, too.

Clara is growing healthily and has gained in percentile since birth (she was pretty tiny to start with--6 lbs 4 oz). At her six-month check-up she weighed 17.5 lbs. I can't remember what her length and head circumference were . . . if I find the paper I jotted that info down on, I'll add it. Her thighs are pleasantly chunky, and while she's no heavyweight, she's nice and solid.

When I bring Clara out from our room after night or naptime, she's obviously eager to see her siblings--craning her neck and body around to glimpse them out in the living room, ready with a smile and a squeal for whomever notices her first. They, too, love to greet her. They come running to pull on her legs, kiss her, tickle her, and yell, "Hi, Clara! HI CLARA! HI HI HI HI HI HI! HI CLARA!"

They compete for her attention and delight in making her laugh. Of course, they also attempt some illicit activities: they drag her away from their toys by her feet, play a game of hopping over her on the floor, pull her into their laps without help from Mama, etc. So I still need to keep a watchful eye on them. But what fun it is to bring a baby into a family with big sisters and a big brother!

Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb's Visit

We were so pleased to have Dave and Barb Bayne come from Michigan to visit us in April! The last time they were here in the fall of 2011, Josiah was Clara's age--just six months old. A lot has changed around here since then.

The three older kids (and especially Josiah) remember them from the summertime, when we've stayed at their house a few days on each end of our trip up to Long Lake in Michigan. The kids particularly remember the cuckoo clock and the play fort out in the Baynes' back yard. Anyway, Josiah, Lydia, and Abby took to the Baynes right away. Lydia enjoyed snuggles with them, the girls did push-ups with Uncle Dave in the mornings, Josiah tagged along when Uncle Dave helped Daddy with projects in the back yard, and everyone loved Aunt Barb's stories!

Of course, the kids also often roped Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb into reading to them. Here they alternated page by page . . .

Aunt Barb's stories and information about animals especially stuck with the children. Josiah told us the other night at the dinner table all about guinea hens--how they're ugly, and they're not good layers, but they squawk loudly at any sign of danger so as to warn all the other chickens and animals on a farm; so farmers buy them as "watchdogs." I couldn't remember where he learned all this about guinea hens, so I asked him. "Aunt Barb told us!" he reminded me.

They also loved the story Aunt Barb told about her sister-in-law growing up in the jungle in Africa, where her brothers kept a leopard for a pet--until it tasted blood and had to be sent away. They were enthralled with the story of the Wide-Mouthed Frog, too! No one can tell it quite like Aunt Barb can.

Of course, Jeremy and I enjoyed having them here as well. Not only was it nice to have two extra pairs of grandparently hands to help out, but we enjoyed good conversations, advice, and encouragement, too.

Oh, and I was particularly grateful to have them here in the event of the paint apocalypse! Josiah and the girls spilled a full can of reddish-brown paint/stain on the patio just outside the back door while I was in the shower one morning. Thanks to the quick action of Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb, no one tracked it into the house, there were minimal paint stains on clothing, and most of the paint was salvaged. Uncle Dave carefully scraped up the pool of paint, and he and I scrubbed the patio. I was sure it would leave a big stain, but it's actually hardly noticeable! While none of us enjoyed the clean-up (except perhaps the kids on the sidelines), I know if I was home solo at the time of the catastrophe, we would have had more paint on people, house, patio, and elsewhere. (Thanks a million, Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb!)

Grapes

We're hopeful about our grapes this year! Jeremy must have pruned wisely and well, as they've produced beautifully.

Here are the baby grapes from our green Thompson seedless vine back in April:

This year Jeremy (with a little help from me and the kids) has managed to keep the leaf skeletonizer caterpillars under control, pulling off leaves they've chomped on and squishing the bugs. We bagged most of the grape bunches a couple weeks ago in anticipation of bird problems. (The first year our grapes produced, the birds ate up every single one!) You can see bags around bunches below:

We ran out of bags and had to buy more to cover all the bunches of grapes. This year our two newer grape vines--red ones!--produced. We have one on the western side of the back house fence, and one climbing up the block wall that separates the back yard from the front on the west side. The red grapes are not yet red, but they're noticeably larger and rounder than the green ones. Here's a glimpse of them below:

The girls like the sour little grapes, but Josiah now disdains them (as a toddler he used to gobble them up). Every day I check the grapes to see how much progress toward plumpness they've made. We're looking forward to eating sweet ones! This year we may have too many to eat at once, so I foresee frozen grapes as a nice treat later in the summer.

Mo-matoes

Jeremy convinced Abby and Lydia that big girls like tomatoes (or "mo-matoes," as they pronounce it). Once they turned three, they believed they became big girls--and with a bit of coaxing, they tried tomatoes. Lo and behold, they like them! Abby converted first and reveled in her status as a "big girl" when Lydia, her older sister by nine minutes, wasn't one! But Lydia came 'round, too, and now they gobble as many of the Sweet One-hundred and Sungold cherry tomatoes as I'll let them. 

Thus far our tomato crop has been abundant. We've dealt with the pesky birds, of course, and lost many tomatoes to their destructiveness before Jeremy netted the front and back beds. They still get in and peck holes in some. But most ripen unscathed these days.

Sungold cherry tomatoes 

The girls love tomatoes on salads, in burritos, sliced up with their scrambled eggs . . . They will eat them in the house, and I'm pretty sure they'd eat them with a mouse! On a car, in a tree, they are so good, so good, you see! (Can you name that book?)

It's fun to see them enjoy our garden produce so much. Josiah likes picking tomatoes, but he eschews the idea of eating them. Jeremy had him taste one a couple weeks ago, and it was torture for Bud. (I admit I am not a tomato-lover myself, so I've never forced them on my kids. While I still don't like our tomatoes fresh and by themselves, I do love them roasted with fresh mozzerella and basil! The sungolds are lovely in a Caprese salad as well.)

Oh-so-good!

The kids' enthusiasm about the garden is fun to see. I'm glad to be supplying the girls with lots of tomatoes these days, though what we'll do in the tomato-barren months of fall and winter, I don't know!

They often compete for the cherry tomatoes 

Lydia on the left, Abby on the right 

These days I usually have to limit the girls' consumption of tomatoes. We had a few days when a combination of too many tomatoes and too much watermelon resulted in some unpleasantness in digestion and elimination, if you know what I mean.

Lydia didn't like the pulp that squirted out on her when she bit down on one 

Abby shows off a sungold 

All gone!