Mobility
Clara turned eight months old at Pa and Grandma's house in Flagstaff. She loved roaming their expansive rooms and following her siblings around. She experimented with stairs for the first time and managed to climb up a few at a time by the end of our stay. She started cruising a bit there, too.
Though she was a pro at army-crawling at a surprising pace, Clara had only gotten on hands and knees and rocked a bit--not actually crawled that way--till she was nearly nine months old. At the beginning of August she took off crawling and only had about a week where the army crawl and regular crawl overlapped. After that, it's all been hands and knees--and she's a fast one!
Her cruising got steadier and faster, too. She often preferred to crawl rather than hold people's fingers and walk, but she'd do some of the latter. When walked around, she often used tip-toes and took big steps with her left leg, toes pointed primly.
She's my latest walker thus far. She took her first steps on September 22nd, lunging to me in the kitchen. Since then she lurched a few steps here and there without attempting to really walk. This past week, though, she has started to put more steps together and seem more interested and confident in doing so: her record is around eight or ten steps as of now (October 20th). She can balance well and stands alone for lengthier stints, and she can stand up from the floor (vs. needing a piece of furniture to aid her in getting to her feet).
She likes to do a funny "crawl" with hands and feet. I think she started doing this outside when she didn't like the feel of grass on her knees one day. But often she resorts to this awkward crab-walk when she's fallen after taking a few steps, but apparently doesn't want to concede entirely and actually crawl.
Clara climbed a full flight of stairs at the Baynes' house in August. And when we were in Flagstaff last week, she loved climbing Grandma and Pa's stairs. She can quickly make it to the top! She liked practicing going down their set of two stairs from kitchen to family room. Unfortunately she launched herself face-first a couple times. We tried to teach her to turn around and go down backwards, and by the end of the weekend, she seemed to begin to understand the concept.
Eating
Like her siblings before her, Clara has a healthy appetite for real food (and nursing), but her interest in new foods has slackened, and she outright refuses foods she previously liked. She used to gobble down avocado, but now she spits it out in disgust. She loves fruit, especially strawberries and watermelon, but she's not always a fan of banana. These days she regularly throws scrambled eggs right off her tray without even a taste--but she used to eat them happily!
Clara likes to gnaw on a carrot stick and loves cucumbers. She likes brussels sprouts pretty well, but disdains some vegetables I used to be able to feed her--zucchini, for instance. She'll chew on a broccoli spear but end up spitting most of it out. I think some of her trouble with certain vegetables is texture and her inability to properly chew (no molars yet). But with only seven teeth (and one more on its way, i think), she loves to eat partially crushed cashews and pine nuts! She never refuses cheese, yogurt, peaches, and kefir smoothies, either. She generally tolerates oatmeal. She shares her siblings' love of butternut squash pasta, and she often likes our main meal, but prefers to feed herself if at all possible. I think I remember the twins disliking chicken at this age, but Clara usually likes it pretty well. Beef is harder to chew.
Talking/Communicating
What fun it is to watch Clara learn to communicate! I've loved it--from her coos and calls in earlier months to today's eager little voice chiming, "Dada! Dada?" with her sisters' and brother's clamor when Daddy comes home.
She started babbling a little on the later end of normal, but was doing lots of "babababa" by July. She added "dadadada" and some "mamamama," and these days knows who Dada and Mama are and uses our names appropriate (at least sometimes--she's stingy with Mama!). She adores Dada, and whenever I talk about him during the day or tell her he's coming home, she does kisses for him.
Even back in May, she'd "call" to her siblings when she woke up from naps or heard them in another room. She added an interrogative lilt to her sounds by June/July, as if asking about them. She has long liked to imitate sounds and respond to us when we speak to her. She started screeching when she heard her sisters do so long ago. Nowadays she'll make whispering noises if I whisper to her, growl back at us if we growl, imitate a "mooo" for a cow and a "grrrr" for a lion, and repeat some sounds.
Lately Clara has started expanding her linguistic repertoire and uses more word-like sounds. Often she holds something out to me and seems to ask, "This?" or "What's this?"--not clearly, but the "s" sound and intent are there. Occasionally she has imitated us well in saying "night-night" or "Abby" or "'Siah," but these aren't regular words for her yet.
I've used some baby sign language with Clara as I did with the others. She sporadically did signs starting back in July, putting her hands together for "more" and a couple times putting her hand to her mouth for "eat/food." She would move her fingers a bit for the "milking" sign meaning she wanted to nurse. In the last week she has clearly and accurately done the "more" sign, and she's so proud of herself (and delighted in her siblings' praise). She waves her hands for "all done," too, but doesn't really initiate "please" or "thank you" yet.
Just after our return from Michigan in August, she started waving hi and bye. She loves to play peek-a-boo, and it's the best distraction from touching diaper contents on the changing table! I just say, "Where's Clara?" and she pulls her shirt over her face.
When I finish nursing her at night and sing her a song before bed, I often pat her on the back. She likes to reciprocate, and oh, it's the sweetest thing! She rests her head on my shoulder and pats me on the back. Unfortunately it's only momentary! She's usually too interested in her siblings' bedtime activities across the hall to cuddle with me very long.
Family Interaction & Skills
Clara is strong and squirmy these days. She likes to be held when tired, cranky, teething, or just up from a nap--or in an unfamiliar place--but mostly she likes to be independent and on the move. She cruises all over, crawls very fast, and wants to be in the thick of her siblings' play (usually destroying what they've built). Often when they congregate at the table to draw, she crawls underneath and gnaws on stray markers or finds leftover snacks.
Josiah, Lydia, and Abby are so entertaining to Clara. She loves to watch them! We bought a swing for her to attach to the kids' fort, and she enjoys swinging there and watching the kids' games as they chase each other around, fight bad guys, climb rigging, shoot canons, dig ditches, make mud pies, etc. If they occasionally give her a push on their way by, she's content for awhile.
But she hates to be left out, and she jealously guards my lap! She protests loudly every time I try to read a book to the older three before nap/rest time. Usually Lydia or Abby sits in my lap, and Clara notices right away. She crawls over and yells, determined to reclaim her spot and assert her rights! This is typically one of the few times she wants to nurse with everyone around. Clara was not pleased when I held her baby cousin Cedar in Flagstaff, either.
Interestingly, Clara already shows an interest in "helping." One day a couple weeks ago, I sat on the floor to pick up toys in the living room. When she saw me putting Duplos in the container, she started doing so as well. Now whenever I clean up, she likes to join me and methodically puts toy after toy into their tubs.
She has long been interested in the washer and dryer, and lately she "helps" me unload them. Now when I ask her, "Clara, do you want to help Mama with laundry?" she follows me with a quick, purposeful crawl and pulls herself to standing at the dryer. I open the door for her, and she pulls the clothes out one at a time and hands them to me, stooping to pick up anything she drops. She loves it!
Clara also likes to try to build towers of blocks, though she isn't coordinated enough to do it on her own. She loves to put things in and out of containers, and she knows to look under blankets, buckets, tubs, couches, etc. for toys underneath. I like seeing her curiosity unfold. She picks up on lots of what she sees!
Stats
At her ten-month appointment, Clara was 30 inches long (95th percentile) and 20 lbs (somewhere around 70th percentile, I think). She appears to take after her tall sisters! Our last doctor's appointment was difficult, since Clara did not want to be held (she wanted to crawl all over the floor or crinkle, rip, and eat the paper on the table), and she showed more stranger anxiety than is usual with her when the doctor and nurse checked her. She didn't cry on the first vaccine's poke, but she hollered with the second one (which, admittedly, they warned us would sting more).
Nursing and Sleep
While she loves using her sippy cup (or, even better, getting a drink out of my cup or stealing a sibling's cup!), she's still a devoted nurser . . . especially at night. She still sleeps in our room and knows we're just a few feet from her on our bed, and I can't sleep through her yelling/crying . . . so I still nurse her a couple times a night. We plan to move her crib into the computer room in the near future, but we need to rearrange furniture, and it's just a big enough task that we haven't done it yet.
She nurses before naps and typically goes down happily, chatting to herself awhile before falling asleep. I hope to keep her on a two-nap schedule till about 18 months (as I did with the others). We use her morning nap to do school and are typically finishing up by the time she awakes. Then she plays with or around the other kids as I prepare lunch.
Eventually we plan to move her crib into the big kids' room, but I think we'll wait for awhile. She usually goes to bed around 7 p.m. and wakes at about 6:15-6:45, depending on the day.
Personality
Our fourth child has been such a joy, and we love her so much! I think number four is definitely easier than number one (or two or three). While she's not as mellow as she seemed for her first few months, she's overall a content and easily entertained baby. Having "big kids" who like her and (mostly) don't endanger her life helps. She loves to play with and watch them.
She also does a pretty good job playing on her own: I often let her pull out the measuring cups and mixing bowls when I'm cooking in the kitchen, and she likes banging them, stacking them, etc. She pulls apart and attempts to build Duplo, puts toy food in the toy kitchen sink, tries to page through picture books (and loves to be read to, though only momentarily), and chews on everything. Her daily goal is to get into the Lego room.
Clara is feisty and asserts her will--and complains loudly when siblings snatch toys, barricade her entry, sit on her (oh, Abby), bug her, etc. She makes a beeline for the open dishwasher or fridge. She likes to pull the big kids' books off the shelves and rip pages when she gets a chance, though she's been transgressing in this way less often recently. She looks Daddy straight in the eye and throws food off her tray at dinnertime when she dislikes it or is through with eating . . . but she also wails in heartbroken sorrow when he reprimands her.
I've been surprised at how little stranger anxiety Clara has exhibited. She shows some insecurity around strange men--my cousin Donal and my brother Andrew were clearly suspicious characters to Clara! She was even unsure about Uncle Justin this weekend when he tried to play with her by crawling toward her, though she sees him often enough to be familiar with him. In larger crowds or new places she often likes to be held by Mama or Daddy and just watch the action. But she's always eager to get down and play in the church nursery! In fact, she doesn't care a fig for me when we get in that room--she's off to get a hold of all the interesting toys.
