Our sweet Clara is growing up! She turned 11 months old yesterday. I can't believe I am supposed to be making birthday plans for her 1 YEAR old birthday.
Clara is getting stronger and stronger. She is getting really dangerous as she gets more and more confident with standing and cruising. She is officially cruising from one piece of furniture to the next as long as they are within reaching distance.
She is also changing in the way that she observes what is happening around her. She is discovering new things around her that I've never seen her pay attention to: like her Elephant and Giraffe prints above her changing table, the lightswitch in the hallway and the thermostat.
She is also getting very opinionated about what she wants and doesn't want. She has learned to shake her head from side to side instead of constantly bobbing it up and down as if in agreement. I realized she has been trying to shake me off if I am messing with her head when she doesn't want me to. Or tonight when I was rubbing/massaging her foot, she shook it to make me stop. She has only done it a handful of times, but has begun screaming in protest if we take away something she was enjoying or pushing things away if we give her the wrong item.
Nap time and bedtime are continuing to evolve. We are trying to "give" her less in the way of rocking/walking her into drowsiness. This has been our routine for so long that she clearly knows when it is time for sleep. Sometimes she points at the door or whimpers in protest, but for the most part, if you picked the right time to put her to bed, she snuggles in and goes to bed within a few minutes. She is usually awake when we set her down but very settled and ready for sleep. Tonight was a slightly different story as she simply threw a temper tantrum for about 45 minutes. She always calmed when Alan went in but didn't quite decide she'd go to bed for a while. But we know she is aware it was bedtime. It didn't come as a shock to her. We know she can put herself to sleep because she sleeps through the night. Tonight, she just didn't want to. But Alan does a great job of going in to make sure she is okay, fixing her positioning if she needs it but then leaving without picking her up. He does a much better job executing what I know is "best" as if that is anything. I'd be so afraid she was hurting or not feeling well. If I was putting her to bed, I'd most assuredly pick her up for fear something big was wrong...as opposed to the simple: she is throwing a temper tantrum and doesn't want to go to bed.
Alan has uploaded several home videos from just before she was diagnosed through the present time. Click on the Clara's Home Videos link on the right-hand side of the blog.
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