Cedric's First Movie

For over a year I've known that Cedric's first movie would be Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo. I thought maybe if a G-rated movie came up before then that we'd consider going but nothing ever did. Of course, I found out the day before that Dory was rated PG and this whole idea of only showing my children G-rated movies went out the window. 

So I built up the "first movie" as best I could but Cedric really didn't seem too concerned. He had read the Curious George Goes to the Movies story and seen the corresponding cartoon. The morning we were meant to go Cedric decided he'd rather go to the indoor playground with Bob. So I realized pretty quickly we were doing this more for me than him :). 

It was opening weekend and we drove out to the Legends to see the show. We ate popcorn and cuddled during the end of the movie. I had to keep my leg on his seat so he wouldn't fall through the back and cursed the previews as they took way too long. I think Cedric enjoyed going, maybe he'll get more worked up for Cars 3 :).

10 Months

Clara is now 10 months. In a blink she will be a year. Things are moving fast and if I don't stop to look around once in a while, I'll miss them. 

Clara is definitely understanding a lot about the world around her. She loves to laugh and has a good sense of humor. She loves silly faces and goofy Cedric games. She knows common phrases and has been repeating sounds more. I'm fairly confident she is saying "all done" but it comes out "ah duh". When I really listen to the babbles she says, they are starting to sound more similar to words and phrases I say.  She can wave and clap, though not always on command. I think she is soaking in more than I realize. She is good with routine and isn't nearly as anxious around strangers as Cedric was. She does well being left with Bob and her grandparents, which is a nice change. I think she'll be the most social of all of us! She is still a happy girl but getting more opinionated. She struggles during diaper changes and doesn't like getting dressed. I think she is just over laying down. She wants to be sitting, standing, crawling and moving. She hasn't been cruising much but is a great stander, she barely needs to hold onto anything to stand. I find her standing in the center of the room quite often now, it won't be long before she decides to walk. 

 Clara is eating well, though sometimes I worry I've been giving her too much adult food (i.e. -food with salt and sugar). She's not been as excited about the pouches lately but she did learn to feed them to herself. Once that happened I realized she needed a lot more food than I've been giving her. Some days she is hungrier than others but in general she likes to eat. She especially likes finger foods, which is hard for me because I don't want her to choke and she loves shoving it in. 

This was at Chipotle, the first self fed pouch and first black beans and rice. Now she can't stop eating them!

We've been trying to stay cool during the extra hot June. We went up to Lake Quivera and Clara had her first taste of sand. It must have been good, she kept going back for more :/ - It's hard to convince a crawling baby to stay on her beach blanket. 

We went to the outdoor wadding pool for the first time on her 10 month day. She loves her nightly baths with Cedric in Mama's tub so I knew the pool would be a hit. She loved splashing and trying to catch the water. She kept trying to crawl deeper and splash the fountains. She's a fun girl and it's going to be a fun summer!

Month 9 (or The Month Everything Happened)

 So much was happening leading up to Clara turning 9 months I kept a running list of her accomplishments in the kitchen. Of course, I've lost the list now but I'm sure it will pop up some day and make me smile. Or cry. This girl is growing up so fast. 

Let's start with the 9 month stats:

Length: 28.5 inches - 75%

Weight: 18 lbs 11 oz - 42%

Head Circ 17.8 inches - 79%

So Clara is growing well. We are wearing some 12 month clothes now. Clara has been eating more food lately, soft solids and has really gotten into the Cheerios. It seems like the more she tries the more she wants! We are about 50/50 regular food and baby food. She likes to try anything Cedric has, we have to watch carefully that she doesn't get anything she can choke on!

And she finally has some teeth! This was the first photo I was able to get as she is very protective of her mouth. 

The week after Clara turned 8 months she started crawling and never looked back. Here she was practicing at the Lawrence Sports Pavilion while Cedric was at gymnastics. She really seems to enjoy the freedom crawling gives and doesn't sit still anymore. The worst is outside, I can't have her happily sit on our beach mat anymore. She immediately crawls to the grass to find something to stick in her mouth. 

With crawling came sitting up on her own and pulling up on everything. It was all of a sudden she could do everything and it really messed up bedtime. She was sitting up if she was awake and she seemed to be awake a lot more. And then came the standing. So for a week or so I was in her room a lot putting her back down to sleep until I felt she had learned to sit down and lay down by herself. Then we tried some sleep training to get her to fall asleep on her own. It helped her night wake ups but the naps have a lot of crying.

Since Clara started crawling and pulling up on everything I figured she needed some shoes. So these are her first real pair of little shoes and so far she's done a good job of keeping them on - when we use them. They are really just for when we head out of the house incase she wants to crawl around or stand. 

Here is Clara in a cute shirt I bought before she was born. I seemed to think she'd be a big girl by 9 months :). 

I feel like I'm forgetting things. Crawling, standing, eating, sitting from standing, sitting from laying, and generally all over the place. Clara loves Siena and Siena does a good job letting Clara pet her. Clara found Siena's water bowl and loves to try to splash the water. She also likes to try to splash the water in the toilet bowl. She's busy. 

We are moving up to new toys. She can't push herself on the little car but she enjoys going for a ride. She isn't interested in the walker feature. With all the standing I thought she'd start cruising around the furniture already but she is perfectly happy to sit down and crawl to what she wants. Fine by me, I do not need a walker yet!

After she did so well on the little car (and been doing well in shopping carts) I figured she would be strong enough for the wagon. Here she is on 5/24. We were just going to go down to the mailbox but she was having such a great time we ended up walking around the long block. This picture was taken after the 20 min walk and she was still so excited. She loved sitting and grabbing at things. She loved interacting with Cedric. All in all, she is enjoying growing up.