Clara has started to develop friends–other kids now have names and they aren’t simply interchangeable. We had the chance to hang with Mika on her home turf in Cambridge along with her folks, Sara and Nien-he, and her baby sitter Emi. The following day, Sunday, we hung out with Rick, Nira, and Elise at our place. In both cases the desire of all young children to have something that is their own came through crystal clear. “Mine” is a deep-seated human feeling; I wonder how any of us learned to share? Nevertheless, I think Clara is as a cute can be whether she is racing, playing, eating, or “sharing.” Enjoy.
Clara has loved to push large toy cars and trucks around for a couple of months now, but she has now moved on to larger things to push around: grocery carts and her own stroller. Recognizing the she increasingly likes to push her stroller rather than ride in it, we thought we would get her a stroller of her own. It proved wonderfully successful. I got some video of her trying out the store model!
I also caught Clara after a nap on video. I cherish the chance to go into her room and pickup her up after a nap.
Enjoy the new pics from lounging around on the couch away from the cold weather outside too.
Here are some recent videos of Clara that include the playground, spoons, a rube goldberg apparatus, and some fish.
The spoons video is the longest so only die hard Clara fans should attempt to watch it in its entirety; the playground is relatively routine clip of where Clara plays every weekend; and the rube goldberg apparatus and large fish tanks are in the lobby of Boston Children’s Hospital that we chill at sometimes when visiting H.
Clara is adding words like crazy, but I can’t seem to ever catch her saying much of anything. Just to name a few here, she can say thank you, please, I don’t like that, waffle, fish, cheese, yellow, cheeks, row, moon, plant, romeo, elmo, block, coat, toe, shoe, sock, pants . . . and the list goes on and on.
{I promised Papa a new picture today! Here are a couple–I’ll update more tomorrow night! . . . New Pictures have been added}
So since early January we have had a series of snows and thaws, which have led to many more outings with Clara to the playground. We also have made advancements inside the house, especially eating. Apparently Clara has been eating with a spoon for some time at school (like 6 to 8 weeks), but she just started (last week) using a spoon at home. Go figure! Anyway, I captured some video of her new skill–while mundane, it is still fun.
The thaw brought Daisy, Grammy, and Grandpa as well as Lois and Janice (our Aunts from the Cape) to Boston. We enjoyed the afternoon and Clara relished in all the attention. Thanks for visiting us Aunties–Clara hopes to see you again soon.
As for a raw number update, Clara is about 33+ inches tall! She is almost a three footer.
Grandma, Papaw, Brian and Danielle came to Boston for a New Year’s Burris gathering. We got the update on the cousins (congrats to Courtney, Katelyn, and Billy), great uncles, great aunts, and friends back in Indiana, the progress on fusion energy, and the status of green building in New England; however, Clara was only marginally interested in that. She took great pleasure in her first ELMO–I think it is called kiss me Elmo. Elmo blows kisses and makes kissing sounds, a skill Clara has mastered over the last month. I hope to catch it on tape soon!
Clara also enjoys watching youtube video of “Daisy” and her favorite musical group They Might Be Giants, which has been the background music in most of the videos posted here. Pictures of Clara near the computer probably indicate this activity is currently taking place. Enjoy.
For the holidays Clara, Heather, and myself took the short trek to Connecticut to eat, share gifts, laugh, relax, and celebrate. It was Clara’s second, but like the first she acted (thankfully) as if it was just another day to run, scream, eat, and giggle. She had a blast playing with her favorite family member–Daisy. Sure, she had fun with Dave, Grammy, and Papa too, but as the video clips below show, Daisy seems to rank number one.
We went on our familiar walks up Stonehill and Stuart, lit a duraflame log, had afternoon tea with biscotti, enjoyed two wonderful feasts, nova on sunday, and a big helping of warm soup every lunch. We also listened to the Muppets’ Christmas CD, devised gift-giving orders, skyped Nana and Papa, emptied stockings, and watched a seasonably reasonable number of sporting matches. Oh, and it would be remiss to mention, we all played lots of games with Dave.
Clara was held by us all and licked thoroughly by Daisy.
Excuse the extremely large picture of Clara, but I loved the smile.
Like many of you out there we too received snow this past week. With a foot of snow on the ground, Clara clamored to use some of her new snow gear. Here are some rosy pics from Clara’s first real snow.
In the warmth of the house, I caught Clara stacking some cylindrical blocks. Not very exciting stuff, but one of those cool developmental moments to catch on video.
For the last two months Clara has been marking the conclusion to musical performances with intense clapping and a loud series of bravo’s. This apparently first happened at daycare when a teacher clapped and said bravo after they were done signing a song; from that moment forward she has not stopped. I’ve been meaning to catch it on video and I finally caught it (along with some dancing). The “brabboh” comes at the end if you want to fast forward to the last 20 seconds.
I also included some more pictures from the playground. I think Clara looks so cute in her hood (even with her runny nose).
Aunt Nancy hosted Saturday Thanksgiving for the Williams’ side of the family. The food was fantastic–Penny’s sweet potatoes with marshmallows, Gail’s green bean casserole, and Aunt Nancy’s hot cider (as well as turkey, stuffing, squash, potatoes, shrimp, and . . .). Uncle Dave was present as well–his first time to see Clara walking and wearing the winter jacket he got her.
Clara had a great time with Daisy, family, and all the new “toys” at Nancy’s house.
Milt and Alrene sent Clara a rocker about a year ago and it has now become a key part of her universe. It is part jungle gym, part rocker, and part reading spot. I’ve also included some pics of clara with her books (she is obsessed with them) and some other just plain old cute photos. Thanks Milt and Alrene!
