For Uncle Ryan

This video is for Uncle Ryan. He hasn’t seen Clara walk yet since he lives in Florida, but he’s coming to visit in April so he’ll get to see all her new moves in person then.

A few updates from our house:

Walking – Clara has greatly improved in a week’s time. It’s crazy how much she improves every day. Wednesday evening she walked from the living room to the other end of the kitchen without stopping or falling. She’s also figured out how to turn and walked in a complete circle last night. She has not mastered standing up on her own yet, but once that comes, we think crawling will be a thing of the past.
Talking - She's says a few new words - hi, papa, and uh-oh. We were at Target last Saturday and a lady walked by our cart--plain as day and very loudly Clara said, "Hi!" The lady stopped a little surprised and was happy to return Clara's greeting. She mimicks us when we say "papa" (for Grandpa) and "uh-oh."
Manners - It's a good thing that our parents taught us manners at some point in our lives. One year-olds have no concept of manners. We went to the Carlin's house for dinner last Saturday. Clara didn't waste anytime going for the kitchen cabinets and trying to unload the contents. I laugh thinking of how odd it would be if an adult did this same thing. Thank goodness we know better! Clara also gets very demanding when it's mealtime. She has no patience to wait for her food and heaven forbid you don't get the next course to her tray before she runs out of food! And it doesn't matter if you're at home, someone else's house or in public. She will holler if you don't keep it coming quickly. She's a very adventurous eater. Last weekend she tried salmon , some mango, and asparagus. She liked all of those just fine. She refuses to eat scrambled eggs or cottage cheese at the moment.
Teeth - Clara has three teeth so far, and there may be a fourth one that has poked through, but we haven't been brave enough to check. I put my finger in her mouth to check recently, and she bit down REALLY hard on my finger. Very painful, and I learned that lesson!
Wear and tear - We've had a few things break at our house this week. In addition to problems with the heater and a smoking microwave, we had a clock fall off the wall and the glass on the face of the clock shattered. I worked a little later than normal on Monday and noticed the clock sitting on the kitchen counter when I got home. I asked Matt what made it fall off of the wall. His response, "Clara dared me to do a head stand." I still laugh whenever I think about this! Silly Daddy doing anything to impress his little girl.