Crawling

Clara Plays Piano

Clara at 6 Months

In her twilight delirium, Kate didn't realize that Clara woke for a feeding at the precise time she was born six months before. The bedside notebook, a log of Clara's consumption, is timestamped with the proof. Our girl seems to think half birthdays count for something. When you've not yet celebrated your first, I suppose they do.

Despite our attempts at strict discipline, we've not been able to subdue Clara's cheery personality. Smiling, cooing, and cough-laughing are hallmarks of her default "happy mode." In as much as genetics determines this trait, it comes from Kate. Clearly. From time to time -- and only in passing moments of confusion or bewilderment -- she furrows her brow, demonstrating that a few strands of her father's DNA made the final cut.

As we've noted, Clara is eating solids (rice cereal and the recently introduced sweet potato mush) and beginning to crawl. For a few days, she teased us with some verbal precociousness. "Ba-ba-ba-ba," she would say when tired or frustrated. "Maa-maa" once slipped out accidentally during a late night fit, but she quickly retracted the mistake. Any grateful child knows "da-da" comes first. Lately, the verbal progress has stalled while she focuses more on her crawling form.

Sleep has been good for a couple weeks. After coming back from our summer travel to visit with both families, Clara revolted from her put-down routine. When we signaled bed time, happy mode quickly dissolved into a tirade. The nursery was her solitary confinement, and she had become accustomed to performing for audiences.

This whole parenting thing seems to be about adapting to her change -- the trial and error of finding some new trick that will work when all the old ones have run their course -- and so we learned to evolve along with Clara's new behaviors. We instituted our modified version of the Ferber method. Instead of trying to lull her to sleep for an hour or more each night with walking, breast-feeding, bouncing, etc., we now place her in the crib and let her soothe herself into dreamland. It's working for the moment.

Clara has some adventures coming in these next two weeks. She will be baptized at First Presbyterian Church of Raleigh at the 11 am service on September 6th. We're excited to welcome many family members in town for the celebration. The next day, Clara will get her six-month check-up. We expect she will weigh in between 17 and 18 pounds and 26 to 27 inches tall. The following week, Clara goes to Wild Dunes outside of Charleston, South Carolina for her first beach visit. En lieu of sunscreen, we've purchased a baby burka. She will be the most modest child on the beach.

Today was a milestone for Grandma Dryden as well. She turned 70 years young, and marked the milestone in Salt Lake City with her two sisters and three living brothers. Happy birthday Dona!

Enjoy the picture of Clara showing off half of her birthday suit.

Portraits of the Active Child

Crawling: Technique In Progess

She's in a race against time. Clara turns 6 months next week, and she has not yet crawled. But boy can she rock...

It's Now Old Shoe

Eating solid foods is so easy, Clara can do it holding her own spoon and sporting a highly fashionable dog-face fez. (And she wears it so well!)

Enough of this kids stuff, when does she get her first venison burger?

Mama's 31st

Our 20s are becoming more and more distant as an image in our rear view mirror. And the ways we celebrate our 31st birthdays bare no resemblance to the ways we celebrated the hallmark date 10 years ago. But it works, this slower pace; this obsession with our progeny instead of ourselves. (Kate doubts that second part applies to Paul nearly as much as to her.)

Clara let Kate sleep in (again, a different definition than 10 years ago...or 6 months ago for that matter), then the birthday mom took it easy with a slow run on the Raleigh Greenway. That piqued the appetite for some bite size morsels from The Cupcake Shoppe, and we finished off the day with an early celebration at Franklin, Martha, Lily, and Davis' in Durham.

You know, these 30s aren't so bad. One gets used to trotting to this slower cadence...

Mmm...Rice Mush

After weeks of eying our every bite and lunging after each morsel on our plates, Clara has joined the ranks of those who partake of solid(ish) food. We capture the event, in all its pomp and circumstance, on video. Note the etiquette that comes so easy to Clara. See how she sips from the spoon so daintily. Marvel at her natural tidiness. And revel in our blue-eyed girl's cherubic chorus after this immaculate consumption. Such a gentle soul...

Clara's PA Visit

Clara's first trip to Pennsylvania was a success! The visit began with the annual McKnight Family Reunion at Camp, where Clara met her extended family and fell in love with her cousins. She can't wait until next year when she can join them for a dip in the pond! Highlights were definitely the grouse watching and blueberry picking. We then traveled to Grandma & Pap Paw McKnight's, where Clara was a hit with family and friends in L.H. She LOVED the constant attention (dare we say "spoiling!") from the numerous visitors from Kate's hometown. We have come to realize that Clara is such a social baby and is always looking around for someone with whom to chat and laugh!

The visit also marked a major developmental milestone: TEETH! Just days before she turned 5 months, up popped not one but two bottom teeth. The best view of them is during her endless stream of giggles during games of peek-a-boo. Solid food, here we come!