21 Months

Wow! 21 months and closing in fast on two years old. Here are a few things we thought worth noting for this entry:

Run, Clara, Run!

Her parents are eager to take full credit for this interest...Clara has gone crazy for running! True, we take her out for long runs on Raleigh's Greenway two or three times a week. It's a nice deal for her, too. While we're huffing and puffing behind her, Clara is bundled cozily, sipping on milk, and partaking from a veritable buffet of breakfast foods we place on the the jogging stroller tray. What's not to like?

Though we know plenty of other parents run with their kids, too, we're not seeing many other near-two-year-olds insisting on getting out to run along side mom and dad.


It started a couple weeks ago with a walk around the block. Clara insisted we go just after dusk, and as we set off for a leisurely stroll she starts churning her arms and heads down Frank Street. We expected this to last a few yards at most before she turns around and lifts her arms towards one of us for a pick-up.

Nope. Clara kept going. She took a right on Watauga, ran half-way up the hill, turned around and ran to Harding, took another right onto Clifton, and careened onto Frank Street before stopping to walk. This is 1/3 of a mile. She seemed less tired than Mama and Dada, shadowing her protectively through the jog. And she actually got a little ticked with us when we insisted it was time to go back home.

The next time we had her out on the Greenway, she refused to get into her stroller. She plodded along for about 1/4 mile while Kate and Paul alternated running ahead and coming back (the parenting fartlek).

Now each night at home Clara wants to run laps around the house before settling down for bed. The other night we think she hit 30 round-trips before going down. She runs the straight-aways as quickly as she can and churns her arms hard (a girl at the park told her that made you run faster), and this actually winded her a little bit. It's been a great way to get the energy out at day's end.

Bye-Bye B's

It's time, but Clara does not want to give it up. Kate has had to dig deep into her PhD bag of tricks to find the right behavior mods to help our young one kick this habit. At times it has very much seemed like getting monkey off her back.

Clara was used to her special time with Mama at almost any point of the day. All the signs were there that it was time to move on, but deny her this privilege when she wanted it and hell hath no fury!

Kate and Paul are planning their first vacation, sans-Clara, in February, so we knew we had to get the transition going. Kate worked Clara into a three times a day routine, then slowly cut out the day time cuddles and giving Clara a couple weeks to adjust. It was fascinating to watch her cope with the change. On the one hand, you could tell how it just ticked her off. We were taking something from her and she wanted it! On the other hand, she acted determined to play the role of good soldier. We knew when she wanted it, but she refused to ask. She would throw hints, get extremely moody, or talk incessantly about boobs, but she would not ask if Mama was not offering.

Then Kate whittled out night time feedings. This was such an established part of our routines that we thought it would produce a melt-down akin to Clara's own piece of Armageddon. Surprisingly, no. Kate told her that it was time to move it to the mornings, that we don't do it at night anymore, and kept her distracted as required. The routine changed in a matter of days. The night time expectation of BM is completely gone!

But we think we've channeled the rest of it into mornings, Clara's last vestige of this specific intimacy with Mama. She goes to bed more willingly at night because, as she tells us, she gets BM in the morning. Periodically through the day, she's remind Kate about what B's are for, and then says that we get them in the morning. While we were reading a nursery rhyme book this morning, she pointed to a mama duck, said she had boobs, and suggested the ducklings only get succor in the mornings.

While Kate got us so close to the finish line, we fear this final stretch will be the biggest challenge. We have two months to work it out. Let's go Clara!

What a Jokester

We will cherish this as long as it lasts. Clara laughs hysterically at two jokes we tell her. We know very well that soon enough she will see us most humorless beings on the planet.

There are only two in the repertoire, and she hangs on every word. Clara doesn't understand why it's supposed to be funny, but she seems to recognize that it has something to do with encountering the unexpected.

Kate's joke: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. But wait! If Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair then Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy was he?

Clara laughs and says "again!"

Paul's joke: Knock knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

She actually laughs at this and calls it the "'nana joke."

Iron Bowl 2010: The Comeback

Auburn was being pummeled by the Crimson Tide for 30 minutes of football action that had Paul pacing across the living room carpet, thinking that this was not a good day to quit biting his fingernails.

In the Iron Bowl, the defining game of Auburn's season - every season - Alabama had clocked 24 consecutive points. The Tigers sported a lonely egg on the scoreboard. We were already seething from the pre-game antics of the not-too-classy Alabama folks. Their PA-system operator blared "Son of a Preacher Man", and Steve Miller's "Take the Money and Run" while Cam Newton went through his warm-ups. As he left the field, the Bama student section threw handfuls of these dollar bill concoctions. Classy.

Losing in this fashion, after that trashy reception from our arch rivals, well...these events were threatening an otherwise pleasant Thanksgiving weekend.

Clara was asleep in the car, finishing off her daily nap while Kate flipped through her archive stack of popular entertainment magazines. They came back in during half-time to see a 24-7 score. Alabama was unstoppable in the first half, they're quarterback racking up 300+ yards of passing offense. Auburn's defense had been emasculated. Of course we would keep watching, even keep a little faith. But we were getting the sense that was a commitment of a faithful fan, sticking with them to the end no matter how ugly this thing turned out.

Auburn got the ball to start the third quarter. Clara and Kate sat on the couch while Paul kept pacing. Without much warning, the Tiger offense showed its spark. Newton connected with Zachery for a 70 yard touchdown pass less than a minute into the new half. The score was 24-14 and the CBS color commentator, Gary Danielson, said "now you have a football game."

Clara, who did not seem to be paying much attention, cocked her head and repeated the statement verbatim, "now you have a football game." I looked at her a little surprised, and she said it again, a little louder this time: "Now you have a football game."

Clara was Auburn's charm. That sparked the comeback, the biggest in the history of the Iron Bowl, where AU regained its juggernaut form and Alabama folded. It was a team effort. The offense managed another two touchdowns. But even bigger, the defense limited the elephants to just one more score for the game...a field goal. That performance after being brutalized in the first half.

When we tell this story - and we will tell this story! - it will ring loud with life lessons. It will be about perseverance. It will be about tenacity. It will be about quieting the loud voices of dissent.

And for the Dryden family at least, it will be about the parroted words, prophetic in nature, from our Clara who knew when the tide had turned.

War Eagle!

Thanksgiving 2010

We're locking in on our Thanksgiving traditions. Like last year (and each of the previous four), we stuck with Raleigh for the holiday, saving the travels for Christmas time. Here's a picture for compare and contrast.

Paul cooks the turkey on Thursday while Kate takes care of all the trimming. Clara gives each her seal of approval as they come from the oven. On Friday, we grab our Christmas tree.

As might be expected, Clara has been much more interested in the tree this year. Last Christmas it was a novelty to which she quickly became accustomed. This time, she's into it! She was eager to pick it out, and excited to decorate it. She can't wait to get in front of it each morning, urging her parents to turn on the twinkle lights. Sometimes she gives it a hug, pat-pat-patting the branches and saying "ahh."

It's wedged into a corner of the living room with the couch and chair forming a wedge to keep prying toddler hands away. At the apex of this wedge, Clara tells us, is where Santa will come to unpack her presents.

It's been a nice start to Christmas season.

Autumn Leaves

Clara helped her Dada rake up the leaves in the backyard, then took a break to jump into the pile. She told us it was her Big Bird's nest.

We then watched as more leaves fell from one of our enormous backyard maples.

Watching Clara Sleep

Why are we so obsessed with Clara's sleep? Most likely it's the challenge represented by it. Also, we see how fleeting our control over it is. While we are doing well with night time routines, she still wakes up between 5.00 and 5.30 most mornings. Her nap, which had become (emphasis on past tense) swiss like in its reliability, is getting dicier by the day. First we lost the ability to get her to sleep by following a nap time routine. We resorted to the stroller and car seat to lull her down, transplanting her into the crib as quickly as possible. Now, she wakes up from the transplant, throws a fit, and won't go back down.

What do we do? See this picture.

Clara falls asleep in the stroller, we carry the stroller up the stairs and put it in her bedroom. How she doesn't develop a permanent crick in her neck is beyond us. When she falls asleep in the car, we now carry reading material because we're keeping her in that seat for the duration. Nap time is no longer the opportunity for parent productivity it once was.

Still, few things make us smile more than watching Clara fall asleep for her naps. We usually see this through the rear view mirror. She fights it, nodding off a bit at a time. Her head will roll forward, but she snaps it back with some demand to follow ("music" or "again" or something that suggests she was awake the whole time). Then her eyes get heavy, her head folds down against her shoulder, and she's out. Love it.

Fort Fischer Aquarium: Two

We managed to time our visit to the aquarium to coincide with the daily cleaning of its huge tank. Clara had a front row seat in a concave lens portal as the divers jumped in and took questions from the audience. She was actually engaged by it for nearly 20 minutes!

Also, she was glad not to be eaten by the enormous stingray.

Fort Fisher Aquarium: One

It was almost exactly one year since we took Clara to her first North Carolina aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. She was more interested then in the retired ladies ogling over her than she was in the wildlife.

This time she was more interested in the 2 1/2 year old boy with a monkey backpack (the tail was like a leash for his parents to grab if he was wandering too far), but she took at least passing interest in some of the displays.

Below is a live gator. Sure, it was behind several inches of plexi-glass, but it still made our skin crawl to see its eyes following Clara while its body remained eerily still.

Ferry Trip to Ft. Fisher Aquarium

Perhaps it was the 70 mph speed at which we raced through the ferry parking lot to catch our ride over the Cape Fear River. Or perhaps it was the disorientating feel of being in a parked car but seeing the shore move away from you. Either way, Clara did NOT want out of her car seat as we headed across the water to the Ft. Fisher Aquarium outside of Wilmington. Note the white knuckled grip and defiant stare in the picture above.

Our powers of persuasion proved too much for young Clara, and soon we coaxed her from the car where she reluctantly took in the sights of Cape Fear. It wasn't until we were inside, however, that she finally loosened up. Seagulls kept flying up to the window, and she told us they were coming by to say "Hi, Clara!"

On the ride back, there was no hesitation. She was a seasoned pro, eager to get out of the car and point out the sailboats floating by us in the river.

Ring Around the ROSEYs!

Ring around the roseys...one of Clara's favorite songs.

Let's See How Clara...

Clara hamming it up for the video camera whilst Dada eggs her on.

Oak Island Beach Time

We're trying to set a world record for most time spent at the beach in a year. We're fortunate to have very generous friends and family that allow us that luxury. Thank you Bob and Alice!

It was a beautiful November visit with perfect weather for this time of year. We've come to enjoy winter beach trips quite a bit. While there was no nudie-girl frolicking this time, we did run up and down the sand and dip our toes in the water several times.

We even saw a squadron of dolphins only 20 feet or so from shore.

Sleep Clara Sleep

Daylight savings is gone. While so many people look forward to that extra hour of sleep (even at the expense of evening light), those of us with young ones resent how it regresses our hard-earned night routines. Kate, Paul and Clara remain very much on the old time. Now, instead of 5.28 am wake time, Clara stirs at 4.28 with such pleadings as "Mama up, Clara down" or "Clara awake, Clara awake, Clara awake" or "I get up."

Clara's napping has degraded over the past couple of weeks. So when she actually goes down for a long nap in her parent's bed, we have to document it.

Clara's ABC's

Not a bad start!