Clara Jane at 8 months old

At eight months old, the two biggest happenings in Clara's life right now involve standing and teething. Paul noticed Clara's tooth coming in on Saturday, Jan. 14th (for the record) while I was at work. Clarabelle gets angry when we try sticking our fingers in her mouth to look at it (let alone take a photo of it) but it is a darling little white nub on the bottom front left side of her mouth that should break through her gums any day now. So far she seems to be handling it well - no fever or fussiness over it. The only thing that seems different is she has been a little more clingy than normal and lately has taken to laying her head down on my shoulder so I can stroke her hair. She woke up at 5:30 a.m. the other day, still sleepy but unable to sleep, I think because her tooth was bothering her, and started laughing and calling out from her crib. We tried just bringing her into bed with us to see if she would fall asleep again but she just wanted to climb all over Paul to prove she is capable of that feat, so I took her back to her room and rocked her for half an hour. She laid her head against my chest and patted my shoulder with her tiny hand, sighing contentedly, while I twisted tendrils of her hair between my fingers for half an hour until I finally put her back in her crib, soothed, at 6:00 a.m. and she fell asleep for one more hour. 

Not letting me see her tooth.

All Clara wants to do anymore is stand up - at the couch, at her musical table, on the bed between mom and dad, in the bathtub (I can't get her to stop doing this so I am constantly seating her back on her bum in the water while I try to get her clean these days), by the sliding glass door, behind mom using fistfuls of my jammies to keep her balance while I am getting ready in the morning, behind dad using fistfuls of his jeans for balance while he is washing bottles, etc. It is kind of awesome and kind of scary. She falls sometimes and has bonked her head pretty hard a couple of times, which is so sad but bound to happen. Paul's theory is that if he claps when she falls, she will think it is a good thing and not cry. So far, the theory has held pretty true and she just rolls over, beams at us, then stands up again. She is also transitioning between the objects she uses for standing - from the sliding glass door to the table or the table to the couch, etc.

No words yet, so far, although Clara does repeat "da-da-da-da-da-da" and so Paul might always claim that she said "dada" first. But I don't think that she grasps it as a word yet. She talks to us a lot though and she talks to herself in her carseat or crib sometimes.

Clara cannot lay still for a diaper change anymore. She rolls away and then crawls as fast and she can to escape. And if I try to lock her into position with my knees or one-hand, she fiercely arches her back in defiance.

She still takes two 1 1/2 hour naps each day, sometimes with a third shorter nap for good measure, and she consistently goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until 6:30 the next morning. We cover her with a little blanket at night and she giggles when I tuck it in around her sides. 

Clara eats three solid meals a day and drinks 5 six ounce bottles each day.

Clara can actually do the clapping and "throw it in the air" portions of patty-cake now without our help, although she won't do it for an audience yet. So I am now going to start working on some baby sign language with her - probably "bottle" or "milk", "all done", and "bath" - just the basics.