Archive for January, 2012

The Sprawl

Before we head to bed each night, we always sneak into Clara’s room to peek at her sleeping. Partly to tuck her in again (she always manages to kick off her blankets) and partly to see what weird position she has managed to wriggle into. Last night we found her like this:

Her two favorite stuffed animals had become pillows. Either that or they were victims of an attempted smothering. It looked pretty uncomfortable to us, but we let her be because she was, well, sleeping like a baby.

You Know You’re From Jersey When…

…even your one year old is mesmerized by a giant gold chain.

John thought maybe she was channeling Mr. T or preparing to do a Houdini-esque escape trick, but I (her New Jersery born-and-raised mother) know the true reason for her attraction to this blingy accessory. The Garden State is rich in her bloodline.

The chain was leftover from our closet light hanging project and Clara was immediately entranced by the sounds it made. Which is why she proceeded to run around the kitchen with it.

There was also some marching.

And spinning.

 And in case you’re unconvinced of her Jerseyliciousness, may I submit the following video into evidence?

John’s just jealous because her Virginia heritage is much subtler. Although I certainly wouldn’t mind if a sweet little Richmond accent crept in there too…

Monkey Hoarder

Monkeys are gradually becoming Clara’s “thing” (threatening to unseat her previous favorite wild animal, the giraffe – not to be confused with her favorite domestic animal, which will always be Burger). Just check out the scene we witnessed the other night.

That’s her carrying (as we call them) Baby Lisa, Monkey Baby, and Monkey – a virtual reverse evolutionary chart of dolls if you will. And yes, there’s a monkey on her pjs too.

The big monkey was a gift from Sherry’s brother Dan and his wife Ali. Dan has adopted the nickname of Uncle Monkey, so he’s a big part Clara’s simian shift. In fact, this was their Christmas gift to her:

It’s a Skip Hop backpack (we attached the ribbon to girl it up a bit) that we’re now using as her diaper bag (it mostly lives in the car so we have diapers on hand wherever we are). If all this weren’t so darn cute, we’d wonder if we’re paving the way for our very own episode of Animal Hoarders. Seriously, how cute are those banana zippers though?