Nineteen

We’re were a little late snapping/uploading/photoshopping Clara’s monthly picture this week, but here it (finally) is in all of its festive glory:

Having learned that lately she’s better with something to interact with (like the bugs on her fabric last month), we invited some Christmas decorations to join her this go around. First she was a bit standoffish with her co-stars.

But she slowly warmed up a bit and became interested in them.

Especially once we offered Clara a box of raisins to keep her happy.

Though most of the photo shoot looked like this – someone’s back to us as she closely examined the red reindeer.

Oh, and there was a little bit of this Clara-as-a-reindeer action going on too. Look how perfectly those antlers line up. I guess she’s trying to remind her inanimate co-stars who the real star of this production is.

Eventually our suggestion to “give the reindeer a kiss!” yielded this sweet (though a smidge blurry) snapshot. And it was just too cute to pass up.

You can check out all 61 of the Clara-project photos that we’ve taken since she was born here. Man do we love photographing that gal. Too bad Burger isn’t as willing to step in front of the camera (he’d be pretty cute next to that reindeer since he’s the smaller not-red-or-antlered version). But we do have some Burger posts in the pipeline since we realize that this has turned into the Clara show lately (and he did the weirdest thing yesterday, which we happened to catch on film).

Santa Claus Is Coming

One of the perks of John’s parents’ new neighborhood here in Richmond is that Santa comes to visit a couple of weeks before Christmas. Aka, we get to avoid the mall crowd and be one of a dozen or so families that get to meet the Clauses. Though Clara, who’s currently in a super shy stage, only got about this close to Saint Nick.

We weren’t expecting a quiet lap sitting to happen this year, so we weren’t surprised when Clara kept her distance (her Santa obsession only extends to cartoon/inflatable Santas apparently). But her shyness started to melt away when the red-suited guy broke out a story.

She immediately plopped down next to her cousin Emanuel, held his hand (cue the collective “aww”) and intently watched Santa read The Night Before Christmas.

Actually, the quiet sitting only lasted for a few pages of the story. Emanuel got excited when a train made an appearance in the book, which got Clara up and slowly inching closer to Mr. Claus.

By the end of the evening, I think we got within two feet. And we even managed to get a “bye bye Santa!” squeal on our way out. Maybe the lap will happen next year…

Playing With The Big Dogs… Yet Again.

So it’s clear that Clara has a thing for dogs. And has absolutely no fear of them. In fact, she likes to get all up in their business (as we previously saw here and here). Her latest canine cuddlebug was her cousins’ dog (and Burger’s nemesis): Tuck. Forgive the terrible iPhone-ness of these pictures, there was hardly any light but it was too funny not to photograph.

A big thank you goes out to Tuck for being such a gentle giant. Although it certainly didn’t teach Clara any lessons about personal space…