Clover Loves Books

Clover has had books read to her everyday since we brought her home from the hospital.  She probably couldn't even see some of the pages for awhile,  but we did it any way.  Johnny brings her new books from the library almost every week, and we buy her ones that are easy for her to hold or have something really special about them.  The Lamaze books and Taggies are great because they are soft and washable.  I like the board books that can be used almost like flash cards.   The ones that have pictures of things she would recognize and then the word for the object.  Cat, sock, banana, etc. 

While shopping this weekend, we were at Babies R Us and Johnny held out a nice toy for Clover to see. She smiled really big and got excited.  He held it close to her and she reached out and grabbed the booklet that was attached to it and started thumbing through the pages in delight.  He even got it on video, so hopefully, we will post it soon.

Clover also loves to eat.  She eats mostly organic, but we also do conventional baby food.  She has started feeding herself some finger foods, like banana and the little gerber snacks...fruit puffs and now little cheese puff snacks.  This weekend, Johnny and I had just finished eating our lunch and he was holding Clover.   I asked Clover if she was hungry and signed the word "eat".  She pointed to Johnny's plate, which still had some scraps on it.  This was the first time she has pointed at an object to communicate with us.  Johnny picked up a piece of fresh pineapple and said, "Is this what you want?".  The took the pacifier out of her mouth and threw it on the ground and tried to grab the fruit.  We didn't give it to her, but put her in her highchair and fed her something else.

9 Months Today

It is hard to believe Clover has reached 9 months already.  I was nostalgic and looking through the photos and videos.  It is amazing how much she has learned in such a short time.  She has changed our lives and is such a joy.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!!

Happy Father's Day, Johnny.  You are the best daddy to Clover.  She loves you so much and so do I.  You are so good with her.  She is so peaceful and happy when she is with you.  I know you will always have a special bond with her.  She is very lucky to have you for a father.

 Here Clover is getting ready to eat a banana.  She recognizes the word 'banana' and has tried to say the word when she has seen photos of a banana.  She said, "nun-nun-nun".

So far so good

She even likes the peel.

Baby's Night Out
This week, we took Clover out for a stroll in Downtown Decatur where we saw our friend, Kim Stone performing in front of Vittone's Pizza.  Clover is enjoying her juice, the music and just relaxing.

Just In Time for Father's Day

Clover was jumping in her Baby Einstein Jumper and her dad was sitting next to her.  She stopped jumping and looked at him with a sweet smile and said, "Daddy".  Not dada.  I can only imagine she was just so happy to be with her dad and she wanted him to know.  I was moved because it was so sweet and she said it so clear.  Later that day, I brought her into the kitchen and sat her down in her high chair.  She was looking for Johnny.  She turned to see him in the other room and started waving.  Then she said, "Heeey Daa-dee!" while she was waving.  It made our day. 

I can tell she wants to learn more words now.  She has lots of books and many are the picture books so they can learn the words.  Today, I noticed she was listening very hard to the words.  She is trying hard to repeat some words, and she has "moo" down pretty good.  (Daddy, Momma/Mommy, Moo, Yay, Hey)  She understands lots of other words (no, milk, bottle, baby, Grandma, book).  And she recognizes songs and tries to "sing" along by just opening her mouth and making noise.  Sometimes, she seems on key. 

Ava's Birthday Week

This weekend, we went to see Clover's cousin Ava at her groovy Birthday party at Chippie's in Albertville. I guess you would say it was a tie dye themed party and Ava turned 7! We had so much fun with all of Clover's family on Johnny's side. She was so excited to see every one. She got to bounce some with her Meme and her cousin Fox. She loved it when the lights went out and then the disco ball and spot lights came on with music so all the kids could dance. Later, we went to Ava's house to visit with all her aunts, uncles, cousins and Meme and Papa.

Clover has been doing some really cute new things this week. She will grab my face and ram her nose up against mine and move it from side to side giving me eskimo kisses. She has also started doing that to her little stuffed animal, Duckie, that Grandma got for her on Easter. She is crawling pretty fast now, but still her stomach doesn't come off the ground. She likes to take off and when you come towards her she will laugh as she tries to escape.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We were going to go out to the Daikin Festival on Friday night, but it rained so we took Clover for a night ride and daddy and I got a Chiggie Burggie. We got up the next morning at 5am to take Clover to see the balloons out at Point Mallard. My brother, Michael was going to ride up with his friends that morning, but the weather didn't allow it. We did get to see some of the commercial ballons get blown up and tethered for a bit.

Saturday afternoon, we took Clover to St. Ann's Seafood Festival and Johnny and I had the craw fish. Later that night, we took Clover to a party at the home of our friend Liz in Athens. We had a blast playing American Idol Karaoke. Clover tried to sing along and she clapped for the very first time and said, "YAY". Clover loves music so much and loves to clap.

We spent most of the rest of our weekend shopping for a new crib and doing some baby proofing around the house. She had a crib with a drop down side and those are all now being recalled. Johnny got her a really cute new crib that can later turn into a toddler bed and even a full size bed when she is out of her toddler bed. I didn't have my own full size bed until I was in my 30's. I thought I had arrived.