Birthday Plans and other developments

We have finally found a nice venue for Clover's first birthday.  The date of the party will be Saturday, September 25 from noon to 3pm.  All friends and family are invited to join us at Gullion Farms (http://www.gullionfarms.blogspot.com/).  There will be something for everyone: petting zoo, pony rides, a roping station, egg gathering, fishing.  Also, there is an enclosed area with seating as well as picnic tables outside and we will be serving lunch.  We are looking forward to sharing Clover's very special day with everyone.

Clover has been learning so much and she seems very pleased that she can perform tasks that she has been working on for some time.  She has been signing for "eat", "more", "milk", "diaper".  I woke up one morning last week and she was crying.  This is unusual these days.  I heard her saying "eat, eat, eat".  I went to her room and called to her as I was approaching her room. I asked her if she was hungry.  When I got there she said "EAT" and was making the sign for milk with both hands.  She must have been starving!

We are teaching Clover about foods as she is learning to chew more (still no teeth).  I'm not sure if we are behind on this or not.  This weekend we let her handle apples and peaches.  While she saw and smelled the apple, I fed her apple sauce.  We cut up one peach to eat and she smelled and touched another.  She also used a spoon correctly for the first time this weekend.

We made a Babies R Us run for some feeding supplies.  One thing we got was a feeder that you put food like a strawberry, for example, into this netting with a handle on it.  They can chew and suck on the food without risk of swallowing it whole or choking.  We got more age appropriate serveware, some organic snacks, some bath toys and some more developemental toys.  I never expected we would have so many toys. I think all of her toys are special and have been helpful in her learning.  Johnny has spent a lot of time researching things we get for her and I really appreciate the time he has taken to make sure she has the right kind of toys.  Also, I love seeing them play together.  She loves her dad so much, and I do too.