Food Critic

No matter how enthusiastically her parents presented vegetables, fruits, and meats, Clara Grace never seemed quite able to trust many foods that strayed too far from some shade of beige. Needless to say, her mommy and daddy smiled politely, but didn’t slow down when a not so savory character with a nose ring and dreadlocks offered their daughter some teriyaki chicken on a toothpick outside the China Express. Much to their disbelief and slight chagrin, their finicky daughter gulped it down as though she’d never been fed in her life. She then used her powerful, one-year-old charm to win another sample and scarfed if from the stick twice as fast.

Sick as a Dog

While Clara Grace ate in her high chair on the morning of Tuesday, June twenty-seventh, her mommy noticed that the little girl seemed a bit stuffy and coughed every so often. “Are you okay?” her mommy asked sympathetically. Clara Grace responded in an extremely dejected voice, “No! Not okay not okay!” Her mommy realized actually acting sick during a cold was just one more little sign her baby was growing up all too quickly.

Share

On Saturday June the twenty-fourth, Clara Grace played at the Children’s Discovery Museum with her mommy. She watched enviously as other children raced around with a popping lawn mower. Finally a little boy discarded the coveted toy and she dashed in for her chance. Unfortunately, her triumph was short lived. She got in about three good pops, then decided to lay the lawnmower’s handle down for just one fraction of a second to give her mommy a toy shaker with which she had previously been playing. Another eager child swooped in right under poor Clara Grace’s nose and merrily popped away with the mower. As Clara Grace looked on in amazement and disappointment, her mommy heard her repeating softly an unhappy mantra of “Share, share, share, share.”

Peaceful Protest

By Friday, June the twenty-third, Clara Grace was becoming very good at communicating with words the things she did and did not want. This was a welcome relief to her parents who had often found themselves completely baffled by their daughter’s enthusiastic gestures, grunts, and cries in past months. On that particular evening, Clara Grace’s daddy had finished lathering her up with soap and then directed, “Okay, sit down in the water so I can get the soap off.” “No!” Clara Grace answered defiantly. “Clara Grace,” her daddy repeated in a firmer tone, “sit down.” “No, no,” his daughter whimpered, “Poopy,” she added and pointed out a floating log which obviously held contradictions for her when presented in the same context as cleaning off in the bathwater.

What's Important

On Thursday, June twenty-second, Clara Grace’s mommy set a bowl of oatmeal and a banana on her daughter’s high chair tray and then got busy preparing her own breakfast. With the push of a button, the family coffee machine whirred into action. No doubt, this sound brought to the minds of both mommy and daughter the family’s true coffee aficionado who was away on a four day speaking engagement. “Foffee,” Clara Grace commented as the lights on the machine blinked to life. “You’re right, I’m making coffee.” Her mommy answered. “Yum yum,” Clara Grace remarked then went back to scooping her oatmeal. Later that morning on the phone, Clara Grace’s mommy was sure to relate the influence Clara Grace’s daddy had already had on his one-year-old daughter.

One, Two...Skip a Few...100

On Sunday, June fourth, Clara Grace’s Daddy packed up the luggage from a weekend trip to Gatlinburg with the Whisman family. While he worked, he allowed his little girl to indulge in one of her favorite activities, pretending to drive his big, red car. After a few moments of two much quiet from the front seat though, he decided it would be prudent to investigate. What he found was Clara Grace on the floorboard helping herself to the travel stash of animal crackers. “What are you doing?” he asked rhetorically. “Mamamal crackers,” Clara Grace answered nervously. “I see that,” her daddy sighed, “and how many have you eaten?” he inquired not expecting any answer. “One, two…” his daughter replied.

Rats

On Monday, May the twenty-ninth, Clara Grace’s mommy made conversation with her daughter on the way home from a long trip of errands. “When we get out of the car, do you want to take a bath?” “No,” Clara Grace responded from her car seat. Always enjoying the thrill of outwitting a one year old, and knowing his daughter’s fondness for the word “no,” Clara Grace’s daddy then asked slyly, “Are you sure?” “Without a second’s hesitation, Clara Grace answered definitely, I’m sure.”

Calls it as She Sees It

On Monday, May the fifteenth Clara Grace sat on her Daddy’s lap while her mommy washed dishes across the house. Apparently Clara Grace felt the injustice of a rule being broken as her parents conversed across the space of the living room and over the noise of the running water. “Too loud!” she announced with finality.

So PAY!

On Saturday, May the thirteenth, Clara Grace’s mommy and daddy began to notice a strange form of pig latin creeping into their daughter’s vocabulary. Suddenly, once easily understandable words such as soap, no, and shoe, needed decoding. Thankfully the key was fairly simple; draw out the first part of a one-syllable word, then add “ay” very enthusiastically onto the ending. This created words like, “Soapay, shoeay, noay, noseay.” (Soap, sounds like So-PAY! for example.)

Birding Baby

Clara Grace shared her mommy and daddy’s hobby of bird watching even from an early age. She quickly developed the ability to recognize and identify three birds in the wild by their calls. When Clara Grace heard a crow, she exclaimed "Co, co!" When a Blue Jay flew over our yard and made its call, she jumped up excitedly and shouted, "Jay jay!" And whenever she heard the sad song of the morning dove, she informed her mommy, "Duh, duh!"

One...Two...THREE!

Clara Grace climbed nimbly to the top of her new slide time after time. Once at the top, she had a habit of getting her mommy’s attention by calling “Two, two, two…” until her mommy finally got the hint that it was her job to watch and count to three.

Masterpiece

Tuesday, April the eighteenth Clara Grace sat politely in her restaurant highchair and waited for her food. To pass the time, she colored streaks and dots of orange and blue on her paper placemat. Then, as if to acknowledge the true worth of her masterpiece, she laid down her crayons and kissed the abstract three times.

Backseat Driver

Clara Grace showed the first signs of becoming a backseat driver right around this time. Whenever her daddy took a curve a tad sharply or rode over a bump in the road, a firm “Whoa daddy!” came from the occupant of the car seat behind him. “Thanks baby,” her daddy replied obnoxiously and then made sure to give the next bump just a little bit more bounce.

A Discerning Ear

One habit of Clara Grace’s which her mommy and daddy find particularly adorable is her way of really listening to a song and then announcing her approval of a select few by a quick but enthusiastic “Yea!” after the final note has sounded. The reason her mommy and daddy find this habit particularly endearing is that while professional musicians score only the occasional “Yea”, whenever one of the amateur songs recorded in mommy and daddy’s home studio is played, Clara Grace never fails to be encouraging with resounding and decisive “ “Yea!”

Zoo Adventures

Clara Grace’s zoo visit on the morning of Monday, April the third proved to be quite eventful. She was high fived by an enthusiastic orangutan through the glass enclosure and if that wasn’t up close and personal enough, she was actually pecked right on the head by an African Crowned Crain. She ran straight for mommy, and although there were not many tears, that bird still retains one of the prime spots on her “Things not to be trusted” list.

On Friday, April the fourteenth, Clara Grace gave her mommy a flower for the very first time. While walking on a wooded path through the zoo, Clara Grace bent down to examine a pink petal on the trail. Then, deciding it was worth further notice, she marched back to her mommy and announced “Flow,” as she placed the silky petal in her mommy’s palm.

Riding Along in my Automobile

On Sunday, March the twenty-fifth, Clara Grace’s Daddy allowed her to pretend she was driving his big, red car while he worked on cleaning the automobile. Once it was clear that Clara Grace had mastered horn honking, a new game had to be found, so her daddy put her into her little motorized, blue car. After a few more minutes of productive cleaning, her daddy heard the whirring sound of the battery-operated motor, alerting him that Clara Grace was on the move. He looked up to see her pulling out of the garage and into the driveway as though she’d been driving all her life.

Whatever Works

Clara Grace was visiting her Nana and Baba in Michigan on Wednesday, March the twenty-second. All the grown-ups were finishing lunch that afternoon and clearly not paying Clara Grace enough attention, so she devised a plan. She toddled down the hall to her bedroom, climbed up onto the bed and grabbed her changing pad. Then, she dragged the pad back down the hall, and laid it out flat near the table. Once she had situated herself in a comfortable supine position on the mat she announced, “Diaper.” Upon inspection, her mommy found the little girl not very in need of a new diaper, but the plan had succeeded.

English Language Learner

On the morning of March the thirty-first, Clara Grace greeted her daddy with the words, “Hi, diaper, yes.”

It is amazing what social skills and conversation topics Clara Grace can glean from her meager vocabulary. She began a new custom on Saturday, April the first, which she maintained for months afterwards. Her mommy and daddy had taken her out for an omelet at the Waffle House. Of course, it wasn’t long before one of the waitresses stopped to say hello to the adorable little girl. Clara Grace returned the greeting and then, so as not to be rude, went on with further introductions. “Mommy,” she informed the waitress and patted her mommy. “Daddy,” she announced pointing across the booth to where her daddy sat.

Due to a backup in the dishwasher drain, Daddy spent all of the first week in April putting in a new kitchen floor. Fortunately this time, he had occasional help on the job. Whenever Clara Grace wandered into the worksite, she dutifully handed Daddy a nail and then joined in the hammering by exclaiming, “Boom, boom, boom!”

Jump!

On Thursday, March the sixteenth Clara Grace bent low to the ground, then thrust her arms up into the air with a loud exclamation of “Mmmm!” The sheer force of this motion actually propelled one foot from the ground. It was clear that this was Clara Grace’s first attempt at a jump. Within several weeks, both feet cleared two to three inches and she began replacing the exclamation with the actual word “Jump!”

More Conversational English

Monday, February the twentieth Clara Grace and her mommy played in the yard. Clara Grace surprised her mommy by pointing toward a mourning dove pecking around the bottom of the giant cedar tree and announcing “bird.”

One afternoon in early February Clara Grace’s mommy asked her daughter if she could kick her pink ball. She was surprised to see the coordinated little girl kick the ball several times all the way across the yard.