New Trick!

(for the record, this was taken "way back" on the 9th).

Check out her big sister in the same pose back in July '05 here.

What we did today

We had a lovely spontaneous visit today to the Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary in Tiburon. Zach's high school friend, Joe, has recently started working there as a naturalist. He was great explaining all sorts of things to Molly (why are there holes in the rocks? what are these things on the rocks? etc).

PS. I'll try to catch up on more posts. It's been a marathon of colds & viruses here. Every time I think we're done we start another round.

[Sofi prepares to accept another handful of rocks to examine; Molly, Sofi, & Clara enjoy some beach exploration; Molly examines the "black" sand; Zach & Molly hike up the hill; Zach, Joe, & Josh (all high school friends) pause on the decline.]

Fabulous Four Months (2)*

Happy Four Months birthday Clara! It's been a busy few weeks for our family, but I couldn't forget that today marks four months that you've been on the outside with us. You're growing up quickly - in the last few weeks you've really started to "come into your own" as they say. Or, as Flor noticed on Tuesday, you know who you're with now. (Flor watches you every Tuesday now so I can teach my class. This Tuesday you were asleep when she came and when you woke up you cried when you saw her. Luckily, Flor doesn't get offended by these sorts of things, she just gets excited about how you notice people more now.)

You also notice things a lot more and you try to grab them. At our 4-month checkup on Wednesday Dr. Saba reminded me that you'd start grabbing things at the table. That afternoon, you tried to grab my soup bowl off the table, as predicted.

I use this grabbing to my advantage, though: we're now able to take car rides, more often than not, without you screaming the whole way. I've found a toy to hang from your car seat that you enjoy grabbing and trying to get in your mouth. And I've perfected the skill of figuring out just when you've had enough & I pop in the pacifier (thank goodness!) and pull a blanket over the car seat and eight times out of ten you go to sleep.

We also spend some nice time with you awake and exploring your hands, or, sometimes, a toy. But mostly your hands. And we've gotten pretty good at helping you go to sleep. If we catch you before you're over-tired we can usually just swaddle you tight, give you a pacifier, and lay you down in a quiet, dark place & you'll get some winks. I'm getting pretty good at this because you seem to just want 30 minute naps during the day. This means I put you down for a lot of naps. I shouldn't complain, though, because a) you go down for the naps very easily, and b) you sleep for many hours in a row most nights.

You're also still huge: you've long grown out of your newborn clothes and you're already growing out of most of your infant clothes. We've got a big stash of clothes from Molly, but it's just amazing to see how big you get so quickly! You don't seem to have the curls that Molly got from somewhere (and lost), but so far you seem to be keeping those crazy blue eyes.

Hopefully you'll be done with this cold soon. It's almost Spring time and I'm really ready for this non-stop cold season to be done already!

* See Molly's Fabulous Four Months here
** Exciting news! Tommy has a little sister. Welcome to the world Justine! We can't wait to meet you.

mommy & me & me

From the month of January:
mama & baby; mama & big sis; big sis goes for a backpack ride; the sky above the backpack ride; mama & Molly learn about fire trucks; Mama gives Molly a piggy-back ride tour of the fire trucks; all the Zanklin girls ready for bed; the Zanklin girls at the steam trains; and Clara showing off her baby-pattern baldness.

art project

Viruses

A nasty virus has been making it's rounds in our part of town. Molly & I got it. The entire family across the street got it. And the entire family on the next block got it (that's two out of the three families that we know in our neighborhood, in case you're counting). Fortunately, Zach & Clara have been spared (so far). It kept Molly out of school for tree days (!) and me in bed for nearly two days. Here, Molly shares her secret to getting better with the kid from across the street (they enjoyed a "sick party" while his Mom ran to the store to get a new humidifier. ). Her secret? Watching lots of videos about trucks trucks trucks.

delicious!

thanks for the beautiful sweater set!