Just Had to Brag

I've somewhat neglected Clara's little milestones these past few months, so I thought a Clara post was in order. She's getting so big and learning so much lately. Here's just a few things she's been working on.

-- She started counting to 100 last month. She gets around 120 and starts to get confused, but I think she actually counted to 200 a couple of weeks ago. She doesn't yet recognize numbers over 20 though. Anytime I've pointed one out and asked her what it was, she wasn't able to tell me.

-- I've really been impressed by her understanding of basic math. There have been several instances when we've talked about something mathematical and she picked up on the concepts immediately. She can do basic addition and subtraction very quickly, but hasn't done any on paper, so she doesn't know her symbols yet. And Chris was talking about her and Robert's ages. He told her when she turned 5, Robert would be 1, and when she turned 6, Robert would be 2. At this point, Clara picked up on the pattern and took it all the way to "When I'm 10, Robert will be 6." I was shocked. She did it without thinking. I can't even do it without thinking about it. Oh, and Chris had her counting by even numbers the other day and she figured out the pattern in no time. If she indeed is a numbers kind of girl, she got that from her daddy. I, in no way, shape or form, contributed to a working understanding of numbers.

-- She still loves letters and asks how to spell things all the time. She also is into rhyming and pointing out words that start with the same letter. I haven't been able to get her to sound words out yet though. She resists when I try to have her sound things out. I'm in no hurry to teach her how to read so I don't push it. I know it'll just click one day.

-- She knows her address, and what city, state and country she lives in. We're working on her phone number.

-- She's learned several memory verses in her Sunday school class and has no problems at all rattling them off. They're also learning the books of the New Testament right now.

-- I've been amazed at her coloring abilities lately. It was only a few months ago that she was scribbling all over the page with a single color. Then she started trying to color right, but still way out of the lines. She started using different colors around this time also. She recently started staying in the lines better, but still didn't pay much attention to using appropriate colors. In fact, every single item on the page was a different color. Well, today she colored this picture. Overnight she became an awesome colorer. She colored the leaves green and the strawberry red and she colored all the sections of the curtain the same color and used a different color for the window frame. I was amazed when she showed me. (She gets her stellar coloring skills from me by the way.) I still love to color.

-- Her drawing has become more detailed lately too. She uses different colors now. She still just doesn't have a clue what to draw and really only does people. I try to coax her into drawing other things, but she just won't or if she does, it's completely indistinguishable. (She gets her lack of creativity and artistic ability from me by the way.) All I ever drew was houses and flowers. I still only draw stick figures.

-- Clara is a wonderful big sister. It's great having a set of hands to distract and entertain Robert for a few minutes when he starts fussing. She always says that God gave us the best baby and that she loves her Baby Robert.