without a baby

Bella is on vacation with her Grandparents this week. I assure you that she's just 35 minutes away and also in the company of Jack, John and Ashley. All reports say she's doing just fine, which makes us happy. It's strange to not see her in the backseat of the car or walking around the house. It's odd to converse, but not to raise our voices to be heard over her babbling. We miss her!

Above is a picture from Christmas before Bella was born...when we were living like we're living this week.

squinting frog legs

Despite the looks of this picture, Bella is enjoying swimming lessons. She loves all the songs that her Dad attempts to sing. I won't say that she loves being dunked underwater, but she doesn't hate it either. She is learning how to kick, kick, kick her legs which, at this point, just seem to flop out like a frog.

...and if you think the picture is blurry - it is! The camera lens has potato chip grease on it...which I'm going to learn how to clean soon.

treats

Bellatrix and Penny really get along well. Bella likes to give treats and Penny likes to eat them. She's licking her chops in anticipation!

dat?

In the bathtub tonight Bella pointed to boats and asked, "dat?" I said "blue boat". She pointed to another, "dat?" and looked for me to tell her again. I answered "yellow boat". This went on and on and it was so fun! dat? dat? dat?

While reading Frosty the Snowman, she points to the puppy that is on each page. I say "puppy" but she seems a bit confused...and it is confusing because we call her lovey a "puppy" and we call Duchess a "puppy" (even though she's getting really old). We call Duchess by her name sometimes too and Bella has picked up on this. She calls Duchess "Duchie"...and calls Penny "Duchie" too.

Here's her word inventory at almost 16 months:

• no for no
• Duchie for Duchess
• i for Hi
• dat for What's that?
• waaaa (scream) for anything*
• nnn (whine) for most things*

*she's mastered these! Ha!

finished

We have been emphasizing signs, songs and pictures with Bella. Here's a picture of her telling us that she's finished. She puts her arms out (but usually she doesn't cry). Her only other sign is her prompt for us to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider. She puts her finger to her other hand and then we start singing...over and over and over.

We've been cutting the pictures of food from boxes so she can choose what she wants to eat. So far she mostly chooses Cheerios. The choices are yogurt, oranges, applesauce, chicken nuggets and Cheerios...but we'll add more when we empty other boxes. I'm not sure how long it will work, but for now, its fun to try.

warm, hot and cold

This morning Bella slept until 8:45 am! It was a record! We scooped her up and went out to breakfast. It wasn't breakfast in bed, it was breakfast in pajamas! It was a warm up to our day.
We spent the afternoon with John, Ashley and Jack eating pizza and cooling down in a splash park. It was hot! Bella was walking around and enjoyed the water. When it was time to go, Matt strolled Bella through the fountains. It doesn't look like it, but she liked it. She was soaked!
Here's a picture from a couple of months ago when it was cold...or at least cool. We would have died in long sleeves and pants today.

movies

Bella loves dancing to her Piggy Bank! "I am a piggy bank, I have a piggy snout, You can put coins in my slot and you can take them out..."

Penny is very patient with Bella. She does much worse to her than is shown in this clip. Her latest torment is to try to poke Penny's eyes with her fingers. Fortunately for Penny, she's pretty slow and Penny just closes her eyes or turns her head...and then Bella's motor planning is foiled.

We sometimes call her Bellazilla. She walks around squawking and growling. Here's a short sample of a happy Bellazilla. Sometimes she walks around as mad Bellazilla, which sounds the same but she has her hands up.

Mr. Roy sings the Itsy Bitsy Spider with Bella at school. Here's the home version. Enjoy!

swim lessons

Bella began her swim lessons Saturday at the YMCA! She started slow and was the only kid standing out of the pool instead of in the pool. She's one of the youngest (or at least smallest) so you have to give her a break.
Kick, kick, kicking with her water shoes on.
She didn't like it a whole lot...but give her some time. I'm sure she will!
Reaching for a yellow duckie and blowing bubbles.
Singing and clapping! Yea! The first class is over!