Bella at play

As Bella becomes more independent, away goes any inhibitions that she may have had. Spending time with other children, both her age an older, has helped this progress; as she watches other children at play, she immediately tries to either imitate or participate. She has never been on a tricycle before, but didn't hesitate to get onto this one as soon as our friends Jeff and Monika's daughter Vicky got off. Never mind that fact that Bella capsized this about four times before mastering the mounting technique, she was determined to get on this thing and try and ride it as Vicky just had.
Jeff sent a text yesterday afternoon inviting us over to let the kids run around and meet the new puppy (Bruno the Vizla). At first, we didn't think we would make it since we had a long drive ahead of us back from camping, however Bella had a great nap during the ride, and we got back to the house at about 1 PM leaving a great afternoon ahead of us.

When we arrived at Jeff & Monika's, Bella was a little slow at first to warm up to people that she hadn't seen (or seen by) in over a year: (I can't believe that it has been that long since having Bella over to visit them at their house with Bella). It only took about 10 minutes, a little snack, and seeing all of the other small children (and puppy) running around for Bella to ditch Daddy and join in the mayhem: Up the stairs, down the stairs, to the swing set, on the swings, chase the puppy, Vicky was a bit reluctant at first, but then very hospitable to invite a "strange" 20 month old up to her room to see her toys. After seeing this, I just let her go and figure the rest out for herself. In time, Bella teamed up with Tom and Megan's daughter Fiona climbing up the ladder to the second tier of the swing set (no small feat for someone Bella's size; it was a regular ladder, not a set of stairs!).
Out came the sidewalk chalk, and everyone dropped the rolling toys and got down on the ground drawing and being drawn. Bella immediately grabbed a piece, but took a minute or two to figure out what to do with it. She made a few scratches on the ground herself, and then joined the others "helping" color in their drawings; she even tried coloring Daddy's feet at one point. Then Jeff asked Vicky to lay down so that she could be "drawn". As soon as the other kids saw that this meant special close attention, they were lying all about waiting for their turn. Bella, or course, followed suit and struck a pose in suspended animation on the driveway. As I drew her, she didn't move a muscle waiting for me to finish: it almost reminds me of the silhouette of her on the header of this blog - in mid-step with her hands up in the air.