Where did Oct go?

For real. Time is flying. And Bella is growing way too fast. Every day she amazes us with something new.

She's picking up on words really well. Not stringing any together, but is able to communicate with us just fine. I love having a 'conversation' with her each night. Although every night she tells me pretty much the same thing (her and Papa drew blue snakes, she ate 'fish' for a snack, and sang songs about the sun)...but she does remember things. For example, JT's mom told me that they sang Wheels on the Bus a lot one day and when I asked her later that night "what song did you and Nana sing?" she did the 'wheel' motion.

Simple things like this make you realize that she is a little person with a mind of her own. Which is also clear as she starts to get more independent. For example, she no longer wants to sit in her high chair - it's her booster or nothing at home. She fought a bib for a while but we are over that, thank god. But the trick is to let her choose things now. Let her choose from 3 bibs, let her decide what she is eating for breakfast (Rice Krispies, toast or oatmeal is usually her request), let her pick out her shoes, etc.

While TV is pretty much still off limits, we’ve caved and started letting her watch YouTube videos of songs. It’s so cute to watch her dance along and point out her favorites. I don’t mean to be one of those strict moms, but I just don’t want to get her in the bad habit of being addicted to TV….but I’m thinking for Christmas she can get an Elmo dance DVD. Just no movies or cartoon shows yet. We’ve got plenty of time for those!

On that same topic, we get a little bit of a hard time for not letting Bella eat candy or fried food…but I think it’s been good. So yes she went trick or treating, but no she didn’t get any of the candy. It goes back to getting addicted to things early- the last thing we need is for her to stop eating fruits/veggies because all she wants are fries and cookies!! So still no candy, no fries, desserts are a special treat on someone’s’ birthday, etc. I know it won’t last forever, but her liking apples and broccoli over anything else won’t last forever either – so we are taking advantage of it while we can!

There’s the monthly update. For pictures go to facebook or flickr.

Boy that was hard...

Left Bella for 6 days. The first few were honestly fine, but by day 5 I was really starting to regret leaving for so long. Maybe it was because by that time we were at my Aunt's in Carlsbad and I not only knew I could have brought her there (just not to our 3 days/2 nights in LA) but heard her on the phone for the first time since we left....

So it goes without saying that it was so great to see her again today. I know she was in great hands, but missed the cuddles, kisses and laughs she gives us each day.

In other news, I'm loving the playtime our ECFE offers 2x a week now. Monday nights are for babies and toddlers only, Thurs nights are for babies though Kindergarten age. We've been to several and at first Bella was timid but tonight she RAN into the room and had a blast. It is so good to see her actually interact with other kids (she imitated one boy, actually allowed another kid to play WITH her, and laughed alongside another kid...little things that you don't get to experience when your kid isn't in daycare).

It’s also nice to chat with the other parents of course. Potty training has been on my mind lately. I know it’s too early to really start, but I think she’s starting to pick up on the fact that sometimes ‘Mommy has to go potty in the bathroom’ (rather than a diaper) and my mother-in-law told us that she actually warned them she was going to dirty a diaper (pinching her nose for ‘PU!’ before she did it). I haven’t seen that yet, but don’t doubt it. Anyway, talking to this mom it sounds like she started at 20 months and the last time we were at the Dr she said not to even bother doing anything now…so again, I know it’s early but it’s the next big milestone to tackle!

This week should be low key, hopefully… we need to get back into our normal routine and hope that isn’t too tough for Bella, either.

Big Helper

Bella can now help us ...

• put away dishes - she takes one thing at a time from the dishwasher and brings it to the cupboard where it belongs (yes, she even knows cups go one place, Tupperware another, silverware in a drawer...)
• "fold laundry" - still working on this but she likes to take laundry from the basket, run into a room (ours or hers) and put it in a random drawer. Pretty cute.
• put away groceries - if she likes it/eats it, she knows where it goes - otherwise we have to direct her to 'fridge' or 'over here by mommy'

Just need to get her scrubbing floors and weeding the garden - then we'd be set!

Yup, we're still here.

I haven't been checking blogs or writing in my own for a long time (maybe all summer?) but have been getting caught up the past week or so.

Can't promise regular updates. Mostly because I don't think I can keep up with Bella. Seriously, everyday she amazes me by doing something new.

The latest is learning her colors. I'm shocked that she actually can identify black, blue, white, red, etc. She’s not always consistent, but I attribute it to her being stubborn (not wanting to ‘perform on command’) because she clearly knows what she is doing. She even says 'black' - why 'black'? I don't know unless it sounds similar enough to 'baaa' which she does to imitate a sheep.

Words come sporadically. She hasn't really said a new one lately - down, kitty, and num num are still the most common. And 'NO' of course. Thankfully she learned to "say" yes by nodding her head vigorously. It’s a little easier to know we are understanding her as before if the answer wasn’t ‘no’ we just assumed that was a yes.

The new thing in my car is not only for her to ask for music (“mmmmm” and point to the radio), but specific songs. “YUM YUM!” is for “I like to eat, eat, eat Apples and Bananas!” hitting her head for ‘No more monkeys jumping on the bed’ or arching her arms above her head for ‘Mr Sun’. Or sometimes she’ll just make the ‘itsy-bitsy’ spider gestures and we sing it since I don’t have it on CD.

She won’t eat bananas anymore. Burn out? But she’ll still stuff herself with almost any other fruit. She officially doesn’t like potatoes or chocolate. Breakfast in the mornings are usually Rice Krispies, an Eggo or apple oatmeal.

JT and I decided to stop ordering fried food when we go out to eat after we got fed up with all the kids meals in restaurants basically being a plate of fried food (fried chicken fingers w/ a side of French fries for my kid? No way.). We always ask for steamed veggies instead of the fries, but I wanted to follow the rule that if we won’t something to Bella then JT and I probably shouldn’t be eating either – right?

So no fried food [hint hint Grandma! ;) ], but yesterday I decided to get her a happy meal (my first time ordering one since my own childhood!) w/ chicken nuggets and she wouldn’t even eat the breaded/fried part. Good girl! Although, talking with people at work it doesn’t sound like these healthy habits last. The other morning I got informed that soon enough Mac & Cheese will be the staple of her diet – breakfast, lunch and dinner. Fingers crossed that my kid is the exception, right?

So to sum things up, we’re having fun and it still amazes me how Bella can make these ‘minor’ things (like eating breakfast) extraordinary. Who knew I’d get excited about someone eating waffles for breakfast? But it’s so damn cute to see her point to the freezer and then the toaster!

Oh and congrats to my friend Jessie who is pregnant with #2 – reading her blog about pregnancy symptoms brought back some memories, that’s for sure!

Toothbrushes and Tantrums

Is it wrong that I think Bella’s tantrums are pretty darn cute? This weekend she had two almost in a row and I found myself almost happy because I was able to giggle/smile at her getting ‘mad’… Maybe because both times were at Daddy.

Tantrum #1 - She loves her toothbrush. She knows where it is and how to open the drawer to get it. While I’m happy she is excited about good dental hygiene, it has resulted in a few tears when we have to force her to put it away. For example, we will not let her run around the basement with it in her mouth or try to brush Leinie’s teeth with it. So one of her tantrums was because Daddy made her put it away when she wasn’t ready to be done.

Most of the time, tooth-brushing goes off smoothly. We get our Elmo toothpaste and sing the ‘brush your teeth song’ (when you wake up in the morning and it’s quarter to one, and you want to have a little fun you brush your teeth - …). She wiggles her little butt and dances as we go though all 5 verses (when it’s quarter to five and you JUST CAN’T WAIT TO FEEL ALIVE!). Then we are done unless she decides to ‘brush’ extra good and we have to go though the song again.

On that note, her top two molars are almost though and the bottom right molar just started. Poor girl is in some pain, I think. But she handles it well.

Tantrum #2 – Daddy wouldn’t let her hold the bubble soap (because she would have spilled it). This resulted in an all out “I’m not even going to look at Daddy” tantrum. Where do they learn this stuff?!

Oh the Wonderful Things Bella Can Do! She Can Go...

"Daddy" or "DaDa"
"Mama"
"Kitty!"
"Down"
"Nana" (banana)
"Leinie" or "Lili"
"ball"
"eh" (I think this means yes)
"nononono"
"eeee-ow" (Meow)
"mmmmmm" (moooo!)
"oooooAAAooOOoAA" (Ooo-ah ah! Monkey!)
"pfffff" (elephant noise...she actually doesn't make any noise but she pushes her lips together and tries!)

my baby ate peas for breakfast

Her newest thrill is feeding herself w/ a spoon or (baby) fork. So this morning she had cut up strawberries and a blueberry bagel in front of her, yet she kept pointing to where we keep her Gerber blended food until I took out what she wanted. So sure enough, she had blended peas for breakfast.

And of course, whatever Bella wants, Bella gets! :)