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!