Swimming!

We got Bella some little swim toys in anticipation of the family swim times at Andrew's pool, and she couldn't wait for the water!


When we finally did get to the water, she absolutely loved it. We had to keep pulling her out to let her feet dry out (they were SO pruney!!). She was frighteningly unafraid of the water - she kept trying to dunk her face in, and then she'd pick her head up with rapidly blinking eyes and much licking of the lips and gasping. We had to put a stop to that one after it became clear that she would go all the way to the bottom if she could! She spent most of the time in her floaty toy, kicking the water and getting towed around the pool by mom and dad.

A New Game

Bella is now getting into the 'shoe obsession' period of her life (expected to last for a number of decades). The funny thing is, that she likes to share her shoes. She wants me to wear her shoes, and she wants to wear my shoes. I'm not sure what the psychological ramifications of this are.

Tent Forts

One of my favorite things to do as a kidlet was to make tent forts out of the sheets and blankets on my bed. I'd have multi-colored yarn stringing up the corners of my blankets to make a canopy over my little bed. This morning, Bella was having fun burrowing through the sheets on our bed, so I decided to make a quick little tent for her, and she LOVED it. She just kind of sat in there for about a half an hour while I put away laundry and cleaned up. Every once in a while she'd roll around and peek out the sides, but she was mostly just content to sit and revel in the coolness of her little hideaway.

Little LaCrosse Girl

Grandma Bonnie got Andrew some little lacrosse sticks for Father's Day and now he and Bella play lacrosse together. This is Bella's "come-after-my-ball-and-I'll-whack-you" face. We need to explain to her that in girls' lacrosse there isn't actually a whole lot of whacking.

Our Little Gourmand

Bella is getting a bit picky about the food that she eats. Well, maybe not so much about what she eats as how she eats it. For her morning meal, she usually has baby cereal, and lately I have been having Trix (it was on sale). Well, she sees the Trix and wants to partake in the colorful sugary-ness, so I put a little handful of them on her tray. That was all fine and dandy, until one day, she decided that the baby cereal and Trix needed to be combined in an attractive yet simple way so as to be enjoyed simultaneously. All that to say, now when she has cereal, each spoonful has to have a little Trix sitting on top (sometimes two, but never of the same color). We see a Food Network contract in her future.

The Cutting Garden

One of Bella's new words is "pretty", although it just sounds like "pweeee!" with great vocal inflection. She used that word a LOT today when I took her to the cutting garden. She sat in her stroller while I cut flowers, and kept pointing at all the beautiful colors saying "pweeeee!" and "plsssss" (please) and "mmm-hmmmmm!" which usually means that she wants to get down. So the nice lady who owns the place brought her a little newborn kitten to see, so that kind of satiated her hunger for all the pretty flowers. Here's what we brought home:

First Haircut

Bella got her first haircut tonight. The curls were cute, but there were so many different lenghts and textures back there that it just looked scraggly. So, here is the product.

Kite Flying!

Dad and Mom took me to the soccer field this morning to fly my Winnie the Pooh kite. It was very fun. Dad did a great job of flying the kite while I roamed all around to my hearts content. We did have a little problem though when I tried to help dad with the kite string....I kinda got caught up in it. But all is well and it got me good and tired for my first morning nap. :)

Swimming!

Yesterday when mom and I went out to do laundry at Grammy and Grandpa's we took my swimming pool with us. I got to do LOTS of swimming. Well, not so much 'swimming' as 'throwing rocks in the pool'. That seemed like a lot more fun. Oh, and 'getting in and out of the pool, over and over and over again'. That was also very fun. Mom and I had a lovely time outside, and I really hated to go inside.

Peeking through the Window at Mom