BellaBlog

Archive for July, 2008

Laundry Helper

Bella has stepped up from helping load the dryer to helping load the washer.  When she sees my open the top of the washer (yes, I still have the antiquated top loader and thank God it still runs great 12 years later), she gives grunts at me softly and raises one arm to signal for me to pick her up and the other hand bangs the side of the washer to let me know she wants to get on top of the washer.  Once up there, she dangles her feet into the tub and lets her toes get wet as the water is filling up.  She knows to push the button on the detergent to make the cool green stuff come out in the cup (the first time she did that and saw what happened, the look of shock and awe on her face was so cool to see, I wish I couldn’t captured it on video), she knows to help with the water cup to fill the fabric softener hole to the top once I’ve put in the softener (bleach is a whole other story I don’t want to talk about, she hates it when I take her off the washer to put bleach in and then put her back on-you would’ve thought I chopped her hand off her).  Then I proceed to giving her clothes to put into the tub.  When she’s bored of that, she lets me finish loading while she plays with the knobs-you know that’s the more important job here, the knobs, right? 

Today this whole process took a little longer than normal (yes the bleach thing was involved) and the washing process started while her feet were still dangling in the tub.  The churning of the shaft in the middle was odd at first for her but then she placed her tiny foot against it and it kept jerking it away.  Then it became a game to see how long she could keep her foot on the shaft without it pushing it away.  It was sweet to see her make it into a game.

 Now if only I could get her to fold-one day…

Bella Loves the Outdoors

Daycare is always telling us how Bella loves playing outside but at the house, the concrete is too hot to play on and she doesn’t like the grass yet so other than the swing and wagon rides and the occasional park trip, we don’t get out much with her.  That all changed recently when she began walking so well that she could run around on outside on the concrete and grass without constantly falling over.  This morning, I went out side to do some yard work and took her with me.  I had pulled some weeds and really dug up some fresh dirt that was perfect for her to sit in.  Paul brought out the sandbox tools she got for her birthday and although she wasn’t interested in actually filling them with dirt, she at least got a lot of fun out of them and walking around with Paul and I while we finished working outside.  Of course, I am really bad about putting sunscreen on myself so I am still trying to get in the habit of putting it on both of us but I forget a lot.  I remembered to put bug spray on us both but forgot the sunscreen until Paul reminded us to get out of the sun before we got burned.  Bella and I were under the shade of the deck for most of the morning but the sun had moved and was shining right down on us and I hadn’t even paid attention.  Thank goodness for an extra mind to help take care of our precious baby.

As for her playing in the dirt, she had dirt from head to toe (and even in her mouth — she had tried to eat several items she found in the flower bed) because the bug spray made the dirt stick to every part of her.  She was barefoot too but didn’t mind all the mulch and dirt at all.  I still think she hates grass but does well with concrete, dirt and mulch.  Before we took her inside, we decided to hose her off.  She doesn’t like getting her head wet and the water started to get a little chilly so before she completely had a meltdown, Paul helped Bella hold the hose so she could hose me down too.  She enjoyed that so much, she forgot that she was soaking wet.  Bella got upset when we turned the water off finally but when saw I had taken off the sprayer to let the rest of the water run out, she immediately picked it up like she was still spraying me with water–it was very funny to watch her giggle because she was ‘getting mommy’.  Later that day, I gave her some fresh strawberries I bought and she needed a good hosing down after that too so we took her up to our bathroom where the ‘pool’ tub is and I let her use the sprayer however she wanted-the water was barely dribbling out and it’s a huge tub so she didn’t really make a mess at all but she did have a ton of fun with it.

Picture of the Week – July 10, 2008

4th tooth

Today her 4th tooth started popping out of the gums.  This is the right front tooth on the top.  It makes the other tooth coming in look normal now.  Paul doesn’t believe me but it really is coming, you can barely see it.  Bella never really gets fussy or has a fever or anything when a tooths coming so it just shows up one day and no one is the wiser.  She is the best baby ever!

Blanket for Night-Night

Bella has used a blanket to sleep with since she was about 10 months old.  We started using regular PJ’s when the weather starting getting hotter and since they didn’t have feet in them, I didn’t want her to get too cold at night.  On the other hand, I know with SIDS, you’re not supposed to let them sleep with anything and we’ve always been very careful about that.  A friend of mine helped her grandmother crochet a blanket for Bella when I was pregnant and since Bella has always loved that blanket and the holes in the design make it lightweight, I wasn’t really worried about her suffocating against it OR using it as a stepping stone to crawl out of the crib-she wasn’t that tall yet. 

She did great for a few months and then starting grabbing it to cuddle close whenever we’d lay it on top of her to tuck her in.  We’ve since switched to a really soft cuddly blanket that’s a little bigger that her Aunt Linda gave to her.  She recently has began to do the cutest thing in the morning with her blanket.  Whenever we go to pick her up from the crib in the morning, she’ll ball up the blanket and hand it to me as if to say she’s all done with it and it’s okay to take it away now.  Usually, she’s okay if we just drape it over the side of the crib but sometimes she keeps giving it back to me until I toss it onto the spare bed in her nursery.  She’s so crazy!

070608 – Piano star

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Bella really got down and boogied on her piano and looked very proud of herself when she was done.

Picture of the Week – July 3, 2008

Pictures from June

 

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