BellaBlog

Archive for September, 2008

083008 – Animal farm

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Picture of the Week – September 25, 2008

Little Lion

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9/24/08 – Bella trying on her Halloween costume.

More Please

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9/22/08 – Bella can’t communicate verbally very well but she has no problem getting across her intentions by other means.

Exploring

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9/20/08 – Bella was in an exploring mood around the living room and foyer of the house.

Picture of the Week – September 18, 2008

Tooth #7

On Monday night, Bella was screaming so bad that I brought her to bed with us to rest.  Of course, she fell right to sleep (tossed and turned a bit playing around but finally fell to sleep).  I didn’t sleep very well at all but Dad slept right thru it.  On Tuesday night, Dada prohibited me from retrieving Bella from another screaming fit and actually made me turn off the monitor (can you believe how mean he is?).  On Wednesday evening, I was helping her clean up after eating and I noticed she had another tooth come thru the gums.  I immediately hit Paul and yelled at him for not letting me go get my baby the night before when she had obviously been in so much pain over this.  (Of course, I was kidding with him and he knew it but he sort of felt bad after realizing her reason for crying too.) 

The newest tooth was the one on the bottom to the right of her middle teeth.  She’s got good chompers and will still eat practically anything.  She’s not very keen on actually brushing her teeth but she loved it when I brush her tongue and when I let her suck off the great tasting toothpaste from the bristles.  I need to find a dentist for her to visit soon.

Cute story:  Yesterday when I was praying with Bella over her dinner, I finished up with the usual kiss on her folded hands and a wink to her right after I said ‘Amen’.  She gave me a smile like usual and said something that sounded very much like ‘Amen’.  So much so that even Paul turned around and asked if he just heard her say what he thought she said.  It was sweet.  She did it this evening too but she kept repeating it over and over.  One word of the prayer down, 25 to go…You can do it!

Picture of the Week – September 11, 2008

A well behaved child is a beautiful child…

Yes, a lady actually described Bella with that phrase today.  Of course, we know she’s beautiful but it makes a parent proud when others see it in her behavior like we do every day.  To recap from the last post, Bella is now not allowed to have juice at church nursery to avoid such days as that day.  Since 2 Sundays ago, she has drank only the milk we provide for her in her diaper bag and she has been her usual joyful self.  Today we went to an Italian restaurant for a quick lunch after church and while she was tired, she was just plain silly and cute and not just out making a spectacle of herself.  She immediately fell asleep on the way home and slept for 2.5 hrs, and that’s even taking into account that she woke up at 5:30 and Dada brought her to bed with us and we slept until 7:30 together.

This past week was a bit sad.  Paul was out of town for work on Tuesday and didn’t come home until really late on Wednesday so Bella didn’t see her Dada for 2 full days.  On Tuesday night, she and I went to dinner at Shomars (our ritual girls night out when Dad’s out of town-the young people that work there are beginning to recognize us and they can’t wait to play with her when we show up).  On our way home, when we had just turned down our street, Bella began looking out the window and whispering ‘Dada’ over and over in anticipation of seeing him when we got home.  We pulled up to the garage and when I raised the door, she began peering around the seat ahead of her looking into the garage and calling for ‘Dada’ again with an excited look on her face, as if she expected him to suddenly appear from inside (as he’s done many times before).  Still not deterred, she happily climbed the stairs to the first floor and began running around the house saying ‘Dada’ the whole time.  When she couldn’t find him, she began crying and nothing I said could console her.  She finally calmed down and we had a great night.  You should have heard the sadness in Paul’s voice when I told him that story later on that evening.  Poor baby-Bella and Paul:).

What do we find wonderful about Bella recently?  Where to begin…she is saying ‘Mama’ more often now but not exactly at the right times.  Paul mentioned tonight that he loves it that she recognizes when someone says ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ to her, and she says it right back.  Sometimes she’ll be the first to greet though too.  For example, this morning when Paul brought her to bed with us, all the lights were still off and it was pitch black in the room, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and when Paul laid down and let her crawl off of him, she immediately crawled to me, put her face against my face as if waiting for her morning kisses and says loudly ‘Hi there!’.  Now I’m usually not a morning person but how can you stay in a bad mood when someone sweet greets you like that?  I love how Bella is learning to communicate in more ways now.  She lets us know that she’s hungry by signing it, or by going to the fridge and trying to open it.  She saw us place bananas on the hanger on the counter and she went up to the counter, pointed at them and said ‘more’.  I was so proud of her, I didn’t care that she had just finished her dinner and probably wouldn’t eat the whole thing-I gave it to her and she did eat half.  While I was peeling it, I was trying to get her to say the word banana.  All she could do was stick her tongue out and wag it back and forth for the ‘nananananana’ part.  We’d both giggle every time she attempted the word.  It was a sweet moment.  Sort of like the moments when I watch Paul tickling Bella and she bellows out a sweet and hearty laugh/giggle which makes Paul laugh out loud.  Moments to cherish…

Picture of the Week – September 4, 2008