GOING TO THE MOVIES

On a whim - sorta - we decided to take Bella to the movies yesterday afternoon. We opted for the 5:20 p.m. showing of Toy Story 3 at the theater on Broadway at 84th Street. This followed a test in which we showed Bella the trailer for the movie on line to see if she might like it. After three viewings, we finally said "enough," and loaded Bells into the umbrella stroller and away we went. Our neighbor, Zelda, was sitting outside with some older men, and when they heard we were heading to the movies with Bella for the first time they all laughed and asked us which parents would leave the theater when our daughter got bored or scared. Gulp.

We hoofed it down to the theater, bought tickets ($46 total for two adults, one child, two pairs of 3D glasses and one pair of kids 3D glasses), and entered the theater. I chose a spot on the back row near the exit door in case we needed to make a hasty retreat. The trailers for upcoming movies were already playing, and, we noted, very loud. Bella had a bit of trouble with the volume, but was visibly intrigued by sitting in a large dark room with bright image in front of her and random people sounds coming from both sides. And the 3D kids glasses fit perfectly.

Long story, or rather Toy Story, short: Bella loved the movie and the whole experience. She sat quietly either in her mom's lap or in her dad's lap, did not go pee-pee (or need to go pee-pee), was quiet, attentive, and only got scared once near the end when it looked like the heroes were in dire straits. I won't spoil the film for those who haven't seen it. But, it was a very good movie that we all enjoyed. Afterward, we went for a walk around the neighborhood, went home to gobble some leftover pasta, and put Bella to bed where - we hope - visions of potato heads and piggy banks danced in her head.

The only shot we got of her throughout the whole experience is this one after the movie when she saw the concession stand and its many colorful offerings. Note the cool 3D glasses!

150th POST!

Guess it adds up, don't it?

Here, as promised, is video of Bella singing in her favorite crooning spot: the window sill overlooking West End Avenue. She likes taking her guitar up there and singing the blues or the soul or the whatever you call this. More to follow, I'm sure.

AND SHE HASN'T EATEN ANY YET!

So now we're teaching Bella to roll her own














Play Doh, that is! Her mom bought her some the other day, and Bells has enjoyed working it into ball shapes and snake shapes and, as of today, made a face (using a few pieces her dad had already made, but she added the colored pupils to the eyes and the half-smile).














Later in this morning's Play Doh session, we made pizzas. Here is Bella's first effort. NOTE: the blue fingernail (and toenail) polish was her mom's idea.

FISH 1.0 CONCLUDED

Yes, Kitty Kat the fish has gone on to swim in that big bowl in the sky. He (or she) didn't look too hot over the weekend, and when we woke on Sunday Kitty Cat was belly-up. Bella's parents briefly discussed the best ways to handle the situation: buy a look-alike replacement, wonder if Kitty Cat hopped out of his bowl and got away, show her Kitty Cat lifeless body, talk about Heaven, no talk about Heaven, to flush or not to flush?

In the end, we chopped him up, mixed him in with the breakfast omelet and ate him. No, I'm just kidding. That's gross. We called Bella in, and her mom told her that something happened to Kitty Cat. That Kitty Cat had died. Bella got up in her tower to see for herself, and wanted to touch Kitty Cat. Nothing doing though. We told her that we need to flush Kitty Cat down the toilet, and to come say goodbye to him. We all went into the bathroom, Kitty Cat was unceremoniously plopped into the bowl, the lever was triggered, the flush began and Bella said "bye fishie." Then she asked if she could have a dog now.

IT WALKS DOWN STAIRS!

The other day, while Bella's mommy was working in the apartment, Bella's dad decided to show Bella all the cool things a Slinky can do. First, we got the Slinky to walk down her step stool - all of two steps. Then we decided to go look for the most steps we could find to see if the Slinky would walk down all of them.

Living on the second floor of the building allowed us to find 13 steps pretty quickly, and after a little trial and error, viola!:

BIG CITY ADVENTURES

Of course, one never knows what one will encounter when one walks out of her apartment in New York City with a baby sheep stuffed animal tucked into her jacket, or sunglasses on, or what kind of playground or festival one will stumble upon.














There are several of those "pay us 50 cents and your kid can ride on this dirty metal/plastic contraption tat resembles a Disney character or a space shuttle or a race car for 60 seconds" around the new neighborhood. Bella has found many of them, though she is yet to sucker her parents into shelling out half a dollar for the thrill of undulating a bit. She's satisfied for now with just sitting on them. We like it that way.














One day we tried to go see some art down in Chelsea, but it turned out that most of the galleries were closed for the Memorial Day weekend. Don't blame 'em! But we did find this cool playground with lots of water areas for kids to play in. Seems like the whole crowd was British for some reason, but Bella enjoyed herself thoroughly even though she didn't have her bathing suit, water shoes, sun screen or a hat on!














This past Sunday, after a harrowing shopping experience with her folks in Soho, Bella found a science festival at NYU near Washington Square Park. The highlight of it - at least the highlight before it started raining by the time we got there - was the imagination playground set up. The company has created all these foam pieces that resemble large Legos or Tinker Toys and lots of kids were busy building things, throwing them, sleeping on them, you name it. Bella dug and and tried her best to share with others. She was definitely the coolest LOOKING kid there!

SCENES FROM HER NEW APARTMENT

MAY PHOTOS

'Cause that's what they are!













We pulled out this large box of crayons and I just loved looking at all the colors and the way they are arranged. Brought back a lot of fond memories for me, and introduced Bella to a lot of new colors.















Bella also played with Legos for the first time, and built the object you see on the window sill behind her. Her dad helped a little bit and the rocket ship piece was already assembled when we opened the container. She was very pleased with it and couldn't wait to show her mom.


























Bella loves the ledge of the window in her new apartment. From that perch, she can watch traffic on West End Avenue, people and doggies walking by, and the wind in the trees. She also discovered that ol' New York standby: sitting in the window and playing her guitar for the world to hear the ABC blues (video to follow).
















And finally, Bella's mom promised she could buy a fish with the money she had saved in her piggy bank. So that's just what they did. So let's introduce you to (a) Bella in pigtails, which she now enjoys, and (b) Kitty Cat, the betta fish! Good luck, Kitty Cat!