CAMERA PHONE SHOTS

Just cleared a bunch of shots off my cell phone, so here are some choice pics.



Bella goes to the Museum of Natural History about once a month - we're members, a huge savings - and enjoys each trip. Seems like something new attracts her attention each time. The dinosaurs have never been a huge winner in her mind, but this shot is kind of neat.




This pic is from a trip down to the art galleries in Chelsea in the fall. She rode her scooter part of the way, hence the helmet. Can't remember the name of the artist shown here: vertical colored fluorescent lights. Art? Guess so.







These two photos are from our first trip back to Hippo Park after several months of freezing/snowy weather In truth, a few inches of snow fell the day before our visit, but the gate was open as we strolled through Riverside Park and we both wanted to go explore. Bella had a good time running in the snow, kicking snow, climbing the monkey bars and slides, and making snowballs (which we fed to one of the hippos).

















One evening in January, we told Bella she was going to go see her Nunya and spend the night with him. Often, though she likes seeing Nunya, the notion of staying away from her parents is cause for tears or tantrums, but in this instance she quickly assembled this outfit and gathered materials in her bee backpack and was ready to go in record time!

SIMON

Still so much to post here - videos, photos, rambling descriptions - but I wanted to get this up quickly as it has ben blowing my mind for the past 24 hours.

Yesterday, Bella and her dad made sock puppets. Bella wanted a flamingo, so he made her a pink sock flamingo puppet. Then he just sort of threw another one together using a yellow sock and some felt and a feather. The result is Simon, who is kind of silly. Well, Bella took to Simon instantly and they started playing together, working at first on a speaking alphabet puzzle. The crazy part is Bella talks to Simon as if he is real, even though she knows he is a puppet. She will talk to Simon, then talk to her daddy, and then back to Simon.

It makes me wonder if this is a good idea or not, especially when she asked her mommy to be quiet because she was talking to Simon. But she LOVES him - gave him goodnight kisses last night and asked for him first thing this morning. So we'll see, but here's a clip of some of there interaction from yesterday.

TINY DANCER

Bella took her first dance class yesterday. While not exactly a "ballet" class, as she thought it was, she did get to dress up like one with real dance shoes, a lilac leotard and pink tights. Her parents got a deal on a series of creative movement classes at the Joffrey School, so for the next six or seven Saturday mornings, Bella will wake up, eat pancakes, get dressed and head downtown with one of her parents to take lessons from Miss Laura!

BELLA: YEAR THREE

GRANDMAMA & A NEW ROOM

Sorry for the lack of new info/images these past few weeks. Time flies!

Bella's great-grandmother passed away a week and a half ago. And she truly was a great grandmother! But she had also been grappling with the effects of a severe stroke she suffered a decade ago. In the end, her body was done and it was time for Catherine Maynard to move into her tidy home in Heaven.

Bella and her great-grandmother had some good times together. Catherine's eyes always lit up when Bella walked into the room (whose wouldn't?), and Bella enjoyed exploring her great-grandmother's apartment and singing to her. We are so glad they got to spend time together, and hope that Bella will remember what a wonderful lady her great-grandmother was.

I cannot put my mouse on any photos of the two of them together, but maybe one intrepid reader of Bella's blog has such a shot she could send me?

Other than that, Bella has been dealing with a cold - runny nose and coughing at night. But she never ran a fever, and never lost her three-year-old cool. During Bella's mom's one week off between jobs (did I mention she's working out of Brooklyn now?), we rearranged the bedroom and put up a wall-to-wall curtain wire so Bella has her own "room" now and her parents can block a little light and noise out so they sleep until maybe 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. Bella loves it. She immediately took advantage of it by turning on her lamp beside her bed and playing with dolls and reading books after we said goodnight to her.

Also, we are currently cataloging every word we can think of that begins with the letter B, Bella's favorite for obvious reasons. Got any we haven't thought of? And, yes, we have Beluga whale!