Children Are... Part II

Thanks for the photo's Nika the Nanny.

VBS

Baby Bella and BFF Ava Grace were excited to see each other again. It has been a while - shame on Mommy and BFF Amber.

But all was well and they enjoyed each other at VBS.

Table Manners

Not possible! Total Disbelief! Could it be? No, too good to be true. My very own Baby Bella sitting down to eat and using her best table manners?

True! Odd, but true. And this photographic evidence was taken just today in her academy room as Baby Bella and friends sat down for snack.

Why the shock and awe? Twice lately, including last evening, Baby Bella had complete meltdowns at dinner. Both times we were eating out - go figure. Both times she was screaming, turning red in the face, throwing her head back, slapping at our hands, and throwing things. Sad, but true.

Both times we ended up having to take her outside and eat in shifts so the other restaurant patrons could eat in peace. Leaving our dinner on the pier in Amelia, Mommy said the restaurant probably erupted in applause when we left.

So we take comfort in these pictures. But it may be a long time before I would want to eat dinner with Baby Bella anywhere but home.

Behind the Scenes

Someone said to me recently: "Baby Bella always looks so happy." For the most part, yes. But in the interest of honest blogging, I thought I would give you a behind the scenes look at what you don't see on the blog.

Things like this often happen during blog photo shoots. Baby Bella wanted to pat Skyler's head. Then she decided she wanted to put her hand over his face. Then, without notice, she grabbed a handful of hair and yanked at hard as she could.

A stern "NO, Bella" from Daddy hurt her feelings so she had a meltdown and you never saw the three of us in this setting on the blog - photo shoot over.

Brotherly Love

Isn't love a wonderful thing?

Older Posts

Baby Bella Blog nation, you may want to click "Older Posts" at the end of the page. We have made several posts from vacation week and they may take two pages to view.

Happy viewing...

Promotion Day

Baby Bella was all smiles as she prepared to return to normal life after vacation. This is a big day for her at the Academy. Baby Bella is moving up from the infant room to the Toddler room.

Things will change for our little girl. She will be the only one in the room not walking - I suspect that will be short lived. The toddler group has a morning nap but not an afternoon nap. That won't bother lil' Bella because she rarely took an afternoon nap anyway.

They also eat at little tables rather than in high chairs. This should interesting. Better them than me.

Mommy and I had promotion jitters until we found out that Baby Bella's favorite teacher is being promoted up with her. Ms. Lane will be the lead teacher in T-1 so all will be well. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Headed Home

Successful week of Rest and Relaxation. What a first beach vacation with Baby Bella and the fam.

Last Day at the Beach

Make the most it - another scorcher with calm seas.

Swimming with Dolphins

No, really. Skyler was the first one to spot the dolphins from our hotel window. They were maybe a 500 yards out to sea. By the time we got lathered up with sunscreen and reached the beach they were only 200 yards away.

I did a really poor job of photographing them because the sun was too bright to see the camera screen. Look closely at the two fins in the upper left corner of the top photo. And you can barely see three fins sticking up in the second photo.

We were all amazed.

Shirt Thieves

You're looking at them. The prettiest thieves you will ever see. Clean laundry was in short supply on the last day of beach vacation. Mommy and Baby Bella were out of wraps to wear so they made like thieves and confiscated shirts from Skyler and I while we were riding waves.

Baby Bella was much more adventuresome with the ocean today. She and Mommy managed to not burn all week and they took no chances on this hot day.

Ocean Nap...

...Ocean Race. Daddy picked up Baby Bella to take her for the "nap" walk. No walk necessary. She was asleep on my shoulder before I get out of the water. And good thing.

Mommy and Skyler had a race to see who could catch the best waves and ride them all the way to shore. I stood in the water, with Baby Bella on my shoulder, to judge the outcome.

The race ended with a 13-13 score. But Mommy was assessed a half point penalty for Unnecessary Roughness (pushing Skyler down into an on-coming wave) and Skyler was awarded the victory.

Over heard trash talk during this Mother / Son race: "whose the Big Bad Wolfe now?" "Do I hear a pig squealing?" "That's cheating!" "Looser!" All in good fun - including the heckling of the judge when the penalty was assessed. Someone even kicked cold ocean water on me and my baby.

Baby Bella and I made our way back to the cabana to finish our nap.

Beach Whites

Brevity is the soul of wit. Apparently, I have neither. I have just finished posting over a 100 pictures of Baby Bella's first beach vacation. I can see that I wouldn't make it the world of editing - I have too much resistance to editing anything out.

In my defense, I will quote the late, Senator Barry Goldwater: "History cannot be trusted to memory."