Friday, March 27, 2009

A Long Week

Stella and I have been battling a wicked cold this week. I think we've used enough tissues to wipe out an entire forest. While Stella was a trooper, fevers are just plain awful. And we did our fair share of cuddling, napping, moanin' and groaning and reading throughout the week. Oh, and we whipped out the only video we have for Stella - great bits of live footage of bears in the wild. Here she is above watching the video with Vinnie. I know, I know. Brian is holding Vinnie down at this point. But before I had the sense to run and grab the camera, Stella and Vinnie were lounging, totally intertwined, zoning out to da bears.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I'm Ready For My Close Up, Mr. Demille.

Mama asks Stella to stand still. She complies and then...

... she pulls out the big guns.

I didn't know a nineteen month old could pose with such panache.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Introducing La La

Stella now refers to herself as La La. She loves looking at photos of herself and catching her reflection in mirrors and windows, and she indicates something is hers by proudly proclaiming "La La!" We love it.

Stella earned her plumbing stripes this weekend as she helped Papa put the kitchen sink back together. She was a trooper and loved playing with all the pipes....

...and tried to make a few phone calls.

Stella has also catapulted into full on talking mode recently. Her verbal development has been progressing like crazy over the last few weeks. She pretty much repeats whatever we say and is starting to string together several phrases. Her first full phrase was "Go Dog, Go," followed by "Love You." Literary references and affection - we love this kid.

While it seems sort of silly to list all her words at this point since she's talking so much, I'll share her current favorites.

Tunnel, tent, cheese, almond, straw, juice, milk, pepper, puppet, mole, pimple, heart, Bob, Cindie, Paqui, lion, panda, paws, mango, Michael (which sounds like mango), Ava, Kami, drink, ask, fly, bird, noise, loud, quiet, frog, clock, truck, naked, tiny, big, water, toast, pop, Vinnie, Cooper, Jannie, Carol, snow, eat, cuddle, sack, stories, light, kiss, help, please, elephant, waffle, sack of potatoes, love you...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Chickpea & The Peanut: Part Three

I thought we happily filled our cute quota for each day just living with our wee Scout. But watch out world, The Chickpea and The Peanut are here and they're throwing their cute selves around like there's no tomorrow.

It snowed during Ava and Alex's visit which was great fun. Ava had never seen snow before, so it was a blast watching her explore this chilly, fluffy and (apparently) tasty stuff.



While Ava frolicked and squealed, Stella did some exploring of her own. Now, whenever she sees snow, she loudly proclaims, "EAT!"

Back in the cozy warmth of the house, we stumbled upon this scene. Hmmmmm........

I guess the girls wanted to help make dinner. (They ended up pulling out mayonnaise, gnocchi and barbecue sauce. Ooooh. Yum.)

Bath time started out pretty mellow. The girls frankly seemed a bit oblivious that they were in the bathtub together.

But they soon realized two is better than one. Grooming secrets were shared.

Okay, so naked babies are cutie patooties, right? Well, throw two exuberant (aka hyper) toddlers together, remove clothes and you have unabashed joy. The girls had a blast jumping on the bed: Ava kept running around in circles singing one verse of "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" over and over while Stella deftly devised and executed her plan to tackle and hug Ava. Be sure to check out Ava's blog in the coming days. I'm sure Alex will have posted more photos and possibly a video of this hysterical scene.

I really think Stella was in heaven here. Bonding with her new buddy, being "nekid" as she calls it and getting to jump on the bed? Heaven. Look at her face above. She's totally blissed out, silly girl.

And then they crashed...

Sweet babies.

Thank you, Alex and Ava, for taking the time to visit. We feel so blessed to have you in our lives and to be raising such awesome girls at the same time. We love you to the moon!