Here is an update of what Bella has been up to this month!
Apparently, Bella has seen me clean too much as that is now a favorite activity of hers. She likes playing with the broom outside and also likes to have a paper towel inside so she can "wash" the floor. She also drags out my mop and pushes it on the hardwood.... oh dear.
Bella also started throwing trash away for us. Derek says she is going to be our little servant. :)
Bella also discovered hair. She picks up little strands of hair or fuzz wherever she can find, and she just messes and messed with it. Just as this picture shows!
Bella has finally learned her name! Now when we ask her what's your name, she says Bewwa instead of mama. :) She even says Bella when pointing to her pictures.
We have spent a lot of time playing outside and enjoying the weather, knowing that it wasn't going to last! A fun new thing that Bella has been playing outside is with one of her babies. She pushes the baby around in the stroller, takes her down the slide, puts her in the swing, etc. She loves playing mommy outside!
She also has made been beautiful drawings with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. And Mommy has helped draw some stunning animals and Elmo faces, per Miss Bella's request.
Bella learned what up and down is this month, which I think came about from Sesame Street. One night when we were eating supper, she lifted up her cup and said up; then brought it to her tray and said down. Derek and I were both like, where did that come from!? I guess she pays attention to Sesame Street!
She has also started saying "peese" (please), "tank you" (thank you), and sorry (when she does something naughty). The sorry also comes with a big hug and kiss. :)
Speaking of that, Bella has been so lovey with us this month, which has been wonderful! She gives big hugs and kisses and tells us wuv wu (love you) before going to bed at night (per our prompting, but still!). Daddy especially likes that since Bella has continued being a bit attached to Mama.
Bella has continued to sing many pretty songs for us in her own little way. If you're happy and you know it is a fav, along with abc's and row row row your boat.
She also learned how to do summersaults and push-ups (imitating Daddy) this month. SHe can't quite make it all the way over on the summersault, but with a little push she can do it!
Another favorite for Bella outside is walking to a house down the street from us that has a dog often outside. About all of our neighbors have dogs, but the house down the street has her most favorite dog! She asks to see him anytime we walk or drive by. I think Bella would LOVE to have a "puppy" all her own, but I don't think Daddy is going to go for that...
A new trick Bella started doing in the past few weeks is various "faces." This obviously is a grumpy face. She started making these face quite frequently when something doesn't work out how she wants it too, so we started asking her to do it on command. And of course, she does. Bella also does a surprised face (mouth open), a sad face (lips down and says wah wah wah), and of course her trademark silly smile.
We have had several fall activities this past month. We have gone to the pumpkin farm in Grinnell, an apple orchard north of Ankeny, and Night Eyes at the Zoo with Derek's parents and grandma. I'm putting the pictures from the pumpkin farm and apple orchard on another post because we took lots of pictures there. These are the pictures from the zoo!
Unfortunately, the zoo was not what we expected. There wasn't that many animals out, and you couldn't walk around wherever you wanted. It was set up that you had to walk in a path with everyone, which kinda stunk. Oh well!
Bella did enjoy checking out the few animals that were out, particularly the big lion! Or in her words "rawr!"
A picture of our family before leaving.
Another fun thing we've been doing outside is going to Caldwell Park in Pella to play on their new equipment! Bella LOVES this park, particularly going down all the slides. There is an area designed for younger kids, which is nice since she can go on there by herself.
However, Bella liked going on the big kids part as well, particularly the big slide! It is hard to get up to, so it is quite a chore for Derek and I to take her up there.
But I suppose the glee she gets from going down the slide is worth it!
Checking out the swings.
And suckering Daddy into going down the slide!
Trying out a new delicious drink of Mountain Dew.... not! I'm not letting that happen for a long long time. Bella can't have my bad habits. :)
Bella has started feeding herself very well with a fork and spoon. In fact, she pretty much insists on helping with every meal. She does a very good job too, considering she is only 17 months old!
Wow, coloring and playing with stickers has been a major activity this month. Bella is pretty much obsessed with it ever since our trip to Boston!
Her hair is coming... slowly, but surely! Enough that she even had bed head after naptime one day!
Bella now loves to help "cook" in the kitchen. She helped Mommy make pumpkin bars one afternoon, which was much fun for her!
However, anytime I cook now, Bella needs to be present and held. This makes cooking supper an interesting time for us. We are planning on getting her a play kitchen for Christmas, so I am hopeful that doing that can distract her from Mommy cooking! We know that she will LOVE a play kitchen as she had some major fun playing with one at our niece Tatum's birthday party. I don't think she moved from it for like 45 minutes.
Bella wanted to put all her stuff up by the tv one morning. She is a very busy player! Our main play activities inside lately have been Little People and Barbies. I bought a bunch of old Little People from our sister-in-law, like a slide, amusement park, and barn. Bella has had sooo much fun playing with all her "people." I also recently let her start playing with all my old Barbies, and that was a huge hit! All the Barbies and the furniture are set up in her playroom in the basement, so Bella has to head down there several times a day to play with them. She absolutely loves messing around with them. This makes me excited as I was a huge Barbie fanatic! Derek may not feel quite the same way. :)
For Halloween, Bella dressed as a little pink fairy! She looked quite adorable in her little tutu and wings. And it was a gorgeous day on Halloween, so her costume didn't even have to be buried under coats.
She even had a little wand to carry on- which occasionally looked a little dangerous!
We went trick-or-treating to Sully first in the morning. Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Doug had a little present for Bella (a stuffed ghost and a red Elmo basket that matched perfectly with her pink dress :)), but when it was brought out, Bella kept saying no no no. And this was the expression on her face. Apparently Bella had something else in mind for a present! But she greatly enjoyed her Elmo basket later on.
That evening, we took Bella to get candy from Trunk or Treat at Trinity Reformed Church. I wasn't too sure if Bella would really enjoy the whole trick-or-treating thing. But I was wrong! She got the hang of it very quickly!
Walking around with Mama
Digging for some delicious goodies! I also thought Bella wouldn't really care about getting candy. She has never really had much of a sweet tooth, so I didn't think she'd like it. However, I was proven wrong once again. M&Ms are a new fav. :)
When we got home, apparently Bella thought she didn't have enough candy in her basket and needed to get some out of the neighborhood candy basket!
On Halloween, we gave Bella little present- a spider book and a miniature ghost that spins.
She has a fascination with ghosts in her book- lovingly referred to as "boo's."
We tried to get Bella to pose for a picture with her Halloween presents, but obviously she wasn't in the mood.
Discovering a new use for the Elmo basket!
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