Good Times

Sophia's new face-she practiced doing it all day yesterday

Stella is "walking" her walkman headphones and an empty bottle of basil. You can see the toys she is surrounded by, yet she chooses these two objects to play with. It reminds me of the times that she would spend half of the day pushing the laundry baskets around the house.

Dancing while watching "Diego"-her new favorite on Noggin

"Playing" with Sophia-minutes later she was squeezing Sophia's arm and when I asked why, she replied "Sophia is making me angry!" I said "What did she do?" "She knocked over my blocks!"

Very smiley

Piggy tails!

Painting at the art studio with Caroline

Purple Hippo Art Studio

When all is quiet....she found the mosquito net I bought for Sophia's pack 'n play for the upcoming beach trip

Playing in the Mac box

Making pudding-or eating half of it before it makes it into the containers

Sophia's big enough for the exersaucer! Happy day!

Stella and Caroline at the paint pottery place

Painting a trivet

Stella's latest game to play is asking me who her daddy is in public places. I think I made the mistake of giving a horrified look the first time she asked (my ob/gyn was the first victim) and since then, she thinks it is hilarious to look at me and point to a strange man and ask "Is this my daddy?" Great. At least Dr. Knoer kind of resembles Josh. The guys she has been pointing to lately look nothing like her father-the nice Jamaican man at the gas station, the day laborer at the grocery store.....you get the gist.

Another thing she is learning to use in her favor is "no thank you." We both came down with a cold this week and Tuesday morning, she woke up really congested and coughing. I said "Stella, you are sick!" She looked up and me and said "No thank you." When I ask her to clean up her toys-"No thank you." When I ask her if she would like to take a bath and get ready for bed-"No thank you." I told her to go get her shoes so we could run errands and she said "No." I said "Stella, you do not tell me 'no.'" She replied "No thank you." Wouldn't it be great if you could use this approach in any situation?

You are going to have to pay $394 for your electric bill. "No thank you."

You get a speeding ticket. "No thank you."

You are diagnosed with some horrible illness. "No thank you."

Wish it worked...

Funny Stella-isms

crunchtable-comfortable

fligilator-refrigerator

Mr. Tomato Head-Mr. Potato Head

tomato-play dough

chocolate footy-chocolate pudding

bluh-fly-butterfly

sparkly-sprinkler

a sweep-broom

cutie boots-her new rain boots from the Donalsons

If you ask her to repeat any of these words, she can say the correct word clearly-she just chooses to use her own language, I suppose.

Sophia-sweet little Fi-Fi. She is such a sweet baby. She caught our cold on Friday and she is still smiling through her phlegm and watery eyes. She has an occasional fit and can be inconsolable for a few minutes, but it is usually overstimulation (can you imagine that with Stella as a sister?) and she calms down when you leave her alone. She no longer wants to be on her back-she prefers sitting up in the exersaucer or jumpy thing looking around. We have a 4 month check up on Monday, so I'll let you know how much she has grown. We weighed her this morning and the scale said 16 pounds! Stella is only 30, so she is catching up fast.

Time flies!