What is she talking about?

Bella has a couple favorite topics to chat about. The first one is her job. She'll tell you that she got a new job at the hospital, and that she works on computers (or does numbers). She also has a Ms. Shirley at her new job. This is all a direct reflection of everything that she knows about my new job (Ms. Shirley is my boss). She tells us constantly that she has to go back to work. Or she'll pick a specific toy that she has to take to work with her.

She's also has been talking about death a lot recently. This started with a dead squirrel in the road in front of our house. We tried to explain it in 3-year-old terms. Then, Jason's uncle passed away...so there were more talks of death. Finally, one of Bella's little friends has chickens, and one died. Bella made her a card (it never got delivered, but it was made...sorry Ava) and we chatted about it. Through all of this Bella has had lots of questions about who's dead (Aunt MaryAnn and Uncle Mike are popular...I assume because we don't get to see them very often). She's also asked Grandma Rose where her Mommy is (yes, you guessed it she's dead)...and on, and on it goes. I know she doesn't really understand it all, but I can't really tell how much of it she DOES get. So, we just keep answering her questions as best we can.

So, you take these two distinct trains of thought and rattle them around in her little brain and here's what you get..."My job died today". She tells EVERYONE she sees that her job died and she needs another one. She comes up with variations on this too. For example, she told me the other day, "My Ms. Shirleys died...all five of them. I'm looking for another one." Funny kid!

Party with Daddy's Family

Aunt Bethany was in town, and we had a gathering at our house for a lot of Daddy's family. It was so much fun.

Here's Bella with her cousin Lauren. I never realized, until I looked at this picture, how much they looked alike.

One of the highlights was making ice cream. Here's Bella taking her turn cranking with Papa Calvin.

Bella Loves to Play Dress-Up

Bella's Birthday Party

Bella turned three in May. We had a cookout to celebrate. Grandma Rose and David made her a gorgeous cake, and let Bella help decorate it. We all had a great time with friends and family.

She so CUTE!

Catching Up

I'd seriously thought my blogging days were over, but I'm sitting here watching Arianna master the art of crawling.  That just makes me want to post an update.  

Arianna still doesn't quite have the hang of crawling, but she's definitely very mobile.  She is already trying to follow Bella around!  She babbles all the time, and is even starting to form some preliminary words.  This morning when I leaned over her to pick her up from bed she looked at me and said, "Ma Ma."  It was the first time her ma-ma-ma-ma babbles seemed to be in context and specifically aimed at me.  She also says Da-Da to Jason...especially when she wants his attention.

Bella is such a riot these days.  It's so much fun to watch her imagination develop.  She created a pretend friend the other night.  It was short lived, but she enjoyed it for a moment.  She loves to play in her kitchen, with the princesses, and building  blocks.  She's a huge fan of playing outside.  She also loves to watch TV or movies.  We have to set specific limits for her or she'd watch Sleeping Beauty 18 times per day.  One of Bella's biggest accomplishments of late is potty training.  She's been doing really well.  She seems to like to wait until we get in the car to come home from some place (restaurant, zoo, etc) to let me know that she needs to go potty.  Then I have to take her back inside.  I've learned a lot about helping her go in public bathrooms (yuck), but if you have any tips or tricks, I'd love to hear them!

Jason is on his break between semesters, for which I think we are all thankful.  It was a tough one...and he goes back at it in three weeks.  I'm starting a new job mid-May...and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll post pictures soon (yeah, don't hold your breath).

"Talking"

Arianna loves to talk.  Here she's having a conversation with Aunt Amy.