By Jove, We've Found It!

We have discovered Stella’s absolute favorite place (besides home) in the entire world – the beach. This past weekend found us escaping the East Bay heat, to Pacifica. We had planned on playing in the sand, and wading ankle deep in the frigid water. Stella spent the entire time in the water. Once she got her feet wet, she had no desire to do anything else, but stand in the water, and let the waves drench her little body from the legs down. We had to actively hold her back from walking further out into the water. We all had fun, and Stella sealed the deal on what our weekends will be like, over the summer.

Out!

Of course we all know that these little ones are just the sweetest when they are sleeping. I just thought the t-shirt was so appropriate, that I had to get a shot of it. She was actually sprawled across our bed – arms and legs spread out. She couldn’t have looked more comfortable…

So cute (or 'coot', as Stella would say)!

A Stella Sandwich

I just love babies. When I say babies, I include toddlers in that bunch. Actually, I just love kids in general, but babies are just plain sweet. Miss Stella has been showered with affection since she made her entrance into our family. It has been really sweet to see her become quite affectionate with me and Glenn. She often will see me and Glenn kissing and has to wander over and interrupt. She stands there, prying us apart with her little hands, and then reaches up to us, so we will pick her up, all the while repeating, “Hugs for Stella”. Once we have her in our arms, she takes turns kissing us both.
On the weekend, when we all sleep in together, she wakes us, and just wants to snuggle right in between us. If she were a cat, she would purr. That is just heaven for our little one, when the three of us are all together. I love that Glenn and I aren’t the only ones who truly appreciate the rare moments when the three of us are all together. Then there are the spontaneous moments when I will be reading to Stella, or Glenn is getting her dressed, or the three of us are just playing around together, and she will stop whatever she is doing, and pucker her little lips, and plant a delicious little kiss on one of our faces.
Sigh…. I love being Stella’s mom.

She Found It!

I think you know what I mean by ‘it’. ‘It’ would be that lovely combination of plastic and silicone that we have previously referred to as ‘The Bink’. Remember my dread for the day when Stella would inevitably stumble across one, when we least expected it? Yeah, well, Stella and I were in her room a few nights ago, just engaging in our pre-bedtime routine of playing and reading books. She was standing over her basket of toys, when I watched her pause, and then promptly thrust her little arm down to the bottom only to retrieve ‘It’. With a rather impish grin, she immediately stuck It in her mouth, and turned around to look at me. I smiled and asked, “Now where did you find that?” In response, she runs to the other side of the room, to prevent me from removing It from her sweet little face. I just sat there, taking note of how odd it looked, as she has now grown into a full-fledged toddler, and hasn’t used one in weeks. I went to grab the camera, just to document her discovery. When I returned to the room and turned on the camera, she came right over, and offered her treasure in exchange for the camera (my ‘narcissistic’ daughter loves to look at pictures of her stored on our digital camera). I accepted her proposal and she sat on my lap as we scrolled through pictures, while I tucked what I am sure is just the first of many such findings, in to my pocket. That was that. I will post some pictures of the dreaded discovery when I get some time to upload them from my camera.



The recently estranged couple...