Baby Girl...

Poor Stella woke up this morning to vomiting and a pretty high fever. She hasn't quite quite been herself the last couple of days; quiet car rides, moodiness, exhaustion, no appetite, and a severe lack of silliness. I have missed our little one, this week.
Fast forward a few more days - Our Silly Stella is back on her feet, and spunkier than ever. This week, her favorite things to do are: playing catch with Mom and Dad, kicking any ball that is on the ground, riding the pink trike (she finally got the pedaling and steering down - yay!!), taping her artwork up on the wall, and adding a little to every picture each day, eating 'purple' yogurt, disagreeing with Mom about every. single. thing.

Man, I love this little one.

Thunder and Lightning

It appears that Stella is afraid of thunder and lightning. We really don't get much of either in the Bay Area. Earlier today, Glenn was getting her ready to head out, searching the apartment for her raincoat, when all of a sudden there was a loud clap of thunder. Stella's eyes got huge as she shot him a questioning look, like, "What was THAT?". Not more than a few seconds later some lightning flashed through the front window. Just after Glenn instructed her to listen for some more thunder, it sounded again, as she ran across the room, into Glenn's lap and buried her head in his chest. Thank goodness for brave, strong Daddies.

Stella-Ism

I was talking to Glenn on the phone this morning, and overheard Stella telling Glenn, "I I I going to be a pink pony when I'm all growed up."
She and Jake will make a cute couple, as he plans to be a police dog when he grows up.
Too cute.

Muir Beach

It was perfect weather to head to the coast. One of our favorite spots is Muir beach. Not too crowded, not too big, clean, and plenty of tidepools to investigate when the time is right.

We spent the entire day running from waves, chasing crabs, playing in the sand, and touching sea stars;

Miscellaneous Pictures For Your Enjoyment

Stella was helping put away laundry until she got distracted by dad's shiny tie.

Helping with dishes

Some recent artwork

Making pancakes for breakfast

Gearing up for baseball season. Really, we are Giants fans, but Boston is daddy's second favorite.

This is Stella's game face

Long day. Time for a nap.

Conquering Fears

There are many things I love and admire about Stella; her sense of humor through most everything, her kindness and patience towards others, her courageous little spirit.
When Stella was about a year old, we were playing at a park, when she got curious about the ‘tunnel’ slide. She spent quite a few minutes investigating and ultimately debating whether or not she wanted to try it out. As soon as she appeared to make up her mind to slide down, I put her on the slide to head down to Glenn. By then, Stella had been down many slides, so I didn’t think much about putting her on this one. It wasn’t too steep, and Glenn was waiting with open arms down at the bottom. The moment Stella started moving down the slide, she became terrified, and has since refused to even go near any closed slides.
Today, Stella and Glenn came to see me at work. It so happens there is a little park downstairs from my office, and whenever these two come for a visit, we are often eating lunch down on the grass, kicking a ball around, or chasing each other up and down the play structure. For the first time since that dreadful day down the tunnel slide, Stella (who is now over 2 ½) decided to give it a try. She loved it and spent a good while climbing up the stairs just to go down this slide. I have loved watching this beautiful little one grow from a cautious, but curious little babe, to a brave and adventurous (and sassy – that’s my girl) kid.

Bedtime and Songs

Last night, as I was laying down with Stella, we had just said our prayers and were singing a list of songs to which Stella kept adding more favorites. One of our favorite bedtime songs is 'I Am a Child of God'. So, this is how it went:

Stella: (singing) "I am a child of God and heee has sent me heeeere. Has given me an early home with parents kind of dear..."

Me: (interrupting) "Kind of dear, eh?"

Stella: "Yes, kind of dear."

**pause**

Stella: (grinning) "I loooove you, mom."

I love this kid.

Night Night, Tinkerbell.

For a few weeks now, Stella has been asking to wear her ‘flip-flops’. I have had to explain to her that she has outgrown her ‘flip-flops’ since last summer, so she has been begging me to get some. So, yesterday, Glenn took Stella shopping. I don’t know that Glenn has ever taken Stella shopping for anything other than birthday presents or fun stuff (though, ‘fun stuff’ would include shoes, for us girlies). I should also mention that Stella’s favorite color right now is purple. So, you can imagine what a great day Stella had, when she got to walk out of the store wearing these babies:

At nine o’clock last night, Stella wanted to wear one of her favorite things: Her Tinkerbell costume from Halloween. We informed Stella that it was late and time to get into her pajamas. She whined a bit, and showed a little attitude. Finally, I told her to look out the front window and that if it was light outside, she could wear the costume, but if it was dark, it meant it was time for jammies.
Me: “Well, is it light outside or dark outside?”
Stella: “It’s light out there!”
Me: “Are you sure?”
Stella: (whispering rather loudly at the window) “Come on, Mr. Sun, wake up! Come out!”
Me: “What do you see?”
Stella: (rather dejected) “It’s dark, Momma”.
Me: “Would you like to wear your Tinkerbell costume when you wake up in the morning?”
Stella: “Sweeeet!”

Rolling Green

Last night we decided to picnic at the park for dinner. We did the usual, flew on the swings, ran around like crazy people, dug for buried treasure in the sand, and observed various creepy crawlies. The highlight for Stella, however, was learning how to roll down a grassy hill. Glenn decided to show her how it was done. To digress for a moment, let me just admit that Stella has recently been using this kind of fake sounding laugh. This courtesy chuckle appears when one of us is practicing our comedy or slapstick routine for Stella. But, Glenn rolling down a grassy hill in a public park beckoned forth a true belly laugh from our little one. Clearly it was the funniest thing she had seen in a while, because each and every roll down the hill elicited these beautiful, musical laughs from Little Miss. The only thing that topped it, was when Glenn took Stella with him rolling down the hill.

Here are a few other pics from our park date:

Our Little Fairy Princess

My little girlie-girl could spend all day playing dress up. Her latest acquisition: A pair of colorful, sparkly wings with a matching wand. Our fairy loves to go around changing people into princes and princesses with just a wave of her wand. Of course coordinating accessories and a Tinkerbell nightgown are a must (and we musn't forget the shades).