Bella Rey - 12 Months

On April 21, 2015, Bella turned 12 months old. I cannot believe it has been one whole year of Bella already! The time has flown by, and we have grown to love this tiny human more than we could ever have imagined. I am sad this will be Bella's last monthly post. I will continue to post about her as she hits more milestones, but it most likely won't turn into a wonderfully lengthy post :).

Bella is one of a kind. She is amazing. She is beautiful. She touches the hearts of everyone who meets her. She is intelligent, a comedian, strong, and the sweetest child I know. Her curiosity and vast ability to learn and catch on so quickly baffles me. I never knew someone so little could be so smart. Bella Rey, you have one big personality and daddy and I are so glad that you are a part of our family.

About our little one year old:

• Bella has zero teeth! She made it to one year old without a single tooth, but she can probably beat any kid who has a whole mouth full of teeth in an eating contest. I am kind of glad she doesn't have any teeth since I am still nursing her. We have started the weaning process, but she still nurses at waking, once in the afternoon, and before bed, and she just can't seem to kick the nighttime nursing (2 times in the night.) This girl loves food, but she has become a little more picky. She recognizes vegetables and will refuse to eat them even without tasting them. Luckily she has started liking the baby puree pouches again so I can get some vegetables in her. I also sneak bites of vegetable in yogurt and cottage cheese. Bella's favorite foods are still blueberries and meat, but we have added mango, yogurt, cottage cheese, tortilla, and any berry to that list. It is so funny to watch Bella sort through her food and pick out her favorite foods first. She will even sort the foods she doesn't like into a pile in her cup holder. Funny girl! She also likes to make sure she gets her sippy cup put back into her cup holder when she is done. She is very organized. A new game she started, which I am not super thrilled about, is to throw her sippy on the ground during meals and make her 'w' arms and say "Go?" Bella has started to use a spoon, but has a long way to go. She will dip the correct end into yogurt, but then puts the handle into her mouth. Sometimes she turns it around and gets it in the right way though.

Bella loves to rub her food in her hair!

This is how she told me breakfast was over. Food sorted into the cup holder and a scowl.

Almost got it there, Bella.

• Bella is a walking machine! She seriously just wanders around the apartment all day long. She has decided she needs to push everything around, and likes to help push her stroller. Bella can climb the stairs, and will always try and climb onto tables and chairs. Just today she was trying to climb into the tub and got both feet off the ground! She can also run now. She loves to kick her soccer balls and is extremely good at it. She is also very good at throwing balls. She likes to carry her soft blankie around with her everywhere she goes. She will carry pillows and make a pillow fort for herself by surrounding herself with the pillows, then putting a pillow and blankie on top of her. She loves when we lay a blankie and pillow on the ground. She will walk over to her cozy bed and plop down resting her head on the pillow. She will stay there smiling until we say "awww, that's a sweet girl." Whenever Bella falls down she makes a crashing sound. It is hilarious! I realized that I make sound effects for everything, so now I know why Bella does too! Bella mostly uses furniture or toys to stand up, but she has started to push her butt into the air and stand up without any object assist. I taught her how to do a forward roll a couple of weeks ago and she has done one all by herself so far! I hope she wants to do gymnastics! I would love that!

Her favorite blankie

She still loves her elephant!

Trying on shoes for our little walker.

• Bella's fine motor skills are unbelievable, and always have been. She has started putting lids back on bottles and sippies, and snack cups. She gets them on the right way too! She just doesn't know she has to twist the caps. She also likes to copy mom by brushing her own hair, rubbing her hands with lotion, trying to put her shoes on, and trying to put a headband and makeup on. She loves to sort through her toys and move them from basket to basket, or she will put small toys inside cups and and stack toys together. She got some Mega Blocks for her birthday and she is able to put them together the right way after watching us do it, but does not push them together all the way. Still impressive, I think. During Easter, she was a pro at opening and closing her Easter eggs.

• Bella loves to dance. She will wiggle her hips and move her head back and forth. She likes to flap her arms as well. She will bend her knees and do squats too. In her car seat she will bob her head to the beat while smiling. She loves music and her favorite jams right now are Blank Space, Uptown Funk, and Shut Up and Dance. She dances to pretty much any music, but she gets really excited for these songs. I have started singing nursery rhymes and Primary songs to her and she loves the actions. She loves Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam, and If You're Happy and You Know It. On If You're Happy and You Know It she will clap her hands with us.

• Bella is a sweet girl, as I have said before, and she is going through a very cuddly phase. I hope that it lasts forever! She will cuddle up to everything! She likes to rest her head on the couch, pillows, blankets, our legs, and when we are laying on the ground she comes and lays down on our bellies. It is the cutest thing. I love that when she is sleepy, she goes and gets her blankie and comes over to me with her arms up. I pick her up, she pulls her blankie up to her nose, then she rests her head on my shoulder and nuzzles into my neck. She loves to give kisses, and if we tell her to kiss her baby doll she does. She is also obsessed with babies. She learned what a baby is, and now every time we say "baby" she looks at her baby pictures on the wall and smiles. She will blow kisses to the baby, and give her mirror baby slobbery kisses. When she lays in bed with us, she will rub our arms and backs as she tries to fall asleep. It kills me every time!

Watching shows with Dad.

• Bella loves to play. Especially in the pool and bath. She loves balls and babies. She is so good at playing independently, but loves paying with other kids. She has learned that when we say to share, you give the toy to someone else. She is pretty good about it, but will still take the toy back after a few seconds. One of Bella's favorite games is opening and closing doors. She especially loves to close doors when I am behind them. She has figured out how to open the magnetic latch closet doors, so yay for more baby proofing! Her favorite place to be mischievous is in the Tupperware cabinet in the kitchen. She will pull everything out, then go hide the Tupperware all over the apartment. The good thing is, that she is really good about helping mom clean up. She will go and gather her toys and help put them in their proper place. 

I wish the focus wasn't off on this photo, but I still love it enough to share!

Helping clean up.

Playing at the park is another favorite.

Being a big girl on her birthday.

• Bella LOVES to read. She will sit in a pile of books and read silently for a half an hour or more. She has started walking around while reading books and I can't help but think of Beauty and the Beast every time. Whenever we say "The End" or "Amen" Bella claps her hands. 

• Bella has started throwing tantrums. She will stomp her feet really fast when standing, which is pretty cute because then her little pony bounces up and down. When sitting down she throws herself back and flaps her arms, and when I try to lay her down during a tantrum she will arch her back. Good thing they don't last very long now, and I hope they don't escalate. She will also throw things when tantruming which I have no tolerance for. If I call her a little stinker when she is being naughty, she will wave her hand back and forth in front of her face like she does when I tell her she has a "poo stinky."
• Sleep. Bella still wakes up one to two times a night, and more when she is sick. she still takes two naps a day ranging from 1.5 to 2 hours. This past week I have been letting her cry it out and seems to be working this time around. She will put herself to sleep for naps and bed time, but when she wakes in the night, nursing is the only thing that really gets her back to sleep. I'm lazy, so I am just going with the nursing for now. It is so nice that she will put herself to sleep for bed time now though. It got to a point where I was spending an hour of my Pedro time trying to rock her to sleep, put her in the crib, she cries, pick her back up, start over. It was awful! And ridiculous! So I threw in the towel and tried crying it out again, and I think I have been fed up enough that I can handle it this time. Plus after a few days she started crying less and would just hang out in her crib.
• Bella loves to blow kisses (she knows that it is beijos in Portuguese), give loves (hugs), wave hi and bye-bye, cover her face to be shy, play with mom and dad, play with friends, eat, kick balls, play hard, share. She is just a happy little girl who loves life. 
• Bella is really good at following directions. If I say stop, she stops. If I tell her to come to me, she comes. If I tell her to dance, clap, blow kisses, high five, or wave she does it. she is also very observant. When I show her how to stack a toy, she immediately tries, and usually succeeds soon after. She loves to copy the movements we do, and our daily activities such as combing hair, putting on lotion, putting on shoes, using an xbox controller, using a spoon, holding items the correct way etc. When we give her an xbox controller she immediately starts looking at the screen while she pushes buttons because she knows that is its function. She also can navigate the xbox screen pretty well. She seriously amazes us! She understands pretty much everything we tell her. We may have to repeat what we say, but you can physically recognize the cognition on her face as she understands what we say. I have been trying to teach her a new word every week. So far she knows baby, flower, tree (and a million others, but these are the ones we have learned since I started the word a week thing.) Every time we walk past any of these three words Bella gets excited and starts to point. She usually points with her whole hand, but she has started to point with just one finger occasionally. 

She always goes to my hair drawer and pulls out my brush.

Combing her baby's hair.

Pointing at the baby on the wall.

trying to get the baby.

Pointing at the flowers.

clapping

• Bella says "dada" "mama" "papa" "up" "go" and I think she says "no" and "yeah" sometimes. And when I say flower to her she repeats what sounds like "louer" so I think she is trying to say it. She doesn't say any Portuguese words yet, but we are going to work on that! I haven't taught her any new signs because she is pretty good at communicating what she wants.
• Bella always smells like strawberries. Even on days when we don't eat strawberries she smells sweet like them, and I love it!

We have really loved being Bella's parents, and are so glad we have kept her alive for a year! She is such a happy girl all the time, and we are truly blessed to know her and call her our daughter. I am so excited to see everything she learns over the next year, and to watch her discover the things that she likes.

I just love this photo!

Playing with the bam bams at a baseball game.

Hanging out in Tahoe.

Looking at the mountains with Daddy in Tahoe.

Sharing red velvet ice cream with Daddy.