Bella Rey - 13 Months

I have decided to keep doing the monthly posts for Bella, because she is still learning so much! On May 21, 2015, Bella turned 13 months. It is amazing how much these tiny humans absorb. This age is so much fun! Bella is all over the place, and it's exhausting, but she is so fun to play with, and I love to see her little imagination develop.

Last week we finally got in for Bella's 12 month appointment with the pediatrician. She is finally on the average side of the chart. Here are her stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 3.5 oz. (52%)
Height: 29 3/4 in. (48%)
Head Circ.: 45 1/4 cm (51%)

Here is a little about Bella in her thirteenth month:

• Bella is all over the place. She is very good at walking, running, walking with slight elevation changes, climbing stairs and into baskets, stepping over door jams, and walking backward. She loves to go for rides on her push elephant toy, and is always climbing on it waiting for us to push her around. She loves to reach out and grab our hands now as she walks. It is so sweet! She has started to twirl in circles when music comes on. We need to get this girl in dance and gymnastics! She loves to do forward rolls, and has zero fear. I love how adventurous she is, but it also scares me a little. She never sits still, and seriously never gets tired of playing hard.  

Climbing on her elephant while watching Tangled.

Just taking a stroll outside.

Always a blur while she runs.

• Bella loves to play with other kids. She especially loves trying to play with the big kids. She will chase after them and try and do everything they do. She is learning to share and is getting better at helping clean up toys. At church she likes to get up in the other kids faces, and is kind of a pest. She just loves to be social. She loves to play with balls, her Hulk action figure, any baby, her stroller from Grandma and Grandpa Laraia, blocks, and still loves books.

Wrestling her friend Jack

Falling down after twirling too much at our mini dance party.

Our Futebol champ!

• We call Bella our baby Hulk because she tries to pick up and push anything heavy. She is always "Hulking" things around. 

Pushing this heavy metal crib around the room, with the breaks on.

Trying to push a bolted bike rack.

• Bella loves to go swimming. She is such a little fish and is getting really good at kicking her legs and moving her arms. Hopefully we will have an independent swimmer by the end of summer. Bella will get into all water temperatures. She doesn't care if she is freezing, she just loves to be in the water. She also loves the beach, and loves squishing sand in her toes. 

Sharing toys.

Swimming with our friend Allison.

We love the water!

Our little Jedi after swimming.

First touch of sand!

• Bella is obsessed with remotes and xbox controllers. She knows that they control the tv so she pushes a button, looks at the tv to see what it did, then does it all again. She knows to point the controllers at the tv as well. She is just too smart!
• Bella has several tickle spots that get her giggling like crazy. Her armpits, under her clavicles, and in her thigh pits. I love to hear her deep giggles, and she always gets the hiccups after them.

• Bella has learned to "scare us" she will hide behind the couch or door, then jump out and say "aaahhhhr." It kills me every time! So cute! She also plays this game with her Bella in the mirror. (She now knows that the baby in the mirror is named Bella. We ask her "where's Bella?" and she points in the mirror). She will stand off to the side of the mirror then jump in front of the mirror and roar. She then laughs hysterically. She loves herself the most! She also loves playing with her baby. This is the baby doll I grew up with and she loves it more than any of her other baby dolls. She will carry her baby everywhere, give her kisses and loves, pats her back, and tucks her in to bed. Another game she loves is to run at us, stop, then turn around and run away laughing. She also loves to make us do things. She will clap our hands together, force us to grab something, make us put our hands on her eyes to play peek-a-boo, etc. She loves to cover her own eyes to play peek-a-boo and does it often. She also does it while she is walking so she runs into things all the time.

Playing with Bella.

Giving her baby loves.

Tucking her baby in.

• Bella has started to hum and sing more often. Her favorite song is still "Uptown Funk." We will sing the beginning beat of the song to her by going "dun, dun dun. Duh dun dah, duh dun dah. Dun dah, dun dah." and Bella has started to sing it back to us. She will be playing or sitting in her car seat and all of a sudden we hear her little "dun dah's" and see her dancing while she sings. It is my favorite! 
• Bella now says "Bye bye" and "all done" regularly. If we say "see you later dude" or "tchau" she will say "bye" to us. She has also asked me "Dada go?" She also tells me "no no no" quite often. yay. This girl is always talking. She has a lot to say and she says it loudly! When she is talking it really sounds like she is forming sentences, and she is so expressive when she talks. I love to listen to her stories and have conversations with her. A few weeks ago, Bella would hum to me when I would hum to her while we cuddled before naps and bed time. It was so sweet as she laid her head on my shoulder and hummed in my ear. I'm sad it didn't last long. She also likes to click her tongue at us while moving her head side to side.
• Bella is learning about Jesus. She has a picture of Jesus in her room and I ask her, "Where's Jesus?" and she will point at the picture. I am still trying to get her to recognize all different photos of Jesus, and have been singing a lot of primary songs to her. Her favorites are "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and "If you don't walk as most people do." We have been learning other little kid songs too. She loves "itsy bitsy spider" "I'm peanut butter and you are jelly" and "If you're happy and you know it." On "happy and you know it" she will clap her hands and blow kisses at the appropriate times.
• Bella has learned to point with her little pointer finger. She points at everything, then makes her "w" arms to ask what it is. This has been really useful in teaching her new words. She knows what so many things are now, that I can't even name them all. Flowers and trees are still her favorite words though. Her pointing is very useful in communication too. When she wants her sippy or a bite of food from her spoon, she will point at these objects. She also points at the toys she wants. When she first learned to point she would do the squishy finger like the little boy from "The Shining." It was really cute, and yet creepy all at the same time.
• Bella is very observant and is always copying what we do. She especially loves copying us by trying to put on her shoes, rubbing pretend lotion on her hands, and trying to put her clothes on and take them off.
• Bedtime and naps are some of my favorite moments. Bella is a cuddly girl and curls up in my arms to have cuddles before laying down. In preparation for bed I tell her to go get her blankie and binky. She goes over to her crib, pulls the bumper down, and reaches through the bars to grab her blankie and bink. She then walks over to me while nuzzling her blankie, and reaches up for me. It is so sweet.
• Whenever we get Bella out of the car or out of bed she forces her binky into our mouths for safe keeping. She also does this if she is done playing with her binky.
• Bella still loves to eat and is getting better at eating vegetables. Her favorite vegetables are tomatoes, mushrooms, and grilled sweet peppers.  Her favorite fruit is still blueberries, and she devours any meat. She is getting pretty good at feeding herself with a spoon. I will load the spoon up, hand it to her, and she gets most of it in her mouth. We still nurse, once in the morning, once before bed, and if she wakes up in the middle of the night. We are not quite ready to wean completely, but it has been nice to be weaned from day time nursing. Although, she pretty much always has her hand down my shirt, or is blowing raspberries on my chest because she wants to nurse.

She is much better than this with a spoon now.

• Bella is getting better with sleeping. She has slept 12 hours through the night twice in the past week. Yay Bella! Now we just have to train mommy how to sleep through the night again ;). 
• Bella loves it so much when Daddy comes home. She gets a big smile and runs up to him and tackles him. They are sweet little friends who love to wrestle, walk hand in hand, and watch sports together. Bella could not have a better Daddy, and Pedro could not have a sweeter daughter to hold and love. 

• Bella loves to be outside. She will grab her shoes and go knock on the front door to let us know she wants to go out. She is such a little explorer and loves to see what the outside world has to offer. 

She is too big!

Little explorer.

Enjoying the sunshine.

• Bella is cutting her first tooth right now, and she is handling it really well! I think she has at least one more  not far behind. I actually love that she is a late teether, because she has not bit me, and I think she can cope with pain better now.

We love our little Bella so much. She brings so much joy to us and teaches us so many lessons every day. I love her little personality. I love how she has pushed me and helped me to grow as a wife, mother, and woman. Bella is my best little buddy, and we have so much fun together.