85. American Museum of Natural History

The Hall of Ocean Life blew Bea's mind on a recent visit (her first!) to the Museum of Natural History.

84. THREE!!!

Long time, no post... (Apologies to all of you not on Facebook.) It is hard for me to believe, but Beatrice is now three whole years old. The following is a--longish--video of her family celebration on the day of her birthday. All cake credit goes to her Grandma Fox.

I'll get some photos up in a bit! (And, if you are lucky, I might even get the video of her first dentist's appointment off of my mom's iPhone at some point and post it also. Bea was an amazingly patient patient.)

89. Recent movies

On the train to the city:

These boots are made for walkin' (sort of ):

Listening to a book narrated by Grandma Mary and Papa Roger (or as Bea insists, Grandma Mary and Santa):

82. July update

Earlier this month I gave Bea a turkey burger for dinner. Bea loves meat. Loves it. When she finished the burger, she asked for more. I explained that we didn't have any more. She thought for a minute and then suggested, "Maybe buy more meat?" I assured her that yes, when we were next at the store I would buy more meat. She seemed satisfied. But after a beat she added, with hand gestures,"Big meat."

As Bea's speaking skills develop I notice more of my own linguistic tics--I seem to say "maybe" with alarming frequency, as well as, "sorry." Bea now says sorry not only when she wants to apologize, but also when she thinks she has been wronged.

Another time she asked Dale to look at owls on his iPhone (he has birding software). Dale was in the middle of something else, so said, "Maybe later." Bea replied, "Maybe now?" At least her "maybes" turn her two year old demands into more pleasant "suggestions."

Here is a recap of the month...

4th of July in Bucks County (a.k.a. "Amy's house.")

With her favorite kitten at lunchtime:

The other night we were talking about kittens and Bea said she would like to have Amy's kitten. (Sorry Doc, but these days it is Amy this, Amy that.) I said she couldn't have Amy's kitten, because he is Amy's. So she asked if she could have Koko's kitten instead. (Koko the gorilla.)

Playing in her tent with Maura and a banana:


Bea, Ollie, and Lilly hopping, while Maura-daddy and others look on:


On a bike for the first time (bike and helmet courtesy of Rose):

Being her Papa Griff's granddaughter, Bea was somewhat obsessed by the whole helmet ("hat") thing. When we got home from the trip to PA, we started watching the Tour de France on tv. The first time Bea saw the peloton she pointed and excitedly exclaimed, "Hats!"

Beatrice and The Dog
Later in the month our friends Trevor and Sarah and their dog Rufus came to Bethel for a night. Before they arrived, we told Bea about the visit. We had spoken recently about our upcoming trip to the zoo. So when I asked Bea if she knew who would be coming with Trevor and Sarah she said, "Yes!" I asked who and she said, "A monkey!"

Bea fell in love with Rufus and told him repeatedly, "Rufus, I love you." The morning after they left, Bea woke up and asked Dale and me if we knew who was coming to visit that day. We said, "No, who?" She said, "A doggie!"

Zoo Story

Unless you REALLY love crowds--big crowds--do not go to the Bronx Zoo on pay-what-you-will Wednesday on one of the few non-rainy days of the summer. Despite the throngs, we had a lot of fun with Ollie, Alex, and Maura at the zoo. Bea was most interested in monkeys and gorillas, cats, spiders, and any mommy/baby animal combination. (She still talks about how muddy the mommy and baby rhinoceroses were.) While visiting the gorillas, Bea saw a baby gorilla crawl/walk over to its mother. She turned around and started to do her own gorilla walk across the floor. Ollie got in on the gorilla walk action too, but I wasn't able to get a movie of the two of them walking together. Once we were interested in watching the gorilla walk, Bea was over it.







"Helping" in the kitchen

81. Two!

The week of Bea's birthday was full of parties. Some of them were in honor of Beatrice and some of them were neighborhood parties, but they all meant the same thing to Bea: "Happy Bir-day to you, BeaBea!"



Swinging at her official birthday party:

Cake #1:

Bubbles with Dada:

Opening presents (Kenny and Lizzy--apparently Alice and I have the same hair!):

The petting zoo at Action Wildlife, a really strange zoo in Goshen, CT. (It is full of animals stuffed and living.) http://www.actionwildlife.org/

Playing in the toddler playground at Action Wildlife:

On a walk (and collecting rocks) at the White Memorial in Litchfield, CT on her actual birthday:

Cake #2 at Grandma Fox and Grandpa Griff's house:

Her final birthday celebration, at playgroup. Grandma Mary (who visited for the week!) was with us:

The movies are courtesy of Grandma Mary, also known as "You" or "Marie!":

In the above clip, Bea is playing one of her new favorite games, "Are you a mama?". She will point to people (including herself) and things and ask either, "Are you a mama?" or, "Are you a baby?". In response, I will answer on behalf of myself, the couch, the cats, whatever, with, "Yes, I'm a mama," or, "No, I'm a coffee mug," etc...

Blowing out candles (not really) at her birthday party:

80. Building with cheese

And counting, too...

79. Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny brought Bea plastic eggs filled (partially) with raisins and chocolate chips. She went nuts for the chocolate chips and never really took a nap today, poor thing.