55. My Fair Lady

Earlier today, at the Bridgewater Fair:

54. Ahoy, baby!

Bea really seems like a toddler now, rather than a baby. When did that happen?

She says please, "th-th-th," all the time now--a BIG improvement over "ERGH!ERGH!ERGH!" Her favorite activity is going into the yard to check on the tomato plant and pick flowers. So whenever we are in the kitchen (which we are a lot) she stands at the back door asking, "Th-th-th?" It is hard to say no.

Yesterday, Grandma Fox was babysitting while I got some work done in the office. They had already been outside three times. Grandma Fox was taking a moment to enter something in her laptop. Bea wanted to go outside again. She pointed at her shoes, "Th-th-th?" She pointed at Grandma Fox's shoes, "Th-th-th?" Grandma Fox tried to tell her "no" nicely, and picked up the shoes and put them out of reach. She returned to her laptop in the dining room. A minute later, little Bea lumbered in, a big smile on her face, clutching one of her Daddy's clunky gardening shoes. Grandma Fox insists Bea knew she was being funny.

This past weekend Bea made her first trip out on her Grandpa Griff's boat. She was a little nervous at first, but once we were out on the water she was happy. She was very interested in the spiders that take up residence in the boat while it is docked. (It is on a lake.) She really had fun once we picked up a little speed toward the end. She has always loved the feel of wind on her face.

53. 4th of July in VA

This past weekend we flew down to Phenix, Virginia to visit Dale's parents--Papa and Grandma Mary--for Dale's dad's birthday. Bea had a great time. She flirted with their dog, Odie, went swimming for the first time (in the same town pool her dad swam in at a similar age), and watched fireworks (in person!) also for the first time.


She liked to call Odie a "tat" (cat) but whenever we called him a dog, she would "woof-woof-woof." We tried to teach her how to say "Odie-odie-odie," and she did a pretty good job. She would kind of flick her tongue our of her mouth repeatedly while making an "oh" sound.

I need to get swimming photos from Grandma Mary, so check back for pictures of Bea in her very adorable strawberry swimsuit. She liked the water but was very nervous when her dad swam the length of the pool underwater then popped up in front of her with his hair all matted down on his forehead and his eyes squinty with pool water! (I won't have a photo to share of that.)

Here are the photos--thank you, Grandma Mary!

We decided to brave the fireworks and I am glad we did--it was a really good show (with a surprisingly large audience, given how rural the area is). Bea was VERY VERY tired. The fireworks didn't begin until after 9pm. But once they began, she was transfixed. I held my hands over her ears so that it wouldn't be too loud and she stared at the lights, bouncing up and down on my lap occasionally. There was a mid-display finale-type extravaganza that ended with audience applause and this elicited a huge smile on the little one. But as soon as it was over, she was out. Here she is asleep in the car on our way home. It took 45 minutes just to leave the parking area. As I said, there were lots of people.


One of her favorite activities during the visit was taking long naps on her Grandma Mary's lap on the front porch swing. Here she is dozing on the porch with her Grandma and then enjoying a rain shower with her Papa.



On our last day we went to visit Bea's Great Grandma Haley (or, Granny). There was a fantastic plastic wheeled horse at the house, not to mention goldfish-type crackers, "Ocean Creatures." Needless to say, Bea had fun on this visit too.

52. The life aquatic

Yesterday we took a field trip to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium. Bea was somewhat nervous about some of the fish but she LOVED the seals. Notice the use of her universal animal noun "tat" (cat).

They do sort of look like our cat Freddy...

51. No scurvy here

Bea loves oranges. Recently she saw a lemon sitting on the kitchen counter and wanted to give it a try. I warned her it wouldn't be the same as an orange but she insisted.
When she first took a taste she grimaced. I responded by screwing up my face into a "sour" expression and saying "ooh!" She loved that almost more than the lemon. So she repeated her tasting and I repeated my response.

50. Say cheese

I feel like I am always posting movies. So here, instead, are a slew of recent photos:

49. That's what legs are for

Apologies for being away from the blog for so long. A lot has happened since we last posted. First and foremost, Bea has begun walking! Crawling is still her preferred method of locomotion, but she can totter around. She always seems pleased and excited when she does.

She has also increased her animal sounds vocabulary:

• teet teet (bird)


• sssss (snake)


• oof (dog)


• ooh-ooh (monkey)


• wooo (cow)

I am fascinated that, aside from cat (tat), she isn't so keen on learning how to say the names of things. But tell her what sounds an animal makes and she picks it up in a minute.

In other news: a new tooth (her fifth!) has taken up residence in her upper gums; she has discovered she loves oranges and strawberries; she can point to her hair, her ear, her mouth and stick out her tongue; she has learned how to dance while standing; she has perfected her peek-a-boo game; and, I am sure, there is much more that I am overlooking.

Here she is playing peek-a-boo and dancing back in May:

And this is from earlier today: