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:

48. Happy Birthday to Me!

47. Apples

Bea is a pretty adventurous eater: mahi-mahi, broccoli rabe, wood... She likes things that are toothy (she has four tremendous teeth, after all). Today at lunch she was beavering away at an apple and I felt I had to record the proceedings for posterity. The movie took an unexpexted turn and also displays the distractions we face at mealtimes due to the local fauna. (Don't worry about Bea taking too big a bite. She only manages little bits. And if ever a too-large piece of food makes it in, she has an adorable, nonchalant method of spitting it out like a ratty old bill from a change machine.)

46. Sunday morning

It is strange to think we have entered the month in which Beatrice was born!

This past week was a big one for her. She began Music Together classes as well as a playgroup at a Waldorf School. Oh my she loves the other kids.

She also loves to watch whatever her Daddy is watching out the window (birds).

I like to call this little movie, "Beef: It's What's for Dinner." It has nothing to do with playgroups or birds. (Unless the creepy plastic chicken face toy from my youth counts as "birds.")