Bella is 18 months old!!!

Wow, I can't believe that Bella has been out of the womb for 18 months. It seems to have gone by so fast in so many ways. Bella had a great holiday. Her favorite part was the Christmas lights and walking up the street to check them out became a nightly ritual. We even went to Vasona Park in Los Gatos to check out the Fantasy of Lights that they put on. When we entered the park and started seeing all of the lights, Bella became totally silent. She spent the next 45 minutes wide eyed with excitement at all of the lights. It was so much fun and is sure to become a holiday tradition. Bella also loved all of the wrapping paper, tissue paper and cards attached to the presents. One of her favorite things to do at my dad's house was take ornaments off of the Christmas tree. Before too long all of the ornaments were out of reach up at the top half of the tree.

December was an okay month for Bella and the rest of us. Bella was sick for most of the month and Mark and I came down with it the week before Christmas. We are all better now and the New Year seems so much brighter with the gift of wellness. The bright spot was that Bella handled being indoors very well. She spent most of the month indoors either due to sickness or rain. We read LOTS of books. We are so grateful for all of the books that we got for Christmas. Her new favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? (Thanks Megs for the suggestion). In fact the book has to be read a minimum of 3 times and there are still usually tears when I put it down. We also listened to lots of music. If the music is not on, she notices. She walks over to the stereo and either points to it or makes the sign for music. She loves her Music Together CD, but also loves Bob Marley, Neil Young and Ryan Adams.

Sunny also became her favorite play-mate. Not only does she continually tackle him and hug and cuddle him, but now she plays chase with him. He will follow her around and she will run away laughing heartily. Chase is her new favorite game and Sunny has no clue that he is part of it. It is so funny to watch.

At the park, Bella's favorite is still the swing, but she does enjoy going down the slide. She is getting better about climbing up and around at the park. Sometimes she just spaces out and watches the other kids.

So that is the 18 month old update.