Home alone

Todd and I reached a historic and important first last night - we left Bella at home with a babysitter. Not a relative, but a babysitter. But not just any babysitter. We've known Lee and his family for several years and know Lee to be a responsible and caring young man. What we didn't know was how Bella would behave. Apparently, she behaved beautifully. She played well all night. Had her diaper changed with minumal fuss, and went to bed without saying a peep.

I've heard people say that their favorite stage is between 9 and 18 mos. I don't know what the future holds, but we are having a blast with Bella right now. She just smiles at everyone, and it really makes their day. Store cashiers, strangers at restaurants, fellow shoppers - it doesn't matter; she smiles at them all. My mom says several woman have stopped her while they were shopping at said they thought Bella was a little doll. Literally a doll because she was so quite and cute. Bella is a great shopper so long as there is a shopping cart - there is plenty for her to see and it gives her an opportunity to make eye contact with people. And she loves seeing other children. She is fascinated by older children and wants to talk and touch babies her own age and younger. When I was working in the church nursery last week, Bella wanted to kiss one of the babies in there. Although, the word on the street today was she nearly clawed a little boy to death for trying to kiss her. Hum. I guess she prefers to be the aggressor. Bella enjoys kissing her stuffed animals, her "little people", and of course mommy and daddy (she kisses mommy the most). But she can still be very unsteady in landing those kissing, so in the evenings when she is tired and acting silly those kisses can be dangerous. You can see her trying to give George a kiss.