Cousins

Steve has been away at a friend's bachelor party since Thursday, so I'm flying solo on this mommy-daughter weekend. Today, we met up with Beia's cousin and her aunt and uncle at Washington Square Park. Beia and E played on the swings and slide, and E shared her sidewalk chalk with Beia. It created a dusty mess, but both girls seemed to enjoy it—even if Beia wanted to put all the chalk in the bag while E wanted it all out.

Muscoot Farm

Over Memorial Day weekend we rented a car and went on two excursions out of the city. On Saturday we went to a historic farm, Muscoot Farm, where Beia got to see all sorts of farm animals. More than adoring the baby animals that were there, she found the noises that the roosters, turkeys, and goats were making highly amusing. Even once we got back home and played video of the visit, she still laughed when she heard the goat making it's "maaaa" noise. We also thought she'd be scared of all the animals, but she signed for "more" when all the baby sheep ran toward her into their corral (behind the safety of a fence of course).

On Sunday we joined a friend's family picnic at Belmont State Park. Beia enjoyed wandering around and playing Goldilocks—sitting in everyone's chair, trying them out. She also got to play at the playground (swings! slides!), which makes everything better.

18 Months

Yesterday Beia turned a year and a half.  It's amazing to see what a personality she already has—with definite preferences that she expresses very clearly, despite not have a full vocabulary. She's mastered Mama and Dada along with doggie (pronounced "dogga"), all done, more, milk, Tonka, Dibi. All other words are a work-in-progress, so communication is often a guessing game. Luckily, Beia often points at what she wants, which helps limit frustration to some degree. Hopefully she'll get more words under her belt soon, alleviating frustration (and the possibility of tantrums) further.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great Mother's Day weekend—mainly due to Beia's great mood both Saturday and Sunday. We went out twice to eat, and Beia not only ate well but also allowed us to finish our meals without having to rush through and remove her from the premises due to extreme antsy-pants. The weather was perfect, so we spent a considerable amount of time at the park. Beia also did a lot of walking this weekend—and was so good at holding our hands while out on the street. Previously this has been a challenge, so it was a nice treat not having to fight her to be safe. We're looking forward to having Beia's other set of grandparents visit this week—Grammy and Grandpa—so I'm sure we'll be out and about more next weekend too!

Overnight with Grandma and Granddad

This past weekend Steven and I spent the night in Long Island for a friend's wedding. We had my parents come up and stay with Beia for what ended up being a full 24 hours—the first time we've had anyone Beia-sit for quite such a long time. Naturally, Beia was happy with Grandma and Granddad and seemingly didn't even notice that we were gone. She was, however, happy to see us once we returned. Her favorite playmate, Steven, was back and she had a nice new crafts kids from Grandma and Granddad to play with! We wish they lived closer and could see us all more often, so this was a treat for everyone.

Curly Sue

Now that Beia's hair is finally growing in, we're seeing more and more curls develop. And as a result, her hair isn't getting longer so much as it's getting fuller. Of course she still gets mistaken for a boy often since we tend to dress Beia in gender-neutral clothes, but hopefully that will change as her hair continues to grow...