"Eat, Sister! Eat!"

When Phillip sat down to feed Sophia her gourmet dinner of pureed turkey and sweet potatoes last night, Isabella decided she would do it for him. As soon as she saw what daddy was about to do, she promptly climbed into his lap and announced, "Isabella do it for you!" She took the spoon out of his hand and proceeded to shovel food into Sophia's mouth, all the while shouting, "Eat, Sister! Eat! Sopheewa eat the baby food!" It was really very sweet.

Star-gazing with Daddy

A few years ago, Phillip developed an interest in astronomy. He has a computerized telescope that will find any point in the sky simply by plugging it into a little hand-held device. The last few nights we have enjoyed a beautiful, nearly-full moon, so Phillip decided to show it to Isabella through the telescope.

While she wasn't too excited about putting her eye up against the strange contraption, she did have a really great time running around the yard pointing to the sky yelling, "Moon! Stars! Planets!"

"Baby Galileo" has always been one of her very favorite Baby Einstein DVDs. Who knows, maybe we have a little astronomer-in-training.

Our Little Chef

A few nights ago, I decided that Isabella was ready to try making her own dinner. I thought it might be fun for her to make pizza, so I gave her a pre-made mini pizza crust and strapped her into her booster seat. I measured out some pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella into prep bowls, gave her spoon and told her to go for it.

I showed her how to spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese. I was really surprised by how diligent and patient she was. She never offered to make a mess with the sauce, which was the part that made me question the sanity behind this little project.


She also sprinkled what cheese she didn't shove into her mouth beautifully.

I demonstrated the oven's timer for her so she would know what to listen for. When the buzzer sounded, she climbed back into her booster seat herself and announced, "Pizza time!"

I think she really enjoyed her first "Bella-cooked" meal.

Potty-training Success!

After months of trying to get her used to the idea of using the potty, Isabella finally decided it was time to give it a try.

She wanted to read her "Potty Time with Elmo" book while she waited. Eventually, she decided she just couldn't continue fully clothed, so off came her shirt, pants and even her socks. And just like that, we had success! Mommy and Daddy gave her a Sesame Street sticker - (she chose Zoe) - and lots of praise. We made the obligatory phone calls to the grandparents, who now want to know if she's done it again. So far, we've not had a repeat, but she's working on it.