Little Miss Independent

So it's been 4 days since my last blog and LOTS has happened. For one, Bela went to her first outing to the park. The walk there was great but then she started to melt down when our nieces and nephews came over to play with her. We then took her to my nephew's first birthday - originally we were NOT planning on doing that because we were afraid of Bela being overwhelmed, especially with the park incident the day before.  What prompted us to take her was a little family encouragement and Bela in the hours prior started motioning to us to go outside again. So we took our cues from her and decided to take her and keep her busy on the slides - away from the crowd. That seemed to work really well - she had a fabulous time playing on the slides for hours and hours. Everyone at the party was able to see her from afar - I dressed her in purple so she was easy to spot. Dad had to be nearby at all times while she was playing but she didn't have a single tantrum. She was coined the nickname "Miss Independent" because she wanted absolutely no help climbing on the ladders and the play area - even on the really high ladders. She is a determined little girl especially for being so small! Her size does not deter her from climbing on even the tallest ladders! So we were really happy with how that day went.

Then finally yesterday, the day Ryan had a 101 fever (seems the party was more tiring for him), Bela started to latch on to me. While she would occasionally look for Ryan through-out the day, she would started to really open up to me today. The day started with Ryan needing to go back to work (at his home office) so she started to search the entire house for him. She could hear him but couldn't figure out where he was. So I got to bath her, dress her, feed her, tickle her, play with her, take her out for a walk and even put her to bed!! She fell asleep without dad for the first time. She did reach out and want him nearby at various parts of the day but it was a great day yesterday for me and Bela. She is now calling me and Ryan mama but to me that's amazing progress! She was laughing and smiling a lot yesterday and again, not a single tantrum. She discovered baked potato soup and seemed to like it. She also loves cherrios and the colored fish for snack time. She is getting more comfortable around Lucky our cat - she is chasing him around the house and pulling his tail. He has been a great sport and when he has enough, he bolts.