Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and had all kinds of fun! First we had to measure how much Bella had grown from last year. Wow, doesn't she look different!

 Then she had to take pictures too!

And then we needed to meet the scarecrow!

 Daddy and Bella needed to be pumpkins, after all we are at a pumpkin patch!

 Picking pumpkins with Strawberry Shortcake. Little does Bella know that she was one of her mother's favorite characters growing up.

 Then there was the straw maze. Good thing it was open on top since Daddy had to go too. You can see a little bit of his green shirt in the top right corner of the picture.

 Bella has just started being interested in trains. Here she really is saying "All Aboard!"

 Bella's first experience in a bounce house. I think you can tell from these pictures how much she liked it. We had to drag her out.

 Finally, we have found our perfect pumpkin friend to take home!

Water Bug

Gran put in a pool this summer. We got to enjoy it this weekend even though it was pretty cold. Bella all of a sudden just decided she didn't want Daddy's help and struck out on her own. Here is a video of her be-bopping along. She did actually move around the pool although you can't really tell from the video. She liked to go over to the side so she could play in the waterfalls. We got her out and put her in the warm hot tub periodically to warm her up. We're not really sure what gave her the desire for independence in the water, but we hope it's still there next summer!

Physical Therapy

When we met with the speech therapist she noticed Bella being physically unstable and out of balance so she recommended that we get a PT evaluation done. During her evaluation I thought we were going to here the same thing that we heard during her speech evaluation that everything was fine, she was just a little delayed, but catching up nicely. That was not the case. The therapist had many things that she was concerned about and after scoring Bella's diagnostic test found her to be at the level of a 16-18 month old. So we are going going to therapy once a week and getting some orthodic braces to correct her flat footedness and the turning in of her feet which should turn her knees out to their correct position. A lot of the exercises the therapist is having us do at home can be done on the playground so we are going almost every night much to Bella's delight. We are also making tunnels out of boxes for her to crawl through and what kid doesn't like to play in boxes?! :) Bella absolutely loves therapy! I'm going to have to get creative in finding a way to get her to leave without pitching a fit. She doesn't want to leave when it is time to go. I'm taking that as a good sign.

Catching Up

It's been so long since I blogged I've got several cute pictures to talk about. This first one is of Bella sitting in a rocker that my dad made in shop class in high school! It has survived all of my siblings and me using it all through our childhood. The  other great thing about this picture is her choice of reading material. Bella is reading one of my scrapbooking magazines instead of watching TV!

 Bella has a fascination with my shoes and on this day with my hat as well. Any time I take off my shoes I have to immediately put them away if I don't want Bella to put them on. She's getting pretty good at walking around in them. Of course she has the ever present bunny with her.

 Grandpa took Bella to the playground today and sent me this picture of Bella "Taming the Bronc". She learned this trick from a four year old friend of ours who went with us to the playground this weekend. He's been to a lot of Rodeos!