Overheard: Shut it

Last week we were back in my hometown visiting family.  We went out to eat one night, and the conversation got a bit loud.  Bella looked at my grandmother and said, "Nanny, shut your mouth."

The table laughed and then went a bit quiet. So I told Bella that maybe we needed to find a nicer way of asking Nanny to speak more quietly. 

Bella contemplated this, then looked at Nanny and said, "Nanny, shut your mouth... please"

Up side down side

The bad news: Bella's ipad went missing somewhere between the car sitting in the garage and the house and is nowhere to be found.

The good news: I found a coloring book, a crayon, a hairband, 3 cat toys, a plate, a set of acrylic bugs, a scorpion (in acrylic) keychain, and Bella's ipod touch that went missing a little over a year ago in Rhode Island.

Overheard: The Gift of Clouds

This Christmas revealed a very magical gift indeed.  Twice, Bella received jewelry from friends and family in a lovely box like this:

Bella immediately threw the jewelry to the side, pulled out the cotton rectangle and exclaimed, "They got me a CLOUD!"  Best Christmas gift ever.

Overheard: A good life

"The good life starts when you stop looking for a better one"

I saw this quote in Extra Country magazine, and it's amazingly true and struck a real cord with me.  May we all be so blessed to live the good life.

Overheard.5 - Officer not in charge

Monday morning was Vinny's first official 'check in' with the Navy for his duty.  So he was up early to get his uniform on and to make sure everything was perfect.

Bella: Oooooh...what's that? (pointing to his uniform)
Vinny: It's my uniform.  Do I look like an officer now?
Bella: No, you look like a Daddy.

Guess we all know who the real officer is in our house :)

Overheard.Big Words - Z

January 8th, 2011

Z is for Zygomatic

Overheard.Big Words - Y

January 8th, 2011

Y is for Youthful

Overheard.Big Words - X

January 8th, 2011

X is for Xenophobic

Overheard.Big Words - W

January 8th, 2011

W is for Whimsical

Overheard.Big Words - V

January 8, 2011

V is for Venacular

and also

V is for Vortex

Overheard: Abracadabra!

Taking a page from our friend Marcus, I decided to mess with Bella and let her do some 'magic.' (They played this trick on their son using a gas fireplace with a remote.)

We were at the library, which has automatic doors.  So I suggested that Bella say the magic word (Abracadabra! of course) to open them for us.  And then again to close them once we were through.  The awe in her face was awesome.  Even funnier, how she says "Abracadabra!"

Exhibit A:

Overheard.Big Words - U

January 8th, 2011

U is for Ubiquitous

Overheard.Big Words - T

January 8th, 2011

T is for Tenacious

and also

T is for Tenacity

Overheard.Big Words - S

January 8th, 2011

S is for Systematic

Overheard.Big Words - R

January 8th, 2011

R is for Retiscent

and also

R is for Redact

Overheard.Big Words - Q

January 8th, 2011

Q is for Quiescent

Overheard.Big Words - P

January 8th, 2011

P is for Pugacious (which sounds weirdly like Dalmation in Bella-ese)

Overheard.5 - Playing with the burger

Over the weekend, Vinny and I were laying in bed, trying to ignore the fact that Bella was awake and jumping on us.  So I told her to go get a book and read, then we rolled over and went back to sleep.  At some point while going in and out of sleep, I heard her sitting on the foot of the bed "reading" the book she had picked.  And it was so cute, her describing every page.  A few minutes later when we finally gave up trying to sleep, I asked her to come read us the book.  This is a cute little book called A Cuddle for Little Duck, all about a little duckling's day.

And she was telling us about how the dragonfly was playing.  I wanted her to go a bit further, so I asked, "Who is the dragonfly playing with?"  Let me pause to say neither Vinny nor I was actually looking at the book, we were laying there with our eyes closed listening to her.  So when she responded "He's playing with the burger," my immediate response was "HUH?"  So I asked again, thinking I had just misheard her.  And again she said "He's playing with the burger."

"OK, Bella, give me that book and let me see what you're talking about"

Thanks for the laugh, kiddo!

Overheard.4 - Please

This has happened twice now, once to me and once to Vinny.

Bella wanted to climb up on the counter to see what I was doing in the kitchen and I said no.  She continued to ask, even adding 'please' to her request and I ignored her for a while.  Eventually I had enough and I said, "Bella, I said no"

Her Response (said with "yeah I know" attitude): "I said please"

So you did, my love...so you did. Astute observation.

Overheard.Big Words - O

January 8th, 2011

O is for Opulent