The Sound of Music

Beatrice has discovered the stereo. And music. And dancing. So now our house is filled with the sounds of music. She bends forward a little bit and then bends her knees up and down to move her rear. That's the dance. Not quite Beyonce/Shakira style moves, but she's getting there. And she certainly has rhythm. One that is all her own.

And rattles. Daddy bought Beatrice rattles for her birthday, and she LOVES them. Please note all three on her - one in each and and the other in her mouth (below).

Shake, shake, shake. Smile. Repeat a thousand times. I told Sarah B to put them away for a few hours every day so she (Sarah B) doesn't go insane. Luckily she's very patient. And she has had fun dressing Beatrice up from the treasure trove of clothes from Eleanor (and doing artwork). Though I will admit the dancing girl in the shirt-dress with purple pocketbook is all my creation. Look at those legs!

One new development - over the past two weeks Beatrice has started noticing kids her own age. She's always on the lookout for older kids, e.g. Cousin Eleanor. But recently, she seems to have decided that kids her own age/size are worth investigating. I finally found a group of moms with kids Beatrice's age - I accosted one of them in a coffee shop last week and forced her to give me her phone number (it wasn't pretty). Anyway, she obviously wasn't too offended, or recognized my desperation, and called me to invite us to a playgroup at Mesa Park this week. We went, it was fun, the moms are nice, the kids are fun (and oddly enough, almost all are walking at 10mo like B). Anyway, they all came to check out MyGym this morning with us. Beatrice recognized little Sophia and went and sat next to her. They were so cute. They smiled at each other. Touched hands, and looked at each other and squealed for a full 2 minutes. Sophia's mom, the poor woman I attacked at the coffee shop, and I smiled at each other over their heads. Then Beatrice looked at me, decided it was time to leave, and used poor Sophia's face as a good handle to push herself up on. Oh Lord, my child is the bully. I hope we're still invited to playgroup.

Doesn't Beatrice just look like a toddler now?