Stella, star girl

It's been a while since I've updated about little miss star girl. She is now 18 months old and turning into a full-blown toddler. The girl has a larger vocabulary at this point than we imagined she would. She says: momma, daddy, Cole, Emma, Teddy, bunny, monkey, ice, juice, milk, ew gross, pee, dog poop, night night, hi, bye bye, eat, apple, go, car, play, and many other words. When we're at the park, she climbs to the highest place and beams down at mom, and she sits patiently at the top of the slide for momma to take her hand to assist her down. "Ready? Go!" she says. "Weee!" She loves drinks of mom's tea and can't resist sticking her hands in to grab the ice.

She likes to dance to the Fresh Beat Band and every other tune she hears; the girl has rhythm and likes to bounce her booty. Stella Bella is my Gracie Face. She loves to play peek-a-boo and runs when you tell her to come for a diaper change. She's stealthy, mischievious, adorable, sneaky, and fast. She poses for the camera and loves to try her shoes on and walk around the house. Her little voice might be my favorite thing about her. She calls Peppa Pig "Peepa," and it melts my heart every time.

For a mom who cried at the sonogram revealing a girl, I've turned very easily into a softie of a momma's girl. Our connection is unlike anything else, and she has the best parts of me. Independent, friendly, social, energetic, adventurous. She loves to cuddle and give Eskimo kisses, and she leans in for smooches a lot. This week big brother has been away for Vacation Bible School with grandma, so it gave the girls a chance to hang together. We both loved the time.. Me, maybe more than she did. I think she missed Cole. My face hurts from smiling so much the past few days. Everything she does makes me burst.

The Girl is Fearless

My little chicken is brave. Stella got hurt not once, but twice at this morning's play date. My friend said, "She gets hurt every time I see her." And it's true. She's sneaky, fast, and quiet, and if I turn my back for a second she's gone. First she fell off the trike onto the cement, and then she walked up in front of a kid swinging and got pushed onto the ground onto her back. She cried so hard she fell asleep in my arms.

I also 'lost' her at B&N the other day when I turned my back and she was gone. I started thinking someone picked her up and went running through the bookshelves yelling her name, and I found her looking for me when I turned a corner. I burst into tears and scooped her up. I would die if I lost her.

She has a scar on her eyebrow bone from a fall on cement stairs and another below her eye from a fight with her brother. The other day she climbed the coffee table, fell off, and tore her upper frenulum, bleeding from her mouth. It took everything to keep my composure.

She is going to give me a heart attack at a young age, that girl.