The blackberry monster

What happens when you dance in such frenzy, running around, not paying attention to your boundaries? The house lays you out flat, that's what. One evening Stella was in an over joyous mood, dancing around and running from mirror to balcony door and back. At one point, she stopped in front of the balcony door, turned around and while laughing at us started to do her humpty dance. She was a little too close to the door and when she squatted with full force, butt hits the door and in classic matrix style, slow motion speed up, she bounces off and ends up spread out on all fours on the ground.  

 

Shake it off, it's okay. as Maja and Stella were walking past our neighbor the other day Tom Jones' sex bomb came out of the car radio. Stella stopped, started dancing and she wouldn't go further until the song was done.

 

The other night Stella didn't quiet down after putting her to bed. I went upstairs to check on her and found her in the corner, rocking in her now routine ostrich position (bending over, head buried in the ground as if she is going to do a headstand or summersault). She stands up looking at me with glassy eyes as if I interrupted her from some very important yoga meditation.

 

Something in the picture is not right however. As I scan the scene the sesame street music "one of these things is not like the other" starts playing in my head. I survey the crib and it looks different. I scan up to Stella staring at me and then the emptiness above her head. She had pulled her Mobile apart and it was laying in pieces on the bed. I cleared out the bed and laid her down and she finally fell asleep.

I guess that is why they say you should take mobiles down when they can start to push themselves up. Until this point however, she never touched it or made any inclination towards it so we had left it.

 

Stella's appetite is continuing to expand. We're still amazed at some of the stuff she likes. Thankfully she doesn't have a sweat tooth yet. The other day at Oma and Opa's she was faced with a big bowl of chocolate. She reached over and picked up an apple. She also ate pineapple. Another interesting treat she likes is Japanese rice cakes with a spicy kick. Last Year the Matsumotos sent us a nice care package. Although I think the rice cakes were intended for the adults Stella liked sucking on them. Recently we bought some new rice cakes at a local Asian store. Let's just say, Stella doesn't want to share.

 

Last week blueberries were in season, this week blackberries. We have tons of black berry bushes in the neighborhood. We have gone picking. I think only half of the berries made it into the bucket because Stella kept eating them. Then we made some Blackberry jam. Keep it out of her site because she will steal what ever you're eating if it has jam on it.

 

Stella's talking has expanded from the traditional mama, dada type sounds to L's and O's and syllables. Looking you in the eye, she tells you just what she thinks.

 

And shows you want she wants. Last week we were at Opa and Oma's. Opa pulled out the lawnmower and Stella hat to be with him. Opa is thinking about how he can build a seat on the lawnmower for the future.

 

Here are some pictures of the Blackberry kid.