Bella's baaaaack!

Bella's mom came in for a short visit when she brought Bella today, and Bella was able to let her mom go after a while. She was a little anxious, and we talked about feelings. She said, "I sad because Mommy not here," and I sympathized and agreed it's sad, we all have sad feelings some times, and it's good to talk about them. My friend Kerry had given me a Dr. Seuss book for Bella, called My Many Colored Days. I read that and asked her what color her sad feelings are, and she said gray. I said mine are gray with scratchy fur and growly, and we did a little stomping around and growling, and that made us laugh, and our joy and connection was restored.

We spent the afternoon--which was rainy with intermittent sunshine--walking and stomping in rain puddles. When it rained hard, we ducked inside. To a coffee shop, where she got a cake pop (a ball of cake on a stick, about the size of a petit four). To the library, where we checked out seven fairy books. To the grocery store, where we got some roast chicken which we ate in a bus shelter. To another coffee shop, where I got a chai and she got steamed milk. And finally to the park, where it was snowing cherry blossom petals. It's spring break in Portland, and we were the only people in the whole park except for a couple of old geezers with big cameras. "Hooray! No people!"

Alternates here.