Introducing Esabella Francis

I think I have mentioned in prior posts that I grew up with three older brothers. I never married or had kids, but they all did and, consequently, I was ultimately “blessed” with six nieces and nephews. Then the offspring of my brothers and sisters-in law grew up and they “begat” eight great-nieces and nephews…to date…one of which includes my topic for this entry…Esabella Francis.

Now, I realize that the feminine spelling of Bella’s middle name is more often Frances, but Bella was named after my mother, Mary Francis, and that is how my mom’s parents chose to spell her name.

Back to Bella. She came into this world on December 21, 2004, so she is coming up on her 3rd birthday. (Well, she’s three going on thirty-three.) The child already is a born “shopper” and she loves to go shopping at Wal-Mart. I have a feeling she will develop more refined, sophisticated tastes as she approaches her teen years, and heaven help her parents then, but for now a shopping excursion to Wal-Mart makes her happy. And her drink of choice…at the moment…is chocolate milk...from “Starbucks.” I don’t even shop at Starbucks.

One of my favorite pictures of Bella…so far in her young life…was snapped by my sister-in-law…and Bella’s “Mimi,” Patty…when she was babysitting last fall. Bella was a little under the weather and was feeling a bit…shall we say…“cranky” most of the day. Patty finally managed to coax Bella into the tub for her bath and then got her dressed, but that is when Bella pitched an absolute fit because she didn’t want to wear regular clothes…she wanted to put her P.J.’s back on. No amount of reasoning…well, have you ever tried to “reason” with a two-year old…would convince her otherwise.

The result was the following picture. As you can see by the kaleidoscopic ensemble chosen by our precocious toddler, she decided to go with the “layered” look by donning her pajamas on top of her regular clothes, along with a boa, sunglasses and, of course, every well-dressed toddler’s “must-have” fashion accessory…the poochie. (That’s what we call a pacifier in my family.) Now, the “attitude” that positively oozes in this picture…note the position of the hand and the “annoyed” countenance...well...this little one comes by that honestly from both sides of the family.

I call this one “Maxine As A Child.”

For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Maxine," she is a character on Hallmark greeting cards. She is an acerbic, outspoken, crotchety old woman, who exudes attitude, and I love her wit and candor. It just "speaks" to me.

This is a decidedly different pose of Esabella. I'm not sure when this picture was taken, but happily she consented to wear something besides her jammies for the photographer that day.