You may have noticed that it says apple seed under your username when you comment on the boards. Once you comment 5 times, you’ll level up to a pea, coffee bean, olive, and so forth. I liked the idea of using fruits for the bee levels because it’s obvious that the larger the fruit, the higher your bee level.
The wonderful pumpkin is the highest level, and though it’s the only vegetable on this list, there’s a story behind why a pumpkin and why it’s wonderful. The Wonderful Pumpkin by Lennart Hellsing was one of my favorite childhood books. The story of two bears who travel the world inside a magic pumpkin must have resonated with my adventure loving self, even at the youngest of ages. My brother and I checked out The Wonderful Pumpkin from the library over and over again, and when I was pregnant with Charlie, it was the very first book that I purchased for him. He’s still a little too young to enjoy the story, but I hope that it becomes a childhood favorite for him as it was for me.
Another reason why I liked pumpkin as the highest level is my birthday is on October 30th so Halloween has always been one of my most favorite holidays, and baby bee #2 is going to be born via c-section on Halloween! So you could say that the pumpkin has a special place in my life.
Who will be the first wonderful pumpkin? I’m going to have to come up with a wonderful prize for that person!
nectarine / 2616 posts
Are the board and comments counts combined?
nectarine / 2616 posts
Because in the boards, im at 15. In the main blog portion im at 34 (and it doesn’t seem to go up)
admin / pomegranate / 3675 posts
@blushink – The post counts on the blog are all hardwired to 34.
:-)
It will be fixed before we go out of beta – I promise!
nectarine / 2616 posts
Oh K! ha. :) Thanks
guest
I love this idea!!! It reminds me of when I would keep track of my weekly pregnancy progress and the different levels of fruits/veggies my little one progressed to.
pea / 11 posts
I love the titles, especially since the highest has a special meaning :)
blogger / pomegranate / 3203 posts
it will be me… oh yes… it will be me. wonderful pumpkin, wonderful tina….
cherry / 112 posts
These are the cutest things ever :) Love it!
pea / 11 posts
I never heard of the book The Wonderful Pumpkin but now I’m totally intrigued after reading this post. :) We refer to our little one as “Pumpkin” so I’m thinking of purchasing this book as a gift for my husband. Thanks for sharing Bee!
pea / 15 posts
The names are adorable =]
pea / 10 posts
great idea!
persimmon / 1106 posts
Great level names!
kiwi / 672 posts
I have to agree that the level names are adorable. It is clear that a tremendous amount of thought went into all aspects of hellobee.
coffee bean / 39 posts
this is awesome. definitely need to be more active!
nectarine / 2616 posts
Is it possible apricot is at 150 and not 250?
nectarine / 2616 posts
Oh and it might be nice to have this either as a sticky or in the sidebar for easy access :)
admin / pomegranate / 3675 posts
Ah you are right, Blushink! I must’ve made a typo when I was inputting the levels… great catch!
I will add a link to the bee levels from the sidebar, once we program the design for sidebar modules!
nectarine / 2616 posts
Anytime !
persimmon / 1203 posts
this is such a cute idea! I didn’t realize it was just fruit – I thought it was different sizes, like the tickers that say, “your baby is a raspberry!” ;)
nectarine / 2562 posts
I was wondering about the levels and just thought to use the search. Duh.
@sorrycharlie it looks like that not only are they fruits, but the size of the fruit gets larger with each level. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t read your comment.
olive / 99 posts
Neat.
kiwi / 633 posts
@mrbee: yay for a new feature! thanks for adding the @reply!
pear / 1848 posts
@mrbee: It works! :)
admin / pomegranate / 3675 posts
@Mrs. D: @Boogs: Glad to hear it’s working!!
pear / 1627 posts
200 more post before I turn into a pear! I can’t wait because I HATE persimmons!