But through it all, she took the fall, and did it her way!

Amelia's developing personality is really showing itself in unexpected ways. Today, I believe she had her first toddler temper tantrum. She wanted to see the black ball point pen I was using to write a shopping list this morning, so I capped it and handed it to her. Once she had the pen, she promptly uncapped it (much to mommy's surprise) and grinned mischieveously.

Now, Amelia has raked things along the walls in our apartment before, so I was certainly not going to risk her drawing big black lines along the wall. So, I took the pen away, and she got mad. I had never seen her act this way before. She walked over to the wall and bumped it with her forehead. Then she lay face down on the carpet and started fussing and crying. Wow!

Of course, I did not over-react to this little display. To do so would have ensured a quick repeat of these actions, but I had no idea she would be this mad about a pen. Maybe she was just feeling grouchy this morning.

This isn't the first time Amelia has displayed displeasure in a funny or overly dramatic fashion. A few days ago I was playing Barney's Old MacDonald sing along and Amelia was happy as a clam. Then I thought I would try out the "sing by myself" option and sing the song without Barney, Baby Bop and the kids. Amelia did not like the change. She quickly let me know that this was not how she wanted to experience the song. I had to stop the video immediately and restart the song with Barney's accompaniment.

Now that I think about it, she gave me a funny look today when I was singing along with Barney. Maybe she's getting old enough to realize that mommy REALLY can't sing.

Lisa