Painting is a fun way to pass the time. (Amelia asked for 'more' after finishing this first masterpiece and completed two paintings in a single sitting.) 

Games Toddlers Play

As you know, Amelia loves to play on the swings and seesaw at the park. Of course, in the winter we can't go to the park very often, so we have to come up with fun things to do at home.

One of the earliest was "Rocky," which she learned at her grandparents' house in Santa Rosa, even before she could walk. The rules are simple: put Amelia in the rocking chair, rock it, and chant "Rocky, Rocky!" It's a classic, but she still enjoys that one.

Amelia also has a couple of games that fall under the umbrella term, "Whee." These involve Amelia, with her back to the front door and facing the living room, saying "Ready, Set, Go" then running across the apartment to a waiting parent.

When both Lisa and I are home, things get really exciting. In one variation which she calls "Horsie" I pick up Amelia so that she is facing forward, and my back is to the door. Then Lisa calls out, "Ready, Set, Go!" and I bounce Amelia forward, singing the Lone Ranger theme and depositing her into Mommy's arms, Amelia squealing in delight. Without looking, I'll turn around and walk back to the door, and invariably Amelia is right on my heels, asking to play again ("Horsie? Horsie? HORSIE?").

The other indoor "Whee" variation is known as "Fly Mommy." In this one, I pick up Amelia and hold her at arms length in front of me, facing Lisa in the chair and with my back to the door. After Lisa's obligatory, "Ready, Set, Go!" I sprint across the room with a "Whoosh" into Mommy's waiting arms. The whole thing takes about three seconds - it's like a drag race. Of course, when I turn around, right on my heels is Amelia, "Fly Mommy? Fly Mommy? Oh, Fly Mommy? Up, up up!"

Well the other day, we played these for awhile and I got pretty tired. So we told Amelia, "One more!" and did another "Fly Mommy." I then went to sit down but Amelia didn't notice at first. She was all the way to the door and noticed that I was gone. She found me, and insisted on another "Fly Mommy" round. But I told her I was tired and that we were done for the day and that it was time for her bath. After pleading for another "Fly Mommy" she gave up - but then asked to play "Horsie". When I told her no, she was visibly disappointed. She stomped around the house for awhile in true two-year-old fashion. It was sad - and funny- at the same time.

Amelia slept well that night, as did I. :-)

Amelia decides to let all her toys have a turn in daddy's chair. 

Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun...

The sun was out and shining, and the weather report stated that it would be a bit warmer than usual yesterday afternoon. So, Mike and Amelia picked me up after class and we headed off to the park to play.

Realize it's been a while since Amelia's been to the park. The weather is cold, wet or both most days in Indiana this time of year. Amelia has really missed the swings and the see-saw at the park. As soon as we neared the decorative gates to the park Amelia began cheering, "Yea! yea!" When the car stopped she began her chorus of, "Up, up, up, up."

She had to wait a little while for a turn on the swing, but she was just thrilled when her turn came. She couldn't stop shreaking and giggling, "Weeee, go!" Mike and I noticed that Amelia's hands were turning red from the cold breeze that resulted from her swinging, but we couldn't convince her to stop. Her cheeks were flushed and her nose was runny, but she still wanted to play.

After a few more minutes on the slide and see-saw it was time to go. Amelia was not pleased at all! Funny thing is, she had been swinging next to another little boy, maybe a few months older than she, and he was being placed in his car seat at the same time we were leaving. He was crying and complaining, too.

I guess we're going to have to do what we can to get out when it's even a little warm. Tomorrow, the rain is supposed to return, but I'm sure spring is just around the corner (we hope).

Lisa

An expanding vocabulary

Recently, Amelia has added some adjectives to her vocabulary. She now knows: soft, nice, sleepy, cute and pretty in addition to her old favorite, "Wow, neat!"

But some of her adjective usage is really funny. For example, while Amelia knows the words hot, cold and warm she isn't always sure which word is appropriate to the situation at hand. I have seen Amelia drop ice cubes several times while exclaiming, "it's hot." Hot may be my second favorite Amelia adjective because it is almost always accompanied by the waving of her left hand in the air (as if pretending to have touched something hot) and followed by a quick exhale (like one would use when blowing on hot food).

My favorite adjective of hers is one she reserves for those times when she wears her sunglasses. I was surprised a few days ago, when I put her glasses on her head, to hear her exclaim, "Cool!" Now she almost always says, "Cool" when she gets to wear her glasses...too funny.

Lisa

We know "cute" when we see it! Just look in the mirror, cutie pie. 

Last Friday Amelia and I both got our hair cut. (I think hers turned out better than mine.) 

Amelia's spots help her hide in patchy snow. 

Hide and Seek

While at my dad's house in Fresno, Amelia did something that surprised us. She picked up some coasters she found lying on the coffee table and slipped them between the couch and an end table saying, "Hide seek."

Until then we had no idea that Amelia knew how to say hide and seek. She had been exposed to the game through one of her DVDs, but we hadn't tried to play the game with her at that point. Soon Amelia was pulling credit cards out of mommy's wallet, sticking them under the couch and saying, "Hide seek!"

A couple of days ago I came home to a happy daddy and Amelia. Mike told me that he had been playing with Amelia for hours and guess what? They were playing hide and seek. To demonstrate, Mike held Amelia and they counted to ten together while mommy hid in the kitchen. After daddy said, "Here we come, ready or not!" Amelia came around the corner to find mommy proudly saying, "I see you!" We played again, this time with daddy hiding, and when she saw him she actually said, "I found you!" Very impressive for a little girl.

I'm sure I say this all the time, but it's amazing how fast Amelia is learning. Tonight, on her way up to bed, she paused on the stairs to say goodnight (in her words, "bye") to objects around the living room. "Bye, juice. Bye, toys...bye, juice." (She must be really fond of her juice.)

Now she's sleeping away like a baby. Though I'll get to see her tomorrow, this is my drill weekend so I'll be leaving for Saturday and Sunday. I miss the baby when I'm away. Hopefully, where ever we move next I'll have a much shorter drive to my reserve center.

Lisa

On the right you can see a 3D image of the new baby. Pretty amazing...looks like a baby carved out of wax.  

Pitch for Lancome...oh, and the baby.

Michael thought with all the recent excitement I might want to share my experiences with all of you who visit our blog. First of all, let me tell you that my hair was just getting drier and drier, year after year. I tried all kinds of hair products, including many that had worked really well in the past, but nothing seemed to help. In despiration I decided to try Lancome's new hair line. I used their new shampoo and conditioner for dry hair and a leave-in moisturizer and my hair feels great, so soft and smooth...

Oh, Mike informs me that my hair is not the most interesting thing happening in Indiana. The most interesting thing going on has to be the new sonogram we got this morning. Boy, is our little one active! I'm not sure if this baby is really more active than Amelia was, or if this is just a product of her/his gestational age (he/she still has a lot of room to move in there). The baby started off face down and flipped over 180 degrees while we watched. The baby stretched and rotated and moved his/her arms; it was fun to watch.

The woman who did our sonogram was very nice. Once the procedure was over, Mike asked for our tape back. The nurse then realized that she had forgotten to start the tape. Instead of saying, "Oh well, sorry," she greased up my belly and started over again. We thanked the nurse and told her the grandparents would be pleased. And she also told us that things looked really good as far as she could tell. I'm sure everything will be fine.

Now, it's still too soon to see if our baby is a little boy or girl, but Mike is convinced he saw a little winkie. Time will tell. I'm not going to guess either way. It's a toss up as far as I can tell.

Lisa

P.S. My hair does feel awfully soft and nice.

Yesterday morning Amelia accompanied mommy to her doctor's appointment and got to see her delivery doctor again. (I really like the doctor who delivered Amelia; she's very nice.) 

Daddy teaches Amelia the fine art of paper tearing (taken right before we left for California). 

"Hey look mom, I found the 'W'!" 

Amelia sings!

As most of you know, the family has been in California for winter break (in fact, many of you saw us in person there). Sorry it has been so long since we last wrote here, but I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into Amelia's life.

One of my favorite memories from Christmas vacation was hearing Amelia sing "Twinkle Twinkle" along with me as I got her ready for bed. Amelia has recently started singing songs on her own; however, her versions of these songs are a bit abreviated.

For example, Amelia can start the alphabet song by herself with the letters "A B C D", but she needs a little help beyond that. She can actually fill in about a third of the letters when you give her the song a bit at a time and has known to sing, "Now I know..." for a long time now. Amelia's favorite letters may be O and W. When she plays with letters in the bathtub and I ask her, "What's this?" Her response is often, "O!" And she gets so excited when singing the alphabet that she'll throw in a "W" here and there, whether it really belongs or not. ("W" is a pretty cool letter, after all, and fun to say.)

Amelia also sings her own version of "Old MacDonald" that goes something like this:
"Ee-yai-ee-yai-ee-yai-oh
On farm...duck!"

But her best song is the abreviated Amelia version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star":
"Twinkle...star
How I...are
Upples...high"

She's so fun, and learning words amazingly fast, at this age.

Lisa