Amelia's greatest hits

Amelia now knows several songs. She knows the "ABC" song, "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" pretty well. Of course, "Old MacDonald" is her favorite song to sing and she's very creative with the lyrics. For example, on Old MacDonald's farm a ball goes "roll, roll" here and there; a fish goes "swim, swim" and a butterfly goes "flap, flap." But mommy's favorite lyrics are these:

"And on this farm he had a Mia [Amelia] E-I-E-I-O
with a 'No, no' here and a 'No, no' there..."

-and-

"And on this farm he had a Dinah [Diana] E-I-E-I-O
with a 'Waa, waa' here and a 'Waa, waa' there..."

It's also funny to hear mommy's words coming out of Amelia's mouth. Yesterday, after getting her toy, Bambi, to stand up (with some effort) she told herself, "Oh, good job!" When I entered her room a couple of mornings ago with Diana in my arms, Amelia began to hand me toys to carry from her bed to the living room. Amelia held a large doll out to me when my hands were already full and I told her, "I don't think I can carry anything else." She completed my statement with a quick, "But I'll try."

Amelia is also beginning to speak for her toys as she becomes more imaginative during play time. The other day as she held her Piglet hand puppet I heard her say (in a piglet-y voice) "Hello Amelia, I'm Piglet!" Very cute indeed!

Lisa

A first look at our first home! (The master bedroom is over the garage on the left.) 

We'll need at least 1800 sq. ft. in our new home, just to have space for all of Amelia's toys. 

Stress relief

So far, buying a house hasn't been as much fun or as easy as it appears on television. It is kind of fun imagining the potential within a house you like (picking out paint colors and floor coverings) but I tend to get attached to homes and feel deflated when something puts a kink in our plans to buy.

But yesterday afternoon I went exploring the local elementary school yard with Amelia and had a lot of fun. I brought the soccer ball and had plans for us to kick it around, but as it turned out mommy was the only one interested in playing ball. Amelia was mostly interested in picking dandelions. We visited some playground equipment that was obviously meant to help older kids build strength and coordination and Amelia really enjoyed playing with mommy there. I quickly learned that there were a lot of things I could no longer do, but both mommy and Amelia liked walking along the balancing beams on the school yard.

I am starting to think that soccer just isn't the right class for Amelia. Maybe next quarter I'll sign her up for gymnastics.

Lisa

Daddy's girls. 

Stacking toys, often on her unsuspecting parents, is one of Amelia's favorite things to do. 

My stars!

Today's trip to the doctor's office was a bit stressful. First, there was the challenge of getting both Amelia and Diana ready to leave on time (Amelia resists getting her shirt changed almost every morning). Then there was the difficulty of talking to doctors and nurses sensibly while one child ran in circles and the other cried.

Still, Amelia had a very good time at the doctor's office. She met a little boy her age who had a lollipop. When the other boy did something that made her laugh, Amelia said, "Tickle" with a smile. The boy interpreted this as a request to be tickled and the two of them ran around in circles laughing in the waiting room for some time while the boy tried to tickle Amelia and she tried to keep away.

Amelia knows exactly where the toys are in the examination rooms, too. Today's room had a toy train, a bus and three large plastic stars. While I was trying to talk to the nurse or the doctor and holding Diana, Amelia would stack toys on mommy's "free" hand. She also stood between the doctor and Diana when he tried to check her ears. She moved after I told her she might get a shot by mistake if she continued to stand between the doctor and his patient.

So, the whole appointment was crazy with mommy getting irritable because she kept getting plastic stars stacked on her thumb, followed by a bus and a train engine. But the good news is that Diana is doing very well. In fact, I think she has aspirations to become a sumo wrestler when she grows up. Here are her newest stats: Diana now weighs 12 lbs. 6 oz.! That puts her at the 90th percentile for weight. (I guess all my worries about her spitting up too much were unfounded.) She has also grown another couple of inches in length and is now 23 inches long. That means that she's longer (taller) than 75% of other little girls her age.

Mind you, Diana had her two month appointment four days later than her actual two-month birthday, but I hardly think all of this growth came about in four days.

I wouldn't buy the girl any more 0-3 month outfits, grandma ;).

Even though the morning was crazy I'm very happy our daughter is doing so well. And Amelia is still a very good girl. Though she kept saying, "No" when I told her to put the doctor's toys away, she still helped clean up when the time came.

Lisa

Smile, Diana! 

While looking at old photos at Mike's parents' house we noticed that Amelia and Diana look remarkably alike as babies. While the two of them do look very similar, there's one obvious thing that sets each of them apart...(The photo in the bottom row is of Amelia at three months. I gave her the extra month for comparison purposes since she was born about a month early.) 

"Ok mom, I'm ready for our daily walk to Starbuck's now." (Yes, she really did want to bring all of these toys with her.) 

More great quotes from Amelia

Amelia continues to make us laugh. Last night she sang "Old MacDonald" at the top of her lungs over and over. When she finally finished she stated loud and clear, "That's a great song!"

Last week Amelia had her first soccer class. The goal of that class was to kick the soccer ball to flags planted around the field. Today we were instructed to do completely different exercises, but Amelia did a very good job of carrying her soccer ball from flag to flag, putting it down, and then giving the ball a good kick.

Sometimes Amelia seems overwhelmed in class. I was worried she wouldn't want to go to class today, but she was very excited and yelled, "Soccer!" and "Wait for me!" Though she has her own agenda and rarely does anything like what the other kids do, she seems to have fun. When she got home daddy asked her how she liked soccer class and she said, "Oh, it's fun!"

Lisa

Like Amelia, Diana is a real cutie. 

After she fails to get Diana, who was asleep, to take her pacifier by pleading, "Eat it! Eat it!" Amelia decides to eat it herself. 

One thing Amelia is good at is keeping tabs on her soccer ball. She spent so much time carrying her ball another parent suggested she might have the makings of an excellent goalie :). 

Too much fun

Not much has been written here recently, but that doesn't mean nothing's been going on.

For one thing, Amelia's been frequently amusing her parents with her speech. A couple of mornings ago mommy decided to break out some frozen waffles for breakfast to which Amelia sang out, "Waffle time!" When I began, in my sing-songy way, "You can have two waffles" (to the tune of Elmo's World) she continued, without missing a beat, "And butter, too!" Too funny.

Amelia has also recently figured out that children her age and older aren't babies, but are kids. When I took her to Cold Stone last week, she sat in her seat after finishing her ice cream calling out to the other children in the shop, "Kids!...Kids!"

Today we went to the park for Amelia's first soccer class. She really enjoyed being around so many other two and three-year-olds. When class was over (entirely too quickly) she walked along with the other children and parents toward the parking lot calling out, "Kids!...Kids!" In fact, she temporarily joined another family and seemed disappointed when I told her that they were getting into their own vehicle and going to their own home. The other little boy's mom was nice enough to say to Amelia, "We'll be back to play again next week."

How did Amelia do at soccer? Well, the class was a good lesson for mommy. I really got to see how unique Amelia is when she was around the other children. For one thing, Amelia's really independent. I had to chase her down before class began because she was more interested in chasing crows than participating in an organized class. She'd also much rather carry her soccer ball than kick it. (Carrying it does seem more efficient.)

I sometimes felt that Amelia was the only one who had never attended a soccer class before. Though Amelia seemed less interested in organized play than any of the other children, I think she's looking forward to playing again next week. Daddy and I may buy a soccer ball so we can all practice kicking it in the park in the meantime.

Lisa

Shocking! I cannot believe mommy posted those pictures of me. 

Here's the story, of a lovely baby...some of the many faces of Diana.