Amelia, or merely a close approximation?

Like most of us, Amelia has her good days and her bad days. Yesterday Amelia was so good in many respects that I began to wonder if the real Amelia had been abducted by aliens leaving a clone in her place.

First of all, Amelia was very good at the grocery store. She did little to no dancing in the aisles (always good) and generally stayed close to mommy. We bought groceries for dinner and Amelia helped me pick out some fish at the seafood counter. She then asked to eat the fish. I told her that since we weren't at a sushi bar we would all have to wait until the fish was prepared.

At home, Amelia asked again for fish. I prepared the salmon with corn on the cob (which I had actually planned to serve with chicken the following day). Both Amelia and Diana LOVE corn on the cob, and I know Amelia can eat a ton of corn. After finishing her 2/3 of an ear of corn (Diana got 1/3) Amelia asked for more corn. I told her, "Not until you eat your fish." Now, this is normally the point where Amelia whines and fusses and claps her hand over her mouth, but instead she said, "Okay," and ate her fish.

It was really odd. Both girls had strawberry shortcake for dessert.

This morning Amelia did a great job in her gymnastics class (according to her instructor). After class she was her old self to some extent. Amelia can't leave the gymnastics school without running back and forth with at least one other child in the dance room. While she's there, she tries on and plays with the various props she finds lying about (like this black top hat).

While Amelia is in class, Diana and I go to Home Goods to find things to decorate the house (or Starbucks if I want to save some cash). The store has a rocking frog that Diana loves and she wants to climb on it and rock every time we pass it by.

Diana is also old enough to ride Amelia's rocking horse, though she needs help getting aboard. Tonight she smiled and rocked all alone. Each time I tried to put a hand on her, just to help balance her and to help me feel more secure, she would push my hand away. And after she had been riding for a while I asked if she was ready to get off to which she replied with a vigorous head shake, "No!"

Diana isn't much of a talker, but she's good at getting her point across. She's very good about indicating "yes" and "no" with shakes and nods of her head. I guess I've been teaching her some sign language without really meaning to do so. Maybe I am a good linguist after all.

Lisa