Nail Biting

She was never interested in a pacifier. She never sucked her thumb. But she apparently has developed a champion nail biting habit. Yikes!

On the plus side, I haven't heard her grate her teeth lately. (Something she started doing about six months ago and I started ignoring after nothing would stop her.)

March Madness

Here Maynard is contemplating my bracket. Since he can't read, we haven't told him the Wildcats are out of it already.

And here is Amelia petting Chessie and noticing Tallulah. (I love the way she pronounces her name!)

[picture dated 3/27 and video dated 3/25/08]

Happy Easter!

I am exhausted! Yesterday and today have worn me out, but at least we had a lot of fun in the meantime.

Amelia has discovered chocolate and she loves it. She found another piece today from another room I hear "Mommy, open chocolate please!" Of course, since it's a special day I obliged and took off the tin foil so she could dribble chocolate down her chin once again.

Amelia sat in the living room at one point today, pouring over the contents of her basket and saying quietly to herself, "I have an Easter basket. I have an Easter basket." Too cute.

We went over Nana's for supper and Amelia had a blast with her cousins. She really was enamored of 7 year-old Liza when she put the Easter bunny glasses and ears on. Here she is watching her. Amelia even hugged her knees - it was so cute. She was just fascinated. Later when Liza was doing a little song and dance for us, Amelia held her hand and the two of them were just so cute together. Then Liza hid some eggs and took Amelia through the house looking for them saying, "Is there something different on the table? Is there something different on the piano bench?"

[pictures dated 3/23/08]

2-1/2 Years Old; Easter Egg Hunt

We had a very nice family day today. We went to Books-A-Million where Amelia had a ball playing with the Thomas table. After that we went to lunch at O'Charley's and Amelia decided she most liked the bread and Daddy's spaghetti. Oh, and Mommy's soup. She was pretty insistent about trying it, and even liked it despite it being both a little hot and a little spicy. She's growing up so quick.

Before explaining the joy of the Easter egg hunt in the afternoon, I will mention that we graduated to training pants the other day and since then Amelia will not pee in the potty. Even if she is on there for like 20 minutes, she doesn't do a thing and within five minutes of having the training pants on she pees everywhere. I am quite frustrated at this turn of events as she had been doing pretty good with going potty up until now. We are three days into this regression and I am totally unsure what to do. I even bribed her with stickers yesterday.

So onto the Easter egg hunt. I was concerned that Amelia would be left in the dust by the big kids but her daddy and I were both pleasantly surprised that she totally caught onto the concept. In fact, we ran out of room for eggs! Then she discovered they were awfully fun to throw, but when she retrieved them she would say, "Not balls, these are eggs." Daddy overheard her playing with another child and she said, "This is Amelia's and not yours." Her first compound sentence perhaps? But oh my, we're going to have to watch her socializing skills!

After the egg hunt our church had a sloppy joe supper with cupcakes and Amelia gobbled them up. I even let her have a little kool-aid and she had her very first kool-aid mustache! Dodah came by the house a little bit ago and brought her a basket of goodies. Amelia, now the pro at opening plastic eggs, found two large marshmallows and was delighted. She labeled them as the yellow duck and pink rabbit correctly, took a ladylike bite of the duck, then shoved the rest in her mouth. Then she said, "I eat the duck first."

She is so turning into a little kid and I'm loving it. She is a lot of fun and has so much personality. I just hope she catches onto this toilet training thing soon.

Good Friday

I let Amelia open a gift that came for her today.

2-1/2 years ago right now we were on the way to the hospital, and I was just three hours away from having her. Yikes! Where does the time go?

[video dated 3/21/08]

Independence Part II

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post another aspect of Amelia's independence that I've noticed. This one shows up most glaringly at the park.

Last week I had put her sand toys in the car (her favorite activity at the park these days is the sand box, and I learned the hard way not to leave her toys in it when we moved onto another activity because older children broke her only shovel last year). When I came back, a mere 90 seconds later, she was halfway up one of those metal ladders that arcs halfway up to the platform. I had no idea she could do that by herself! Of course, as soon as she saw me she stopped and acted all needy with "Mommy, help!" In this instance I wanted her to rely on her own strength and skills so that she can become better coordinated and have fun exploring. (I've been blessed with not having an indoor climber, but as a result she isn't as coordinated or agile as I think she would otherwise be.)

As I watch her on the various playground equipment, moving up and getting down from certain things, I like watching her problem solving skills and decision making skills in action. Her imagination is also coming out when she plays in certain things like the miniature tree house. And she has named all the slides: the round and round slide, the bump bump slide, the another round and round slide and the tunnerl slide.

Since last week, she has also been able to go up the swinging ladder by herself, too. I have to stand at a safe distance so she doesn't ask for help, and I love watching her go! The swinging ladder goes up to the platform to the tunnel slide - and Amelia has finally discovered how much fun that one is. She hadn't really spent much time in the tube that led to it from the standard set of stairs, in part because she wasn't isn't much of a crawler (she will walk hunched over in it rather than crawling), but now that she has discovered that it leads to the rest of the platforms, she doesn't hesitate to go through.

Independence

Amelia is not a snuggler and that is one thing I would change about her if I could.

She's never been a snuggler which is one of the reasons I was glad I had chosen to breastfeed. As she got older and mobile, I don't think I would have gotten any together time if it wasn't for being a source of milk for her! On the other hand, I could never cradle her just to snuggle - she would turn her head wanting milk.

At Kindermusik there is always a three minute segment of "quiet time". Most mothers sit and cuddle with their children. I have had to walk Amelia around and whisper to her about things outside the windows to get her to stay in my arms. Otherwise, she wants to run around and look at things and make noise.

A couple of weeks ago one of the boys laid on the floor, so Amelia did, too. She stayed quiet until I touched her and she bounced up saying, "Awake!". Last week, I just let her lay there and did not touch her at all. And she stayed there.

While I am glad she has an independent spirit, it does hurt me a little that she doesn't need me.

Rock-a-Bye

Every nap and bedtime I cradle Amelia in my arms and she asks for "Go to sleep song" and I sing it followed up by "Rock-a-bye Amelia". When I get to the part where the cradle falls down, I drop her about a foot or so into her crib. She loves it.

This morning she stood in front of me and did "Rock-a-bye" with her rabbit from Goodnight Moon, then with "yellow feet" - one of the chickens from the Fisher Price farm. I grabbed the camera in time for "red feet"'s turn. I really like how she double checks the feet as she starts to say "yellow feet" and realizes she indeed has "red feet" instead. Enjoy.

[video dated 3/11/08]

Hi Lili, Hi Lo

One of the numerous songs that Amelia requests is "Tomorrow" from Annie. In my 6 things meme, did I fail to mention that my 6th grade nickname was Annie, by the way? Hated it. Anyway ... Daddy was flipping channels the other day and hit on the movie Annie right at the "Tomorrow" song. I was feeding her and she stared at the TV and was like, "Wow! That's a real song!" (Okay, so that's how her daddy and I interpreted the look.)

The other day I sang her "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music and as soon as I got done she said, "I like that song!" It totally cracked me up.

So tonight I went on YouTube and found another song, the one I sing to her anytime she has a boo-boo. She either calls it the "sad song, please" or "the Lili song". It's actually a song called "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" and my mother would sometimes sing it to me at bedtime when I was little. It was something I didn't have to share with my brother and so I have always thought of it as a special song.

I clicked on the Leslie Caron version from the movie Lili and Amelia enjoyed watching the puppet show and hearing the song. It always bothered me that the version in Lili wasn't quite what my mother sang; it is more upbeat and is missing a few lyrics. I was curious about the other versions on YouTube and clicked on one featuring Amalia Rodrigues. Not only is it the European version of Amelia's name, it IS the version my mother sang! Unfortunately I cannot find any reference to Amalia singing it in a movie, so perhaps the YouTube video was just a performance at a dinner club. I did look her up on wikipedia and she was a pretty interesting lady.

When I clicked on the Everly Brothers' version, my husband declared, "Ah! That means it was a true hit!" I love his sense of humor.

And tell me she is not just adorable in ponytails? (Pick me a good one, Amelia!) She took her nap at 4 p.m. today, slept until I woke her about 5:30 p.m., and was in bed at 8:30 p.m., just 30 minutes past her normal bedtime. I say we're easing into the Daylight Savings Time fairly decently.

[picture dated 3/10/08]

Comfortable

... is Amelia's newest word and she uses it completely in context in a variety of situations - like when I buckle her into her carseat or she climbs up and sits on Daddy's lap and says, "I'm comfortable."

Today is Daylight Savings and of course it threw her nap off. We've been doing well on naps - only missed one this past Thursday. She got crib time, but just never slept. Well, today she didn't get one either and was about beside herself by 6:30 p.m., which was only 5:30 p.m. to her little body.

We did have a lot of fun today. Daddy had found her bubbles and left them on the kitchen table, so after lunch we went outside despite the cold and blew bubbles. She is pretty good, wants to immediately chase the ones she makes, and is just so delighted by them.

Toast

When Amelia pees in her potty I always congratulate her "Yay Amelia!" and then I tell her to wipe her tush as I hand her some toilet paper. This is enough of a routine now that Amelia will be in the middle of one of her books and suddenly say, even in a conversational tone as if it were part of her book, "Yay Amelia peed in potty." Then she says, "Wipe toast!" I've corrected her each time, but just with her constant Tiger for Tigger, it seems we have toast for tush.

Retro Dress

Here's another hand-me-down from Cousin Ashley and I just love how it looks like something I may have worn as a very small child. (And I had a little fun with the Paint program to edit out the roll of toilet paper that Daddy had on hand to wipe Amelia's runny nose. Note to the mommy: make sure the heating vent isn't covered with a big Thomas book overnight, making your child's room colder than the rest of the house.)

It's also an opportunity to post a picture of Amelia actually playing with her dollhouse. Notice that the occupants include a zebra, a pony (unicorn) and a dinosaur. Such a plausible combination of houseguests, no?

[pictures dated 3/5/08]

Her Own Language

Amelia has only a handful of words that aren't "real" but they crop up regularly. If I don't record them now, I will forget them. She usually uses them when she reads to herself and if I repeat the word, she grins maniacally.

Oystersers and Polekissers are long-time favorites now. At first we thought she was saying ostriches for the first word, but now we don't necessarily think so. The second word - who knows. And lately she has added watercades (waterfalls?) to the repertoire.

Most of the time she uses "real" words and does so correctly. The exception to this is the phrase "too big" which is used anytime something isn't working out quite the way she intended. It's kind of funny.

*nap update 2* She took a nap again today. Yay! She only got out once and it was to get her dinosaurs. She talked to them for about 10 seconds. The last thing I heard was "momma [dinosaur] missing" and she promptly fell asleep after that. The dinosaurs are now on top of our toilet seat. I should go move them while I'm thinking about it ...

The Doll House

After reading Chas's Christmas report, I decided Amelia needed a dollhouse, too. Around Christmas she was first beginning to show some pretend play/imagination and had been playing more with her Little People farm and market. So I turned to my favorite shopping source: eBay where I found a pre-played with Fisher Price dollhouse for practically nothing, and it's in great shape - just missing a door. It came with furniture, people and even two ponies. (They're actually unicorns, but Amelia calls them ponies.) And Amelia LOVES it. I can barely get her away from it and have used it (in conjunction with her other favorite activity) to get her home from the park without a scene, as in "Let's go home and play with the dollhouse. Or we can have a tea party!" Is this bribing? Probably so, but it works.

The furniture it came with includes a table and two chairs. The table is set for a tea party - so if she doesn't want to use her Amelia-sized set, she can play tea party with her Little People. The thing is, there is also a built-in potty, complete with a lid that opens, so all her Little People MUST go to the potty before they can go to the tea party. And there is a little routine. They go up the stairs, counting each one, to the second floor bathroom. Then they sit/stand IN the potty. Then they come downstairs, go back up and sit in the bathtub, then come back downstairs, go back up and wash their hands at the sink. The the Little Person can go to the table for a tea party. Fortunately this is reserved just for the 2, 3 or 4 Little People she plans to allow at the tea party.

I've found some interesting and cute things that Amelia has staged at various times with the dollhouse set-up. For a good while none of the items from her three Little People structures (farm, market, dollhouse) intermingled. Her ponies hung out at the house, since they came with the house and haven't ventured to the farm until this past week. A couple of weeks ago, the farm animals were apparently invited to the house. (By the way, she noticed that the chickens had different colored feet and started calling them 'orange feet' and 'yellow feet' respectively. And one is the mama because she's bigger - something else I hadn't noticed, but she did.)



And I should mention that the way she says dollhouse most of the time sounds like dog house.

*nap update* She took a nap today! I was so excited AND relieved. I just had to stand guard outside her door for about 40 minutes. It was pretty easy to do because I was watching the KY game at the same time. (They put up a good fight, but lost to TN by 3 points.) She saw me on two or three occasions and ran back to her bed; I had to put her back twice. Not bad. And she slept for 2-1/2 hours, which is normal for her IF she goes to sleep.

Since it was so nice out this afternoon we were able to squeeze in 30 minutes at the park after her nap. It was SO nice to get outside. Amelia played on the 'big girl' swings again and is doing really well at remembering to hold on. Livia and her dad were there and Livia, as usual, is a real climber. She can go up the ladders and through the tunnels without a hitch. Amelia likes the ladders but needs lots of assistance and has no interest in the tunnels. Instead she runs across the "bridge" and goes down the "round and round" slide. ("her words" in quotes.)

Nap Strike ... or No More Crib Tent part 2

Well, Amelia hasn't taken a nap for me since last Saturday. And I say 'for me' on purpose. She napped at Mimi's on Wednesday afternoon, and she napped for the sitter Friday afternoon here in her own crib tentless toddler bed. Thursday afternoon I even pulled out my Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child book for advice. It said to just keep putting the toddler back in bed in a non-verbal, non-emotional way each time. And that it could take many times. Ugh.

We took her to the local children's museum this morning with her friend Livia and her parents. This was Amelia's first trip there and she had tons of fun taking part in many of the activities on both floors. We then went out to lunch and came home. Since it warmed up a little, we played outside for a few minutes. She was tired ... but still no nap. I put her down at 2 p.m. and put her back into bed about four times. It's hard to distinguish her playing in her crib from her playing outside her crib until I hear a toy that I know is not in her crib. Finally at 4:30 p.m., we just let her come out of her room. And she was WIRED!

She alternated between the 10,000 foot stares and frenzied motion that was sure to end in a boo-boo. I just couldn't believe she didn't take a nap. She went to bed about 40 minutes early, but didn't fall asleep for about 20 minutes or so. Daddy was concerned that if we put her to bed at 7 p.m., she'd wake at 5 a.m. - I'm so tired keeping up with her, I was willing to risk it.

I will continue trying to put her back in bed in a non-emotional way tomorrow, but if anyone else has some suggestions, feel free to pipe up! (and if you have trouble commenting, just email me at mommy_of_amelia@yahoo.com)

Thanks.