Shoe Girl

Amelia is playing in her room and then she comes out with her black Sunday shoes on and says, "Do I look cute in these shoes?"

The Zoo

We met some friends at the zoo yesterday and then it rained on us. Since it was a warm rain I let Amelia get wet, but when the rain didn't stop it was time to use the umbrella and get her dry clothes and head out. She was wearing a blue KY shirt and her concern was "do you have another blue shirt?" The girl loves her blue. Fortunately, the one in her backpack was indeed blue so I assured her with, "Yes! We have your light blue butterfly shirt." She smiled and bought into the idea of changing into dry clothes.

Since there were six adults and her at dinner, she got to sit between Mommy & Daddy at dinner and was the most content she's been at a restaurant in a long time. (I think playing in the rain and walking around the zoo also wiped her out a little.) She happily colored and ate her dinner. I didn't let her walk since her shoes had gotten absolutely soaked - what kid can resist puddles? - but I did put on the clean socks to prevent her getting a chill inside the restaurant. She was fine with it, although it made going potty interesting!

She fell asleep on the way home and barely stirred when I put her in the car to go to Nana's this morning. She was still wearing her butterfly shirt, too!

First Dance Recital

Last night was Amelia's first dance recital. She and her daddy did the dress rehearsal Friday night and I got there as soon as I could after work - and just in time for her performance. We were allowed to take pictures Friday night, but not Saturday at the performance because they were using professional photographers. I took some pictures of her outside the building during intermission.

Amelia did a great job for her little dance. There were five other little girls and they formed a line and did movements to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". We stayed for the curtain call and Amelia was so tired she got out there and sat down. She loved her medal, though.

[picture dated 5/23/09]

Oh.

Amelia is doing all better, from what we can tell. She has also gotten to the point where she wants to be completely independent in the bathroom and that seems to have put a stop to her little accidents, too. We were still having some periodic teeny tiny drip accidents - only at home where she knew there are lots of clean, dry panties - when she was too busy to stop playing. My latest tact after having visited my friend whose daughter and Amelia have really hit it off (and they're 7 years apart) was to emphasize, "Wow! Amelia! Your panties are nice and dry just like Hannah's!" So that might have done the trick, too. Amelia truly loves Hannah and talks about how when she is 4, Hannah will be 11; when she is 10, Hannah will be 17. Whoa, Amelia ... we can wait for that!

Amelia's has a habit of doing this squeal scream indoors - you know that high pitched ear piercing sound that some children are especially good at? We try real hard to always tell her she can't do that indoors, whether we're in a house, a car, a store, etc. We try to make sure she gets the opportunity to squeal outside at the park or our driveway so she knows she does have an outlet for her exuberant expressions. When we do tell her to stop, she usually returns our reprimand with a blank stare. Now we get a real short, "Oh." It's kind of funny. She'll respond the same way to other reprimands. "Amelia you're too close to the TV." A step back and an abrupt, "Oh." She sounds kind of surprised, like we've woken her from some daydream.

First Nightmare

Earlier this week Amelia woke up in the middle of the night upset, and when she woke up in the morning she was still upset when she awoke - which is unlike her. (She is a squealing bubble of happy energy normally.)

We think she had some kind of nightmare about the ceiling fan because ever since then, she has been obsessed with the fan and whether it is together or apart. Apparently in her dream the fan fell apart, came apart, or something, and it has greatly disturbed her. Telling her the fan only comes apart at night has appeased her a little, but she has made comments about not wanting to go to bed because the fan will be apart, and first thing in the morning she wants to know if the fan is together.

All I can think of is all that fan staring she did as a baby apparently wasn't a good idea. Who knew?

When I was 4 or 5 I had a bad dream about a bulldozer coming up the front stoop/stairs after me and I would get unsettled at the sight of a bulldozer for years after that. I hope Amelia can get over her nightmare faster!!

Thinker

Amelia has an imaginary cat. His name is Thinker. He is blue with stripes. Sometimes the stripes are red, sometimes blue. His nose also has a color - sometimes it's black. It seems like some part of him is yellow - maybe his ears? his tail? She is SO cute when she talks about him.

She will hand him to me, sometimes when we're driving. "Here Mom, hold Thinker!" So I put my hand back in her direction. She puts her closed fit on my open palm as we make the transfer. She always looks delighted with herself.

Sometimes she will go back to her room or somewhere else to pick him up before we leave. I'll be a little exasperated because I'm trying to get us to wherever we're going, but I try to remember she is just three. I say, "Amelia? We need to go." And I hear, "Just a minute, Mom, I am getting Thinker!" The easy thing is, since Thinker isn't real, I don't have to help find him before we can go.

When she picks him up - especially if we're outside somewhere when she decides she needs to go get him, it's like when she was younger and would pick up imaginary stones. I guess since I am always grabbing things as we depart, this may be her way of mimicking me.

Update

Last night at supper Amelia asked me in a very sad voice, "Why don't you give me juice anymore?" And this was after begging for lettuce off of my plate (which I did give her since she had only one movement yesterday and it was in the morning). I gave her a few sips of watered down grape juice (not apple which is her usual juice). Then she begged for some of her daddy's chocolate pudding. I appeased her with a piece of chocolate since I had made the pudding with cow's milk.

Today she asked for juice again and I let her have a little this afternoon. She also had a carrot at supper. Her only movement today wasn't until tonight and I would classify it as soft rather than loose, so I am taking that as a positive sign that she is improving. I am definitely looking forward to the day's when I take her pooping for granted again rather than holding my breath hoping for 'normal' every time she goes potty.

(Yes, Amy, we started the BRAT diet last Thursday evening, although not exclusively, which is one of the reasons that by Saturday morning I was growing more concerned, especially considering the stomach cramps she was then experiencing.)

Onto other things ... today was rainbow day at preschool which meant wear your favorite color. Since it was 36 degrees here yesterday morning and this morning, Amelia wore her long-sleeved Thomas shirt (since her Blue's Clues fleece was worn yesterday and her light blue snowflake flannel twinset was in the wash from Sunday ... yes, it's been COLD here!). Daddy complained that if she was going to wear that shade of blue, she should be wearing a Kentucky shirt. You just can't please all of the people all of the time, can you?

I think I may have mentioned that Amelia has been fascinated with the process of getting our new grocery store. Since they are now putting in a gas station where the old one was, there is still a lot of construction vehicles (bulldozers, backhoes, dump trucks, etc.) I took her by the bakery section in our fancier new store to show her the models of the different cakes. They had one with bulldozers, etc. on it and now she has been telling us that she wants an Ingles parking lot birthday cake for her birthday. Repeatedly. Except for the other day when she told us she also wants a Pablo balloon for her birthday. Looks like we'll have a Backyardigans Bulldozer birthday this year ... although there are four more months for her to add to her themes. She doesn't mind the anticipation (yet). She will say, "First, there is Mommy's birthday, then Grandma's, then Nana's, then Daddy's, then mine!"

Motherhood

Motherhood is hard. It's the worrying and the lack of control that make it so hard. Amelia is at her Nana's right now and I am still worried about whether she has kicked her diarrhea problem. (I'm at work and shouldn't be blogging but I'm tired of worrying and thought this might help.) Amelia hasn't had a movement since yesterday morning and now I am worried she is stopped up ... ugh.

Things would be so much easier if:

She could just eat anything she wants (which she does most of the time ... just not now).
I could know for sure that the illnesses and bumps she'll endure will all be minor and not an indication of some horrible disease or condition.
She would come when I call her.
She would always hold my hand in the parking lot.
She would stop hitting me (even after asking me if I'm "hittable" and I say no.)
etc.

Which goes to the other hard part of motherhood - training. It would be nice for Amelia to be a meek, compliant child but I don't want to break her spirit. She is so happy and energetic. But she loves to explore and I have to learn
(a) how to effectively teach her when that isn't appropriate (being out of sight in a store) and
(b) how to let go (when she is exploring bugs and leaf piles, etc.). I am afraid of her getting bug bites that turn into infections, poison ivy and who knows what else.

Basically I feel so responsible for everything that happens to her, and it's just too much sometimes. I want to enjoy her childhood as much as she is.

Crunchy Bed

We went a bit overboard last weekend with the strawberries, eating them for breakfast, lunch & dinner for two days straight. Amelia's intestines haven't recovered - and a trial of Montery Jack cheese Tuesday afternoon and an entire kiwi Tuesday evening probably didn't help. So yesterday I took her to the doctor, even though a children's hospital website said it could take 10-14 days for diarrhea to go away and not to worry as long as the child is drinking (she is) and is active (she is). We were on day 7 and for the first time Amelia was complaining that her stomach hurt, and she was going about every 30 minutes. After the standard 2-hour wait, the doctor said the same thing - she looks and acts great, this will pass on its own. However, she recommended no juice and no fresh fruits or veggies until this passes, plus two days. I was horrified! What am I going to feed her?

Alas, she has loved her diet of crackers and water. We've included a little peanut butter, rice, pasta and (goat's) milk (dr. said NO cow products including yogurt since she has a cow's milk sensitivity/allergy). She has done wonderfully! Only one movement this morning and she is even livelier, God help us. She has not complained at all about water - and asks for it or her milk. She hasn't asked for juice once - so maybe that was the culprit in elongating her intestinal dilemma? I see it as an opportunity to get her off of juice except as a treat. It'll be a lot easier since I was always diluting it anyway.

But the point of all this is really to record her assessment of the doctor's table. After wiggling on the paper laden bed she declared, "This bed is crunchy!"

Spring

Today is the 6th anniversary of the passing of Amelia's paternal grandfather. I took her to the cemetary today like I do each year. In 2006, she was still mastering the art of sitting unassisted, so that is a vivid memory for me. This year she was amazed that her last name was on the tombstone.

Since there was no rain for the first time in days, today was also a great opportunity to take her picture in front of the rhododendren that we received as a sympathy gift that year.

[picture dated 5/12/09]

In Amelia's Words

Last week Dodah couldn't pick Amelia up from Nana's and take her to preschool, so Elke did instead. Later, I explained to her that Dodah's car was in the shop. When Daddy got home she told him Dodah's car was shopping.

Yesterday Amelia asked Hannah a question. Hannah answered, "I don't know." Amelia, with great inflection says, "I don't know?! What a great answer!"

Chilly Again

It was a little chilly again today. We went to our favorite somewhat local amusement park and Amelia had a ball. (It opened for the season yesterday.) She insisted on going on the Tilt-a-Whirl - she was totally fascinated with it while we were on the carousel. She LOVED it. I've been having some ear-related dizziness and was wary but I could not deny her, she was SO excited about it.

Then it was Chik-Fil-A for lunch plus indoor playground time, and a Wal-mart stop on the way home. We are all wiped out!

On a tooth update, the swelling seems to be gone, there are no signs of an abcess, but she does seem to be avoiding her front tooth when she goes to bite something. It seems almost everyone I talk to has had a child with a similar issue. My friend, Elke, even has a son with a gray tooth right now from a January fall, but I could barely tell to be honest. So we'll keep an eye on the tooth and hopefully all will be well.

Two Ponytails!

Look what she has enough hair for now! (And I love the face she made when I first started trying to take a picture. Sooo cooperative.)

And a sign that the weather has turned warmer ... Amelia asked me yesterday morning, "Why do you not dress me with undershirts anymore?"

[pictures dated 4/29/09]