Copy Cat

In the last couple of months Amelia had demonstrated a greater desire to be doing whatever it is I am doing. Today I was mending something and Amelia wanted to help. I remembered her wooden box with the bear that you can "sew" wooden clothes onto by pulling various colored shoelace looking strings through holes so I showed that to her again. She really enjoyed it - although like many things lately, they are a 2-person activity. I managed to get my mending job completed and then we had some quality time while Amelia learned how to sew and un-sew on her bear.

I miss Amelia's ability to play independently as much as she used to, but I can see how much fun she will be very soon. While Play-Doh and painting require my participation these days (she gets bored and therefore messy very quickly) we have had a lot of fun playing games like Chutes & Ladders. She will still do puzzles on her own and has easily moved up to 24 piece puzzles. She sometimes gets distracted halfway through and will start playing something else.

We're trying to teach her is putting one toy away before moving onto something new. It's amazing how much energy it takes to be a parent. You are either playing, teaching or guiding constantly. Plus, there's the mental requirement of staying one step ahead with choices since yes/no questions are completely off limits these days. (As in: do you need to go potty? Are you going to come to the table and eat dinner?)