Rental Car

Remember how my car got rear-ended in October? I finally got it into the shop. They wanted to wait until they had a bumper for it which happened right before Christmas. With the snow and the holiday, I decided today was a good day to put it in and get the rental. I picked Amelia up from Nana's and told her what we were doing. She was well aware that we still had a 'crinkled' fender from when 'that boy bumped into us'.

We got to the auto body shop and the car hadn't shown up yet so we waited on the little sofa inside the shop where we could watch the guys work. Amelia was a bit frightened and wanted to sit in my lap, which was fine. We talked about what we saw, how the guy was fixing the blue car in front of us, speculating on what happened to it, etc. She was a bit unsettled by the unfinished warehouse look of the place. She still gets nervous inside buildings that have no finished ceilings. I had to call the rental car place to remind them that I was waiting and still Amelia wouldn't budge from my lap - even to sit right next to me. And she had also instructed me to sit on the part of the couch that was closest to the door.

The rental car came and I put her and her seat in it and then went to get her juice and books from the Saturn. When I got in the rental, I jokingly told the guy from Enterprise that either she had chewed his ear off or was silent the entire time. He said she told him she was a cat and then asked him A LOT of questions. That made me laugh. He drove us to Enterprise where I signed the paperwork and then got in the car to get on with our afternoon. As I am pulling out of the parking spot Amelia asks, "Did that boy show you how to drive this car?"

Christmas Play

The Christmas play at church was canceled last week because of snow (and no power) and rescheduled for this evening. Livia came and was a part of it, too. She and Amelia were little farmers. The premise of the play was a little girl who is in the toy department at Christmas time and the toys come to life. She explains the story of Jesus' birth to them and when she gets to the shepherds she says they were sort of like farmers. Amelia runs up, grabs Spiderman's hand, and says, "Did someone say farmer?" as the other little farmers also go to the stage. She did a great job and then stood there while there was some more dialogue. She was intrigued, though, by Spiderman's physique - how the suit had stuffing in it in various spots - and she reaches up and squeezes his chest. Yep, my daughter felt up Spiderman in front of the entire church, and it's on DVD for those who couldn't make the play. At least it was funny.

On the way out Santa was sitting in the vestibule handing out bags of candy. Amelia, who on Christmas proclaimed that she was going to thank Santa for all her toys, proceeded to do just that. "Santa" had seen us in Wal-mart where she had been busy pushing the cart all by herself. He asked her about it and her eyes got SO big and he said, "Remember, I am watching you!"

More Christmas

We went to Wal-mart and I bought a new memory card and I put in fresh batteries and still my digital camera reacts the same way. I then took the memory card out and turned it on and it still reacted the same. So for whatever reason, my camera just will not read the memory card in the right way so that it will take pictures. The camera is over two years old - I think in May it will have been three years since I purchased it. So I will buy a new one and save this one in case a fix comes along and it can be Amelia's.

Today we also went to Livia's and had a little Christmas get together with her family. Amelia got a Snow White and Prince Charming mini-doll set. She came home and played with it for quite a while. It also came with three of the dwarves and she mostly played with one of those and "Prince Charmie".

Merry Christmas

Amelia woke up and wasn't nearly as excited by the arrival of presents as we had expected. However, for the first time she was really interested in opening presents. She still wanted to enjoy each present (read each book, etc.) as she opened it, but she managed to open most of her presents by lunchtime, which is a first.

I put out my doll highchair from when I was a child. It needs a little repair and a new paint job, but I figure she could pick out the color. She saw it and said, "What's that?" in an very off-handed kind of way. I explained it to her and she went to her room and got a stuffed kitty, some pretend food and proceeded to feed her kitty a delicious meal.

This video came out so dark but I am posting it anyway. Getting cat stuff was the highlight of her Christmas. When she opened her Cat Power book w/ CD she squealed, "Santa knows I like cats!!" She was SO excited. She also really liked her Corduroy sticker book. There's still a handful of presents (about 6) for her to open as she gets to them in the next few days and that's okay.

We went to Nana's in the afternoon and my camera quit working right after I took this picture. It's like the camera doesn't recognize there is a memory card in the camera. I was really annoyed. I could review pictures and see that my battery was fine and my memory card had room but it would not function on the picture or video mode. It kept whirring like it was not reading the disk - kind of like what computers sounded like in the 'old days' when it couldn't read the floppy disk in the disk drive.

After we came home from Nana's our friends Tia Polly and Cristian came over to exchange gifts. While they were here we played a game of Amelia's new Feed the Flock game that Grandma sent. It's like Chutes & ladder but it features sheep and the board is vinyl and quite large so you have to play it on the floor. We had a lot of fun - you would think we were all 4 years old!

After they left we went across the street to have Christmas with the neighbors which was also fun, and then it was time to come home and put the wee one to bed. It was past her bedtime and she was definitely ready!

[pictures and video dated 12/25/09]

Christmas Eve

Yesterday Dodah gave Amelia a little baking set complete with an apron and a mini-muffin tin so we HAD to make muffins today. Amelia adores baking and I am so glad - because I do, too! My mother let me help cook and bake beginning at an early age and she used to let me fill up my little mini tins with the regular batter and serve tiny cakes and muffins for dessert along with whatever else we had made. (And my Dad would act like they were better than Betty Crocker's so that helped, too!) Here is Amelia in her new apron and her mouth has some batter on it because of course she gets to lick the beaters and spatula!

We went to the candlight service tonight for Christmas Eve and I loved her dress but she wouldn't cooperate for a good picture. At the church, they have battery powered lights for little ones and I was so sure Amelia would be thrilled to have her own candle. Nope!

She had been so good the entire service. During the children's moment she and her friend Livia went down and sat so nicely on the floor listening to Tommy tell them about the nativity and about shepherds and how their staffs are shaped like candy canes, which he then handed out. We went back to our seats and she was still really good. (Okay, so a coloring book and crayons goes a long way but this is a church where silence is a virtue ... not our normal church.) Then at the end we lined up along the edges of the sanctuary and the lights go out and everyone's candles were being lighted. As everyone else began singing "Silent Night" Amelia started complaining loudly that she didn't have a real candle and how she wished she were older so she could have a real candle. I couldn't hush her so I couldn't sing. This is the same child who at 3 months wailed during "Silent Night" and at 15 months and 27 months ran up and down the aisle. (We didn't go last year.) I wonder what next year will hold?

When we got home I wanted to get a picture of her hanging her stocking and I managed to back up and step on Daddy's train. I broke a coupling that is irreplaceable because it's an unusual scale and made by a company that doesn't sell couplers separately.

I did manage to get Amelia's picture and then we set cookies out for Santa. Amelia was totally into it - I am amazed at how well she's been indoctrinated (by everyone but me). She told me in great detail about how Santa was going to come down the chimney and everything. So off to bed she went and the wrapping began!

[pictures dated 12/24/09]

Do We Have Power?

So one side effect from the power outage is Amelia prefacing everything with, "Do we have power?"

It's the question she asks before she asks to play computer games or to watch a video. Since we were home several hours Saturday before we left for Nana's, there were several things that she wanted to do that required power - like turning the light on so she could use the potty. I pointed out that if she could see the clock on the stove, that meant we had power. Sometimes she'll be in the kitchen and notice the clock and say, "Mommy, we have power!" (Yes, dear, but don't tell the men that.)

One thing that doesn't require power is her toy microwave. She wanted to put me in time out the other day and have Daddy turn on the microwave timer (which is how I time her time-outs). Daddy was busy with his laptop so I got her toy microwave out and showed her how she could use it for timing time-outs. She proceeded to put all her small stuffed animals in time out. She went in her room, picked one up, told it why it was in time out and to think about what it had done. When I went in there later she was busy reading a book and behind her there was a semi-circle of animals apparently thinking about their various sins. Who knew a toy microwave could keep a 4 year-old so busy?

Go Wildcats!

The basketball game was fun - the Wildcats won! Amelia had a great time although she was confused as to why the Panther wasn't there this time. When we were in Lexington a couple of weeks ago they were having a cheerleader convention in the convention center that is attached to Rupp Arena. One of the groups brought their mascot and Amelia just had to meet it. She had seen it from the second floor landing as she looked down. We went downstairs, found the group and Amelia went up to the Panther and looked up at it with the same awe and wonder she gives Santa Claus. Then she went in for a big hug around the hips. Luckily whoever was inside the outfit was a good sport about it, although you could tell this sort of thing didn't happen too often. Amelia was easily pleased and was very excited to tell me all about how she met the Panther (even though I had witnessed the entire thing).

They also had some large inflatable thing there that weekend but it was a little too hard for Amelia to get through so I propped her over the back but she also couldn't get up to the top of the slide - turns out they had some kind of rope thing you were supposed to use. Poor girl - I felt bad for her.

Anyway ... back to yesterday's game. When we got to the lobby area after the "cold tunnel" (that connects Rupp Arena to the shops and parking area across the street, Amelia was disappointed to not see the Panther or the inflatable. However, she and I stopped at the KY store before the cold tunnel and I let her buy a stuffed black cat she had seen there a couple of weeks ago. (It's really a black bear but it's small and fuzzy and she insists it's a cat so I am humoring her.) It was only $2 but the ladies behind the counter were so taken with her when she walked up with her $2 and her item that they gave her $1.50 in change. Then we met Daddy at the game and Amelia did really well. It helped that we also brought magnets, but I didn't need to pull them out until the second half. I did take her out at half-time and let her walk around. They had a large green basketball suspended from the ceiling near the snack bar and she wasn't sure what to make of that. I love how she notices everything.

It's good to be home but it's time to go through the fridge, catch up on laundry and finish all the last minute Christmas stuff. (I had intended to wrap presents this weekend so I'm really behind now!)

[picture dated 12/21/09]

The Big Snow

So it started snowing Friday. Amelia was in her jammies and Pooh slippers and found her way outside. I took a picture before getting her back in - I loved her delight in the snow. She just couldn't wait to get out in it. Later in the morning we did go out and play and then I went to work. It had stopped snowing and started kind of raining on my way to work. By 12:15 pm it started snowing again, though, and we closed the office around 3:30 p.m. The wetness of the rain (which turned to ice) coupled with the heavy snow would lead to trees falling and power outages.

We found out Saturday morning that Nana lost power Friday night around midnight. She had woken up to go to the bathroom and wound up building a fire and staying up the rest of the night adding a log every hour. We told her that if her power wasn't on by 4 pm, we would come and get her. Our power went out at 11 am. I took Amelia out to play in the snow, since I had promised I would. Then, being a veteran girl scout, I took a candle and heated leftovers for lunch in a metal mixing bowl. David built a fire in the fireplace and Nana called (the landline) to say she had power. So now, if WE didn't have power by 4 pm, we would go to Nana's. We left the built fire unlit since the house hadn't yet gotten cold and we didn't want to leave a smoldering fire. We left the house shortly after 4 pm and made it up the newly paved road that leads to Nana's driveway, but Nana's driveway was blocked by downed trees so we parked, got our luggage and walked the rest of the way up the hill. We enjoyed lights, heat and warm food. (We brought some food with us, but I think Nana was slightly offended. I tried explaining we were afraid it would spoil.)

Right before bedtime for us (and a couple of hours after Amelia had fallen asleep on her sleeping bag along the outer wall of the house) there was a loud noise and the house shook - a tree had fallen right next to the house. The top broke off on the deck. The deck saved the heat pump from damage, too. I couldn't sleep most of the night worrying one would fall onto the house, especially the side Amelia was sleeping on.

David went out Sunday morning to get some things from the house, check on the cats and take a few pictures like this one. (I am thinking it might be our Christmas card next year.) However, he couldn't get back up the paved portion of Nana's road and had to park about 1/2 mile away because there wasn't any place to safely park the Jeep along the main road.

It looked like we would be spending a second night with Nana and getting to and from our vehicle was a trek. Amelia was also getting cabin fever. Her friend Livia still had power so we decided to go over there for a play date. Her daddy came and got us at the main road so we just had to walk down the driveway and the hill. Daddy went with us since he decided he needed to go back to the house and find his combat boots since his shoes had gotten soaked from all the walking in the snow. I had the camera and took a picture of Amelia walking with her daddy. Amelia was a trouper and did such a great job walking back up and down in all the snow. Here she is Sunday night, still happy to be in the snow.

These guys down the street from us had power the entire time, and creativity! David took one picture when he was out Sunday taking pictures, and then I took another picture this afternoon when it was all finished. I LOVE the coordinating shopping bag!

Our power is back on but we aren't staying home to enjoy it. We are off to KY to see a basketball game!

[pictures dated 12/18-12/21/09]

Snickerdoodles and Santa

Christmas season isn't complete unless there is some baking, right? Among the cookies we made recently were snickerdoodles. Amelia is already a champion measurer, sifter and mixer thanks to Waffle Sundays. Well, it turns out that she is also really, really good at rolling balled up dough in the cinnamon sugar mix and placing them on the cookie sheet. Seriously, I needed to touch up none of the cookies (but I did re-space a few on the cookie sheet).

One of the Christmas themed commercials this year features the Jackson 5 singing "I'll Be There". Amelia stops whatever she is doing and exclaims, "That's my favorite song!" whenever she hears it.

She also loves "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree". But her hands-down favorite is Winter Wonderland. Every time it comes on the radio she squeals, "It MY song, Mommy!"

She doesn't quite understand the concept of the radio. I am sure it's due to my inadequate explanation(s). If we stop to run an errand, she wants the radio to pick back up wherever we left off. "Please put it back on "Jingle Bell Rock" Mommy." Um, it's the radio. "No, Mommy, it's a CD. Please put it back on "Jingle Bell Rock." It's number 2o on the CD, Mommy."

We stopped at Wal-mart the other day and the Salvation Army bell ringer was dressed as Santa Claus. Amelia was beside herself in the dumb-struck, mouth open, it-can't-really-be-him-can-it? way. It was really pretty cute. She was too shy and starstruck to say anything much on the way in. On the way out, however, she bravely went up to him and touched his hand, looking up at him with the biggest grin, and then came running to me and said, "Mommy, I holded Santa's hand!!!"

Keep in mind, I haven't said a word about Santa to her. Whatever she knows about Santa she has gained from other sources (preschool, Nana?, others?) and it has inspired some sort of awe in her that she would see him in person.

[picture dated 12/16/09]

Baby Jesus Action Scene

Meme (a church friend) watches Amelia on Wednesday afternoons while I work. She gave Amelia an old ceramic nativity scene that consists of a small Mary, Joseph, Jesus, a shepherd, one wise man (the other two didn't ask for directions I guess) and a lamb. I came home from work to find her playing with it on the hearth and didn't want to ruin the moment with a too harsh "Be careful!" but I did tell her they were breakable and that she would need to play with them gently. The pieces would sometimes fall and make that chinking noise but I decided since it was old and incomplete that it was probably okay to let her play with it and run the risk of it getting chipped or broken.

Fast forward a few days and I am playing a game of Candyland with Amelia on the floor near the hearth. It's morning and I put my tea mug on the hearth and it makes that ceramic against granite sound. Amelia's head whips around she says, "That sounds just like my Baby Jesus Action Scene!" And here I was starting to worry she was only absorbing the Santa part of Christmas!

Reindeer

A couple of months ago I decided to move from the "uninsured American" column over to the insured column, effective January 1st, 2010. Today Amelia and I went to drop off my health insurance application and my uber-observant offspring darted into another agent's office as we walked down the hallway. I quickly turned to retrieve her and she protested saying, "But, Mommy, I want to see his reindeer!" I looked up to figure out what she meant. The agent in question, who was sitting behind his desk but thankfully had no clients in front of him, had a large male deer head (with lots of antlers) stuffed and mounted on the wall behind him. Amelia, in all her Christmas mania, believes it is a reindeer. The agent was not amused but I was!

Christmas Shoeboxes

In November we participated on Operation Whatever It's Called* where Samaritan's Purse collects shoe boxes for children in other countries. I let Amelia pick out a box from the wrapped ones at church. I asked her if she wanted to pack it for a boy or a girl and she said girl. We went shopping together and Amelia picked out everything for her including a hairbrush (she was very particular), socks, fake jewelry, hair bows, etc.

The Hello Kitty socks we found were so cute I bought some for Amelia. A couple of days later I got them out for Amelia to wear and she was so upset telling me the socks were for "The Girl! No Mommy, they're for the little girl!" I had to go get the box and pull out the other socks and tell her that both she and the little girl were going to have the same socks. She calmed down and agreed to wear them. I thought it was cute how she was so protective of the little girl's things.

When we went shopping I explained to Amelia that we were picking out things for a little girl that didn't have things like socks and hair bows. She seemed to understand and appreciate the opportunity to help someone.

On Saturday I took Amelia Christmas shopping and was trying to involve her. I told her we were going to look for something for Hannah, maybe a sweater or some pajamas. They had a rack of really pretty, really soft sweaters so I asked Amelia which one we should get for Hannah. Her response, in a somewhat incredulous voice, was, "Does Hannah not have any sweaters?" When we looked at something else and I asked her opinion on what to get her response was, "Because Aunt Jeannine doesn't have any shirts?"

The shoe box thing has backfired a bit. Amelia is very confused about buying Christmas gifts. I tried to explain that we get gifts for people we love but she hasn't quite responded to that as much as she did the concept of buying for those in need. And to be honest, in our current society of over-indulgence, clutter, etc., it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either when I think about it.

*I think it's called Operation Christmas Child but I'm too tired to look it up and I drew a complete blank when I started writing this post.

Girl Cheese Sandwich

When we went out to dinner a few weeks ago as a family I read Amelia her choices off the kids menu. She picked grilled cheese, but I notice she called it a girl cheese sandwich. It was so cute, and then I forgot to record it in the blog.

Today we went out for lunch after church and as we were walking into the deli I asked her if she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich and she said, "Yes! I want a girl cheese sandwich!"

We had play practice again tonight. She is a farmer this year and she is supposed to run up and grab the teenage boy's hand and say, "Did someone say farmer?" She has NO problem with the line and what she is supposed to do, in fact she's great at it (everyone says so, not just me). The problem is getting her to stand there for the next five minutes while the other teenagers say their lines. Even with holding they boy's hand the entire time, standing still is just not her strong point.

During the children's sermon today we thought the guy asked the kids if they knew what a joey was and Amelia piped up and said a baby kangaroo. It turns out he was asking them about 'joy' and his accent made it sound like joey. I was afraid Amelia was going to say something about the boy at school that she likes. His name is Joey and last Wednesday she asked me if he could come play at our house sometime. I said we'd have to ask his mom so she ran up to Stephanie and did ask! We'll see if that comes to pass. This is the same Joey whom she got all excited about when he gave her a birthday card - all the kids wrote one for her but Joey's was special apparently.

Silly Girl

I went in last night to check on Amelia before I went to bed and this is what I found. No, the picture isn't upside down, she is! What struck me was how perfectly upside down she is, complete with her feet on her pillow.

And here she is reading to her smaller new-found best friend under her Peter Rabbit blanket. When I first walked out in the living room and saw her my first thought was, hmmm, a little young for a burka, no?

These are her new best friends - a Mommy and baby cat that my mother made me years ago, before Amelia was even conceived. Amelia found them today and is obsessed with them, often giving me the mommy one to carry around with me, and the baby one for herself of course!

[pictures dated 12/11 & 12/12/09]

Dora Cereal

Went to the grocery store with Amelia yesterday. I usually go at night after she is in bed and Daddy is home. We needed cereal and guess what is right at a 4 year-old's eye level?

Since there is no high fructose corn syrup in it (although there is corn syrup) I just couldn't say no. She wasn't demanding and she didn't even grab it off the shelf. It was more like, "Ooh, what's this?" like Dora was the last thing she expected to see in the cereal aisle.

She likes the cereal, but insisted on having the box so she could play with the maze on the back. In the picture, she's moved onto something else. These days she'd rather play or read or color instead of eating unless she's really, really hungry.

[picture dated 12/11/09]

Velcro

It amazes me how much a part of Amelia's babyhood and life so far has involved velcro - something that didn't even exist when I was a child. I've even told her, as she's putting on her shoes, that I didn't have velcro when I was little.

The other day she asked Nana if she had a toy like the one she was playing with. I pointed out to her that Nana didn't have toys made out of plastic when she was little - they were made out of metal or wood.

Forget Pajamas?

Tonight was one of those nights where Amelia fell asleep before we had a chance to put on her pajamas. In this case, she fell asleep at our brass band concert. She was sitting with Dodah and made it about halfway through. I brought her pajamas with me thinking she'd fall asleep on the way home, but instead she stayed asleep all the way home in her regular clothes.

When she is put to bed in her regular clothes she will often wake up in the middle of the night to go to potty (since she didn't get a chance to go right before bed) and there are TEARS. The first time this happened it was funny and I should have learned my lesson and been better about changing her into pajamas when I anticipate her not getting home and in bed in time. After all, I don't like to cause her distress.

So what happens when she wakes up in the middle of the night and discovers she has her regular clothes on? She wails, "What did Mommy forget? Did Mommy forget to put on Amelia's pajamas?"

Not exactly. I mean, It's really, really hard to put pajamas on a sleeping child.

One night when this happened I did at least change her into pajama bottoms but I just didn't want to risk her head and neck bobbing and/or getting stuck in her shirt. She woke up at 3 am and tearfully reprimanded me for her shirt not being a pajama top and how it didn't match her pants.

I suppose if that's the worse thing I've done on those days, it's not so bad, huh?

Advent Calendar

We've been doing an advent calendar and I don't know who is more excited about it - Amelia or me. She is so good about just doing one a day. It's a My Little Pony one that I got last year after Christmas for almost nothing. The first day she got a pony, the second day a set of shoes and a gift box for it. I've lost track of everything but each morning she gets up and runs to the advent calendar. I usually help her start the little door and then she finds whatever goodie is inside. Then she has to find all her other items and put them in order before she starts playing with the new accessory or whatever. So far, among other things, she has a stocking, some stickers, lollipops, and a second pony.

I've never done an advent calendar - so this is a first for both of us. It's so much fun I think we'll be doing them from now on!

[picture dated 12/7/09]

Posing

I found this beautiful velvet jacket and long skirt set in the hand-me-down bag about a month ago and set it aside for Christmas time. She looked so nice this morning I thought I'd try to get her picture in front of the tree and maybe use it in Christmas cards, even though she was holding the book and toys she wanted to take with her to church. This was the best I could do. Some children will pose and smile so nicely on command. Not my precious Amelia, though. I have to have the camera ready and hope to take one when the opportunity presents itself. Like how about this fabulous smile? But she's nowhere near the center of the picture. *sigh*

But really, I'd much rather have the happy, healthy, energetic girl that I do have even if it means that picture taking can be a challenge. In the big picture, it's a small thing. [no pun intended]

[pictures dated 12/6 and 11/22/09]

Checkwriter

The other day Amelia was writing in one of her journals (small, wire-bound notebook) and she then ripped out part of the page she was writing on. Before I said anything she exclaimed, "I wrote the check!" (I think she's been watching her daddy.)

December 1st

Amelia could not wait to go back to school today. Ever since her Thanksgiving program I've heard, "I can't wait until December 1st! I go back to school December 1st! How many more days are there in November?" etc. etc. etc.

One time I took the opportunity to tell her that December 1st is the day that Grandpa died. I didn't say much about it. It's been two years and we do talk about him so I thought she should know.

Yesterday morning on the way to Nana's Amelia suddenly announced that Nana was going to die soon. I was flabbergasted. I was worried that she had some kind of premonition or something - I do believe that small children often know/notice things that we as adults don't because we have too much going on to notice. When I asked her how she knew this she said that Nana told her "not last Thursday but two Thursdays ago". She was very specific so I felt a little relieved. I thought perhaps it was in the context of one of their conversations about Nana being old. Amelia will ask, "Nana are you old?" and I thought maybe Nana had elaborated on her usual, "Yes, I'm old," and said, "And I will die soon," or something like that.

When it came up in conversation Nana denied saying that to Amelia. Amelia emphatically said, "No, Nana you did! You stood at your basement door and said you were going to die soon!" A lightbulb went on and Nana said that she made a comment to herself that she needed to clean her basement before she died and Amelia must have overheard her. She was a little embarrassed.

I was impressed at Amelia's recall and her ability to defend herself. She isn't always as articulate about things, especially on demand. If I ask her what she did in school she will often not say much and then about 15 minutes later babble on about something and that's when I learn what she did.