Meet DeMarcus

We named our newest kitty after Kentucky's great freshman center DeMarcus Cousins. Amelia actually named him Big Cat DeMarcus because he is a big cat, and DeMarcus Cousins is bigger than her favorite player, John Wall.

A guy got married and the wife & cat didn't like each other. His friends said to listen to his cat but instead he gave his cat away. And now he lives with us. Amelia is THRILLED to have her own cat. He is still getting used to being here. The other three cats don't like him much but they are mostly leaving him alone or just growling or glaring at him. No marking, no fights, so we're good so far. He talks a lot so we think there is some Siamese in him.

Meg brought him by last night after Amelia was asleep. He explored the house and then we all went to bed. We didn't see him at all this morning and didn't mention anything to Amelia.

I took Amelia to the Y with me for the first time. She LOVED the child-watch area. I wasn't sure how she would react but she immediately ran to the other side where there is a playhouse. There were three other girls there about her size/age and she just fell in like she had always played there. When I came back to pick her up she told me to go away for a while! The girl nearest me told me that she thought it was sweet how Amelia and Riley were best friends. I told her we didn't know Riley and she was amazed at how easily they had become buddies.

When we got home DeMarcus was in the cat napper in Amelia's room but Amelia was dawdling downstairs. I went down to encourage her to come up and then couldn't find DeMarcus. A few minutes later I located him in the basement and brought him upstairs and put him down so he could walk into the kitchen and I said, "Amelia! Look what I found!" She looked up from her book and shouted, "My own kitty!" She immediately came to the kitchen and poured him a cup of food. It was so cute.

[Picture dated 2/25/10]

New Tires

I am tired of the snow. This cartoon was in the paper last week and I cut it out and put it on the fridge. We've been going to work and the grocery store and that's about it. For a month.

I borrowed my mother-in-law's 4WD last week and still slid on the ice (3 times), then gave up and walked the 2 miles to work where I looked up "how to drive in snow with a Saturn Ion. (answer: good tires and kitty litter in the trunk)

So today, while the weather was finally nice, I bought new tires at a new place. My two front tires were completely worn out, and I knew it. The tire place came recommended and it was one of those where you drive up, they jack your car up on the spot and put on your tires. Amelia was scared - probably having flashbacks to the body shop - and wanted nothing to do with getting out of the car so I cracked her window and walked over to check on her every few minutes. (She was never out of my sight.) Every time I would approach, she would turn her body away from me and say, "Go away, Mommy!" She was afraid I was going to make her get out.

When it was time to go, I noticed her squirming and asked if she needed to go to the litter box. I could see "Dilemma!" written all over her face so I offered to take her to Wal-mart and she was SO relieved! I did tell her that the office of the tire place was really nice and they even had a real bobcat that had been stuffed that she could pet. She was tempted but when I parked the car she panicked and asked for Wal-mart. So off to Wal-mart we went which was fine because it allowed me to stock up on the kitty litter which will reside in my trunk for the rest of winter. (Part 2 of my driving-in-snow plan.)

More snow is in Wednesday's forecast. We'll see how we do!

Saying Grace

Lately when Amelia volunteers to say grace before dinner (every night someone different says it), she wants us all to participate. So she starts with "God is great, God is Good," and I pick up with "Let us thank him for our food." Daddy then says, "By his hands," and stops thinking she will pick up, but no, she prompts him! It's hilarious. She has her own specific meter for how it should be divided, and she wil not be deterred.

Budding Author

Amelia was at Nana's today - all day. Usually she goes to school in the morning and then to Nana's but she hasn't had school since last Tuesday (the 9th) because of the weather.

According to Nana, Amelia asked for five pieces of plain paper and proceeded to make this book. Amelia told me that it was her book of cats (she hasn't learned the concept of keeping words together yet) and that she also wrote all the words on the inside so she would know what it said. (Each page is filled with a different color of scribbles that look like this.)

Her imagination is really something.

Doctor Visit

Amelia was complaining this morning that her cheek hurt. At first I just thought maybe she brushed it up against something. When she complained again just two minutes later and accompanied it with a moan, I asked her if her ear hurt and she said it did. She moaned a few more times while she was laying down so I gave her some Children's Motrin and 10 minutes later she was up and bouncing around like her usual self.

I decided to go ahead and take her to the doctor because if she had an ear infection that was bad enough for her to complain about, that it shouldn't be ignored. (Plus I have Nana's 4WD so I can get out!) I made her an appointment with her 'new' doctor (the one we don't have to spend two hours waiting for). While we're in the waiting room Amelia said, "I hope when they come to call my name they don't call me Amelia." I asked her why not and she said she wanted them to call her Spunky since she is a cat. When the nurse came, Amelia didn't say anything about wanting to be called Spunky but she asked her what her name was (Kim) and then when we got to the room she climbed onto the table herself (sniff, sniff, where did my baby go?). Amelia then proceeded to tell the nurse she was a cat, so Kim asked her if she could purr, which she did. (She thankfully did not hiss and spit, which she likes to do with Daddy.)

When Dr. Hall came in she noticed Amelia was her usual energetic self and I told her she had no problems with appetite or diarrhea, and her lungs sounded good. She was impressed by how well Amelia was breathing deeply for her. I guess maybe other children aren't as compliant. Dr. Hall asked Amelia which ear hurt and Amelia told her the right ear and pointed to it. Dr. Hall asked her what her other ear was and Amelia said her left. (I guess the doctor was taking the opportunity to gauge development?) When Dr. Hall touched Amelia's leg and asked her if it was her left or right leg Amelia said, "No, that's my left back paw." Dr. Hall had to step back out of Amelia's line of sight to silently laugh.

So Amelia's ear is red but because she isn't having any other symptoms, Dr. Hall recommended waiting until Friday to see if she was still complaining about her ear to fill the antibiotic prescription since antiobiotics can sometimes bring on other problems. (her words, not mine)

** edited Thursday night to add: took soup to Dodah who is sick. She saw Dr. Hall today and mentioned Amelia because she knew I had taken her there. Dr. Hall said, ooh, that is one precocious child! (And Amelia hasn't had any other issues with her ear, so we're good to go with her.)

Yet Another Snow Day

Amelia said she didn't want to play in the snow, but she changed her mind when we got back from the post office. It's also very cold and she didn't last long before her hands got really cold (even with gloves on).

We watched Anda for a few hours this morning while her sister was taken to the doctor. Anda's diaper needed changing as soon as she got here and Amelia was very interested - she's been trying to diaper her cats lately with her toy diapers (a Christmas stocking stuffer). When Anda needed another change I let Amelia help. It was so cute! As I was changing Anda the second time, Amelia was at my elbow. When I asked, "Do you want to open that tab?" She was like, "Me?!" You would think she had just won the lottery. I didn't have to ask twice! She did a good job getting them close to Elmo so Anda's diaper wasn't too tight or loose, and she was just so proud of herself for helping.

This afternoon we had fun playing board games (Candyland and Silly Switch) and then Amelia played some computer games while I cleaned the kitchen.

If Spring or Summer ever comes, I am not spending one more minute inside than necessary, and I think Amelia will be fine with that plan, too.

[picture dated 2/16/10]

The cat transformation continues

This morning I told Amelia I needed to brush her hair. "No, Mommy! It's my fur!" (Okay, fine, just let me brush it so you don't have bedhead.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

She wouldn't pose or smile for me, but she was too pretty today not to take her picture.

For the third Sunday in a row we had no Sunday School because of the weather so we had to make a mad dash around the sanctuary handing out Valentines.

During the children's moment April asked who knew what day it was. No one answered at first and then Amelia shouted out "Valentine's Day!!" April then talked about different ways you can show love. She gave the example of feeding people and then asked the children to say how they could show love. When it was Amelia's turn she wadded the netting of her dress up in her hands and acted all shy. I was sitting in the row right behind her because I don't like to let her go up by herself in the event she decides to take off for the choir loft (again). I figured she wouldn't answer but April asked her again, trying to encourage her to say something. Amelia then says, "Listening to my mommy and doing what she says." WOW! I was pretty impressed. Now, if we can get some action on that item ...

[picture dated 2/14/10]

Placemats

We invited Nana to join us for crockpot chili Thursday evening. When Nana got there I was busy doing something and she decided to make herself busy by clearing the table. She unknowingly removed the placemats Amelia made us that we had been using for a few days. She cut out pictures from the large coloring pad she has from Melissa & Doug. The pages are pretty thick and I bought it with the idea that they would be good for painting without getting shredded by the watercolors.

Cutting is something Amelia needs to work on and her preschool teacher had sent home paper cutting homework in November. (She recently said Amelia has greatly improved ... but we never did do those exercises, so I'm thinking she just must now be at the right developmental stage for her motor skills and concentration.) When she started cutting the pictures, I didn't say anything and the next thing I know she has decided it's a placemat. Then there's four! I was pretty impressed both with her cutting and her imagination, so we've been using them.

When Amelia came to the table Thursday night for supper, she immediately noticed that the placemats were missing. I hadn't noticed and I felt so bad! I took them off the counter and let her distribute them to the appropriate person so we could each put them under our plates. Just like most things, she had long decided whose was whose and I certainly wasn't going to risk not remembering incorrectly. She seemed so proud to hand them out, and Nana acted duly impressed.

Granola bars

They were on sale and David used to eat them all the time, so I bought a box of chewy granola bars a couple of weeks ago. When I told him about them, Amelia wanted one, too. I've been buying her the Earth Kids ones because they're all natural and have no high fructose corn syrup. She didn't think much of Daddy's "canola" bars and fortunately, I had some of hers in the cupboard.

Tonight I was looking through coupons and came across one for granola bars and asked him if he wanted me to buy more the next time I was at the store. Amelia pipes up and says, "I like canola bars, too, but only the regular kind, not the ones with all the stuff in them." This was accompanied by hand gestures where she was pointing at an imaginary granola bar that she was holding in her other hand. I am sure she was referring to the Quaker ones and am continually amazed at her memory.

(Canola bars is like bessert ... too cute to correct her. She'll grow out of it soon enough I'm sure.)

Spunky

We have a new pastor at church and today was his first day preaching. I was down in the nursery with Amelia so we came up after the service to meet him. I told her to go up and say, "Hi Pastor Glenn and Ms. Cindy. I'm Amelia."

She goes up and says, "Hi Pastor Glenn and Ms. Cindy. I'm Spunky the cat!"

I tried not to roll my eyes and said, "But we call her Amelia."

Momma Amelia

Amelia likes serving "delicious meals" to her animals. I love how she makes sure the animal has a bib. She needs help with it since it ties and I am going to see if I have one of her velcro closure ones from her babyhood. This little pink bib came with some doll diapers she got in her Christmas stocking and has been on numerous animals, but no dolls.

[picture dated 2/6/10]

The Litter Box

Amelia is being a kitty more and more these days. Now when she needs to go potty she says she is going to the litter box. At first, this was just at home but it is now everywhere. Tongiht we were at dance and at the end she needed to go "to the litter box". We get down the hall and she says, "Is someone else using the litter box?" And we wait a moment and out comes another mommy and daughter who clearly hear me say, "Okay, honey, you can use the litter box now."

Yes, those words sound more than odd when you say them in public, whereas at home they seem just as natural as saying potty. The mommy and daughter were too far down the busy hallway for me to explain that I don't have a girl, I have a cat. She just looks like a small human girl.

The things we do for our offspring!