Rules and Walking

Amelia is really into rules, telling me if I break them (like if I brush my teeth without her ... "Mommy, you broke my first rule!") and making up new ones. I am tempted to use "rules" to help make her more compliant since they really seem to make her tick. However, I am afraid that would set her up for a lifetime of expecting everything in life to be black and white, and most of us have discovered there's a lot of gray out there. (And more and more in my hair each day, but that's another story.)

Last week I suggested we take a walk with Amelia putting one of her animals in her toy stroller and going down to Aidan's house and back. We've done that occasionally and it seemed like a good idea. She has wanted to walk every day since then - just once a day - but with a different animal each day. This morning I went on my jog/walk and was walking down the big hill when I heard something funny. I was trying to figure out if it was some sort of lawn equipment or handyman tool noise when I then heard a familiar voice say something that ended with "Amelia" and knew right away that a little girl had conned her daddy into a very early morning walk with the animal of the day! I wound up meeting up with them right at the turnaround point and we enjoyed the walk back together as a family with her pointing out her favorite mailboxes.

When we got home we made birthday cards for Abby who turned 3 today and Shirley, our neighbor. Amelia did a really nice job of drawing a kitty on the front and then writing all the words on the inside by herself. She then made one for her stuffed kitty Stripe who is also having a birthday, she says.