Mac and Cheese, it's not just for dinner

What's good in the belly is good in the hair!

First (two) steps

September 15th 2006, a day which will live in infamy. While helping Jonie and Chris move into their new apartment, Amelia's new-found fear of packing tape startled her out of a balanced standing position. Terrified,she cast herself towards the sanctuary of Mommy. Two steps later Amelia was safely in Mommy's arms and the world as we know it was changed forever.

If I'm gonna be a pancake, I might as well entertain myself

Two funny things to report from yesterday:

Beth's morning walk with Celeste and the babies started off like any other, a ride to the park, an exchange of pleasantries, stocking up the strollers and loading up the babies. Just when she thought everything was set, Beth turned around to find the stroller collapsed back up with Amelia inside squished like a pancake! Turns out those things snap into place for a reason!

Later in the day we took Amelia for an exciting trip to the appliance store. Almost as if she knew of the boredom ahead, the whole way over there, she played peek-a-boo with herself in the mirror. She would look in her baby mirror, pull her blanket up over her face, then pull it away and giggle. I wish I was that easily entertained!

Public Displays of Affection

Virtually gone are the days of a snuggly, cuddly baby who will sleep in your arms, nuzzle on your shoulder and melt into your chest. Instead, fierce independence and constant activity rule the day. Playing is quickly outpacing cuddling as the activity of choice. I treasure the few nights when I still get to rock Amelia to sleep as I know each one could be my last. Fortunately she's developing other ways to show her affection. On the occasions where she will nuzzle up on a shoulder, if you rub and pat her back, she will sometimes reciprocate in kind on your back.

Today, Amelia saw her friend Maya for the first time in about three weeks....potentially the longest they've ever been apart. Beth sat Amelia down next to Maya. Amelia reached over, put her arm on Maya's shoulder, leaned in and gave her a big kiss!

Speaking of fierce independence and constant activity, it's worth mentioning for posterity that diaper and clothes changes have turned from relatively simple affairs to all out WWF-style baby wrestling smack downs. Seriously, this little girl can wiggle and move like no other. In this battle of wills, the Mommy-Daddy tag team is still undefeated, but Amelia holds her own in the one-on-one battles.

The countdown to chaos has officially begun. Despite our best efforts to keep her gounded, walking seems inevitable. Maya has been setting the bar with full room crossings and today there was 20 seconds of unsupported standing. Standing today, strolling tomorrow, ugh, what have we gotten ourselves into?

Milestones

So you’ve seen the pictures, but, you wonder, what else has our little heroine been up to? Well, let me tell you:

• Growing teeth – we’re currently at 8 with molars on the way. Yes, molars, those pesky teeth way in the back that hurt like heck and entice little girls to jam long skinny objects into the back of their mouth until they pierce their tonsils.
• Moving, and moving, and moving - Amelia has officially mastered the art of cruising, pulling up onto anything within reach and using it to steady herself as she walks along. The girl simply refuses to sit still now, even for diaper change. Cleaning poop from a moving target is one of those things they really need to prepare you for ahead of time. Those amazingly annoying safety gates are actually paying off now that Amelia’s learned to climb up the stairs. She can do a full flight now. I was thinking that would be a great way to wear her out, but after 4 laps I was sucking more wind than she. She’ll even move around in her crib. When we go to get her up from a nap she’ll dive back into her crib, run away from us and basically do laps until we grab her (only to take her to the changing table where the poop-in-motion fun continues). Walking isn’t too far away. She’s getting better and better balance and will even stand unsupported for 5-10 seconds (or until she realizes that she’s doing it).
• Bonding – Mostly with her blanket. She doesn’t have on favorite blanket, but she is completely inseparable from the blanket-du-jour. There are times when she won’t go anywhere without it. It’s to the point, that she’ll crawl naked from the nursery to the bathtub, realize she forgot her blanket, turn around and drag it to the tub.
• Defying her parents – Now that she legitimately understands what “no” means, she can also legitimately show us who’s in charge. Her typical response to a firm “Amelia no”, is to shake her head, smile, stop for a moment and then carry on as if nothing happened. She’s coming around though, there have been a couple times where she’s shaken her head when she knows she’s doing something wrong even before we tell her.
• Learning new tricks – Amelia is getting to the point where she’s learned to do all kinds of things for herself. She’s right at the point where she’s about as talented as the smartest dog you’ve ever seen. And she’s very trainable too. Between Uncle Jeff’s last visit and his most recent visit last week, we taught her how to give him five. Her first trick was giving people kisses; now she will initiate a kiss, but mostly with a reflection or picture of herself! She can point out a light to you, she can wave bye bye, she can fill and empty a watering can in the bathtub, she can open the drain to let out her bathwater and she’ll even tap you on the shoulder to get your attention.
• Talking, and talking, and talking – And she doesn’t even have any words yet. She uses an occasional “mama” or “dada” in the right context and there have been a few “nana’s” when she wants a banana. She’s started to have a few two-syllable sounds. So, I don’t know what she’s saying, but man can she talk. Especially if the adults in the room are trying to have a conversation, she’ll just blabber right along. She can get particularly irritated sometimes and just start screaming if we keep talking without “listening” to her. She really loves talking to her grandparent’s puppies…and they love to talk back. But the three of them in a room and they’ll just talk for hours.
• Eating – Yes, I know, shocking, my child is eating, ain’t she special? She’s been eating just about anything you put under her nose, except baby food. She insists on having whatever is on our plates, and she’s been quite the adventurous eater….she’s had tacos, pasta dishes, blue cheese, pork chops, and even a small rock (yes, that was on Dad’s watch).
• Playing – Another shocker. This girl thinks the entire world was created for her to play. She’ll play with anything and everything. I really wish I could be that happy and content with a pen, a hair brush and a straw. She’s even learning to operate all those toys that she’s been just staring at for 10 months. Her favorite game is a peek-a-boo of course, but the best thing in the world is a push toy that she can walk behind and push around (although she hasn’t quite mastered the art of turning around).
• Changing my wife – Those of you who know Beth know that she has a certain appreciation for organization and neatness in her life. Somehow the little one is managing to change that. In just 10 months, she’s made more progress than I have in the last 10 years. Case in point, the other day we had the stroller out somewhere and Amelia was snacking on Cheerios. I picked up the customary dozen or so half-eaten, soggy, and otherwise discarded pieces and asked Beth what she thought I should do with them. The response….not, “there’s a trash can over there”, nor “put them in this little zippy I brought just for that”, nor “leave them in the stroller cup holder”…but instead “oh, just throw them in my purse”. Who is this woman and what has she done with my wife?

In some non-baby news, we bought a house last week. We’re really excited about it and can’t wait to actually have some extra room for all of Amelia’s stuff. It was actually the first house I had looked at a few months ago. We liked it a lot, but not wanting to buy the first thing we looked at, we just kind of forgot about it. After almost buying a different house, we saw that it was still on the market at a reduced price and decided to go for it. We should close on it around the end of the month and we’ll probably move in sometime in October after we finish changing a few things around.

Recent Pictures

Amelia's first bike ride and sporting the Puritan look


Fun with the wagon...until it gets stuck in the diaper.


Birthday parties, friends and family...such a little socialite