What's New?

Let's start with Siena. It's amazing how quickly babies change at this stage. Siena's now sitting up all the time...well, that is until Amelia comes and pushes her over. Oddly enough, Amelia's not being menacing, she knows that Siena likes to roll over, so Amelia just gives her a hand. Siena doesn't seem to mind, she just beams at her big sister whether she's waking Siena up in the morning, flipping her over or just loving her to death. Siena's first words are either going to be "Siena Mae", "Hi Siena" (both of which are squealed at her throughout the day) or "Get Away From Me!!". Squealing is the best word I can come up with to describe the voice Amelia uses when addressing Siena. We think she's mimicking how adults talk to babies in a bit of a higher pitch...but boy can Amelia take it up a few octaves!

Siena's starting to grasp cause and effect. For instance she knows that if she stretches out to grab a handful of napkins, at least one will wind up in her hand and then in her mouth (she gets a lot of fiber in her diet this way). That girl has a tremendous wing span, just about anything on the table is fair game when we set her up there in her bumpo chair.

Speaking of tables and eating, Siena is eating us out of house and home. She just loves the solid foods she's started and she can't get enough (2-3 jars at a time is no problem). Put a bottle in front of her and she clamours for it like she'll never get another. Be a little slow on the draw with the next spoonful of garden vegetables and she flaps her arms up and down and crows for more.

Amelia seems to growing out of the terrible twos and returning to pure sweetness. She loves with all her heart and hates to say goodbye to anybody. She especially loves her little sister, sometimes to the point of excess.

She's also fallen in love with trains and anything Thomas (has anybody noticed how freakin' expensive that stuff is?). Her Thomas trains have actually surpassed balls has her favorite toy, ending the balls long run on top. She's really into her two baby dolls too. Amelia carries them around everywhere and calls them her two angels (just like Mom and Dad call their girls). Of course, these are boy dolls, their official names are Ayden and Sam...or sometimes Sam and Sam or Ayden and Ayden, I guess it just depends which of her real boyfriends is on her mind.

Amelia's getting really smart too. She's into imaginative play (her dinosaur went to the dentist today) and she even described her day to me in detail today. She's putting things together that just baffle me and she's even starting to recognize some words by their first letter. Over Christmas she developed a love for jigsaw puzzles (she can do her 25 piece fire truck puzzle virtually unassisted) and even learned the basics of Uno and Go Fish.

In the car, Amelia got a kick out of "looking at Christmas" as she called the lights in December. She's also into playing I-spy. For a laugh, one day I used a high pitched voice to imitate Siena having a turn spying something. Well, it stuck and now it's somehow always Siena's turn when it's time to play I-spy. Amelia's even gotten in on the action and done her own high pitch imitation of Siena's turn. It's really quite adorable.

If you get a prank call sometime soon with a bit of heavy breathing in the background, don't call the police, it's probably just Amelia. She love to call people on the phone these days, but for some reason will only actually talk about half the time. If you do get her on the phone, try to get her to use some of her favorite sayings:

"my grief" - a new combination of "my goodness" and "good grief"

"siena's awake" - usually Siena's not awake, but is about to be if Amelia has her way

"melia have/want/do" - Amelia has started to narrate her life. At times we call her Bob Costas as she give us the play by play. The quintessential Costas moment came a few weeks ago "Thank you Mom. Melia said Thank you Mom", yes she speaks a sentence and then tells you that she spoke the sentence.

"melia want special treat" - I would like a sweet yummy dessert

"melia watch Thomas" - I can see a TV, it should have Thomas and Friends on it

"do zoom zoom, step on the gas" - Make the car go faster...thanks Papa for teaching her that one.

"oh my, that's a mess" - today referring to Ayden after his lunch. Amelia has become quite tidy lately, definitely gets that from her mother.

"Great Buppa" - New name for her Great Grandfather.
"Great Mother" - New name for her Great Grandmother...we're trying to get Coco to stick instead, we'll see what wins out.

"Want", "More", "Now" - These words seems to be occurring more frequently these days and often in the same sentence.

Recent Pictures

Pictures from the last month or so including a bunch from Christmas.

No, Mom, we haven't sorted through the 1,092 pictures you took in Connecticut yet, those will come later.

There will be a new video collection on my YouTube Channel as soon as it finishes uploading tonight.

That's Enough

Somebody please remind me of this next year before we buy stacks and stacks of presents for our children.

We bought a fair amount of stuff for Amelia this year, nothing big, just a lot of little stuff. About half way through, Amelia was done. She just looked up at us and said "that's enough". We should have listened when she said all she wanted was a yellow sucker and a white ball.

Great Job Mommy, You Did It!!

Fact: Toddlers will repeat just about anything they hear.

Fact: Providing positive reinforcement is the best way to elicit positive behavior from a child.

Fact: Amelia is starting to potty train and always receives positive reinforcement for a job well done.

Fact: Toddlers will often accompany their parents into public rest rooms when nature calls Mom or Dad.

Result: In the airport on the way to CT for Christmas, Amelia dutifully accompanied Beth to the little girls room. When Beth finished her business, Amelia shouted for all to hear "Good Job Mommy!!! YOU DID IT!!!". That was good for a little chuckle both the first and second time it happened. The embarrassment started a bit later when Amelia took it upon herself to congratulate the lady in the stall next door. I wonder what went through her head? Personally I would have thanked Amelia for the compliment, nobody seems to appreciate all the little things like that I do everyday.