Last weekend, during negociations for how many bedtime stories we'd read:
Mike: "Let's read two stories" Amelia: "How about three stories?" Mike: "No, let's just do two." Amelia (holding up fingers): "Two and two, that makes four"
Today at lunch:
Amelia: "M-O-M, that spells Mommy" Beth: "Wow, very good honey, how do you spell Daddy?" Amelia: "D-O-D"
That's close enough to make me acually believe my Harvard remarks in the last post.
Parenthood has a funny way of making you appreciate and admire your parents and all they've done for you through the years. So, in honor of my Mom, the Humphrey Chronicles most avid fan, we alas have a long overdue post.
It doesn't get said enough, but speaking of moms, I'm so blessed to have an amazing mother to my children. I have two wonderful daughters and a great wife to thank for that. Beth has really come into her own as a mother. I consider myself a good dad, but there are times when I just look at Beth in amazement. Her patience, understanding and creativity with the kids at times just blows me away. I love you Beth and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and support and, most of all, for our girls.
So what are the little ones up to these days?
Siena is a baby on the move! She's crawling everywhere, and quickly too. She's even got a normal crawl, not the crab leg maneuver Amelia came up with. She moves with gusto, slapping the hardwood floors with her palms on every step. Her favorite destination is the big front window in our dining room. She loves to pull up on the window sill and watch the world go by.
Siena can even cruise along the furniture these days. I swear she thought about taking a step without holding on the other day, but I guess she feared the 12 inch chasm between the table and my leg too much to take the leap.
Fear is not something Siena is typically known for. If I had to predict what my daughters will be up to 18 years from now, I'd say Amelia will be at Harvard and Siena will be competing at the X Games. The girl is just fearless. The other day she was standing against Amelia's bedrails, leaned over to investigate a shiny object on the nightstand and wound up flipping head over heals, nailing her head on the nightstand and tumbling to the floor. She escaped with nairly a bruise and after some comforting we put her back on the bed...what does she do, heads right back over to the same spot to try it again. After the front window, her next favorite destinations include the top of the stairs and the edge of the bed. (and oh yeah, she likes to try to climb stairs..almost forgot that one until she made it up a couple steps just now).
Siena's also turning into quite the little communicator. She's constantly vocalizing. There have been plenty of Ma-ma's and Da-da's in the presence of the appropriate parent. It's probably too early to claim them as words, but they're definitely close. She's also started to use a few signs over the last couple days...all related to more food of course.
At her nine month check up, Siena's stats came in at:
Weight: 20 lbs 3 oz, 75th percentile Height: 20.75 in, 87th percentile Head: 46.25 cm, 96th percentile...still all brains
Now on to the part about Amelia being at Harvard. She's been astounding us with her comprehension, memory and reasoning ability lately. She still loves puzzles of any kind and her latest favorite game is spelling. She wants to know how every word is spelled and her favorite game is to guess what letter a word starts with...and she's getting pretty good. It feels like we can have actual conversations with her and she often makes unexpected leaps of logic. Much to our chagrin, she's finding that her new intellectual prowess can sometimes make her an effective negotiator and rationalizer. That's certainly keeping us on our toes.
Along with her intellect, Amelia has also shown a profound compassion, especially for her little sister. The other day, the girls were napping in the same room when Siena started to fuss. Amelia didn't realize I was in there so she took it upon herself to comfort Siena. "It's okay Siena. It's alright. Don't worry Siena, Daddy will be in here soon". Amelia has the wonderful first child desire to keep her parents happy at all times. When she senses that she's misbehaved, her first question is always "You happy Daddy/Mommy?". If the answer is "no", you'd think the world had come to an end. It's an amazing form of disclipline.
The girls are starting to form a typical sisterhood. One minute they're laughing, cutting up and kissing each other. The next minute Siena's eating Amelia's train tracks and Amelia's smacking her on the head with a train. Of course, Amelia never actually "hits" Siena, she "give her love pats". And she never "wake Siena up", she "wake her up on accident".
And in quotable quotes, Uncle Jepp came by for a visit today. Jepp wore too many hats over the years and has the start of a bald spot brewing on the top of his head. I guess Amelia's never seen the tops of many heads, because when Jepp bent over Amelia couldn't help pointing out "Jepp has a boo boo on his head".
Some video from our trip to the beach last week:
Misc video of Easter, jumping in puddles, Siena clapping, and reading:
400 pictures since the last time I posted anything:
