Amelia

Ah Amelia. How do you explain Amelia these days. Since she is always talking (and I do mean always in the most literal sense), she's probably best described through her own words.

Quotable Quotes

“Papa's nose needs a haircut.”

"Amelia, do you want to go to Ireland?", "No, I would rather go to the Thomas the train store."

"I can't hardly even imagine that! Can you?!"

"Stop asking me questions"

"Are you going to leave me here at home mom?”. “No honey, I am not”. “Good because I don't know how to take a bath by myself or go nite nites”.

"No doubt about that!"

"I'm so stinkin'/silly/smart."

"Celeste, let me ask you something. Are you done with that roll?"

"Does God stay awake?"

"Maybe M&Ms will fix it." ("it" could be anything from booboo or world peace, doesn't matter the problem, M&Ms are all powerful)

"I'm not gonna get a bellyache”" (esp when asking for a dessert)

When told that Siena was in Mommy's belly before she was born, with a grave expression on her face "You mean you ate her up!!!???"

"I'm dropping a doodee" (no context needed)

"Shut the door. I need my privacy” when dropping a doodee

"I do not like your behavior"...when talking to Siena if she is not doing something Amelia wants her to do

"Mom, do you need help?" when Beth am correcting Siena for something

(from Beth's perspective) We had just finished doing a craft and Amelia and I were busying cleaning up. She looked at me and said, "Mom, I have to tell you something. God will always be in my heart forever to take of me and especially if I am alone.". Wow, I thought, that was pretty powerful for a 3 year old. About 2 minutes later she says to me, "Mom, I have to tell you something else". Okay, I was ready for another powerful statement and was looking forward to what divine wisdom she was going to impart on me. She said, "You do know that chickens don't have names"!

"Why does that man have gray all over his face”...the gray wasn't a beard, it was Amelia's introduction to different races has begun.

When asked if she wanted another brother or sister, she replied "I wouldn't want another sister. Two would be wasteful!"

"Mom, you have big inkels! You know, like Miss Brenda and Miss Lauren do!" (for those of you down with Amelia-lingo, "inkel" = nipple/breast

"Amelia, it's not nice to touch other people's inkels. You should only touch your own inkels."..."But, I can't Mommy, they're too small!"

"I'm just glad I have a Mom and Dad."

"I'll do it on Friday", when asked to do anything she doesn't want to do, especially take a nap.

"Stay in my dust De De" when Julie was chasing her in the pool and started to get too hot on her heals

She's Got Skills

Amelia is a little scholar. She loves to learn new things:

Reading/writing - Amelia has known how to write the letters in her name for a while, but now she's at the point where she can write them all in a nice neat line and it actually looks like the word Amelia. She loves to write thank you cards to people and learn how to spell the words and write all the letters she needs to know to make up her message. She's also starting to recognize a few words on her own. We try to learn a new word when we read stories at night and Amelia is starting to pick them up and retain them.

Arithmetic - "What does five and three make?" "What does ten and ten make?" "How do you make six?" "How else do you make six?" Amelia loves to ask these questions and she can even answer many of them herself. She loves to figure out addition problems using her fingers and toes.

Geography - Amelia has a puzzle that is a map of the US that she was into for a while. She can point out CT, TN, FL, IL, TX and AL.

Arts and Crafts - Art is Amelia's new passion. If there is one thing that she does at least once every day, it's make a picture. Crayons, pencils, paint, glue, stickers, the medium doesn't matter, what matters is making something suitable for Daddy to take to work. These days, the drawings are even recognizable as the objects she intends to draw. Well, recognizable might be a bit of a proud Dad's overstatement. "Recognizable with some orientation" might be a more accurate term.

Personal Affairs - "Me do it" is without a doubt the most frequently uttered phrase around these parts. Amelia into doing everything herself now. She's completely potty trained (as of July 2008) and loves to scrub herself in the tub. These days she's into getting herself dressed, and, of course, picking out her own outfits. She does surprisingly well in the fashion department, but then again, what do I know?

Negotiation - Well, on second thought, isn't every kid skilled in this regard.

Conversation - Did I mention she never shuts her mouth? It's especially true with strangers. Her favorite pick up line is "My favorite color is yellow, what's yours?". And once she's got their attention, "My name's Amelia, what's yours? That's Siena, and that's Mom and that's Dad. I'm three, Siena's one. Can you do this with your tongue (curl it)? This is my puppy. Her name is Shammy. Do you have any pets? Do you like broccoli? I don't like broccoli. Papa says I NEVER have to eat broccoli."...and it goes on and on. More than one adult has said "I could just talk to her all day."

High Ambitions
With all these skills our little girl has developed some lofty ambitions in life. On some days, Amelia wants to be an astronaut. But, on most days she wants to be an Elf and help Santa make toys for all the little boys and girls. Of course, she also wants to be a Mommy.

So What Else?

School - Amelia absolutely loves her new preschool. She has an absolute blast there and has made some great new friends. She's convinced that next year there will be "two Ms Brendas and two Ms Laurens" so that one set can teach the Panda class and another set can teach the class she will move up to. Amelia loves to talk about her day when Beth picks here up. She gets a kick out of telling her things like "Mia used up all the toilet paper" and "Trafford stuffed all the cookies into his mouth at one time!".

Energy - This girl has more energy than she knows what to do with. Running, jumping dancing, riding her bike...she never stops! If she can get you into a race watch out, a quick sprint to the other side of the room will turn into an endurance race that would challenge Lance Armstrong.

The Patch - For a few months, Amelia had to wear a patch on her eye to help strengthen it. It started as something she had to wear all day every day and then the time gradually decreased. All in all she was wearing it for about 8 months. She was an amazing sport about the whole thing! We almost never had a problem getting her to wear it and thankfully it did the trick and strengthened her eye without needing any surgery.

Monogamous with Thomas No More - Amelia's long love of Thomas seems to be fading. She still enjoys Thomas and finds time to make new tracks and play with her trains. But, a new love is emerging. Dora the Explorer is the new beau, and this time Siena's in on the action. We'll see how this plays out. Keep your eyes out for 200 hundred trains showing up in Ebay in a couple months!

With all this activity, it's good to know that Amelia still takes time to stop and smell the roses...literally, every flower she passes by. Since they've blossomed this Spring, Amelia has had a new fascination with anything the blooms. Smelling, touching, picking, anything you can do with flowers is a bundle of fun.


Amelia at MyGym from Mike Rustici on Vimeo.


Amelia Feeds the Birds at the Zoo from Mike Rustici on Vimeo.