Growing Up - aka Who Stole My Baby?

 What is this? Amelia can ride her trike all by herself? Thankfully she still needs help with the turning and doesn't know how to brake, so we've still got time till she takes on the neighborhood. And I'm not at all freaked out that we live at the top of a hill, and because we're at the t of an intersection, she could probably get all the way to the river without having to do much peddling.

 But she does know that she has to wear her bike helmet whenever she rides her trike, and that BOTH her parents will be REQUIRED to wear one too if they go biking together. Since neither of us owns a bike, this is probably a moot point, but I'm a little obsessive about it and Matt is not. He said he never wore one growing up, but he didn't LIVE AT THE TOP OF THE HILL THAT CAN TAKE HER TO THE RIVER. Also, I took multiple trips over the handle bars growing up and know how important they are.

 I let Amelia help me paint an Ikea table we've owned forever to try and get a few more months out of it. I had her take off her top, but let her keep her pants on. I should have gotten her a shower cap. We used four different colors while painting, but somehow she only got blue on her. Trying to get the blue out of her hair is not my favorite bath memory.

She also has been taking great pleasure in playing with bubbles recently.

Apparently I'm not fully trained in bubbles, because after I blew a couple of bubbles she took them back and wouldn't give them to me again.

She also received her first birthday party invite from preschool. Since this is from her "special friend", I think she has to go. If it was from the kid who tore her book and punched her in the ear during circle time, I think we could let her pass. 

She's still into Mary Poppins (and all the songs from it), but has added Cars 2 and Sound of Music (aka Mommy's movie) to the rotation. I haven't even tried to explain that Maria and Mary Poppins are actually the same person. That would just confuse her and then lead to all sorts of questions (like, why aren't Jane and Michael in the other movie, etc). She has to understand how things fit together - she does have some of Matt in her -and that would blow her world up. She understands that Matt has brown eyes because Grandma and Pepere have brown eyes, and that I have blue eyes because Nana and Grandfather have blue eyes, but she doesn't question the pairings. Which is good. Because then we'd need to replace the photos on the fridge with a family tree, and that would get weird real fast.

First Day of Preschool

Even though Amelia has been in "school" for over a year, today is the official start of preschool. We dressed her up more than usual because I insisted on photos.

I love my daddy.

One last applesauce and hug for her baby before heading out. Also, it's a little creepy how much she looks like me.

And this is how you can tell she's my daughter. She also thinks a skirt with pockets is the coolest thing ever. She a little obsessed with pockets and this is the first skirt she's worn that has pockets.

Painfully cute.

Have a great day Amelia!

Odds and Ends

Amelia is a child that loves routine. Every day after school she comes home and has to take out every toy that she's currently obsessed with. Thankfully she's pretty good about packing it up at the end of the night. Every group (Thomas, Cars, Nemo, Muppets) has it's designated location and you better not mess with it or Amelia will come after you.

I was trying to get her to cuddle up to Matt. She had to think about it.

 

This is as close as she would go.

 

And on an unrelated note; my sister Amanda is now the proud owner of a silver medal in the World Rowing Championships. Here she is with her teammates. Guess which one is the coxswain? Yup, Amanda is the one on the far left who doesn't reach the shoulder of the girl next to her. We're so proud of her and wish we could have been there. She's eligible for the Junior Olympic team again next year, so we may be taking a summer trip to Trakai, Lithuania for the finals there. And if she continues to kick ass and take names, Rio in 2016.

What Did You Just Say?

Amelia is now at the age where she grasps something and then will not stop talking about it. For example, she's been reading "Finding Nemo" and would not stop asking about where Nemo's mommy is. I tried to tell her that Nemo's mommy was on a trip, but she wouldn't buy that. Finally I told her that there were different kinds of families. Some have a mommy and a daddy, some have two mommies, some have two daddies, and some only have one mommy or one daddy, like Nemo. Her reply was that she wanted to have two mommies. After I said no, you have a mommy and a daddy, she added "And a Teddy." Yes Amelia, we have a Teddy. She hasn't mentioned Nemo's mommy since then, but is obsessed with finding a Dory to go with her Nemo and Marlin.

She has also become obsessed with where Daddy works. She kept insisting that he worked at the Metro station because we picked him up there once. I kept saying he works in the city. Once I mentioned he had to go on a bridge because it's on the other side of the river, she's been good with that. We went into the city to have dinner with friends and Amelia loved going over the bridge and was happy there were no trolls. She had been very concerned about the possibility of trolls collecting a toll. She's also quick to comment on our driving. Apparently Matt needs to go faster and I need to go slower. We both are told about every traffic light we come across.

She's picking up phrases and trying them out to see how she likes them. We were in Home Depot on Sunday and she looked at me and told me to "get out of her face". I whipped around and asked "What did you say?" She repeated it and then put her head down and laughed. I used the "do not eff with me" voice and told her she was not allowed to say that to anyone, but especially mommy and daddy. I walked away to grab something and I heard her say it quietly to herself and then laugh really quietly. I've tried to tell her that she's not sneaky or subtle, but she hasn't figured that out yet.

But her favorite activity by far is singing. It starts in the morning and only ends when she passes out a night. It's always a jumble of songs that she puts together, but she sings it with gusto. She doesn't do anything halfway. After we put her down for the night you can always hear her singing for at least 10 minutes before she falls asleep.