amelia these days

this is amelia these days! this picture was actually taken a month ago, but i couldn't help but include it. amelia is growing and changing so much... i thought it was high time for a "what amelia's up to" post! amelia will be 21 months old next week. like most kiddos her age, she is into everything. i do not remember ethan and caroline being quite so curious... and quite so into climbing. i really thought caroline was my payback, but alas. it continues!

amelia can most likely be found standing on top of a basket turned upside down, trying to reach something... or underneath the kitchen table looking for cheerios and who knows what else. she will most likely be wearing one of ethan's shoes and one of her own. her hair will most likely be down in her face because the barrette comes out the minute i put it in... we are seriously working on that one, and she is getting better! the only reason she has a barrette in her hair for any of these pictures is because i put it in just before snapping the shot. i know the sheepdog look really bugged my mom and mrs. post in the church nursery, so i'm trying. :)


her favorite things to do outside are to go up the ladder... (shout out to target diapers here!)


down the slide....


and to swing, swing, swing. she does not get tired of the swing. which is my favorite place for her to be because she is strapped in.


this girl has a thing for shoes, putting on whatever unsuspecting pair might be lying around. i had to put her shoes where she could not get to them because i could never find a matching pair when it was time to walk out the door. (and hair in the face + no shoes? i'm definitely up for bad mother of the year!) this is how we found amelia practically every saturday after ethan's soccer game...


amelia's vocabulary is growing as fast as she is walking. she is beginning to put two words together every now and then... she will try to say just about anything, and the words i hear over and over throughout the day are "more", "shoes", "mama", "i want!", "wawa" (water), "nitenite", "obey", "dada", and "help". at least those are a few that i can think of at 11 pm. :)

she is still a pretty good eater. there are some things she turns down, but she may like them the next day. i honestly think she would stay at the table and eat all day if i would let her.

amelia loves going to bed, thankfully. she welcomes her obligatory good night hugs from ethan and caroline, and she thrills on brushing her teeth.

amelia is a card carrying hair-puller, which started with just caroline. her sister's long, wacko hair is just out there, almost asking to be pulled. poor caroline. it really upsets her, but we've tried to teach ethan how to easily get caroline out of the hair-pulling hold if we're not right there. (thank you, special education training!!) she goes for just about any hair she sees, including ethan's fuzz. amelia is learning that hair-pulling is a no-no, but she's not just doing it for fun. she is on a mission. she wants that hair because she loves to eat it. seriously. who likes hair in their mouth!? it just about gags me. but it makes amelia's day. i haven't seen her do it much recently, so maybe she is moving on. caroline will be so glad.

amelia is on the go, go, go, but is still so content to swing forever or to sit in the stroller for a long walk. she is such a laidback and content baby for the most part, but she definitely knows what she wants and does not want to be left out of anything. (hmm, sounds like a combination of her dad and her mom!) here she is content in that swing...


and here's amelia the goofball! it doesn't take much for this girl to light up.


amelia is closer to 2 years old than 1 now. i catch glimpses of a big girl every now and then... she's thinning out and she jumped from a size 3 to size 5 shoe overnight it seemed. (or maybe i just ran out the door without her shoes on for all her size 4 days!) she watches her brother and sister and wants to do whatever ethan and caroline are doing. just today, she got to color for the first time (the first time that was parent-sanctioned, anyway), and she knew she was big stuff.


but even though amelia will be two in just a few short months, she is still my baby girl. she most definitely needs me much of the day. she still follows me from room to room, and her countenance falls when she realizes i am walking out the door without her. amelia soaks in every note as i sing to her in her room at night, and she squeezes my arm to say, "don't stop". i recently realized that while i'm singing, she watches our reflection in the armoire doors in her room. oh i love this girl. i'm trying to soak in every day of her baby-ness because i know i will turn around, and she'll be wearing her own soccer cleats.