Up all night

The last week has been hit or miss for sleep for the babe, and in turn, for me. I chalked it up to teething, but then realized the other day that the bedroom might be too dry for her tiny nasal passages. We broke out the humidifier, and it worked wonders. For a night. Then last night, she was easy to get to sleep, and slept for 3 hours straight, getting my hopes up for an easy night (yeah,. at over 1 year, we're still thankful for a 3 hour stretch!). She broke my soon-to-be-sleeping heart (or so I thought), when she woke up at 12:45am for a feeding, only to stay awake until about 4:30am. She was happy, and would have been considered fun, had I not been trying to get to sleep myself. I have no idea what time she actually fell aslepp, as I suspect I was already asleep myself, but I'm guessing it was somewhere between 4 and 5am. We wrongly assumed she would then sleep in, to get her usual 10-12 hours of nightly sleep (in increments, of course!), but she disappointed us at 9ish this morning by being wide eyed and bushy tailed, ready for Daddy Time. I slept a couple more hours while they went to the co-op and had breakfast, so I could manage the rest of the day. Thankfully, Chris brought me some Caribou... that should help, too.

She's still the cutest, even when she pulls this no sleep crap.

L is for lotion

"L" is the latest letter that Amelie signs. I tried for about a week to teach it to her, and then one day Chris announces, "I taught her a new letter: L." Please. She catches on during Daddy Time, and he gets the credit. :) Newest functional sign: "sleep". She just started this, and I always forget that she knows it... Tonight she signed it (her version is covering her ears), and I thought she meant the music was too loud. I turned it down, and when I turned around, she was laying on a pillow. I still didn't get it. I had to look at the clock to know it was bedtime, even though the kid was telling me the whole time. I can be so dense sometimes! We also taught her the signs for "I love you". She's pretty good at it for only a day of practicing... also, "help" is in her signing vocabulary. She has yet to use it in context, but anytime someone says the word, she signs it.

Oh, and the lotion? She loves to rub lotion on her hands now. It's so adorable. She sticks her fingers in the jar or bottle, and then rubs it in with this huge grin on her face. Unless it's Burt's Bees; lately she's been sneaking a taste before rubbing it in.

Amelie does a lot of talking now. She will attempt any word that you ask her to say. At the grocery store, she tried "avocado" and "pineapple". One sounded like "guh-guh-guh" and the other "qua". She says dude (doo), squirrel (ca-ca), car (cah), tree (chee), bike (cah), fish (sshhh), balloon (bahbmmm), ball (bah), bear (bee). Oh, and "baby" is her favorite... Anytime she sees a mirror, she points and yells "BABY!" She HAS to see herself.



She's learning body parts pretty well... she knows hair, teeth, mouth, ears, nose (scrunches her face and sniffs loudly), belly button, and she just learned eyes. Unfortunately, she's pretty preoccupied with the eyes... poking any that come with her reach. Usually mine, sometimes Lefty's. And he only has one to start with.

I think Amelie is teething like a madman right now. She is exceptionally crabby (for her), and is always chewing on her finger. Those molars must hurt.



My baby's really cruising around like a big girl now. It's so fun to watch her walk around, sometimes with her hands hanging down at her sides. She looks like she's practicing doing it like big girls do.

Have I mentioned that she likes to lay on the cats? Well, if I told you already, sorry, but now you get a picture of it.






This month we bought some almond butter, and the girl LOVES it. Here she is eating her first almond butter sandwich.




When Amelie find something on the floor, usually a small clump of cat hair, she will pick it up and hand it to me. She looks like she's scloding me for not finding it first...




Last month we took a trip to the apple orchard. Here she is in the Family Apple Tree.



I know I go for a long time without posting, and for that I apologize. I'll work on it.

#8

...was discovered on wednesday at playgroup. By the feel of this latest tooth, it had been around for a day or two.

Amelie is really cruising now. She is really liking walking, and usually has a cute "big girl" face on, like this is really serious business. And I guess it is for her.

Did I mention that Amelie's latest fascination is to attack our cat Lefty? She wrestles him down (or it would be wrestling if he put up a fight at all; it's more like she carefully picks her position by jostling him a bit... hard to explain) and lays on him for minutes at a time. Just tenses up her body like she's hugging him. Funny thing is that when he gets away, whether she lets him go or he squirms free, he comes back and stands in front of her so she can do it again. We have this on video, I believe, but I have yet to get it on the still camera.

...which reminds me: get some batteries in that thing and take pictures!!!!!!!!

Olivia

Chris and I are anti-character (cartoon/TV/corporation variety, that is), but we are inexplicably drawn to Olivia. She would tempt us to throw a birthday party in black, white and red. It would be hard to say no if Amelie begged for a playroom decked out with this charming pig. Olivia is somehow different than the others. We love love love her.

The books are basic counting and opposites books, but with illustrations from the other "big kid" Olivia books. I like the simple lines and colors of the series, and Ian can't-remember-his-last-name's subtle sense of humor is a refreshing change. Check them out.

And by the way, you get 2 books at a time now. There are too many, and at this pace, it will take for. ev. er. to finish them.

Ketchup

Once again, I feel like there is so much that has happened recently, and yet... no idea what it actually was. And what's up with NOT blogging? No idea. I feel like such a jerk, I think I've only taken like 5 photos of Amelie this month. Time flies.

About a week and a half ago, Amelie started walking for real. One Saturday night we had some intensive practicing, which built up her confidence, and now she's on a roll. She's to the point where she will try walking to wherever she wants to go, and if she falls, will crawl the rest of the way because it's easier and faster. But she tries. She can even change direction halfway if she decides. My baby is gone. Enter TODDLER.

Amelie started signing "F" out of the blue last week. We're working on "help" (which will put an end to the occasional whining, I'm sure), "water", and "bath". "Milk" has changed from the American Sign Language sign (mimicing milking a cow) to pulling my shirt open for all to see what it is she wants.

MSP (Miss Smarty Pants) has learned some of her books so well that all I have to do is start quoting one of them (WHO'S learned them well?!), and she goes directly to the right one and starts reading. She also climbs the stairs well, and is learning to go down backwards.

And since I have no recent pics, here are some from... a month ago? Two?




Enjoying her favorite food: cucumber. Ages and ages ago, Chris and I saw an episode of "A Baby Story", featuring a family with a toddler who begged for a cucumber as a treat while visiting the midwife. We thought that was hilarious, and said we hoped our kids would be like that. Woo-hoo!






Sick of eating pureed foods, Amelie is relishing eating "real" food from a bowl.






Favorite field trip #1: Barnes & Noble. We sit in the kids' area and read while she reads, pulls books and toys off the shelf, and occasionally plays "trains" with other visiting kids. More often than not, though, we get there after most kids are at home and in bed.






Favorite field trip #2: Caribou Coffee. OK, I doubt she actually likes going there at all; it's really my favorite place. I have to tell you, though, that after taking this picture (and a series of similarily hilarious pics), I cried from laughing so hard at her face for at least 5 minutes. I couldn't stop looking at it, and when I did... waterworks.

Brought to you by the letter B

Amelie learned to sign, and say, "B" this week. We have done "Pat-a-cake" so much, it makes my head spin. That's life with a baby, though, huh?

One Bear, One Dog by Paul Stickland

This is a very simple and adorable book (the title gives away the first 2 pages). The colored pencil illustrations look cuddly, if that makes any sense... and the last page is a cute suprise for the kiddies...

ABC by Alison Jay

This is the best ABC book I've seen. It's slightly oversized, which I always like, and the illustrations are so charming. They are fun and folk-art-y, complete with crackle-paint effect. Each picture has several things that begin with the letter, and each letter leads into the next somehow, so there's a fun way to make this into a story book. It's great for all ages, as it's been one of Amelie's faves for a long time, and I'm sure we'll be telling each other stories from the pictures for a few years, at least.

Judge a book

I have a few minutes to cram in some book reviews... I was going to start with the "Breasts in Art" book, since a couple people asked about it, but I don't have a photo of the cover yet, and the camera doesn't have batteries at the moment. Soon, I hope...

#7

...has arrived. We noticed the new pearly white today while we were at the apple orchard.

Language: I discovered that every bird is actually a duck, and therefore says, "quack".

Another new development: Amelie will grab a book, and open it up to read to herself. If it is upside-down, she immediately turns it right side up. Smarty pants. Speaking of books: I promised (or "threatened", depending on your view) book reviews awhile back, and have since put them on the way back burner. I'm thinking this week I will go nuts and bombard you with them all. And there are a ton, she's built up the collection considerably since I last mentioned them...

I was going to give you a photo, but the option has disappeared from my screen. :( Maybe next time...

Another 2 weeks...

since I've posted! I guess life is getting in the way of blogging, but I suppose that's a good thing. Funny... I check other people's blogs, and think, "what the heck? it's been 4 days! BLOG already!" I am really going to try to keep up on this...

There's not much to say, no new developments. Amelie still has 5 teeth, is still crawling, and is still saying a whole slew of "b" words. So, since there isn't anything to tell, have a look:

Talk about a dry spell...

Sheesh. It's been way too long since I've blogged. Sorry about that. We are still alive and well... I'll try to remember everything that's happened in the last 2 weeks...

Amelie has started signing and talking more. She consistantly signs "milk" (when she wants to nurse), and now "eat" (puts her finger in her mouth, like she's gagging herself). I have to think of more signs to teach her; she's learning them so fast! Also, when you ask her hold old she is, she holds up one finger, sometimes 2 (more about her birthday soon). She has a hard time keeping that middle finger down. The latest trick: ask ker what a cow says. She answers with a low "bbbbvvvvv", because she doesn't moo through her nose, so it doesn't quite sound like a moo. Oh, and not sure if I already mentioned it... she does say "duck" and "quack". Although she is talking and signing up a storm, there are few words that anyone would recognize without interpretation.

Amelie is walking along furniture really well. It's only a matter of time before she's walking on her own. She has also gotten braver, and started standing unsupported more frequently and for longer periods.

I couldn't have asked for a better baby, and I'm a bit nervous about having more kids after her: how could they measure up? It can't get any easier, that's for sure.

This week I babysat a little girl who is 11 months old. She was a doll, and such a good playmate for Amelie. Chris says Amelie needs a sister! I think he's right...

Here are some recent photos:





She doesn't have very discriminating tastes just yet. We'll work on that...

"Cats are delicious"






"Monkeys are delicious"






Reading ingredients, just like mom and dad. She approves, by the way...







Our friend Jackson having his first taste of the forbidden white stuff.

Photos to go with the recent postings...

Bob the Tomato Boo-boo






Signing "A" for Amelie






Bananas for bananas






Getting proficient at the harmonica






Waiting to be adjusted at the chiro

Party Animal

This has been the month of birthdays. First, we went to my cousin's baby's (Grace's) birthday party, then to Chris' step-sister's baby's (Madie's), and finally, to our friend Jackson's party. Amelie's party is soon to come.





Grace and her booty:






Amelie after seeing the booty:

Crybaby

Fun with iPhoto

Now that I've learned how to use iPhoto, I can save my blurry pics of Amelie by tweaking them and turning them into something lovely. My favorite is over-exposed, high contrast black and white. Yay iPhoto!

Hats off!

I may just skip the whole party hat deal altogether. I had such a great idea for party hats (in my own head anyway; they probably would have been stupid IRL). It's too hard to explain it well enough, and I doubt anyone cares anyways. Sheesh. $.79 per hat is pretty steep for a plain Jane cone hat. When you add in s/h and the 10c embellishment I was going to add, they'd be about $1 each, and with 40-50 people coming... OUCH.
I could make better ones myself for about $.50 each, but that's so much work for a piece of cardboard that little kids will yank off to chew on and adults will hate wearing and throw away first chance they get.

I can't believe I just wasted my time and energy writing about party hats. And yours, too. Forgive me. I've become THAT mom.

Can anyone help?

I'm looking for a place that sells plain white birthday hats. I've called a couple party supply places around here with no luck, and tried looking online, but nobody seems to have them Anyone know where to look?

Also, I'm having a hard time getting a downloaded font into NeoOffice. Anyone know how to do that?

Sign of the times...

Amelie is speaking with her hands, now, as well... She started by signing "milk" awhile back, but has since forgotten it. However, this week, she started consistently using the "more" sign, usually for crackers (more on that later). "All done" is inconsistent, she points at things, and waves "bye". Also, this week, she's started really trying hard to sign the alphabet when we sing it. We've been signing it to her since she was old enough to focus a few inches from her face, and now she's trying it out herself. She actually signed "A" and "B". What a smart girl! Now we're working on "mama", "milk", and "eat".

Poor girl has a rash on her upper body, probably from a food allergy. Amelie would do backflips for her multigrain crackers if she could, but I suspect the yare the culprit. I put calendula oil on it, and it seemed to help, unless it's clearing up because we didn't have the crackers today. I'll probably take her to the Dr anyways, as it's a good excuse for her to meet Amelie for the first time.

Today Amelie cut her foot, right by her big toe. Ah, the big kid stuff... getting hurt and all. She has a Veggie Tales bandage on it, and keeps trying to pick at it. I know how annoying it is to have one on the toe...

Monday, Amelie's 5th toothe popped through. I can see #6 is on it's way!

You don't say!

Amelie is up to speaking 5 words now...

Her first was Daddy, pronounced "DA".

Then she suprised us by saying "Bye" when we were leaving the mortgage office about a week ago. Pronounced "Buh".

Her latest words, all started this week, are: Burp, Bunny, and Book. All pronounced "Buh".

Here are 2 pics of baby girl this last week. I think they're adorable, Chris says she looks "slow" in one and like Elephant Man in the other.
"SLOW":


"Elephant Man" (I think it's the teeth?)

Early bird

Wouldn't you know it, the one time Chris isn't here to have Daddy Time in the morning, Amelie gets up earlier than ever. I'm not a morning person, so her pre-8am wake up this morning wasn't a pleasant experience. I'll just nap with her later.

Today we get to go to my cousin's baby's first birthday party. I'm sure it will be a blast. Amelie will love playing with the other kids. I'm off to wrap the gift, now...

Mullet 4 11

The last couple of times that Amelie and I have taken a bath, we've brought her plastic comb in with us. I have been playing with her hair while she plays with toys, and tonight I gave her the greatest televangelist mullet, it was hilarious! Then I gave her mall bangs, and then a funky all over spikey 'do. I can't wait till she's old enough to enjoy the bath hair as much as I do.

Amelie cut her 4th tooth today! Woo-hoo! It's the last of her 4 front teeth. Now she's working on the one next to her other front tooth. I can see that it's about to pop through.

Saturday marked Amelie's 11th month out of the womb. I'm so sad... only one more month of having a "baby". The funny thing is that literally on Saturday, she started acting so much older. It's not my imagination, either, I swear! She did this another time, but I don't remember which month it was... it's on this blog somewhere. Anyways, she started being all funny and weird all of a sudden. We had a 10 minute laughing session the other day, and she's just generally getting more funny and rambunctious (sp? I never write that word...).

Time to start 1) her baby book, and 2) planning that birthday party.

Baby shower

Amelie had her first ever shower this week, with her daddy. I won't bore you (or offend you) with all the pics, but here's a peek:

What can brown do for you?

Amelie's got to start pulling her weight around here, so she's getting a job. Can you guess where?

My Friends by Taro Gomi

This book was a gift from the Sampedros, and was immediately a favorite for all 3 of us. So much so, that I ordered another book by Taro Gomi, but we'll get to that one later... In this book, a little girl tells about what she learns from her friends. The illustrations (watercolor?) are adorable and simple, and have some unexpected suprises. For example, on my favorite page below:

Notice the human skull buried in the dirt? I think that's hilarious! On another page, she's on the roof(!), and on another, a kid is pulling her pigtail.

My only beef with this book is that there's a TV in the little girl's room. Hopefully Amelie will never notice.

Norma Jean

Sometime last week, I saw a PBS special about Marilyn Monroe. Usually, I think she is really overrated (especially as an actress), and when I see something like this program, I have a strange pity for her. But I always come away liking her more and wishing she were still around. She'd probably have a great train-wreck of a reality show right now. Anyways, there was a segment about a particular photo shoot that Marilyn did where she was in a hotel room just being herself, and she had an amazing range of emotions and poses that she did. Every shot turned out different and beautiful. This series of pics reminds me of that: