The rest of August 2012

Amelia is more likely to eat food with peanut butter on it. Which is a great way to get her to eat food, but it's not so great for keeping her hair clean, as she likes to get her hands all in her food, and then get her hands all in her hair. So breakfast is the biggest problem, because I don't have time to give her a bath before going out of the house for errands, but peanut butter doesn't come out very easily. 

So I devised a plan to help combat the messy breakfast, and put a knit hat on her head. It doesn't always work, and the hat is usually off by the end of the meal, but by the time the hat is off, there is much more mess on the hat than on her head. So I'm considering it a success. Also, she looks really cute wearing a hat in her chair. 

These photos are actually of cream cheese, which has the same effect on her hair as peanut butter. It doesn't, however have the same effect in getting her to eat. She's finicky about it, and it doesn't always go over well. Neither do bagels or strawberries for that matter. But today, it all worked, and she not only ate her food, but she stayed clean while doing it. Win. Win. 

Shortly after Amelia turned a year old, I went through and collected all her outgrown clothes. As she grows out of things, I throw them in these boxes and, recently, that laundry basket. Until this day, I hadn't seen it all together in one place. It's kind of a lot, especially considering she doesn't grow fast and is currently still in 9 months, or 6-12 month sixes. So really, these are all just clothes up to six months. Not a single bit of it was full price, anything new was on clearance or major sale with coupons. And a lot of it was actually used, from yard sales or thrift stores. But still. This is a clear sign that I need to slow my bargain hunting down in the future. For both kids. 

Thankfully, we dressed Amelia in a lot of things that are either neutral, or straight from the boy's side of the store, so quite a bit of this will get worn one more time by Oliver. 

Here we have Amelia in first pink piece of clothing ever! She got this excellent Harley shirt for her birthday from her Grandma Yvonne, and it is admittedly a pink shirt I don't mind putting her in. 

Even Tom doesn't mind being next to the pink! 

Lately Amelia has been very much into her books. She's always enjoyed them, but recently she has been spending more time with them than her toys. She'll go and get one and then toddle over to a spot to sit down and spread it out on her lap. Then she just flips through all the pages, looking at them each one by one. Then it's on to the next. 

 Here she is over in her own little book corner. She leans up against the couch where I can barely see her. It definitely reminds me of when I was a kid and loved to find private little places to hide and read. Or just plain hang out by myself. 

Going in for more. 

Coming out of hiding. 

The day before her 13 month birthday, Amelia came down with her first real sickness. She has had a couple colds before, but this time was totally different. She woke up and moaned all through her breakfast (which she didn't eat) and then promptly started to act tired and fussy. Then she threw up her milk :( 

She spent the rest of the day barely eating, and acting lethargic, and the next day was no better. We didn't even get to try breakfast, because she immediately started laying around and moaning and kind of screaming in a way I'd never heard before. She did drink a lot of water, but that's all I had a chance to get into because 20 minutes after waking up, this is what she was doing:

This sad face is what followed the moans and screams and cries. I felt so bad for her. 

And then she just laid herself down on the floor and started to doze there. Which is literally unheard of. I picked her up and she stayed asleep while I laid her on my chest on the couch. All of which is even more unheard of. After sleeping for a bit, she woke up and threw her water up on me. 

Long story short, she was feeling better by the third day, and before that, I got a lot of cuddle time from her, which I never ever get. So I am not happy that she was sick and miserable, but I admit that a part of me is glad that I got those cuddles in while I had the chance. 

Sometimes in the evenings if we have nothing else to do we take Amelia to this great shopping area and let her run it out on this turf that they have set up between some of the stores. It's actually the same center that has our favorite grocery store, the movie theater, and several of our favorite places to eat. Lots of parents bring their kids there to play, so there is always someone for Amelia to socialize with. We like to play in Barnes and Noble for a bit, and then head outside to let her really go. It's a nice size space where she can go far, but we can still keep an eye on her. 

She always finds the stairs, of course. 

Running around, and messing with my fancy drink. 

Headed to the sale at REI. 

These girls came around and were having so much fun making Amelia laugh. The one in the blue dress was literally pulling her face into funny expressions, and Amelia was laughing so hard. 

I love this one. It's blurry, but I can see how happy Amelia is to be running around with these older girls. 

And sometimes, we spend the evening on the deck. I just want to point out that her outfit was coordinated by Tom. I put on her basic outfit for the day, but before taking her outside he put on the mismatched socks, the brown shoes, and the clashing hat. I kind of like it. Especially the mismatched socks. It's kind of my thing. I do, however, find it funny that he bothered to put on shoes and socks when he could have saved a lot of time and trouble by just throwing on sandals. Boys. 

For an extra good time, Tom likes to roll around in the chair. Usually backwards. Amelia loves the ride. She loves any sort of fast and unexpected movement. I think she's going to be a roller coaster and bungee jump type of girl. 

One day, she got into the cupboard that someone (me) left open and found this pie shell. For a good twenty minutes, it was her favorite new thing. 

Running away from me with her prize. Probably in hopes to go back and find more. 

And because I never take enough bath pictures, here's a couple to finish up August. Tom does all the baths, so I'm not in there for the fun, but every kid needs some bath pictures so I have to remember to make the effort to go in there to take them more often. Next time, I hope to get a bubble bath picture. Her skin is a little sensitive and prone to drying, so she doesn't get bubbles every day. Sad story.