Park and Grass Play

I was pretty set that we were staying in this evening. Until Amelia made our bed into a slide. That's when I realized we needed to go to the park. Again.

We went and she had a blast. As usual. Well, until some older boys started throwing wood chips at her. She came to me and asked me to play with her. I asked why, even though I knew why, and in the end she grabbed two handfuls of wood chips and marched right up to the boys and threw them at the offenders.

Yes, that's my daughter. We had a talk about not throwing things at people. Even if they throw things at you. The boys' mother heard and apologized and made them apologize. It was too late. Amelia was already running saying, "I go to my house." Before we left the school grounds we stopped to smell some flowers and let Joe have his first, real grass experience.

I think he enjoyed it :)

While Joe explored, Amelia tried to climb this tree. With no luck.

Happy Wednesday!

Chair of the Day

Amelia's chair choice of the day was her mini Poang Chair from Ikea!  We let daddy sleep in this morning because he let me sleep most of Sunday.  Seriously, all I did was eat sleep and nurse Joe all day upon returning home from work.  I felt lazy but I needed it!  We've been passing some sort of bug around our house and I am just barely keeping it at bay.  Jason hasn't been so lucky so we let him get some extra sleep today.

I was a softie this morning and let Amelia eat her breakfast in the living room while she watched Bubble Guppies.  She had a " baby blueberry cake" which is just a blueberry muffin.  I am totally fine with her thinking that it is cake :)

My choice for breakfast impacted dinner - which I had not counted on...

When I told Amelia that it was time to eat dinner she drug her Poang chair into the kitchen and placed it at the head of the table, sat down and started drinking her milk. When I asked her how she would reach the table to eat her hot dog she made it very clear that she had a plan. She just stood right up and started to eat. I am hopeful that she doesn't try this tomorrow because this isn't something we will allow long-term! It was cute for today though :)  

Just for fun - a picture of the kids at the park this evening :) I am so glad the warmer weather is back so we can spend time outside again!

Easter Bunny Decor

This afternoon, Amelia did a little decorating for Easter:

She had a Target gift card from either Christmas, her birthday or Valentine's Day - can't remember. Anyways, I took her shopping one evening and among the items she selected for herself were these gel window clings from the dollar section. Knowing her tendency to take them down and tear them up I left them on top of the refrigerator until today since we have a little man who puts anything and everything into his mouth...

She carefully applied each one exactly where she though it belonged.

I like how she kept both parts of all the carrots together but the bunnies' tails are off floating around to the left...

Who knows - maybe one day she will be an interior decorator!

Three Years Stats

Today was Amelia's three year well visit! As soon as nurse Emily wanted to check her blood pressure she got a little concerned:

So, instead of her getting her blood pressure checked her orange pony got his done by a highly qualified Dr. Amelia :)

What? A shot?

She had her Hep A shot. She did great.

Now for her stats and stuff:

• 35 pounds, 85th percentile
• 40 inches, 95th percentile
• Sleeping around10-12 hours a night with varying bedtimes between 8 and 9ish p.m. and wake times varying from 7 to 9 a.m.
• Favorite foods are mac 'n' cheese, cheese ravioli and tortellini, waffles, Uh-Ohs (spaghettios) and peas (they recently made a comeback!)
• Favorite snacks are cookies, fruit snacks and cheez-its
• Dora and Diego ("Go-ah and Gee-go") are major, major hits with this girl. We have started to have to limit her TV because she'd watch those guys 24/7 if we let her!
• My Little Ponies are a new interest. She loves to watch the original movie (from my childhood) before bed right now
  
• Her speech is improving with each passing week which has made life so, so much easier
• She is now attending an early childhood speech class two days a week at the local elementary school for an hour and a half each day
• Her favorite toys are animal figurines, anything Dora or Diego, cars, bubbles and her new Little People pirate ship she got for her birthday
• She is trying to dress and undress herself more and more but it is something I need to be better about encouraging her to try and do on her own
• She is mommy and daddy's little helper - even when we would just rather do things alone!

We have a healthy and happy three year old girl! We love her very much! She brings so much joy (and frustration) to our lives :)

First Day of School

Amelia had her first day of Pre-K speech today! She "graduated" from the county's Birth to 3 program last week which basically means she turned three and now she moves into the school district's speech program! I am going to miss her speech therapist, Lisa, who has been coming to our apartment once a week since November to work with Amelia. She has progressed so much in the short time we worked with Lisa and we are so thankful!

I had to work so Jason and Joe dropped Amelia off today. She went with the teacher very willingly Jason said.

She will go two days a week for an hour and a half. Right now we (well, Jason since I am at work!) are driving her but we will eventually sign her up for pick-up and drop-off by the school's transportation service. For the time being we just want her to get used to going to school before we throw in the van ride with someone she is unfamiliar with as well as other children she doesn't know!

This is the first craft she made at school :) I'm not sure how much of it she actually did but I don't care - I love it! From the things Amelia brought home I figured out today they worked on "K." This is the "K" caterpillar and it has little images of "c" and "k" words. I'm glad that the first day they worked on a sound that Amelia knows well. Hopefully it made her feel confident and helped her enjoy the activities more :)

Bedtime didn't go super smoothly tonight. Amelia came to her gate a few times while I was nursing Joe to sleep and once I had him down I went to shut her door and found her passed out on the floor by the gate. I moved her to her bed and covered her with her favorite blanket.

I can't believe what a big girl she is becoming!

Birthday Weekend

I should preface this post with this - I completely failed at taking pictures this weekend! Amelia is at a point where she doesn't really want her picture taken most of the time so I just didn't try as hard as I normally do. It wasn't worth upsetting her on her birthday!

Saturday night we had dinner with my family at Yarusso Bros Italian Restaurant. We had never been there but it was a hit! Amelia had about half a loaf of bread with butter and a good chunk of her spaghetti. It was the most I have seen her eat in one sitting in a long, long time - so it must be good!

In addition to dinner we did gifts and had cake and ice cream with my parents and sister.

Sunday we had dinner at Jason's sister Liz's house. She did tacos - which were delicious! After dinner Amelia opened gifts and I think she was more excited about all the tissue paper than anything :) Gifts were followed up with cake and ice cream!

Amelia's cake and cupcakes were Dora themed which she loved! I loved that the Dora/Diego cake had Dora and Boots figurines added...so we have spares now! We had the same toppers on my birthday cake last year and they are one of Amelia's favorite toys now. Boots got lost one night last week and bedtime was impossible until he was found.

This third birthday weekend was low-key and that is just fine with us. Jason and I have been very drained of energy the past few weeks. Our work schedules are not allowing for adequate rest and it's been taking it's toll on us. Thank you to our families for planning and executing everything this weekend! We appreciate it more than you know.

Three Years Old

Today Amelia is three years old...but it is technically her fourth birthday if you count her day of birth... Our weekend is full with plans to see family and celebrate this little girl. She is a handful, there is no doubt about that, but that only makes us love her more.

Here is a walk down memory lane:

Happy Birthday, Big Girl! Can't wait to see what this next year will bring us!!!

Squeaky Clean

Afternoon baths left me with two fresh smelling kids to spend the evening with!

We had a pretty good night until it was time to get Amelia to bed. Long story short? All three of us were in tears at one point. Joe was screaming in his swing while Amelia cried because she lost her Boots the monkey figurine and I was crying out of frustration. Yep.

We eventually found Boots and she got to bed where she proceeded to pass out almost instantly. I made sure she put her Dora and Boots figurines (from my birthday cake last year...) into her Dora purse. You know, so we would know where they are tomorrow. And tomorrow? I'll tell her, once again, to put them into her Dora purse when they are not in active play. I do not wish to repeat tonight's events.

Silly Sleeper

I have been finding Amelia in some strange sleeping situations this month! One night she insisted I put on her silver, sparkly, princess shoes...over her footie pajamas! I expected they'd come off before she fell asleep but I was wrong!

I'm not sure how she ended up pressed against the bed...

The other night she was tired. I kept her up a bit longer and then put her into her room with her gate up. I sat down with Joe to nurse him to sleep and she kept coming to the gate asking to come out. I did not take the gate down because I was busy and, well, she was busy too! She emptied her bed onto the floor and eventually fell asleep on top of the pile of stuff!

She can be sooooo silly sometimes!

Light-Up Staff

Amelia got a flashing, light-up staff at the Holidazzle in December. We recently replaced the batteries in it and it is a BIG hit again!

She took it to bed with her a couple of nights ago and when we went in to check on her before we went to bed this is what we found:



The photos didn't turn out awesome so I took a video too:



The following night we found the same thing...


...except this time her star-bug was there too!

Last night it was the same story only I didn't get a picture!

We don't know if it is mere coincidence but the past two, maybe three, nights (I honestly can't remember...the days are long here!) she has woken up at 3 a.m. exactly and she is upset. I am just getting up for work then and do what I can to soothe her and Jason also gets up. The first night or two she went back to sleep with a movie on her "baby TV" (portable DVD player) and that was that. Jason said this morning she would not go back to sleep after I left. She was acting terrified and kept looking around her room like there was something in there scaring her. They eventually ended up sleeping on the couch - with the lights on, of course.

I am wondering if the flashing lights in her sleep have anything to do with this new trend in her sleeping habits? I'm testing it tonight. I have already hidden the flashing staff so it will not be making an appearance at bedtime. We'll see what happens in the morning! If that does not seem to be the problem I am not sure what we are going to do!

Choo Choo!

Last weekend we took Amelia to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum and she had a blast! She loved watching the "choo choos" go 'round and 'round and 'round!

Just Pictures

Kitty Cat, Night Night

Amelia loves to take people "ny, ny." What that means is she takes you to her room and closes the door and basically holds you hostage. She will even go so far as to "block" the door with whatever she can find. She honestly believes that her sippy cup or step stool will keep you barricaded in her room!

She is always running around the house yelling, "kitty cat, night night! Kitty cat, night night!" Her father has let a kitty cat go "night, night" before. I on the other hand am opposed to it. Here she is seeking out a cat to go "ny, ny."

Small Gestures

With two little ones at home life can be really frustrating sometimes. Some evenings, while Jason is at work, all three of us end up in tears because there is just so much going on and so, so much noise (ie- Joe crying and Amelia yelling about something.)

One evening not too long ago we had one of those nights where we were all in tears. I felt like I spent the whole evening yelling at Amelia to stop doing things she shouldn't be doing or telling her "no" she could not have whatever it was she wanted etc. After I put her to bed and put up the baby gate so she had to stay in her room. After putting up the gate and telling her to stop screaming and crying I turned around to see this:


Amelia had wound the vacuum cord up (sort of) for me. All night I was telling her "no" and "stop" and asking why she was not listening. At some point though she saw something that needed to be done and she did it as best she could. She knew I was needing some help so she did it. She was trying to help her mama out. It was such a sweet, small gesture from a sweet, small girl. I need to remember that gesture when we are having a bad night and she is unruly because if I look harder I bet she is helping me out in ways I am not even aware of.

First ER Visit

Saturday evening while we were at Jason's sister's house Amelia had a little accident. She was in the next room playing with the dog and we heard a crash and then a cry. All we could determine for sure was that she hit the back of her head on a side table. The result was this:


Coloring while waiting to be looked at a second time. The gauze had a numbing agent in it.


The end result...



5 staples :(

She is recovering well and will get her staples out at the end if this week/early next week. She is one tough cookie ;)

Oh!

Amelia says "yes" now...only to her "yes" is "OH!"



We think she associates "yes" with "oh" because it usually takes us a long time to figure out what she is trying to tell us/ask for and when we finally figure it out we say, "oh! You want (blank)." I love how big her eyes get when she says "oh."

Sleeping Sweetly

I checked in on Amelia a few nights ago and this is what I found:

Rocking Cow

Amelia is still into cows!


My sister and mom were shopping over the weekend and found this rocking cow at Once Upon a Child.


For now it will stay at Nana's house and once we are on our own again we will bring to our new place!

Amelia and Daddy

These two cuddle at night and watch cartoons


and before you know it


she is out like a light :)

Bubbles

With another warm afternoon today we spent more time outside! Amelia had her first experience blowing bubbles. She was so hysterical blowing bubbles!






She never quit with the sound effects. It was pretty fun watching her! We might have to keep the bubbles hidden from now on. She already found another bottle and demanded to blow bubbles (inside) so they are conveniently "lost" until we are outside again!