So this is forty something....: October 2010

This month, Amelie turned 11 months old. Another cold came and went (and oddly, we found Benedryl hinders her sleep, unlike her drug addict sister, who wants nothing than to be sick so she can have "meh-cine"). She has 7 teeth...two more teeth came in and another is approaching. She is growing like crazy. Her hair is thickening, and she's started to scoot along the couch like a pro. Oh, and did I mention? At just 10.5 months old, she began signing for milk, thanks to Baby Signing Time. Yes, the same program that taught Alia to sign at 15 months? Has proven to be totally effective with much younger babies! And now she can say "more" and "ball" in sign language. Pretty impressive!

Amelie likes nothing more than to watch her sister. She thinks she's terrific. Amelie also feeds herself like a champ (cheerios and organic puffs) and no longer wants to be fed like a baby. Amelie is fast...she crawls across the room making an "ahhahhahh" noise matching the beat of her crawl. Amelie is the warm spot in my heart that makes me almost want to cry when I think of her. I love her more every day....if that's possible.

Amelie is still gentle and delicate. She hates when anyone takes something from her. She gets her feelings hurt very easily. In fact, when she was gnawing away on her crib today, I said "no, no, Mimi" in the softest voice possible and she still burst into tears. She doesn't like to be told what to do, apparently.

Amelie has also laid claim on people, too. Daddy now belongs to her, too, and she's not afraid to compete for his attention. She does this by shaking her head back and forth, back and forth while smiling and giggling while sitting on the floor. It's the best trick she has and she isn't afraid to use it to detract from Alia's attention.

Amelie no longer lets things stand in the way of what she wants. She has decided she wants in the tub with Alia every night at bath time, and will stop at nothing...she practically launches herself over the tub wall and into the tub fully clothed. The only problem? Sometimes she refuses to sit down, which makes it quite a slippery and dangerous event!

Amelie is pure sweetness. She still likes to jump like crazy in the Jumperoo. She loves the Leap Frog music table as well as pressing the keys on the keyboard. Amelie likes to pull the board books from the shelf one by one and then scoot them across the floor. In fact, scooting things across the floor is one of her favorite pastimes.

Amelie still drinks her share of formula, although next month we'll be switching over to milk. She has taken to a red monkey stuffed animal as well as a tan bear that she now sleeps with every night. I suppose we should name them, huh?

So that's it in a nutshell. As we approach her first birthday, I am so sad to realize my baby will be done being a baby so soon. I'm just fortunate enough to be here to be her Mommy.