Amelie is 13 months old

So where were we...oh, yes. We're at 13 months for my little bitty baby. Of course, she weighs more now, but in my heart, I'm holding on for dear life for her to remain her sweet baby-self. I still hold her in my arms  for her before-bed bottle every night. It's my favorite part of the day! Alia would have nothing to do with this feeding/cuddle session after about 6 months old...she was a big girl so fast.

Amelie has 9 teeth, including one big, bad molar that gives her endless pain. She "talks" constantly. When she's upset she will look you right in the face and cry and shout "baba-baba-baaaa! boka boga!" as if we're having a conversation.  Amelie loves to look at family photographs in frames. Every morning when I wake up and pick her up from her bed, we walk by a series of our framed wedding photos on the wall just outside her door. She insists we stop and she points to each and every face and I name the person. When we get to Daddy, she says Dha-Dha! and for Mommy, she says "Ma-Ma!". For everyone else, she just looks directly and intently at my mouth to get maximum understanding of what I'm saying and how to say it.

Amelie has a few new favorite things to do...the first is she zooms away after we get her dried off after her nightly bath. We have a happy streaker on our hands. And if you try to stop her? She goes completely limp and falls to the ground and cries. So best to leave her to streak for a few minutes and then basically work her into her clothes without disrupting whatever she's engaged with...which, after her bath, is usually the ball-popper in the hallway where the balls can't get to far away (we used to play with this in the play room but all the balls end up under the desk and result in head bumping and tears). Amelie also loves television. I know...I silently and unsilently judge myself for this fact. Alia wasn't even allowed TV until she was 15 months old when I decided to allow her to watch Baby Signing Time. But Amelie has been watching and signing for quite awhile. Amelie also loves my best home-made toy ever...I stuffed an old wallet with old and useless cards (grocery store club cards, etc.) and let her pull them all out. Every trip to the grocery store ended with her pining for my wallet, and once she had it she disassembled it....thus, the creation of her very own wallet. And the neat thing is? Once Amelie takes all the cards out? I can ask Alia to put them all back and it's just the right task to challenge her dexterity! A win win! And Mommy gets to keep her platinum card where it belongs!

Amelie is a lover. She hugs. She cuddles. She tilts her head to the side and rests it on the couch while looking up at me with her sweetest little Amelie smile.

And when she's tired? She likes to walk around and around and around while shouting aaaaaaaaaaah! aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! It's quite a sight.

Amelie transitioned away from formula last month and has a love of whole milk now. In fact, as of today, we're re-strategizing her feeding times and volumes because she would basically go without food entirely (except for her beloved Cheerios) in favor of milk. Which has had some issues, mainly of the tiny little constipated poop variety. But all in all, we're progressing. I know she's a toddler now. But not in my head. In my head she is Baby.

Alia is 28 months old!

Alia is busy. Alia sings her ABC's with certainty. Alia runs and hops and sings and shouts. All the time.

Alia is funny and quirky and lovely and silly. She says funny things like "Mommy got a haircut!" when I haven't changed my hair in, well, months! Alia tells me that she "loves Froggy soooo much. She loves Amelie soooo much! She's my little baby sister! Ahhhh, pooooor little baby Amelie! (pronounced Amony by Alia). Froggy loves his little baby sister too!" Froggy is her little diplomat to the world. He shares in all she does. When we're in the car, we point out the big orange auto-mall balloon to Alia, and she points it out to Froggy. We point out new Christmas lights on an evening drive? She points them out to Froggy. She catches a cold? Froggy sneezes. Really.

This week Alia got a new Froggy, which she promptly named Wee-Wee-Wa. She thinks the name is hilarious, but it is definitely a name that stuck from the moment she brought him home. I venture to say that he won't take the place of her original Froggy (of which there are currently 4 in rotation since they are washed twice a week), but he has added to her flock. Let's see...how many Froggies has my funny little girl collected in her 28 months? Well, there's Regular Froggy (this is what she calls him...also known as Gai Kai, her originally Froggy love). Then there's his invisible backups of which she knows nothing about. There's Baby Froggy (who's small), Easter Froggy (that came in from Aunty Carol in her Easter basket), Poo Poo Froggy (who's hands she holds when she has to go poo poo), Noni Froggy that her Grandma Noni bought her, and Pokey Dot Froggy (a gift from my Dad) who has a polka dot belly...a recent gift for Amelie which was taken over by Alia....my Dad had to buy a second one for Amelie.

I recently had Alia's very first parent-teacher conference at Montessori. Her teacher was very complimentary of the progress she has made since she began only a few months ago. She felt that Alia had transformed from a baby to a little girl before her eyes. Her social skills and awareness has also developed considerably...she is a good friend and sensitive to others. She has also recently began playing with other kids rather than around other kids. She's no longer on the periphery.

Alia has been very challenging for me from a discipline perspective. She can be very stubborn and it frustrates me beyond imagination at times. Sometimes I should be sending myself to time out but I tend to forget in the heat of the moment. As a parent, I am trying very hard. I guess we all are, huh? I have to remind myself that she challenges me (sometimes it seems constantly) because she is so bright and it's her job to try to manipulate her environment to her liking...but it's my job to steer her, keep her safe, and love her. But on those days? I'm doing good to get through the day.

This month, Alia has found a love of painting. Nearly every afternoon we paint together while Amelie naps. She also loves Play-Doh and recently discovered a love of Legos. In fact, a trip to Pottery Barn Kids is all it takes to take up a tough hour at the end of the day because they have a prominently displayed Lego Table right in the front of the store that captures her attention...she's even willing to share with the other kids!

So that's it in a nutshell. Alia is blowing us away all the time with what she's capable of doing, her newly found independence, and comfort of doing things "big girl self". She is transitioning before our eyes from a  toddler that was wobbly not too long ago to a little girl that loves to show off her morning fashion for the camera.