As mentioned in my last post, things here are busy, but my little Amelie does her best to assert herself and keep my focus. She is still my baby. She still loves to cuddle on my lap before bed every night. She has a favorite bear that makes her shriek every time she sees him. I recently bought a couple of identical back-ups because we learned this is imperative when Original Froggy began showing his age and busted a few seems.
Amelie is incredibly bright and social. She can read books hour after hour. She refuses to be fed anything and happily uses a spoon and a fork with very little assistance. Sometimes she'll allow help with extra slippery food like ripe mangos, but basically, she wants to feed herself and she wants to do it just like her sister...no fingers. Amelie loves greeting people on the street. She waves and smiles and does little circles to get attention. She is a lovely little human being!
Amelie has lost her hero-worship for her sister to some degree. After a year of marveling at Alia's superiority, and taking Alia's rejection, she seems to basically be over it. Sure, she's interested in what Alia's up to, but for the most part, she's got her own stuff to do. And now, instead of dying for Alia's love and mutual respect, Amelie greets Alia with a strong "NO!" every time she sees her. Perhaps her independence could use some tempering. Amelie's independence is really amazing...she jumps right into the middle of things that she's interested in....many times ahead of her sister who contemplates from the sidelines.
Amelie has suffered through more than her share of illnesses this winter. Unfortunately her sister brings every little germ home from Montessori and Amelie is right there swapping slobbery items and catching every last bug. So in addition to new molars keeping her up, she's also suffering from cold after cold. Let's just hope that this means she'll have a better immune system when she starts preschool!
Amelie still loves Elmo. She can say roughly 15 words...Mama, Dada, Lala (her name for Alia), Elmo, walk, sock, shoe, No, hat, hot, cheese, shirt, bow wow, wow, and a few others that are escaping me right now. She also signs like a champ. She basically signs every sign on Baby Signing Time. She's very communicative.
