Steak N Shake

The people at the table across from us got a big kick out of Amelie in her hat. Plus, the kids' activity mat came with stickers.

Up all night

You know how you're not supposed to play or turn the lights on or anything when they get up in the middle of the night and want to party? Apparently 20 minutes is all I can take of crying-in-arms when being put down on the floor will fix it.

Playing with Kyle, the red-headed doll.

And now Sister's up, too. And James is crawling right over a pair of (kid-safe, all-plastic) scissors.

They did both go back to bed eventually.

Full disclosure: I get home from work about 11:15pm two nights a week, and it takes me a bit to wind down, plus James usually wakes up to nurse pretty shortly after I walk in the door. Generally, he drifts right back to sleep and that's a good cue for me to get off the computer and come to bed, too, but every once in a while he's up for longer and that can sometimes wake up Amelie, too.

New With James this Month

In the month of August, James has started

• clapping
• really crawling (video to come)
• pulling up
• stacking 2 blocks
• talking ("dog" and also possibly "go")
• getting teeth

Maybe I should wait the remaining 3 days to post this! 

Pink Paci

This is what happens when you have an older sister. James pulls it off pretty well, I think :)

Amelie Says

When I told Amelie that Grandma Mary was coming over, she said, "Oh! I like Grandma Mary!"

Amelie wanted me to trade her chairs. She asked in a demanding way, but I didn't mind switching, so I told her to ask again nicely. This is what she said: "Give me the chair or you have to go in time out." Oh my.

She was cooking in the play kitchen at her grandparents, and wanted to know what we wanted on our toast. Grandma Mary asked for octopus. Amelie paused, and said quite matter-of-factly, "Oh, no. I don't think I have any octopus." 

We were all in the living room and Amelie asked to eat some ice cream. I started to say something about 'after dinner' and she interrupted me to clarify, "I was talking to Dada."

Amelie was saying something about my helicopter. When I said that I didn't have a helicopter, she replied, "Don't worry. I'll build you one."

While both of them were sitting on the floor close together, James tried to take Amelie's milk. Amelie snatched it back and said, "It's from a COW!" 

Amelie was sitting on my lap while I scrolled through Facebook, and there were several pictures of Miley Cyrus in my newsfeed. She said, "Look! Aunt Holly!"

While playing yesterday, Amelie asked if I would protect her and James. I said, "Always," and Amelie said, "You protect me and I'll protect James."

While playing today, Amelie came out wrapped in a towel. She asked, "What do I look like?" I said, "I don't know, what do you look like?" and she came back with, "A baby avocado!" (I think she might have meant a baby burrito, since that's what I say about James in the swaddle, but who knows? The towel was green.)

So far she's saying she wants to be a crocodile for Halloween. I'm not making any costumes until closer to the date, though. She just asked me, "Can we have Halloween now?"

At the park, two slightly older boys (one was 5) were racing toy cars down the curvy slide. I am generally against bringing toys from home to public play areas, but in all fairness, it seemed like an awesome game. Amelie really, really wanted to play with them, but it was pretty obvious that they didn't want to play with her. "Move." "You're in our way." This wasn't the first time that she's made overtures to play with a kid who hasn't been too interested (usually because of a big age difference or general shyness), but it's the first time it's felt mean to me. She came to sit with me and James on the bench after several minutes and we watched the cars racing down. I was kind of heartbroken, but she shrugged it off.

Throwing a Ball

Hey! I almost forgot this one! I took a video of James throwing a ball with Papaw and Uncle Joe while he was down.

Here's a link to Amelie doing pretty much the same thing, about a month older than James is here -- I was mistaken in the video. . 

Painting

Some pictures of Amelie painting on the deck.

Somehow, painting her own hand is always much more interesting.

Handprints.

She looks pretty darn serious.

Ta-da!

Thanks again to Grandma Mary for the watercolors and to Grandma Pat for the smock!

Watermelon

We have eaten quite a lot of watermelon this summer.

James says, "You guys, you gotta try this."

YUM

Uncle Joe Visits

Uncle Joe came to visit back at the beginning of the month. Here are James and Grandma Mary:

Luke and Sam and Papaw took the girls out on the boat. Shroeder is in the background looking for wildlife.

It looks like Cousin Ellie decided to row.

Porch swinging

Funny faces on these two.

And tire swinging.

Thanks, Uncle Luke, for pushing!

Papaw is pretty proud of his tire-swing construction. Thanks, Papaw!

Wheee!

Maybe James and Benny can use the swing next summer.

Aunt Barb and Sam took down a pole for a bat house.

Somebody looks a little grumpy.

I wonder what they're talking about.

We hope you had a good trip, Uncle Joe!

Bathtime

I took a video of James babbling in his bath (at least it's not quite as long as the one I took of Amelie.)

Even if there are more still photos: