Sitting Pretty

It's pictures like this that generally fool and mislead Amelie's adoring public. She's hog-wild most of the time.

Drums!

Sometimes Dada plays the drums when Amelie is not home ... and sometimes Amelie plays the drums when Dada is not home :)

So Stylish

Hoppy Easter!

I was afraid at first that it was going to be an UNhappy Easter. I think Amelie was just a little tired and confused about the whole hoopla, and frowned in all of the pictures I tried to get of her opening her basket from Grandma and Grandpa. She caught on pretty quickly, though, and even wanted to sleep with her plush bunny last night and at nap today.

Okay! An egg hunt? That's more like it!

Found one!

I like the way Ellie is clutching her eggs to her chest instead of putting them in the basket. (And a better photographer would have gotten Luke in the frame!)

The race is on!

Examining the loot:

There was more fun to be had at Grandma & Grandpa's. Swinging:

Barb & Ellie with bubbles:

Amelie on the porch, figuring it out:

Grandpa's enjoying blowing bubbles, too:

Traipsing around the pond with Grandma:

Check this out!

Happy Easter, all!

Easter Decals

Great-Grandma Pat sent some Easter decals with her big basket of goodies. I stuck them up on the front door first, since Amelie likes to look outside all day long. I moved them to our (more scenic!) back sliding-glass door, though, a little while after I took the pictures.

Doesn't she just look too cool for school in this one?

Amelie derives great joy from putting the decals on and then peeling them off (mostly the peeling them off part, though)

Kitty Cat

Amelie is in love/obsessed with Germ. This picture would be a lot sweeter if we didn't know she was shouting "Hi, Kitty!" over and over. If I weren't certain that she and the new baby would terrorize it, I'd get her a kitten :)

This would be a really cute picture

If Amelie would just sit still.

What's back behind here?

What? You want me to look at the camera?

That's enough of that!

Notes: These pictures were also taken at the library (well, in the parking lot) and with Nana Jana's camera (ours was in the shop for a few weeks, but it was finally returned)

Library Time

There was no story time this week because it was Spring Break. Amelie and I hung out at the library a few days, though.

She found a turned-off computer and pretended to surf the card catalogue.

We even read some books.

Hmmm. This shelf looks especially interesting.

The other big attraction at the library is the play kitchen. I didn't take any pictures over there because it's always swarming with toddlers and I did't want any of the other moms to think I was strange.

The Zoo!

Amelie took her second trip to the zoo Saturday. We had a big caravan with Aunt Barb, Uncle Luke and Cousin Ellie, along with our friends Shauna and Ben Baker and all of their kids and Ed and Amy, too.

Shauna, who babysits Amelie on Tuesday nights, and Baby Ezra, who had to wear a hat because he doesn't have very much hair:

We packed a picnic lunch. Amelie enjoyed her drumstick greatly.

We saw a tiger,

A baby camel with its mother,

Lemurs, and tons of other animals.

Amelie loved the monkeys most of all. She jumped up and down with excitement, and probably would have stayed in the small primate house the whole time and been happy.

She liked the birds a whole lot, too. At every exhibit, she gleefully yelled out "Birds!"

Thankfully, the weather wasn't too hot.

Amelie was content to be pushed in the stroller most of the day.

But she did want to get down and run around some.

The major plus was that no one got sunburned!

Fibbing

I think Amelie told her first lie today. (My great-aunt Helen would call it a "story.")

Sam was putting her in her carseat today and she simply did not want to get in the car and be strapped in. We'd been at the zoo the whole afternoon, and it was time to go home, but Amelie didn't see it that way. When he buckled her in, she said "Ow, ow, ow," when, in fact, there was no owie.

Big News!

Amelie would like to announce some big news to her loyal blog readers!

"See my new shirt?"

When I asked if she wanted a baby brother or a baby sister, at first she said "baby sister" and then she said "baby brother" and finally she said "no!"

I had a strong feeling with Amelie that I was going to have a girl, but I haven't had one with this bean just yet.

Little Brother/Sister is due to arrive September 23rd :)

Sunny Day

Well, maybe not quite THAT sunny, but Amelie did want to wear her hat.

She also wanted to look out the fence into the front yard.

Thanks a million to Aunt Holly for babysitting and taking pictures!

Amelie's Table

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Pat got Amelie this lovely table for Christmas, and I've been horribly remiss in not uploading any pictures, especially since Amelie uses the table every single day.

She sits at it to eat her snack and to color. Oh, and she's also figured out that she can scoot that little chair around and use it to climb up on things! What a stinker!
This picture is just a little blurry -- hopefully I'll get some more up soon. (The flash is being all wonky on the camera and I need to go get it fixed.)

Dancing

Amelie showing off some of her cool moves.

She's not dancing so much here as she is just bopping around her nursery, but I'm afraid the dancing phase is tapering off and I never managed to get any decent video.

Play Place

Dada was feeling sick the other day, so Amelie and I got out of his hair and went to McDonald's for supper and to play at the play place. It was our second trip ever to Micky D's and she did about a million times better with the food - she ate 1.5 chicken McNuggets, 1/2 an apple slice, and most of the teeny pack of fries they put in the Happy Meal now. (Last time, I think she ate 1/2 a chicken nugget and 1 apple slice.) Anyway, we ate again when we got home.

She did enjoy the play place, however.

Potty Time

Are you seriously putting this picture on the internet? Why yes, yes, I am. Isn't she just as cute as a button? And big? And smart?

I thought it was about time for a Potty Training update. So, UPDATE: Amelie's got us all pretty well trained! She goes days and days at a time with no accidents at all, and pretty much 100% of the time poops in the potty, which is awesome. We're down to just one or two diapers per day (overnight, and sometimes for nap). The next step is waiting a little better on her to ask to go, since right now, we're just taking her to the bathroom at likely times. She's doing great :)