Month Seventeen

Dear Amelia,

Today you are seventeen months old – almost a year and a half! You are incredibly independent and smart, and you’re very friendly. You still smile and wave at just about everyone we meet! You are much more confident at walking now, and you reach for my hand less and less. It makes me sad to think that you are slowly growing out of your need for me, but I am also that much more grateful when you do reach for me.

You are such a funny girl. When I ask if you need a new diaper you grab my hand and walk me back to your room. Once we get there you wrench your hand out of my grasp and run back down the hallway while giggling, pausing just long enough to make sure I’m chasing after you! You really like hiding behind closed doors – I’ve had to tape the latches down on the bedroom doors so that you don’t get stuck. Your favorite TV show (not that you get to watch a lot of TV) is Curious George. Whenever you hear the theme song you stop whatever you’re going and say “Ba-ba?” and rush to the TV so that you can dance along with the music. Because of Curious George, you absolutely love your footed monkey pajamas, and you will get them out of the hamper (dirty OR clean) and drag them all over the house.

Amelia, you are getting much better at expressing yourself, even though you aren’t saying many words. One day this month we asked you if you were sleepy, and you put your hand to your ear and tilted your head towards your shoulder, as if you were using your hand as a pillow. We never taught you that – you figured it out all by yourself! You have also started giving great big slobbery kisses right on the mouth – I guess you’ve seen me and Daddy kiss, and you decided to copy us. It is absolutely  adorable, and we can tell that you are very proud of yourself for figuring it out! A few weeks ago Daddy was hugging you and saying good night – he said “I love you, Amelia” and you said “ah oo” back to him. Even though you haven’t said it more than once (so far), you know how to say I love you, and you said it to Daddy first. You definitely have him wrapped around your little finger!

In some ways you are turning into a typical toddler. You have become very opinionated about meals, and you seem to be getting picky about your food. You do funny things like lick all of the peanut butter off of your bread and then tear the bread up into tiny pieces to feed to Shelby. The next day I’ll give you something different (like a veggie pancake) and you throw a fit because I didn’t give you a peanut butter sandwich! One trick that I have found is that you eat a bigger variety of things if you have a dipping sauce. You like dipping food in yogurt, applesauce, peanut butter, hummus or a yummy homemade ranch flavored dip. When I give you soup or stew for supper, I give you a piece of bread to dip in it. Since it’s been harder and harder to get healthy food into your belly, you’ve been getting a smoothie every day! I just toss some milk, a banana, some frozen berries and a handful of spinach leaves into the blender and you will guzzle it down in under three minutes. Another of your favorites (and one of mine as well) is orange juice, banana and frozen mango pieces. Yum! Whenever you see me get the blender ready, you say “woooooooo” in imitation of the noise it makes.

You are such a big helper, and you are always elated when I ask you to help me with something. You could be throwing the biggest fit of your life and if I asked you to help me carry the laundry hamper to the bedroom you would turn into the happiest girl in the world. I can tell that you like having a job to do – some days you go into the corner where we keep the vacuum, point to it and say “wooooooo” (yes, the vacuum makes the same sound as the blender). You’re telling me that you are ready to sweep the floors! I get the vacuum and you get your Swiffer and we get to work.

Amelia, I hope I’m doing a good job raising you. At times it is so overwhelming to think that Daddy and I are responsible for teaching you everything you need to know! I know I could get easily bogged down thinking of all of the things that I need to do with you and for you, but I have decided to let you be my guide. When you want to sweep the floors, we sweep and I tell you what we are doing and why we are doing it. The same goes for when we take a walk. If you want to stop and explore the grass and the flowers, we do just that. If every day you want to pick up a rock at the same point in our walk and carry it all the way home, we’ll do that, and make a pile next to the front door. I want to do all I can to help you grow into the wonderful person you are meant to be.

Love, Mama