Birthdays and Stuff

Girlie update:
Evie is hilarious, and still rolly. She is not crawling yet, but she rolls everywhere! All around the room. She discovered the magazines under the coffee table and enjoys pulling them down. She even rolls toward me to try to get to me when I am far from her. She's still a mama's girl, though she and her daddy have been getting reacquainted these past few weeks he has been on break. Her new favorite thing is to shake her head "no." Though she seems to do it for fun most of the time, there are moments when she does use this new skill at the appropriate times. She LOVES her big sister. Amelia has taught her how to scream. Which is fun. They scream back and forth to each other and then they both crack up laughing. Evie gets so excited...she gets her little hands and feet turning and turning and her pretty eyes get huge when Amelia comes near her and then Amelia proceeds with taunting her and making fun noises 2 cm away from her face. They love to be close to each other..to play or to snuggle. Evie grabs Amelia's hair and tries to pull her close so she can eat her nose.
She is eating solids...which she hated at first. But we are working on it and she's learned to enjoy quite a few things. I continue to introduce her to new foods regularly. So far she's had cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, beans, pears, prunes, apples, and peas. Loves the fruit of course.
She continues to dodge taking real naps during the day. True cat-napper. My goal has been to change this sleep behavior before school starts. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone were on some sort of schedule??? That would be a dream. Getting her to fall asleep on her own continues to be a challenge. She is literally exactly like her big sister was at this age. Which tells me their behaviors in the sleep arena must have more to do with me, and the patterns I've helped established, than I thought. It's difficult to listen to my babies scream. I just hate it. Period. But I've been working it out and she seems to be getting the idea...the idea that going to sleep in one's own crib when one is so extremely exhausted, is not actually torture.
She gets cuter everyday. And more fun. And it's all going way too fast..

Speaking of...Amelia turned 4 a week and a half ago. So exciting and so unbelievable. We have been so busy with birthdays and then a family trip Up North, I have not had the time to post recently about all of the exciting things going on. Shame on me, as this blog does serve as a bit of a baby book/journal. But as I look back and read this someday, i'll be reminded about how crazy exhausted I was at the end of each day...because let's face it, having kids is exhausting...only in the best way that a person can be exhausted of course.
And you know what else is exhausting but totally fun? Birthdays. Amelia had 4 celebrations, 4 cakes and lots of gifts from friends and family. She got a guitar this year. She told Ford the night she opened it..."Dad, I have a great idea...instead of getting up tomorrow and watching kid shows, let's have a jam session." He couldn't have been happier.
Sure enough, first thing the next morning she ran to his side of the bed, tapped him firmly and whispered loudly..."Dad! It's time to jam!" :)


And now, another Amelia story:

Last night while putting Amelia to bed, she asked if she could rock with me. We don't do this very often anymore, for a few reasons...I do miss it, and I was happy to oblige. As we were rocking, we were discussing the events of the day, namely her 4 year well visit at the pediatrician's office. She was not too thrilled with being at the doctor's office, (at all).

Me: Just think Amelia, you won't have to go back to the doctor for a check up for a whole year...you'll be five! You'll be so big then.
Amelia: Yes, so big you won't even be able to hold me.
Me: Oh yes I will! What you have to understand is no matter how big you get, you'll always be my baby...so I will always hold you.
Amelia: Even when I'm 19???
Me: Of course.
Amelia: Even when I'm YOUR age?
Me: Even when you're my age, I'll still hold you.
Amelia: Welllll...how about when I'm your age, I'll hold YOU.
Me: Aw, you would hold ME?
Amelia: Welll, actually...how about we just hold each other?

Me fighting back tears: "I'd like that."