15 months

At 15 months old, Amelia:

• is expanding her vocabulary all the time. She will pretty much try to repeat whatever we ask her to, when she is in the mood, of course. She has several words that she says on her own, with the newest being "thank-you." She loves to bring something to me and I'll say thank you, then she'll take it to Cliff, and back and forth.
• loves to "cook." I've mentioned this before, but she isn't as into toys as much as getting a bowl and a wooden spoon, or a bowl and an ink pen, or any stick-like tool to stir with. She likes to stir something up and then bring it to me or Cliff to "taste." It's quite cute, but I have to say she must have gotten it from the Food Network because my own stirring in the kitchen has been minimal since she was born.
• loves to put things in containers and take them out. Katie says this is developmental, so I guess that's a good thing. (She teaches elementary special-ed.) For example, the other night I gave her a Crystal Light container to play with- you know, the cyllinder thing. She occupied herself for like 30 minutes putting stuff in that container, putting the lid on and shaking it up. Seriously, why do we buy this child any toys?
• is impossible to take to restaurants now. Katie, is this developmental too, or just bratty? Either way, she refuses to sit in her high chair and makes a huge embarassing scene pretty much every time we try to go out. It's sad for Cliff and me since going out to eat used to be our main form of weekend entertainment, which is sad in itself. We are doing a lot more sandwiches, frozen pizzas and take-out these days. Maybe one day we'll be able to show our faces in a restaurant again.
• gives her daddy and me the biggest, sloppiest kisses of all time and we could not love it any more. Sometimes she tries to bite my cheek and she dies out laughing when I say ouch. We do this routine about two or three nights a week while trying to calm down for bedtime.
• has become a tall, skinny girl! She has hit a height growth spurt lately, and her fat little baby legs have gotten longer and leaner. I would be sad about that, but she still has her pinchable cheeks. As long as we have those and that baby face for a while longer, I am ok. When they weighed her at her check-up last week she was 22 pounds, which is a pound less than at her one-year check-up. This is partly due to her being sick and not eating much and partly because it was a different scale than they usually weigh her on. I'm eager to see what she weighs at her 15-month appointment this week.

And I saved the very best thing for last....

We finally have enough hair for a pony tail! Oh how long I have waited for this day! I am not very good at putting her hair up, but her sweet teacher, Ms. Margaret puts it up every day and Mimi looks like this when I pick her up at school:

 Love it!