16 months

Thanks to a 28-day February, Amelia didn't have a 16-month birthday, but for memory's sake I wanted to go ahead and jot down a few things she's up to this month. These days, Amelia:

• finally has enough hair for real pigtails! See post below for photos.


• loves to write with a pen. She is actually obsessed with pens a little bit, probably because I don't really allow her to have them. If she sees one of us writing with a pen, she throws a fit wanting it. She will settle for a crayon, but she much prefers a more permanent way to showcase her art.


• is still talking more each month. This month, she's learned several new words, and I've noticed she seems more able to comprehend their meaning. For example, she will walk to the kitchen and point to the cabinet where we keep her snacks and say "Eat!" She also loves to pick up a camera and say "Cheese!" She also knows we watch some of Daddy's games on the computer, so if there's a game on, even if Cliff isn't on the screen she will point and say "Daddy."


• loves to look at framed photos and point out the people she knows in them. She can point to Mama, Daddy, Grammy, Papa, Aunt Mare and Aunt Katie. Chris, she also loves looking at a pic of you and Aunt Kathryn, but I haven't gotten her to say your name yet. Maybe this weekend! I need to get more photos of Papaw Bob and the great grandparents to work on next.


• has become way more social than she ever was before. In the past, she might be a little snobby to strangers in public, but now she wants to wave and say "Hey" until someone acknowledges her.


• blows her nose when I try to wipe it. The other day she picked up a clean dress from a basket of clothes I was folding and blew her nose on it! Unfortunately, the poor child has seen a lot of nose blowing in her lifetime from her father and me. I'm afraid she may have picked up our allergies too, poor thing.


• is getting a little better at restaurants, and is starting to eat better too. She loves to eat fish sticks and she actually chowed down on some of Cliff's steak the other night. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but the doc says she is slightly anemic, so I am glad to see her eat a little more meat. Pasta and bread and cookies are still her favorite foods but she's getting better. We were able to go to a buffet after church Sunday, and although we got in and out and choked down our food in about 30 minutes, she was actually pretty good so maybe there is hope for us to get to go out more in the near future.


• has almost outgrown all her 12 month pants, but isn't quite big enough for 18 months yet. I'm busy stockpiling her spring wardrobe and I'm buying mostly 18 months and size 4 or 5 shoes. Our girl is growing!


• can be a little meanie when she wants to be. Ugh, I do not like mentioning this, but I want to preserve our memories, and that includes good and bad. Amelia for some reason, has decided she is mad at Cliff's precious grandfather, Fred. You may remember seeing photos of Papaw Fred and Mimi that I've posted. He loves her so much and is so sweet to her, but she is just plain rude to him! We have tried all kinds of tactics to get her to be sweet to him, including bribery, but they are not working. Does anyone have any advice for us on this? It hurts his feelings when she won't let him hold her and it makes me so sad. Y'all, she wouldn't even let him pull her in her wagon!


• can also be a bully. Yes, our sweet, precious angel is a bully. Her teachers at school and church tell us how sweet she is and how well she plays with others, but I have seen the bullying with my own eyes when Mimi is playing with her friend, Pailyn. I asked Ms. Margaret if she ever does this at school and she said no, but Amelia is sometimes bullied by others so she is just doing what is done to her. I suppose this is just par for the course, but I will not stand for her pushing smaller kids around and not sharing toys! Sorry, Pay! We are going to keep working on being sweet.

Other than a few not-so-sweet traits we are working on, Amelia is becoming such a sweet, funny little person. We are having so much fun watching her grow into a walking, talking, child with a personality. Each new stage is more fun than the last!