AKA The Pizzlets

Well we didn’t get off to a good start. Amelia just seems to cry and, dare I say it, whine the moment I move more than a foot away from her. That makes it almost impossible to function since toting around 22 pounds is not easy. A-ha…her high chair! Nope. She’s already realized that it’s not the same as being held.
To be sure, I’m certain her insecurity is due to her teeth which have partially cut through. No one wants to suffer alone…misery loves company.
It certainly felt like a Monday and like I was in a movie with Van Morrison’s Days Like This playing in my head as Amelia refused her breakfast and ripped off her bib, flinging crumbs everywhere. The cherry on top was her rubbing the strawberry jam on her hands through her hair! Awesome!

Her mood hadn’t much improved by lunch until I got an unexpected knock at the door. I had a package in the mail…Emily, a school friend from Japan who often stayed with us, had sent Amelia some outfits. And they were adorable! Thank you Emily…your package produced a jolly little girl running around in her new authentic Japanese summer outfit. Smiles and everything!!!

I don’t mean that as a metaphor…the kid is actually a leaf eater!  Not that we just sit there and let her eat them…but anyone that’s spent any amount of time with her will back me up, if there’s a leaf (or a part of a leaf) she’ll find it and jam it in her mouth before you can blink!  What’s that about??

Still, for bribing purposes a bite of a leaf seemed a fair compromise for a photo shoot…well that and the lens cap which is featured in many of the pics from the last couple of months!

Anyone with a child would agree that their moods can often be extreme…one minute smiling and an instant later screaming.  How stressful!  Can you imagine?!  Miss Milly had exactly that kind of weekend…wish she could tell me what was wrong.  And as annoying as it was to hear the constant drone of misery emanating from her, all I could do was have sympathy. 

If someone had said to me a couple of years ago that I would not only mind, but I would sympathize with the grizzly crying of a toddler I would have laughed…Now look at me!

Even being a misery guts, she still looked pretty to me…

Well as much as this should be just a weekend post, it’s also an early week post since we’re having a few issues with our spectacular new aircon unit (sarcasm intended).  Nothing like getting home and walking into an 85 degree home.  Wait.  Who am I complaining to?  All of the UK have been having a heatwave and I am now able to feel their pain – no air conditioning is just not good.  So, back to Fripp we went…Mum was delighted.  Or at least I like to think so. 

Yep a great weekend on Fripp…relaxing, binging on naughty foods and relaxing.  Why don’t we come out here more often??  It’s just not the same when Betty isn’t here but that is entirely on me – I don’t buy ice cream and chips and chocolate like she does.  Yes.  Adam counts the days until her next visit.  If he could find a banner for her arrival I’m pretty sure he’d be waving it.  What more could he want though…he gets to sleep as much as he wants (including falling asleep while she’s talking), eating ANYTHING (and having her defend him) and not lift a finger because, and I quote, “…the poor guy has been at work all week, let him rest”.  And how about my 24/7 job of taking care of Milly…also tiring and deserving of a rest?!?!?!  Waaaaahhhh hear me cry.  We’re all spoiled when Betty visits…how lucky we are!

And sleep he did…and so did Milly.  I often think how nice it would be to sleep while they played but then I wouldn’t have these pics and instead I would be looking at a pic of myself drooling…probably on myself!!

When we were all awake though, we took a little tour around the island.  Something to do that didn’t require getting sun burnt…I don’t need anymore sun that’s for sure.  The heat showed all over Amelia’s face and for a while all she could produce was a frown but she soon warmed up to the camera. 

By the time we got home she was showing off…I have never had so much fun getting pics.  It took no time at all.  Such a pretty little soul when she smiles.  And when she doesn’t.  What can I say…I’m biased!

The walking is coming along and she walks most places now.  She reaches up to tables and counter tops that she cannot see so we’re going to have to be careful with what we have up there.  She laughs when we say “no” but throws a careful tantrum when we say “uh-uh-uh” (means no).  When I say careful I mean that she gently lowers herself to the floor so as no to hurt herself and then starts kicking her legs and screaming…but, not one tear.  Awesome phase…hope it doesn’t stick.  But she sure does look chuffed with herself with the walking…must get a video – she looks drunk with the way she staggers.  That won’t last long at all.  And Sara will be so proud of Milly’s downward dog pose (yoga)!!

 So, we’re still Frippin’ it, at least until tomorrow and then Betty can get some space.  I think I hear her sigh of relief. 

Until the next post…

I should be trying to sleep but for some reason my mind is racing…what to do??  Some read, and usually I would but Adam’s sleeping and the light would keep him up…so to the iPod it is for a quick post.
Amelia is doing well although she’s been having far more grizzly ‘are-they-looking-in-my-direction-yet’ moments…it’s a phase. An annoying phase but one we all have to suffer through. She also laughs a lot too…it balances out.
She continues to walk, still wobbly, but progress is being made. She loves to make mess with EVERYTHING she does…examples include flicking her milk at you as an ongoing entertaining experiment, unpacking her toys one by one until they cover the floor and, my personal favourite, rubbing her food all over her chair, her clothes and her hair! Words can’t describe how much I can’t wait for her to be able to surpass chimps!
She’s more and more curious and there’s rarely a day that goes by where Adam and/or I wonder what she’s thinking.
We have some minor concerns that she already likes to chase boys…Archer visits her every week and she chases after him to take his paci and tries to pull up on him. She toddles towards him with her arms out but, alas, the terror in Archers eyes as he tries to become part of the furniture (in the hopes she won’t see him) tells me that he isn’t quite ready to chase the girls. Adam will be relieved (hahahaha).
In the same theme as the post title, Amelia also couldn’t sleep so she settled down to have story read to her…