Happy Birthday Papa!

Last weekend it was Papa's birthday!  Papa, Nana and Amber decided to come visit!

We had to get our Ikea fix and Amelia was really starting to settle in

Papa's shoulders are lots of fun

"Papa is right here."  (and yes she was practically gouging his eyes out - what a sport)

To celebrate we went to Texas Roadhouse!  Yee-hah!

It was a busy day for all and naps were necessary

Happy Birthday!

Papa reading to Amelia

We also went to Como Zoo.  Amelia thought she was pretty hot stuff

Aunt Amber and Amelia looking at the anaconda

"I don't know Nana, why wouldn't Aunt Amber look at the huge spider?"

The sloth

Looking at the monkeys.  Amelia loves the monkeys

Yes, this is our child smushing her face up against the glass to see the monkeys just that much closer.  I would have been the responsible mommy and stop her, but there were so many people and I just couldn't get there in time.  So eh, why not document it?!

 Such amazement.....

 .....and facination

 "Look Nana!"

 Here is Daddy with the stroller

 Talk about close encounters....its a bit difficult to see with the shadows, but the gorilla walked right by Amelia and Aunt Amber.   He was huge!

 Everyone watching the seal play

 Despite the picture, the seal was quite entertaining....throwing his toy in the air and splashing around.

 A brown bear 

 Papa and Amelia.

 Looking at the African animals

Walking down after seeing the mountain lion

 Mommy and Nana taking a load off!

Group picture!

 Aunt Amber wanted some updated of her and Amelia - here are some of the best.

 I think this picture is so cute!

 Family picture!

 Amelia thought Aunt Amber's leg would be a good foot rest.

Kudos to Aunt Amber - she got Amelia to sleep!

Singing Songs With Mommy

Its been a while since I have posted a video, so I thought I would; however, I will warn you - this is definitely a family interest level.

Cutie Pie!

Life Lessons from Amelia

Tip #11

If you take such a big bite that some of the food starts to come out, no worries - just stuff it back in.  Two hands if necessary.

Tip #24

When a spoon cannot deliver food to the mouth fast enough, use a second option - the other free hand.

Tip #37

If mommy is bragging about how you do such a good job of not feeding the dogs while eating to Papa - prove her wrong approximately 15 seconds after she finishes her sentence.

Tip #45

Eating cake from the top down is an excellent way to do it.

What a Nap!

Naps for Amelia have always been.......interesting.

She is quite content in her crib and is quite bossy at the routine - turn the sound machine on, put the window shades down, turn the monitor on, turn the humidifier on - and when I say bossy I actually mean it....she points at each, grunts, and reminds me if I forget one.  She does the same when she wakes up.  She loves to show me her little projector that lights the ceiling up with butterflies.  The whole thing is quite sweet.

I came in on the scene below the other day......she somehow is able to get the drop side of the crib down, she was using her mattress as a trampoline and also managed to get out of her shirt (its around her waist) - there was even a button on the neck of the shirt!  But this girl was happy and safe in her crib - that's all I can ask for.

If you take a look towards the upper left hand of this picture you will see the black border of a picture frame, her new trick is trying to get the picture frame down or moving or something along those lines.  She sits on her very tip toes and tries to move it. When she couldn't reach it very good - she started using props to move it like her blankies and lambie.  Needless to before she knocks it down - we took it down.

In My Own Little Corner....

The other day, it got a little to quiet for comfort....so I went to investigate what kind of trouble my little love was getting into, but instead of trouble she was going for some advanced reading material....in a corner....all by herself.

Zoo Time

A couple weeks ago we took Amelia to our free zoo.  For being free - it really is a nice zoo and a great resource for us.  Amelia hasn't been there since last summer, so it was like it was the first time, which made it really fun to see her respond to the animals.

Looking at fish!  Fish is also one of her words....'fsh'

More fish!  She was amazed at how big they were!

A picture with mommy....sort of....couldn't take her eyes off the fish :)

Next it was off to see the monkeys!  To which she sometimes will do the 'oo oo oo'

She was quite nervous about the monkeys.  It took a little bit of time for her to get comfortable with them - they were pretty much as tall as she was and they moved pretty quickly.

In general - we had a lot of 'up close' encounters with the animals which was fun, but a little overwhelming for Amelia.

Amelia really liked the little monkeys and they got really close to her which she liked a lot.

Daddy and Amelia looking at the monkeys

More of the little monkeys

And one more

This was the seal pool.  Amelia liked watching them even though they mainly swam under water most of the time.  She also felt pretty special that she got to sit on the banister with daddy...maybe that's why we stayed so long....

These were the sea lions.  At first Amelia was a bit unsure, but she liked to watch them.  At one point one poked his nose right up at her.

Here is the polar bear...he is a new exhibit - but Amelia was not a fan of him at all, so we didn't stay very long.

The lighting of this is off, but I thought the silhouette was pretty cool of the tiger and right to the left of his front leg is Amelia....up close and personal!   We also saw the snow leopards, which Amelia loved!  I think it is because they looked like one of her stuffed animals.

The zebras!  Amelia loves to pick out zebras in books, so she liked looking at them.

The giraffes, Amelia and Daddy.   Amelia also liked this exhibit.

We also saw the lions during her snack.  We actually got to see them move around and go after each other a little bit.  Amelia was probably more interested in people watching during this exhibit vs looking at the lions!

I have to say lately our house has been very animal oriented....we have library books, little people animals, the dogs, of course, and Amelia has been loving it!  She is very interested in animals and can pick out the same animal in different books - even though they may not look quite the same.  It seems like this is kind of a big cognitive jump to recognize the same 'label' of something.   We will even play - find the little people animal - I will name the animal and she will find it for me; however, its not her favorite game.  So next time you see her you can ask her what an alligator does and she will show you how they 'chomp'.