Amelia Update

Amelia is 18 months old now, my official favorite age in the baby/toddler category. She gets that very purposeful, busy look on her face as she gets into things or plays with her toys. I love it. She is only just now really trying to walk every day, and I expect her to be walking around pretty regularly in a week or so. Although I can't wait to see how cute she is marching around in that little body, I have also really appreciated the slower pace she provided with crawling and walking so late.

I recently took her to have her allergies tested, and found out that she has quite a few food sensitivities and allergies. We're still in the elimination phase, then in a few weeks we'll see which foods really give her a lot of trouble as we introduce them. The hardest ones are dairy -- even raw milk, cultured milk or goat milk!! We will save a considerable amount on raw milk from here on out-- eggs, tomatoes and corn. All of these include derivatives as well, so corn is tough to avoid. There are some others as well, but ones we don't eat much of anyway-- soy, banana, cantalope.... The good news is that she doesn't have an allergy to wheat, which was what I was most afraid of, and I also know now that she doesn't have allergies to common things like nuts, pollen, bees, etc. Since she has been off of the offending foods, she WON'T STOP EATING! Literally! She is constantly asking for food, and I need to have something to giver her at all times. This has been pretty tricky, and now that dairy is out, it's even harder. I would like her to at least give me a half hour break between snacks! I am thinking she'll probably have a big growth spurt soon...

Sleep has been MUCH BETTER lately. Many nights, she just wakes up once after we've gone to bed. Some nights, she sleeps for 6-8 hours at a stretch, occasionally more! It is strange to actually getting normal amounts of sleep now, although I have quite a bit of catching up to do. I am so thankful!

Amelia really has been enjoying her cousins. We have three different families of cousins relatively close by, and they all love her. She knows it, and it's fun to see her get more excited about seeing them and playing as the months go by.


What else? The baby obsession continues, but she is her own favorite baby, and is constantly asking me to show her the "loodaloo" movie from the last update. She has added the word "pretty" to her vocabulary, and uses it very accurately to describe jewelry, chandeliers and other sparkly things-- I always feel proud when I agree with her esthetic tastes.

She is no longer the "perfect child" in public, and I have had some pretty mortified moments lately, but that's OK. What really amazes me is not her behavior, but all those people who stare unabashedly! Oh, well. All in all, we think she is such a sweetheart, and honestly enjoy her more and more as she grows.


Amelia self-medicating her post holiday blues...