in which she grows manners

manners are a feature these days, with 'coo me' and 'ank oo' being quite popular. 'coo me' comes in rather handy when barging ones shoulder into the ample buttocks of fellow shoppers as one wants to get past, and 'ank oo' has a number of weird uses of its own. namely, when i put grocery items in the trolley (in which amelia is STANDING, DRIVING it while andrew pushes- no sitting in trollies for this dollie no sirree); i find that to be thanked for placing a bag of onions or a packet of coffee in said trolley by a little voice saying 'OH, ank oo mummy!" - as if i had just given her a huge bag of sweets - is bizarre but sweet.

pwease is still in regular use, as is ARSE (ask), when she realllly wants something. 'ohh padden me' comes after a burp (and etc), although the and etcs are also often followed by a loud and raucous rollocking 'oooh, 'melia's farty bottom, hahahahhhaaa' and 's'mee farty mumma' - tact and discretion are the next lessons on the agenda.

we have taken to having 'tea parties' with her little purple with white spotted teaset, and drink pumpkin soup from the teeny cups, after pouring it ever so correctly from the teeny teapot, and eat miniature peanut butter sandwiches from the equally teeny plates. amelia even manages the sticky out pinky finger, without any prompting from me - very genteel - although we are still negotiating the meaning of the words 'careful' and 'gentle' when placing the porcelain crockery back on the table. i haven't managed yet to convey the message that bashing the stuff down full force while saying the words careful and gentle, does not actually equate to the actual qualities themselves . . . perhaps they will take root when tact and discretion are firmly under her belt.