this bunny belongs to . . .

amelia LOVES, as most two year olds do, being read to . . . and is at that gorgeous stage where she knows all the words to the favorite books, and will finish phrases and sentences, usually shouting these out with her usual irrepressible vigour.

the books de semaine are '7 little postmen' - a little golden book, and 'this rabbit belong to emily brown' - the said rabbit's name being stanley.

following the pattern of ALL bad parents who laugh at their children while maintaining straight face s(including our own, evil reprobates that they are, laughing at us like that, as if we don't know!!!), we find it hard to contain ourselves when we reach the part in the book where emily brown, determined to keep her rabbit out of the clutches of the rotten queen gloriana, who wants a REAL toy of her own, and has decided THAT rabbit is the one, says very VERY firmly: "his name is not bunnywunny, it's STANLEY," but amelia BELLOWS: "his name not bunny wabbit, it's STAN-WEEEEEEE . . ."

i

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.

in which amelia learns braille and takes to painting nudes

to be fair, she has taken to drawing IN THE NUDE . . . because we bought her a flash little easel that came with a whiteboard and a chalkboard (two sided!), and its own set of magnetised letters and numbers. it is a favorite activity, and for some reason, it is more fun to draw au naturel, than with clothes on. the numbers and letters come in handy for slinging around the neck of the pens BEFORE she starts drawing, and dangle precariously as she does so, acting as odd little stencils. planes and heddicotters are a feature when we get involved, and all planes need wings, a tail, a rear window with amelia waving out, and a set of stairs being climbed by a man, or by people.

as for braille . . . she has taken a keen interest in the few raised moles on my face and neck for some weeks now. she has tried on many occasions to see if they come OFF, digging away at them with her sharp little fingernails, but after many pain-induced reminders from me that they are ATTACHED and that they HURT when she does so, she has reduced her activity to running her fingertips over them in a strange sort of ritualistic manner. she flicks my face over to one side so she can scope out my neck, and then up and over my face she goes. even in the dark, when i give her a cuddle before sleep she asks "where's smoles?" and up come the fluttering fingers, ever so delicately, not resting until all have been accounted for.

ODD ODD CHILD.

realisation hits . . .

i was feeding amelia a couple of days ago, and asked her one of those inane not-thought-thru questions we parents are famous for . . . "are you having NING?" (inane is really not a strong enough term is it?), and she replied, "no, it's MILK!!!" with a face full of new discovery. apparently she has believed that i produce NING, and milk comes from the fridge. she was delighted to announce, and inform her ignorant mother in the process, that there was actually MILK in them thar nings . . .

little miss more than cute

sometimes you jest feel a little bit shy is all . . .

just fooling around

what happens when you put your tights on your head because mum is on the computer . . .

these are a few of her favorite things, and more . . . .

amelia's favorite dancing man of the moment . . . she has taken to dancing in imitation of his style, including getting up on the coffee table in the living room.
second favorite
third
fourth

altho to be fair, the last two are not dancing anythings, just ones she finds hilarious. remember, you just need to click on the red type to go thru to the webpage.

updated vocab

as can be expected, the midget's vocab is increasing every day, and with it some hilarious word combos that should not be missed . . .
1. mine's wake up/amelia's wake up/my's wake up morning - we hear one of these, or a combo, coming from her room every morning
2. mine's here my room/amelia's here my house- if we don't respond to the 'wake up' announcements fast enough
3. ABC KIDS - YAAAAAAAAAY - shouted out with two raised fists pumping in the air as she runs down the passageway to watch breakfast TV
4. i tex't katie now - as she picks up phone to text - yes - katie the big sister!
5. i'ma wake up soon/i'ma still wake up - when dad wants a cuddle and she's not quite ready for such things - incidentally, he says pretty much the same thing to her when she is bouncing on his stomach trying to get him out of bed in the morning . . . . .
6. i'm hungry yet/i am eat sandwich/my's tiny teddies/mines have ice-cream/mines have peanut butter/more meat/more cheese/mines not finish yet - all used to get extra food coming her way - a relatively new development-as she has been a picky eater for a few months, now andrew struggles to keep up with her. we think she is channeling uncle alex leach, or her dad when he was 19 or so!