Amelia has been getting her molars over the past week. She has had the same symptoms as when she was getting her front teeth (stuffed nose, copious snot during the day, a tougher time napping and a loss of appetite). This time around she also got red cheeks, poor thing. But overall she remained her happy self and only needed the occasional extra cuddle or hug. Not sure how many teeth she is getting because she won’t really let me look in her mouth. But, it is a safe bet that at least one is coming on each side (on the top) as I’ve managed to catch a glimpse of them.
She’s down to one nap a day that takes place usually between about 1-3:30 pm. It is generally about an hour and a half, but can be longer depending on how much energy she expends in the morning. Amelia is also constantly chatting to herself. It’s hilarious to hear her at night after we put her to bed. She practices saying her words to herself as a lullaby of sorts. She has so many new words it is hard to keep track. Today, for example, she had some of my chicken pita and when I asked her if she liked the tzatziki she said “ziki” right back at me. Over and over and over.
Amelia loves saying “no.” But she is also good at saying “yes” if she actually wants something. Most of the time she doesn’t say “no” unless she really means it, although she does test her boundaries once in a while. And she is very good at saying “please” and “thank you” without prompting.
At naptime she prefers having a book in her crib so she can read herself to sleep. These days the go-to book is Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. She prefers it almost every other. And she always says “Babu” when we get to the page with the cows, because she knows my Dad has cows in Vermont. In other animal-related news, if you ask her who lives with Uncle Dan, she will say “wwwooodeee” for “Rudy,” my brother’s dog.
Meanwhile, at the grocery store this morning I saw a young woman with a two-year old (in the cart) and a newborn (in a sling), and a huge cart filled with groceries. I was hoping she was going to have them delivered, but as I was leaving I saw her pushing the cart out to her car. I can’t really believe that’s going to be me in a couple of months. Of course I try my best not to take Amelia shopping unless it’s just to the local fruit/veg store or bakery. And I’m very lucky that Ian actually likes doing groceries (whereas I merely tolerate it). I hope she had someone to help her haul them into the house and put them away!
Using random.org’s random generator, the book giveaway winner is commenter #5: Bre, who said:
Because there are too many textbooks and not enough “literature for leisure” type books on my bookshelf.
BTW I loved going to the library growing up. Hope you girls have fun! xo
Congrats, Bre! Assuming you haven’t read Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, it’ll be in the mail to you shortly.
As for the rest of you who commented, thanks for playing along. This has inspired me to start a monthly book giveaway. I supposed I’ll have to find a love-themed book to give away this month. Stay tuned!
As I mentioned recently, in honour of Canada’s Family Literacy Day (last Wednesday) I am giving away a book. Go to last week’s post and comment if you want a chance to win it. I’ll be choosing someone at random on Friday.
I also aim to have reviews of some recent books sent by Penguin posted shortly.
Amelia is at the “mama, mama, mama” stage. My brother reminded me of a Family Guy episode (below) that highlights the situation. But first here’s a little snippet of Amelia doing her version of “mama, mama, mama.” She’s really sweet about it, usually, and it mostly manifests in the car when she doesn’t want to be sitting down any longer so she says “mama, mama, mama, peees, up.”
Since I recently blogged about buying the Quinny Zapp for our trip, I thought I’d do a quick update on how well it fared. Overall, we love the Quinny. It rolls smoothly in every direction, it turns easily and is maneuverable with one hand. It it surprisingly compact when folded and Amelia seemed to find it very comfortable. Although there is little storage under the seat, it is easy to throw a bag over the handles and carry whatever you might need in there instead. Once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy to fold and unfold (although you can’t do it one-handed). The sunshade isn’t huge but does a decent job if you are facing away from the sun. The lock/unlock feature is also handy and easy to do with your foot.
It doesn’t recline, as I mentioned earlier, but Amelia had no trouble falling asleep in it when she was tired. We saw many families with umbrella strollers of all shapes and sizes on our trip but none looked as comfortable as the Zapp. I am going to wager a guess that the manufacturer expects you to carry around the travel bag wherever you go because there is no convenient handle to hold once the stroller is folded up. It weighs about 18 pounds and I could easily carry it in one hand for short distances but it did get a little awkward if I had to carry for too long.
Going back to the Peg Perego Pliko P3 upon our return makes me realise just how easy the Zapp is to push. The Pliko P3 feels unwieldy, stiff and heavy in comparison. Or maybe it’s just because carrying it up and down our front steps is getting more challenging the further along I get in this pregnancy!
Today is Family Literacy Day in Canada. I, for one, didn’t know this “holiday” existed until I read it on meli-mello’s blog (she’s having some giveaways so you should head over to visit). In celebration, Amelia and I are going to go get a library card at our local branch this afternoon.
I am also going to make a donation to an organization called Project Night Night that gives homeless kids staying in a shelter a stuffed animal, a blanket and a book for free (read about it on coolmompicks).
Furthermore, I went to the bookstore this morning and purchased several of my favourite titles. Do you need a new book? If so, tell me why in the comments. I’ll pick a winner at random and you’ll get a book in the mail!
In a rather spur-of-the-moment decision, a few weeks ago we decided to take a vacation and we booked a trip to Florida. We randomly selected the South Seas Resort on Captiva Island, in part because there was a direct flight from Montreal to Fort Myers (35 miles away). Amelia had a blast on her first flight. We ended up buying her a seat and brought along the car seat, which worked out well. It was much easier to keep her entertained when she had her own seat. The woman seated ahead of us on the flight down had three kids (9 years, 2 years and 6 months) and her two-year old was very fidgety throughout the flight. She asked us if we did anything special to be able to bring the car seat on board and I said no, so I noticed that on the way back she brought the seat for her two-year old who was much less fussy.
Amelia did great on the afternoon flight there. Although we weren’t allowed to bring any carry-on bags they did let us bring a diaper bag so I stuffed it as full as possible with toys and books. We also brought the stroller as “gate check” baggage although we probably could have managed the airports just fine without it. We were worried about the supposed delays because of heightened security but it was quite quick in the end.
Captiva is beautiful. The resort/hotel was great because it was somewhat secluded. We had a two-bedroom “beach-side” villa, which essentially meant a condo with a cleaning service. Each section of the resort had its own pool, so there was a small one about 25 metres from our deck. The ocean was another 25 or so metres down the boardwalk. It was perfect because both the beach and the pool were empty the whole week. And we had great weather (for Florida in January).
On the one rainy morning, we drove into Naples and went to the Naples Zoo/Botanical Gardens. It was the ideal zoo for Amelia. She walked around the whole thing by herself. They had bears and lions and tigers and zebras and monkeys and a couple of other more exotic fare. Because the zoo is situated in a botanical garden, it seemed slightly less off-putting than a zoo would normally be (to me, at least). They also had a couple of playgrounds situated at intervals on the main path and Amelia took full advantage of them.
The resort had a trolley system set up so you could get from one section to the other without having to drive your car. We visited the more “touristy” section a couple of times where they had the golf course and several bigger swimming pools, a harbour, a nature center and other family/kid-friendly activities. But, we mostly spent time on the beach, digging sand castles, watching the birds, collecting shells and playing in the waves.
I’m going to post the photos to Picasa since we have so many of them. Link to follow.
