A few weeks ago my mom brought over a stuffed bear wearing a sweatsuit. The bear, which has articulating arms, legs and head, was mine when I was young. When he arrived he was wearing a sweatsuit that originally belonged to a cabbage patch doll. In the past week or so, Amelia has taken to carrying this bear around with her, dressing and undressing him (or trying to), and saying “beeaar” whenever she is hugging him to her chest.
This afternoon when I went in to get Amelia from her nap, she was sitting in the crib surrounded by diapers. It’s not the first time that she’s figured out how to pull the diaper bag over the side of the crib and empty it of diapers. (And for the second day in a row, she has also managed to unzip herself entirely from her sleep sack). I walked in the room and she said “dia-per” as she handed me a diaper. Once I had put them all away but one, she asked to be taken out of the crib. She then picked up the bear, picked up a diaper and looked at me and said “beeaar, dia-per.” So we took off the bear’s sweatsuit and gave him a diaper to wear. She was so pleased that someone ELSE had to wear a diaper too.
Amelia has taken to calling herself “mimi,” I guess because saying “Amelia” is too tough for a 16-month old. She’ll point to herself and say “mimi” when asked what her name is, or when she is trying to say that she wants to do something on her own. This week for the first time at Petit Gym she said her own name when the teacher went around the circle and asked all the kids what their names were. She was so proud to be able to say it.
Mimi is a pretty cute nickname. We’ll see if it sticks.