*sigh*, age 2

i can't believe amelia is two. seriously. her? see how tiny she was, a while whopping 6.6 pounds, down to 5.12 after a few days.

i mean, it feels like yesterday that i lumbered my way up to the top of the playground & sat there aching from sciatic pain in my  hips & legs & back & feeling the braxton hicks for the hundredth time at just 7 months along (maybe that had something to do with hurling & dry heaving over a toilet so often?)

see, i was like get out of my belly (in a sesame street voice, of course) & my you are a cuddly thing laying at the very bottom of this uterus (in a loving mother voice, right)...

but yes, this was nearly 2 years ago, now.

wow.

when adeline was 22 months old i thought she was so old, more mature in a way. true, addy is a *very* independent child no matter what age (big *sigh* more about that in another post, eh?). she was capable of playing outside on the swing set alone-- we trusted that was cautious enough to not dive off the top. we knew she wouldn't run out into the middle of the road.

but amelia, miss millie...she is so sweet & ornery. yesterday we were chatting with our neighbors down the street. we were all chasing amelia all over the place (she can run seriously fast for her age) but this one time all adults were distracted & amelia ran down the sidewalk...then ran right into the road. we all suddenly noticed & shouted over to her NO, etc.

amelia turned to us, *waved* this tiny, little girl wave & then smiled a very naughty smile & then ran further into the road. WITH A CAR COMING. oh my freakin goodness, child. now folks, i have a lot of muscle & joint point right now & don't exactly move very fast but at that point i was somehow the fastest person there. amelia is so amazingly lucky that the car saw her & slowed down. she is also lucky that there were other adults present or else she would've received a whoopin' times ten. instead she just kept laughing through most of her scolding.

but there are traits of amelia's that aren't ornery. 

when standing she likes to fold her arms around her legs, pulling her shirt over her knees, becoming as tiny as possible. she usually does this with a huge CUTE grin on her face.

she's learning to play by herself & chat a bit. she now loves to read to herself--the entire stack of books we have in one room (oh, 4 rooms have at least 15 books each, a guaranteed 20 minutes of kid-book reading).

when she is a bit shy she will smile at someone, shrugging & squeezing in her shoulders at the same time. this is also done with a cute head tilt, showing off her wee dimples.

amelia snuggles like no kid i've ever seen. after she's taken a nap, she wants to sit on the rocking chair for another 5 or 30 minutes. no talking, no reading, no singing--just sitting together & rocking.

she can kick a ball really well (ahem, further than her sister can!).

she has figured out how to communicate with us using only squeaks, groans, giggles, & screeches instead of words. mostly frustrating for us but very endearing.

i think she's starting to look more & more like wes. AND, she actually has a slight tan on her skin which means she hopefully inhereited wes' ability to tan & not burn (which relieves some fears of being hypervigilant about slathering buckets of sunscreen on two kids. now i just have to slather addy up & rub it on amelia normal-like.)

& now, yes, now i need to take two girls to target b/c we are TOTALLY out of desitin. & amelia is getting a diaper rash b/c we've been out of desitin for 2 days now & she also has some diarrhea. why, oh why, do we do this to me? maybe i'll also take them to get their mops cut...