"Cha Cha and Me"

One of Amelia's favorite words these days is "Cha Cha," which she calls her good friend Cristiana. She talks about Cha Cha almost every day and Wednesday, Amelia and Cha Cha got to play, play, play together. They were so cute! They played in the pool, ate snacks, sat in the swing, jumped up and down in Cha Cha's crib and had a grand time! Just before we left, Amelia gave Cha Cha several big, ole hugs as if to say, "Thank you so much for having me over today!" Thanks, Maite and Cha Cha!

Everyday, Amelia learns more and more words and I think she's about to try to get much, much more independent because she now says "mine," and "me" and points adamantly to herself. She also loves her opposite words: "up" and "down," "on" and "off," "BIIIIGGG" and "little, little, little." Now if only she would say "yes" as much as she says "no!"

It's Official - Amelia Loves Cousin Jacob

Thursday, July 30 was a very special day for our extended family. Cousin Jacob's adoption was finalized before a judge in Orlando and we were lucky enough to be able to attend the hearing. Stacey, Tom and Jacob came over the night before because we had to be at the courthouse early. Amelia loved seeing Jacob again, though she got a little jealous when we sat him in her purple Bumbo. (She tried to squeeze into it and got stuck because she's way to big now for it. See the photo.)

At the courthouse, there was a lot of waiting around, (two hours worth) but Amelia and Jacob were such troopers and hardly fussed at all. Jacob fell asleep just before we were called in to see the judge but Amelia was taking it all in. Tom and Stacey told the judge how much they loved Jacob and how they felt he has always been their son, even before it became "official." That, of course, brought tears to my eyes.

Welcome to the family, Jacob!

Look What I Did!!!!

Warning: You may not want to read this if you're eating.

When Amelia gets older, she will probably NEVER forgive me for posting this on her blog, but we have HUGE news to share! Saturday night, she POOPED in her POTTY for the first time EVER. We were so excited (I nearly cried because of what a milestone this is) that we snapped this picture with Jason's cellphone (the closest thing handy.) It's not that clear, but you can tell how proud she is - probably because Jason and I are clapping and cheering. We've been sort of casually introducing her to the idea of going to the bathroom using her potty, but haven't started any intense "training" yet so we were so surprised how quickly this happened.

Here's how it all went down. As we were finishing dinner, she looked at me and said, "Poo." I asked if she had to go poo in her potty and she pointed to her diaper. I checked her diaper. No poo. So I sat her on the potty and said, "Try to go poo. Mama's going to go get you a book to read." I left for 20 seconds, returned with the book, checked the potty and there it was. Her first poop!!! I clapped and laughed and ran to get Jason, who also came running to see. She sat for a few more minutes "reading" the book then got up to see what all the fuss was about. It was truly a moment I'll never forget. She is growing up so fast.

Today, there was no repeat performance in the poop category, but she did pee-pee in her potty TWICE. Once she told me she had to go by saying "poo," and the other time I just plopped her on the potty, gave her a book and she went!

In other news, Amelia had her 18-month appointment last week. She impressed everyone with her vocabulary (big words like "doctor," "purple" and "Big Bird,") and other communication skills, got two shots and a Snoopy Band-Aid and received an overall two thumbs-up from the doctor. She weighs 26 pounds, four ounces, is 33 inches tall and her head measures at 19 and one-quarter inches. This generally puts her in the 80th percentile of kids her age. To quote the doctor, "She's growing great!" We think so, too.