2007 Amy...and then I'm (nearly) up to date!

January 2007

• 1/3/07 – You are talking so much, with a lot of sentences! Mostly you want to tell us that you'll do things yourself ("Amy do it!!!!") and that you want to be included ("Amy too!"). All 4 eyeteeth are coming through. You love to wear "pretty dresses" and you’re very polite, always saying thank you and bless you.


• 1/4/07 – Last night Amy got the "Good Night, Gorilla" book out and said "Amy read it"...sat down and went through each page, saying something about each one...right down to the different "voices" for all the animals saying "good night" in the dark, then the surprised sound the zookeeper's wife makes after hearing all those good nights. Amazing!


• 1/10/07 – Amy learned to say "what's that?" -- she says it 'wassat?' and says it frequently!


• 1/12/07 – Amy is a big sleeper, just like her Mama. Reed pops up bright and ready to go, but Amy takes a couple of minutes to warm up.


• 1/23/07 – Amy can pretty much recite the whole alphabet and can count to 12. Sometimes Amy sings herself to sleep (“Twinkle, Twinkle” or “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”). Most frequently-used phrases: "Amy do it!" or "Do it Amy's self"


• 1/29/07 – Last night when I put Amy to bed, she told me "Mommy never far Amy" before I even got to tell her "Mommy's never far away from Amy", which I say every time I put her to bed. The other day Amy jumped on her "big girl bed" and said "Amy hop like rabbit". Latest favorite song is "Baa baa black sheep have you any wool" (that’s the song’s complete title, in her mind).

February 2007

• 2/22/07 – Amy sings the whole alphabet now.

March 2007

• 3/1/07 – Your first dentist visit! We went to a pediatric dentist and you were 100% cooperative – probably since you got to choose a show to watch right there at the chair (Dora, of course). The hygienist was surprised that you let her do all the cleaning she wanted. You had some plaque on your front bottom teeth which you've had pretty much since your teeth came in, despite all the brushing. You did great.


• 3/2/07 – Amy is becoming quite antagonistic to Reed! If he's playing with something like Little People, she'll grab a couple and run away, grinning. Once she even took them, went all the way upstairs, jumped on her "big girl" bed and threw them behind her bed, then just laughed! Oh goodness.


• 3/5/07 – Amy likes to sing, sometimes even singing herself to sleep. Sometimes she can get a bunch of the words to "Baby Mine" when we sing it.


• 3/11/07 – On school days we fix a small bag of cereal for the kids to have in the car, with some juice. Today we went to Kiki & Poppy's to have breakfast and pick Reed up from his sleepover and about halfway there, Amy said "Oh no we forgot cereal!"


• 3/12/07 – Amy can spell her name! She is very excited about her upcoming birthday – she can hold up two fingers and is practicing singing happy birthday and blowing out the candles.


• 3/12/07 – Putting Amy to bed, I asked who her favorite teacher was - she said "Kathy, Kari, Nellie, Tina.....that's it" – well that is ALL of her teachers (except her actual favorite, Heather, who's on maternity leave).


• 3/18/07 – Amy dramatically threw herself on the floor, upset over something (again). I jokingly said "oh goodness, Amy's life is so hard!" and a few minutes later she got up, threw herself face down on the recliner and said "Amy life so hard" in the most pathetic voice! Amy is getting much better at singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Twinkle Twinkle", which she still calls "Twinkle Twinkle Wonder What You Are". Often tells us "Amy needs Amy's Kiki" or Reedy. Loves her big brother so much.


• 3/24/07 – We had your family birthday party today. You just wanted to stop and play with each thing you opened, you didn't really want to just open present after present after present (there were a lot!) without being allowed to play with everything. Your favorite gift was probably the rocking baby doll bed.


• 3/27/07 – You had your two year old check up. The doctor was very amazed at your speech -- you said "I wash my hands, please?" and she said "Wow - that was a five word sentence!!!"


• 3/29/07 – Here's your current bedtime routine - Dad and I take turns each night putting you to bed. We read 3 books then you climb into your big girl bed and sometimes I sing you songs, sometimes we sing together. Then I tell you good night and you fall asleep on your own - lately you don't even fuss for more than a second.


• 3/31/07 – Amy can draw circles! Wow. You also pretend to write your name.

April 2007

• 4/1/07 – About 4 out of the last 7 days, you've woken up in the morning with a dry diaper, and then go potty right after you get up. Go Amy!


• 4/6/07 – We saw the Easter Bunny at the grocery store...Amy said "No I sit on that big bunny's lap, Mommy!"


• 4/7/07 – Going to bed, I mentioned the Easter Bunny coming and Amy burst into tears!!! She was really afraid – I had to reassure her that the Easter Bunny wouldn't come to her room. :( Also when I said the Easter Bunny would bring her presents, she cried and said "No I need presents - I already have presents!" Traumatized by the grocery store Easter Bunny sighting! Aunt Jennifer and cousin Kyle are visiting – you are so happy to have them here! You took a nap with Jennifer today and are really loving playing with both of them.


• 4/17/07 – Amy's been crawling into bed with us every night somewhere around 4 a.m. She stumbles down the hall and climbs right in. Last night I put my hand on her and she said "Keep you hand to you self, mommy". Ha!


• 4/27/07 – When did you turn into a big kid? You are so independent-minded and amazing. You want to dress yourself and even change your own diapers. We try to let you do that when we have time to fuss with it, and you get really upset if we go ahead and put your diaper on for you. You are also getting more bold with your disobedience, as would be expected of your age.

June 2007

• 6/19/07 – You can be so amazingly determined when you want to be. You want to do most things yourself - get dressed, get into your car seat, get strapped into your car seat, etc. Yesterday you spent a good deal of time trying to get your Tinker Bell backpack on...and eventually got it, with no help! At the same time, some things you already tell us "I can't" when we ask you to do them yourself. We work hard to show you how to do things on your own.


• 6/22/07 – You love to sing! Sometimes even sing different words to a familiar melody.


• 6/30/07 – The Keith Whitley song "Miami, My Amy" was on the radio. At the end, he sings "Miami my Amy loves me after all" and you said "No, that said I love that guy - no I love that guy!" Sharp as a tack!

July 2007

• 7/3/07 – As we were driving home from school, Reed realized had forgotten a goody bag at his classroom. Amy said "I'm sorry Reed we're not turning around because school is closing all our friends and teachers going home I'm sorry." Are you sure you’re only two?


• 7/4/07 – Keeps singing "Happy Birthday" to America!


• 7/7/07 – Got a real big girl (twin) bed!


• 7/8/07 – Went bowling for the first time.


• 7/9/07 – This morning Amy excitedly said "I get a pony for Christmas!" No idea where that came from.


• 7/15/07 – Amy's first haircut! She sat very still for most of the cut but got wiggly by the end. I am happy because it seems your hair will still be curly - everyone had been saying that once it was cut, the curls might go away. I hope you'll keep your curls!

August 2007

• 8/6/07 - You have been drawing stick people for a while now - amazing. Right now they all have heads, eyes, mouth, ears, hair and legs. I continue to be surprised by you.


• 8/8/07 - Amy has been saying "playbound" instead of "playground" (trouble with the 'gr' sound)...she now is able to say it right, with a whole lot of effort and thought. So proud of how hard you worked on that, but it's a sure sign you're not a baby anymore.


• 8/9/07 – Tod and Reed left for a 5 day trip to MT this morning - driving home from school, Amy said "We missing two boys, mommy, Reedy and daddy!"


• 8/30/07 – About two months ago we were at an outdoor BBQ in a backyard and you got eaten up by mosquitoes (sorry!!!)...we've now found out that you must be a pretty tasty little girl because you get mosquito bites all the time, even when no one around you is getting bitten. And unfortunately they affect you very strongly - even blistering up. Lately you can't seem to be outside for more than 2 minutes without getting a bite. Poor little girly!


• 8/31/07 – Amy said “two kinds of cranes - ones in the water and ones in the road” (there was a big crane doing road work). So observant.

September 2007

• 9/27/07 – Amy is working on using her words and naming how she feels. Tonight in the car on the way to celebrate Auntie Wanda's birthday, she was drawing on the DoodlePro and saying "You making me angry, DoodlePro!!" and "That feel me angry!!"

October 2007

• 10/13/07– This morning, like most weekend mornings, Reed and Amy woke up early. I told them we needed them to do the opposite – sleep late on the weekends and get up early on school days. Reed said something about how to switch and Amy said "I get my magic wand!" and ran off to her bedroom to get it. Oh, if only that'd work!


• 10/29/07 – Amy said "I balleting, mommy!"


• 10/31/07 – After trick or treating, Amy said "That a fun time for Halloween!" Reed was VERY clear with everyone that he was a veterinarian, not a doctor. Amy also corrected people on his behalf, telling them very clearly "he not a doctor, he a veterinarian." The kids had a great time with the holiday, both tonight and at the South Riding Halloween parade on Sunday.

November 2007

Random thoughts on both kids….the kids keep wandering into our room most nights. We try to make ourselves return you to your beds, but it doesn't always happen, which is unfortunate for me because I don't usually get restful sleep when you're there (too much wiggling around). Though it is really cozy having all four of us there, especially on a weekend morning. I know it won't be long before you'll be too big for all that. Amy usually lumbers down the hall with her little pillow and her blanket in her hand, happy to climb up in bed with us. Amy seems eager to sleep at both nap and bedtime, while for Reed it still seems to be a necessary evil. I think he would stay up all night if his body would let him, just reading books and doing puzzles and BrainQuest games. Amy wakes up generally very refreshed and happy. Reed continues to have night terrors when he's overtired – it's really hard because he just cries out, no words other than sometimes "no no no". He's still asleep and even having us come to his room doesn't help – he doesn't know we're there. It usually passes after a few minutes. We hadn't mentioned this to Mom and Jim before, and a couple of months ago Reed was having a sleepover and had an episode - they were scared and didn't know what to do but quickly figured out he was still asleep and they just needed to make sure he stayed safe. I hope this phase passes pretty soon because it leads to an un-restful night for all of us (well, Amy snoozes right through it). Yesterday Reed asked when he was going back to "learn more for kindergarten" – when we did the IQ testing with the psychologist, we told him it was to help us get him ready for kindergarten, so that's what he thinks it was. He really enjoyed all the different tests. Reed is doing really great in his class at school - they have switched to mixed age groups, which means there are kids that are close to his age all the way down to kids who are around 3 years old. He helps the other kids, just like he can really help Amy by explaining things to her so she can understand. Reed is reading so incredibly well and continues to be very interested in learning new things. He also is big on knock-knock and other jokes, which Amy tries to copy. We've heard "Why'd the chicken cross the road?" about a thousand times lately. We also hear non-sensical jokes that Reed makes up. One day in the car he said "Why does red mean go and green mean stop?" purposely mixing them up. I asked why and he said "Because there's no God". Tod and I didn't quite know how to respond but Reed quickly said "Why aren't you laughing?"....well I still don't know what do think about that one!

December 2007

• 12/3/07 – Amy wore big girl underwear ALL DAY LONG!!! So proud of you!


• 12/7/07 – Lately I've been telling Amy "You're my best girl". After a week or so of that, she started responding with "You're my best girl too". So sweet!!!


• 12/25/07 – Amy got a big girl bike for Christmas, just like she wanted! She had said she wanted Santa to bring her a big girl bike "and take away the baby bikes". It's a 12" bike with training wheels and we've been just amazed at how coordinated she's been with it, navigating corners and wheeling around all over!