The First Six!

Amelia had a big weekend; or rather, Mom was very happy that Amelia had such a great time on this one particularly important event. Yep, it's official - Amelia loves her bike trailer!

After last summer's poor performance, we were skeptical of what would happen. We arrived at Bothell Landing, put her helmet on no problem, buckled her into the trailer, still no problem, and took off. That was it. We kept waiting for the screams of disapproval that we heard a year ago, but there were none. Well, only a few down the road when her helmet strap got askew, she dropped her water bottle and couldn't reach it, or saw her snacks and immediately wanted one.

We completed six miles which includes a stop at the park for dinner - Subway sandwiches. A perfect evening! Mom, the closest cyclist for the past three years, is smiling.

Yuck!

Amelia gave us our first real scare this past week. She was so sick and dehydrated from some random bug she picked up that we had to take her to the Children's Hospital emergency room. We were able to get her rehydrated after some anti-nausea mediation, but that only lasted a day. The next day the entire cycle repeated itself and this went on for five days. There were repeat doctor visits, trips to the hospital, and lots of phone calls to her doctors and nurses. As of yesterday, she's doing much better. Thank you all for your prayers and concern.

Now to the fun part.

Last Thursday she had two firsts; her first visit to the emergency room and the first time she said her name. While watching photos on the laptop screensaver, she pointed and said "Me Me Aah." Yep, that’s "Amelia" said by a 20-month old. Too cute.

The other cute thing she did that was also so sad... When she would fill her diaper (with really bad diarrhea) as she did about every 30 minutes for all those days, she would stop, tap her waist, and say with a concerned tone "Oh no, Oh no!" Adorable. And then we would head upstairs to the changing table…

Quick Update

A wonderful day visiting Great Aunt Clarkie at her home in Palos Verdes Estates, CA.

Someone is sure enjoying the hotel room!

Great Grandma Jean's childhood chair from Panama.

Grandma Jean, Kirsten, & Amelia

Amelia's doing great! She’s talkin' more and more each day. She’s hasn’t shown too much interest in using the toilet lately so we'll wait a while before coming back to that. She loves her gymnastics class and going to Jump Planet with her friends to, well, JUMP!!! Swimming is now a routine she anticipates since she’s been going most Saturdays since she was eight months old. She laughs and plays in the water and has little fear of it. That was our goal! Check.

We went to Monrovia last month to visit Grandma Jean and Great Aunt Clarkie for a weekend. It was a delightful time getting to visit with family and let them enjoy Amelia as we do each and every day. The plane ride down was not too much fun for anyone as Amelia got sick with a fever and ear infection the morning we were to leave. She most certainly didn’t like the landing but the plane ride home four days later was a non-issue. She’s a traveling fool with eight flights under her belt and a brand new passport in hand ready for her first international venture.