Amélie 2.5 Years Old

Amélie is my big girl now. She amazes me every day with how much she learns and with her great memory. Since Clara was born, she seems so much more grown up to me and she's only 2.5 years old.  I think it has a lot to do with how much she can say. Her English accent and expressions are adorable and sometimes she says the most random and funny things ("Mummy, shall we play now?", "That sounds like great fun"). She's definitely had a growth spurt in the past couple of months or so, going up a couple shoe sizes and needing lots of new clothes.

She's becoming my little sidekick and absolutely loves helping and getting involved in anything I do. We love having chats about our day before bedtime and even watch Full House together. Our thing lately has been cooking together. She'll climb up onto her stepstool and help me wash vegetables and mix ingredients. We love making pancakes in the morning and muffins from time to time. Mealtimes are a struggle sometimes, but keeping her entertained and having at least one thing she likes helps.  She loves imaginative playing - doctor and an airplane ride are a couple of favorites. Most recently, she's mastered going on Andrea's tablet and playing toddler animal puzzles (by herself). It's incredible how fast she's picking up technology and probably knows how to use my iPhone better than some adults :)

Amélie is the best big sister. She is so excited when Clara wakes up in the morning and we both go to her to give her kisses. The other day, I caught Amélie caressing Clara's face and giving her a cuddle when I left the room for a minute. It was the sweetest because it was unprompted, just sisterly love. There are moments she tells Clara to stop pulling her hair or doesn't want to share her toys plus she'll ask me put the baby down if she wants a cuddle instead.

The classic toddler tantrum happens from time to time and it makes me want to pull my hair out, but we survive using different strategies (either leaving the room and waiting for her to finish or distracting with something else). I can see how the term threenager has come to be and am so looking forward it to be over.

In September, Amélie started going to preschool three morning a week and in the past month is now loving it. It took her a while to get adjusted and she's quickly making friends and looks forward to going to school. With that and the new addition of a little sister, there has been a little bit of a regression in potty training recently and I really hope it will pass soon.  It mainly happens if she's very distracted and so into playing that she kind of forgets to go, but it's been happening more frequently than once in a while so we've been using stickers for encouragement and reminding her tons.

I feel like I can write tons and tons more on how Amélie has grown, but I'll call it a night and leave you with a few pictures instead.