22 months: Mine, too

Today I'm taking a break from our regularly scheduled Hawaii blogs to update you on our dear Amelia who celebrated her 22mo birthday yesterday.

 

We are in full blown 'mine' at our house. Everything Owen has, Millie needs. Mine, too? Mine, too? Mine, too? This last week we've jumped right in to 'My do it!' 'My do it!'.

She's also gaining independence and playing by herself, some... favorite phrase is still

 'Mommy Hold You'.

That face. She's all of a sudden a picky little eater. Won't try anything new (even delicious fresh fruit), and her diet consists of bread and cheese. I promise she's offered MUCH more than that.

Big into mimicking and loves water play. She pretend feeds her animals, pretends to put gas in Owen's cars, pretends to water flowers. It's such a cute age!

 

Many of this month's pics are from LOTS of outings around the StL area. If you're reading this, you likely know that M was in Seattle for most of the last 6 weeks. For all of our mental health, we were here and there and everywhere. Here they are watching cars over the highway at the science center.

Exploring the energy required to make a roller coaster go! Thanks Papa Cooper for coming along. We appreciate all of your help!

'Horsie, Mine too'. Amelia is to stuffed animals as Owen is to cars. She knows which ones she wants and where they are. Common favorites are 'Bubbles' (dolphin), 'Mizzou-Rah, Kitty', and now 'Horse, Mine-too'. She carries these lovies around in her 'pack-pack'.

 

Mima and Papa Cooper treated the kids to build-a-bear day at Busch Stadium. This annual  celebration of Fredbird's birthday usually involves a Fredbird build-a-bear giveaway. This year it was a Clydesdale! We were there at the opening of the gates, had a great lunch at Ballpark Village, and even made it through 5 innings. I was proud of the kids and oh,so grateful for another fun and full-day outing.

We also were blessed with a great visit from Steve, Trish, Will, & Delaney Schuster from Denver. These are some of our favorite friends, so naturally their kids are wonderful too.

Delaney was so sweet playing with A.

The other day Owen said, 'Mommy, pretty soon you're gonna have 2 kids. Amelia is growing up to be just like me'. Well he's right. Can you imagine that her whole body used to fit in that car seat? She still had fun 'riding' in it =)

Takes her swim friend everywhere.

This is a common face these days. Still love her, but she's got opinions!

One day we went to see Georgie and Claire in Columbia. Georgie had to go down for a nap so the kids and I headed up to campus. O got a T-shirt and A got the 'Mizzou-Rah Kitty'. To entertain the kids on the drive I sang the fight song. Over.and Over.and Over.and Over. Millie requests it saying, 'Mo Mo Ti Ti, Mama'. How can I say no? It's also her bedtime song these days =)

I also treated them to ice cream that day. They come by their love of ice cream honestly.

'Poo' time on Mima and Papa Cooper's back deck. You'd think we lived there in July...

well we kind of did! Many nights spent at Camp Cooper!

 Zoo train with Papa Cooper('Papa Keeper'). We really distract him from his obligations. You can tell he's devastated.

 

Millie is starting to recognize colors like Yellow ('lellow') and Pink ('Peek'). She's talking a mile a minute and saying phrases. My favorite works are fishy ('ishy') and Bunny ('Money'), but my most most most favorite Amelia-ism is that she calls herself 'Minnie'. Love you, sweet baby girl!