Summer-Salts

When I was attempting to exercise the other morning, Amity wanted to join in. I pulled out my two mats and she followed along some of the instructions on the DVD for a little while. Then, she discovered that the mat was a really soft place to practice her "rolls" or somersaults. This morning, after breakfast, we were enjoying the time to play without having to rush anywhere until 11:00 for swim lessons. I pulled out the mats and both girls had so much fun rolling around. Now I need to do a little research to figure out the next thing to teach them. It's definitely not The Little Gym but I don't think they care! :)

Where There's a Hill...

THERE'S A WAY (or two or three) of going down it! The hill at the Arboretum lawn is a very fun hill and was a perfect place for our picnic lunch.

Here Uncle Dylan attempted to introduce Eli to the fun of rolling down the hill.
Amity loved toddling up and down the hill while toting our empty bottles.

Eli liked crawling in the damp grass.

And then Dennis surprised us all by an impromptu roll down the hill. I guess I could have titled this post, "Papa was a rolling stone"! :)

Of course, he then had to teach Amity how to do the hill roll. At first, he suggested that I demonstrate for her but I told him that I had seen a sign somewhere banning pregnant women from rolling down hills at the Arboretum. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law backed me up on that one!

You can tell by her giggles that Amity thought it was pretty fun!

At the Arboretum

This morning, we headed to the Arboretum with the Connells and PopPop and Lolly. The weather was slightly cooler and there was barely anyone there so we enjoyed a very fun morning. Looking at these pictures, I have realized that I used to take pictures of the flowers at the Arboretum but now I pretty much just take pictures of these little people. The flowers were beautiful though!
This was Amity's first trip to the Arboretum where she could WALK and walk she did! We had the stroller along for back up but she walked most of the time.

Of all of the things to do at the Arboretum, this ramp was her favorite. She loved walking up and down and up and down and cried when we told her it was time to move on.

By lunchtime, she was tired and sweaty and ready to take a break.

We're so thankful to have such a beautiful place so close to our house and thankful to share it with family!

On Top of the World

After spending a couple of days in careful observation of the courageous kids at the park and at the MOPS playdate, Amity has been trying out some new tricks. This is the newest skill of choice. Thankfully, she has limited herself thus far to objects that are just a couple of inches off the ground!

Thankful

Thank you so much for your comments and e-mails! We do appreciate your prayers for Baby Vivien! Amity is already working on learning her name. She will lift up my shirt and stick her finger in my belly button (I don't encourage this but she tries to do it anyway) and say "Hi Baby Vivien!" We are pretty sure she thinks that my navel is called "Baby Vivien" and still has no clue that she is going to be a big sister. She didn't seem to mind posing in this cute shirt though!

I talked with the Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic today and am scheduled on Monday for Genetic Counseling at 2:00 and the level II sonogram at 3:00. I also have a routine appointment with my doctor at 3:45. From the information that we have at this point, Dennis and I think that we don't want to have the amnioscentesis procedure if it is recommended. While the amnio can diagnose Down syndrome with 99% accuracy, the sonogram cannot. From what I have read (just a little...I haven't been obsessing!), some people have had the level II sonogram and while the doctor didn't find any markers for Ds, the baby was still born with Down Syndrome. Others had markers indicated in the sonogram but the amnio showed that Down syndrome was not present. We have decided that we are fine waiting until she is born to know for sure. We will be thrilled to meet her either way! Please pray that we would make the best decision for Vivien's health and that we would be a light and encouragement to the doctor and counselor that we meet with on Monday.

Just an FYI: Two blogs by families with young ones with Down syndrome that I have found the most informative and encouraging are Blessings and Glory and Our Unexpected Journey.

As for the "big sister", she is continuing to talk up a storm these days. One of her favorite phrases is "thank you" and I promise that I hear her say it no less than 100 times a day! When she is playing, she loves to bring "gifts" to me while I am cooking or cleaning and says "thank you" as she hands them to me. Here is an example (not her best...but you can get the idea!):

Saturday Morning at the Lake

While Dennis worked in the yard this morning, Amity and I took advantage of the cooler (below 90 degree) early morning temperature to head to the playground at White Rock Lake. I have been waiting for the day when I could take her to the playground and she could do something besides crawl. Unfortunately, her walking coincided with the hottest time of summer and we just haven't felt like being outside. Apparently, we were out too early for the rest of the kids because we had the playground all to ourselves.

Amity wasn't sure what to think about walking in this stuff.

She quickly decided she was "all done" with this particular ride.

She did enjoy the stairs...

and the bridge but is still not a fan of slides.

After having our fill of the playground...not much fun when there are no big kids to watch...we drove around the lake and parked near the sailboat dock. Amity kept pointing to the lake and saying "wa-wa"!

Her favorite thing was to walk...and walk...and walk some more! My job was to just make sure she didn't try to walk on water!

The Grass is Always Greener

Lately, Amity has mastered "All Done!" and she uses it to tell us that she is all done with whatever she is currently doing. I regularly hear "All done!" coming from the carseat in the middle of a short journey or from the stroller in the middle of running an errand. She is learning that it is frustrating to be on someone else's timetable and I am learning to be patient with her attitude because I know the plans I have in store for her...they are plans both for her good and for her delight. Hmmm...this is all beginning to sound strangely familiar and convicting!

Amity's favorite place to use "All Done!" is at the table. Just before the above picture was taken, I had prepared for her a bowl of applesauce and she was contentedly eating it by herself. I went to prepare my own mug of applesauce and as soon as I sat down, she said "All done!", handed me her bowl, and started whining for my applesauce. I told her it was the exact same thing that was in her bowl and offered her a spoon from her bowl. "No, no, no!" was the answer followed by tears and a very, very sad face. I continued eating my applesauce and would occasionally re-offer her the bowl which she consistently rejected with more and more tears. By the time I finished my applesauce and showed her the empty mug, she was again curious about her own little bowl of applesauce. Seconds later, the red, teary face looked like the one above! It made me think of the Scriptures in Matthew 7: "Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Of if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that is patient with this adult-sized toddler that is often discontent with her own applesauce!

Amity in Elmo's Wonderland

When I was a toddler/preschooler, my parents used to measure time for me by Mister Rogers (30 minutes) and Sesame Street (1 hour). When on a road trip, my questions of "How much longer?" were given answers like "2 more Sesame Streets and 1 Mister Rogers". It wasn't that we got to watch that many shows on a DVD player in the backseat. There was no such thing in the Bounds' Cadillac or Oldsmobile. That was just a very relevant timeframe for my little mind.

I had heard of the power of Sesame Street from others moms and dads but had not experienced it with my own child until recently. After watching one Elmo show with her cousin Miles back in June and receiving a Kiss Me Elmo doll from her daddy, "Mo" (Elmo) is now a part of Amity's daily vocabulary. When we went to the library today to check out some books, we visited the DVD section and found a couple of Sesame Street DVDs. When Amity saw the one with Elmo on the cover, she kissed the cover three times. It was really cute but, at the same time, I was thinking of all of the other hands and mouths that have come into contact with that DVD case. I am pretty sure that, with all of the City of Dallas budget cuts, the library staff does not have time to sanitize all of their DVD cases upon return!

I usually let Amity watch a video in the afternoon while she sits in her bunny chair. Her attention span will usually only last about 10 minutes and then she signs and says "All done!" and climbs off of her chair. Today, we put in Abby in Wonderland and this little girl was mesmerized for 24 minutes. I was too as I sat on the couch behind her!

She clapped for the music.

She asked "Where did he go?" when Abby was looking for Elmo

.

I don't know, Elmo! You are cute and you have obviously intrigued the mind of this little girl. However, I am making a promise today that we will NOT be fighting other shoppers over the newest version of you when the Christmas shopping season begins!

Balloon Time

Amity is in a balloon phase! She wants to read Goodnight Moon! for the sole purpose of pointing out the red balloon on as many pages as she can. She gets super-excited when she sees balloons on TV or in a store. The girl just loves her some balloons!

Dennis reminded me to buy some when I was grocery shopping on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, after naptime, we had ourselves a Grover Balloon Party! As you can see, I don't know if Amity or the adults had more fun!

Dennis took care of the blowing up and tying of the balloons. No hot air jokes, please!

He also demonstrated for Amity what happens when you don't tie up the balloon!

I was able to snap a quick self-portrait with Amity when she paused for a brief moment to catch her breath.

And then she was off again...it is so much fun to see her walking more steadily with each day!

Amity is 16 months old...

and is just getting more personality every day! Here are some video clips that will give you a feel of what a typical day is like with Miss A:

She loves to talk about her grandparents! Dennis has decided that he will want his future grandkids to call him GG too (as in "Grandpa Grover") because GG seems to be the easiest grandparent name for a one-year-old to master.

When she starts to get fussy in the car or on the changing table, she can usually be distracted by playing the unofficial "Name your body parts!" game. Today, I placed her in her Pooh chair and tried to interview her. This is what we got!

Of course, a girl can only take so much. Amity has figured out that whenever she has had enough of any particular activity, she can express her opinions by saying "all done"! Note her very articulate enunciation of the word "Please!" Ha! It is a word that only a parent would understand!

When she is not talking, eating, or sleeping, she can usually be found pushing one of her babies around in her stroller. She loves to make the rounds from our living room to kitchen to dining room and this girl is fast! Just ask Paco!

The biggest milestone that Amity has reached in the past few weeks is that she is finally walking on her own. She can usually take about 12 steps before toppling over and is still not super steady on her feet but she is gaining confidence and enjoying the freedom that having her hands free affords her. I am enjoying a break from so much laundry!

Some other words that have appeared in her vocabulary this month are:

• boobewies (blueberries - her favorite fruit)
• Ca-Co (Paco - this has evolved from Caca for which we are very thankful!)
• Cacos (crackers - not to be mistaken for Paco..usually said in the context of the highchair)
• Ju-Jus (Goldfish - sounds very similar to "juice" but she tells us "no, no, no" when we hand her a sippy cup)
• din-keeee (stinky - said with the wave of her hand in front of her nose)
• hummm - (home - said whenever we pull into the garage)
• out-shide - (outside - said whenever she looks out the window...we don't go outside very often these summer days)
  

For all of your activity, you are still a cuddler, Miss Amity, and for that, we are very grateful! I love how you say "Ohhhh" when you give your baby dolls and stuffed animals a hug because that is what I say when you squeeze me tight. Thank you for the joy you bring to our home!