I heard some yelling from the kitchen (not unusual) but this seemed serious...she had gotten her legs stuck!

Hep!

Amanda likes to climb. She's an amazingly strong little girl and not afraid of anything it seems. She sometimes gets into trouble. I was at the park one day and she was being safe. I looked away for a couple of minutes, turn around and hear "Hep, Hep!" She hasn't quite gotten the "l" in help pronounced yet. She is hanging from a bar around 2 1/2 feet above the ground. Just calming handing there - no look of panic on her face - just "hep"! Amanda, you are hilarious.

Beth

Riding a bike

Yes, she has finally gotten tall enough to reach the pedals and ride a bike. Go Amanda!

The great crib escape

We got Amanda a crib tent 4-5 months ago. It worked well keeping her in her crib. She sleeps better and longer when she doesn't have the ability to get out. Then, she discovered she could get out. She broke the zipper fully and completely. She was up at 4 am. We turned the crib to the wall. She figured out how to climb out. I sewed half the crib tent opening and put it in a corner. She army crawled over the crib and tent area. We safety pinned it. She escaped. We used diaper pins to keep it shut. She escaped. I actually sewed the entire zipper part shut with quilting thread (which is super thick). She actually started ripping apart the thread. So, we bought a new one.



Hope you're happy Amanda!



And for those who are wondering --- she can get out of the house on her own and has been known to scale the closet organizer in her closet. She needs her sense of safety to catch up to her ability. As we say, she's three going on two in many ways.

4th of July at Grandma's house

We all went to Grandma's house for the week of July 4th. She lives in the Chicago area among many of my siblings. Amanda was able to play with her 6 cousins 3 of whom are 3 years old. It's interesting to see the vast difference in ability between all these 3 year olds. It will be fun to watch them all catch up to each other as they get older.

As an extra added bonus, Nana and Papa came for a short visit from Wisconsin where they were seeing some of Nana's relatives.



Nana was able to bring some new clothes given by a woman she met out in California. Amanda is one well dressed little girl!

This is her real personality. When you wonder what she's really like, take a look at this picture and it pretty much sums it up. Look at the eyes - it's all in the eyes.




And, just because this was a cute shot of her bunny that was found in Grandma's crib



As an aside, Aunt Mary, when she was still living there, put stars on her ceiling in her room. Amanda was not fascinated by them in the least. She was a little afraid of them. We wised up around night 3 and did not turn on the light so the little stars wouldn't light up. She wondered where they went, but seemed relieved they were gone.

All in all, it was fun and exhausting. Traveling with a toddler is not for the weak of heart!