Devinettes/Riddles!

Amélie understood the concept of riddles last weekend...

It started at breakfast:
a: mommy, I am thinking about something!
M: ahah, a quoi tu penses, p'tit bout? (oh, ok, what are you thinking about, little one?)
a: You have to guess!
M: oh, est-ce que c'est papai? (are you thinking of daddy?)
a: No!
M: hmmm, are you thinking about Sheriff Woody?
a: No!
M: WOW, that hard, I need a hint!
a: It's Mama Odie!

We then explained the concept of hints versus giving the answer, and we have been playing riddles for the last few days, lots of fun to see her deduct things, amazing how good she is getting at this!

Christmas 2009

We celebrated with a Christmas Tree, and gifts:

Last night at dinner, we all had our wine glasses ready:


We also had our tree surrounded by gifts:


This morning, Amélie opened her gifts:


Her loot included Sheriff Woody from Toy Story, that she has carrying everywhere with her today:


Amélie also went to the movies with Dad today (while mom was doing laundry, sorting the mail, writing cards, and paying the bills), to see 'Alvin the Squeakel' - High point? The spoof of Beyonce's song 'All the single ladies'!!

Happy Holidays!

Week in Review

Amélie had a great week this week, she did a lot of fun things:

Face paint day at school:


Taekwondo lessons:


Christmas party at Erik's and Tait's - I must admit that we are far from having a tree at our house... We don't have any decorations at all:


Oh well!

Latest News

Amélie is much better these days, she is trying hard to make compromises, and is understanding more and more that the best way to win with her parents is to put a stellar argument together (and not to whine)...

She also is helping her dad more and more...

Snow removal? Sure:


Paper delivery? My pleasure:


The more she collaborates, the more we do fun things she wants to do, such as going for play dates with friends:




As a reward, we also went to see 'The Princess and the Frog'... TWICE! When maman promises, maman delivers :)!

More funny quotes!

Today in the car:
D: I have to stop at the shop to buy a chap stick, I will be quick so Amélie, you stay in the car with mommy.
a: Can I come with you daddy??
D: No, I will be really quick, stay in the car with mommy.
a: Can I come with you daddy, PLEEEAAAAASE??
D: Ok but really quick!
a: Ha, I am the winner!!!

At the restaurant:
D: Amélie how do you say 'you're welcome in Portuguese'?
a: Hallelujah??

Another one at the restaurant:
a: mommy, can I have veggies please?
M: You have veggies in front of you, eat them!
a: no mommy can I have a bean bun thing?
M: Oh you want a mochi! Sure, if you finish your veggies!!

Lastest news from the Amelian Galaxy...

Amélie is making some pretty hilarious jokes these days:

In the car, coming back from 'Planet 51':
a: mommy, Chuck Backer doesn't have the right stuff!
M: really, why?
a: He is not a space ranger!!

When we got parked in our driveway:
M: OK big kid, time to get out of the car, where are we??
a: Hong Kong! (uh?!!)
D: Why did you say 'Hong Kong'?
a: Just to be funny!!!

Reading the little engine that could:
M: The little engine wanted to help. She said...
a: No mommy, you have to say 'HE', not 'SHE', so that I can say you are wrong and tell you how to say it!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had fun today, hanging out at home and then going to our favorite restaurant, FARM, for dinner! Delicious food and wine, but the best gift was Amélie that collaborated with us in the restaurant for one and a half hours!

Lazies on the sofa!

Today, all three of us felt pretty lazy, not sick or anything, just wanting to effortlessly hang out, like a big family of hibernators! So most of our afternoon was spend snuggling on the sofa, watching 'Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs', eating grapes and relaxing as a family (exhibit A - although the younger member of the plot did not want a picture of her face to be taken):



That is something Amélie had never been willing to do in the past, so we were really happy that she is more and more able to sometimes relax and hang out with us, as compared to constantly jumping and climbing on walls :)...

Another big win today... In the past, if we negotiated with her that she would be able to see one more clip after brushing her teeth before going to bed, she would go crazy trying to get us to show her two clips instead of one.

Well tonight, she surprised us, and at the end of the allowed clip, she asked 'mommy, can I watch this other clip after I am done sleeping?'... Getting good at this negotiating thing our little one...

Halloween!

Amélie was a white kitty for Halloween, we successfully convinced her that pricesses were not cool at all, but that kitties ROCK! We'll take these victories for as long as we can :)!

Amélie went trick-or-treating with Merf, who in pure coincidence was a kitty too! They had a great time, and did a wonderful job going from houses to houses, stating the required 'trick or treat?', and the no less required 'Thank you and Happy Halloween' before leaving. They had a blast!





Our little one had her basket filled with different tooth decay inducing candy... Apart from the candy her daddy could not resist eating while our little one is asleep, we have convinced Amélie to trade her candy loot against fruit she likes (we are patenting our approach and we will make it available to our faithful readers soon)!

New stories from the corn fields

Our blogging rate has been dismal, apologies to our readers!

Fall is here, and Amélie has caught a string of seasonal viruses, colds/cough spells/sinus discharge, the last 2 weeks have been quite interesting. We have had a taste of our experience as new parents, little sleep and lots of middle of the night cuddles...

Overall though, Amélie is definitely a big girl now, and despite our best attempts has been squarely endoctrinated by Disney (she wants to be a princess when she grows up!)... We are working hard to open options and defends careers such as scientist, cirque du soleil trapezist, and other alternatives and make them just appealing, but for now we are failing miserably!

Her favorite words/quotes are:
'Exception' - she has received way too many, and is asking for one all the time.
'Two minutes' - she knows that if she asks for 2 extra minutes for an activity, she is quite likely to get them, but that asking for 3 is useless because that does not happen!
'2 clips then brush teeth, then 2 clips then bed!' - bedtime routines, gotta love them!

I lost our camera, so we need a new one before we can post new pictures, c'est la vie!

Trip to Rochacha the amazing!

This week, we went to ROC to visit friends.

Amélie was very helpful in the planes, and also loved our bus ride around town:



Amélie also enjoyed the swimming pool and the jacuzzi at the hotel, as well as sleeping in a full size bed (first time we pass on the baby crib, and it worked)!

We also went to the Zoo with Nya and PH:



When we got home, we asked her what part of the trip she liked most... Her response? 'Coming Home!'...

En vrac

Amélie met with Matt and Colleen last weekend, it was the first time they had seen her since she was 10 weeks old... Quite a difference indeed:



Matt taught her a whole choreography and the lyrics of 'Shake Your Booty', we have videos of this, but in the interest of preserving Matt's reputation as a serious cognitive scientist and Tier-1 university professor, we decided not to share with you all!!

Amélie and daddy also went to Ringling Circus with Rena and her family, they had a blast! Ringling is one of the oldest circus in the States, and they have an amazing show:







Amélie was mesmerized!

Finally, Amélie attended her first Taekwondo lesson this week, she loved it and has now become a Tiger Cub! Pictures of this will be posted soon, after through sewing magic, we get the way too big kimono to her size!

Summer Pictures Wrap Up!

The swimming pool is closed, the students are back, it is officially fall! Time to wrap up the summer with a picture pot pourri:

Exhuberant Amélie showcasing her Tae Kwon Do skills in her watermelon swimsuit (which turned out to be quite a trend setter at her nursery school):




Amélie savoring a tomato she picked from our garden:



Merf's b-day party:



And dad and our little daddy's girl in partiotic colors:

Recent Vignettes

In the car:
a: What do you do daddy?
D: I am a scientist!
M: And daddy is a teacher too!
a: WOW Daddy, you are both, you're super good!

At the house:
a: Mom, dinosaure bit me!
M: Well he must go on time out now, because we don't bite in our house!
a brings the dinosaure to our time out spot, and says: 'Dino, we don't bite in our house, you are on time out, 2 minutes' (all of this with perfectly mimicking her mom's tone when she puts her on time out)!

At the restaurant:
D: hey pingulinho, que voce quer beber?
a: Chocolate milk daddy!
M: Comment on demande dans notre famille???
a: Chocolate milk, please daddy!!

Conclusion: we have established that toddlers can implement strategies when consistently exposed to them >1 million times...

'Building confidence' might need to be revisited...

a: Mommy, one kid today at school got poop on her finger!
M: Oh really, so she cleaned her hands with a teacher right?
a: Yeah!
M: Oh good, it can happen you know, anyone can end up with poop on their hands...
a: No no mommy, not me, because I am super good!

Amélie's musical (mis)education

I was thinking today that, although it is sure to introduce some confusions in her brain here and there, our little Amélie is overall quite lucky to be exposed to quite a wide variety of music styles, including:

Brazilian kids songs:



Francophone drinking songs:



American folk songs through her nursery school (abiyoyo is currently her favorite):



She also likes classics such as 'we are the world':



Hard life I am telling you!

Practice, Practice, Practice!

We have been having a lot of conversations with Amélie about how when we try something, sometimes we need to practice, practice, and practice some more before we can do that something well.

This strategy is working super well, case and point:
M: WOW Amélie, you ate all of the edamame, great job!
a: Yeah, I practiced a lot!

We will definitely use this approach to learning other things too, just like Po Bronson advises!

Where did July go??

WOW, July came and is almost gone, and here we are in only our 2nd post of the month... Shame on us!

This month has been full of great activities though!

We have been enjoying our municipal pool (with the floating hippo, currently a big hit with our little rascal):



The best part of July? Vovó from Rio was with us:



Amélie and Vovó played a lot together! Also, we of course went to our favorite breakfast place (Vovó loves their pancakes too):



It was fun to realize that our little rascal understands pretty much everything in Portuguese! Vovó, as always, had infinite patience in dealing with our spirited Amélie!

Transition, toddler style:
M: Amélie, Vovó is leaving today, she will take a big plane and go back to Rio... When are we going to see Vovó again, do you know?
a: On the computer Mammy!

So thank you very much Vovó for a great visit, and see you again soon on the computer :)!

4th of July Weekend

What are we up to during our 4th of July Weekend?

We have been to the movies two days in a row, to go and see 'Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs'. Great fun for the whole family, and when you add popcorn to the adventure, these were probably record times in terms of the longest stretches during which Amélie stayed in one spot...

Case and point about her ability to stay in one spot when we tried to have her relax before bed time tonight:



Our plans for tomorrow, going to the movies again of course :)...

Summer days!

Enjoying a dinner on our deck:


Accessorizing her new watermelon night gown:


Training for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix:


And starting Pre-School:


We hope that explains our low blogging rate :)!

Vignettes from the week

This week...

Amélie told her teacher 'Please don't tell my mom I didn't nap today'... Showing some theory of mind this little one! I am sure that this is the first of many 'please don't tell my mom' episodes we will hear about...

Amélie told us that the one that reads 'The Little Engine That Could' best is her daddy. Fair given that mommy hasn't read it to her yet, and that she hasn't heard Vovó tell the story yet... Vovó told this story to her son many times and surely she didn't teach him all her tricks...;)

Amélie spent her last day at her daycare today... Starting next week, she will be in a new preschool, but with all her friends who are transitioning with her, and with Ben, her great teacher who will move with them, she is beyond thrilled to officially be a BIG girl now... Which made me think that toddlerhood is such a special time, and maybe the only time when all girls feel proud of being 'BIG GIRLS', later on the same phrase might not be often used or taken as a compliment...

New Pictures from our girlie girl...

Amélie has been enjoying being as girlie as possible lately:







And she wants to be a Princess now, HELP! Oh maybe, I should say 'Watch out William of Wales', knowing Amélie he might not stand a chance to say 'No' :)!

Fun at the park!

We had a fabulous weather this weekend, so we went to the park with Rena:

Amélie and Rena went on a bee ride to New Jersey, Geneva and Rio:


They opened a restaurant:


But Amélie did not have any of the foods I was asking for in her restaurant, which led Amélie to learn more about patiently dealing with tough customers:


After they sold the restaurant they went on to play in the rest of the playground:


Overall a day filled with sun and fun!

Le printemps joue a cache-cache

Ces jours, les temperatures vont dans tous les sens, un jour on est a 20C, le jour suivant on se reveille avec 0C dehors, brrr!

Amélie s'impatiente de pouvoir aller jouer dehors sans jacquette! Un jour ou le soleil brillait, on a pu prendre les premieres photos de printemps:





Ce qui nous a rappele combien Amélie a grandi depuis que nous sommes arrives en Indiana (cliquez ici pour voir notre post du printemps 2007 au meme endroit)...

Full of empathy, Amélie also tries walking in our shoes... literally:

Week in review

Amélie this week was experimenting with markers... You might think that this means she was really learning how to draw on paper...

Nope, in fact she used different surfaces as canevas to create unique pieces of avant-garde art...

This one I call 'All I want is to be a kitty':


After tough negotiations (ie if you don't paint or draw on your body, mommy will paint your toe nails with purple nail polish) and a number of conversations with her teachers at day care, we are hoping that we can have the joy of collecting paper-based creations instead of having to scrub this kid's skin for days to make these works of art a memory...

On another front, here is her initiation to THE CURE (acoustic version):


That brought me many years back when I was young and energetic enough to pogo at their concert!

Who do you think you are?

Amélie did not take a nap today, and therefore was very very tired tonight...

She nonetheless insisted on putting together a floor puzzle tonight, while talking non-sense things all the way!

M: You are so tired, you are delirious!
a: No mommy, I am Amélie!

OK, she was making some sense, but trust me, she went to bed very happily tonight!

Visit to Sesame Street

We all went to Indy to see a Sesame Street show with Rena and her family today.

The show was all about what the Sesame Street characters will do when they grow up... Fun for the whole family, and mommy definitely had a lot of fun thinking the whole time about students she worked with over the years!

A few highlights:

Amélie insisted on wearing her ELMO t-shirt (she also had Sesame Street undies on, but fortunately she was ok wearing pants on top of them):



She was super excited and posed for the camera, before being literally still for the entire show, mesmarized by the performance:





The show was fabulous, and her favorite parts included Oscar and the itsy-bitsy spider song and Elmo's World:





But the best parts of the trip were the pop corn she earned for good behavior (I HEART PAVLOV+SKINNER)...


and the headphones she got to use to watch her DVD in the car on the way back home: