Twenty months

We have had a wonderful yet busy summer. In August Amara and Mommy traveled to Maine to visit Aunt Anne, Uncle Carl and cousins Nathalie and Carter. We had a great time! Amara loved playing with her cousins. We went to the Botanical Gardens on Fairy Friday (see photos). We also enjoyed great food including homemade muffins and blueberry pancakes (Carl and Anne are great cooks), soft pretzels, a lobster roll, and whoopie pie. We also went to the Boothbay Railway Museum and rode a train and played in old train cars. This was probably the highlight of the trip for Amara. She loves "choo choos". We also were able to see cousins Melissa, Mike, Claire, and Ryan Moran. The kids played at Knickerbaker lake and in the fun house and backyard of Anne and Carl! Amara tried popsicles for the first time. Thanks Aunt Anne! She loves them. She also took many walks in the woods with Mommy and cousins and picked fresh huckleberries. Maine is so beautiful in the summer! Amara also played with all sorts of new toys, including a pink baby stroller that she loved. One of the most special memories of the trip for me (Mom) was walking at Porter Preserve with the girls. This is a gorgeous natural space of hiking trails -- woods that leads up to the water and spectacular Maine views. Amara was so relaxed here that she fell asleep in the Ergo. This gave me a chance to say hello to Grandma Jean. She was a fan of Porter Preserve and took walks here with Grandpa Bob and Anne in the later years of her life. Amara has only met Grandma Jean in photographs but surely she felt her spirit presence in Maine. I certainly did!

Nineteen months!

I am running behind on the blog! Amara is 20 months old but here is an overdue update of month 19: In July we celebrated 4th of July and we enjoyed many beach dates with Grandma Patty and many fun play dates at parks, the Zoo, yoga class. Amara has been also attending a "Splash into Summer" music class at Baby Garten in South Park. She loves it! Amara is saying some sentences and asking questions too! She asks, "Where is it?" or "Where is she?" or "Hear it?". The latter she says often when she hears an airplane go by or hears the Balboa Park bell ring (which she calls the "Ding"). Amara is a more confident walker and climber now too. She can walk quite fast. However, often on walks she prefers to stop and explore what is on the ground or around her. The other day on a walk she exclaimed, "Walka walka walk -- GO!" as she walked. Then she stopped to play with the neighbors' mailboxes, pointing to numbers as she recited them -- "Eight, nine, ten!" Amara can recognize at least one 1/3 of the alphabet and often gets the numbers 1-10 correct. She loves her alphabet and number videos. And she loves going to the library and reading books. Amara is also having so much fun with her family and friends these days. Tonight when Mom and Dad came home from a dinner date, Amara was dancing in the living room with Grandpa Patty and Grandpa Hamid. She was holding a number 4 card, watching a Sesame Street video about the number 4, and wearing a hat. According to Grandma, "she saw the chickens wearing a hat and asked for her hat." That's our girl. Lots of fun and full of ideas!