My Handsome boy

I picked up Miles from school yesterday, and getting into the car I told him that we had to go home to celebrate Amelia's birthday.

"She's 2 now?"
"Yes, she's 2!"
"She's 2 right now?"
"Yes, love"
"She doesn't look 2. She looks the same."

Cute as he is, Miles had a little bit of a hard time yesterday with Amelia's birthday and her getting all of the presents and attention. He kept trying to play with some of her new toys (ahem, yes, Minnie Mouse) and she would snatch them out of her hands, and he'd get upset (understandably).

Tim sat down with him in this amazing moment where he articulated that everyone gets a day, and moved through the year on when people's birthdays are. I think he is now officially excited that his birthday is next... while Amelia keeps walked around saying "my birthday is soon!"

I guess timing is all relative to the under 4 set.

Our precious bug turns 2

Today Amelia turned 2.

The day started with Lina and I entering her room singing "Happy Birthday". Amelia just laid flat on her stomach, looking up with a slight grin taking it all in. After kisses and gathering Miles and Mia with their "Bed Friends" we headed downstairs where a pile of gifts waited for her. Not having much time before needing to get them out of the house for school, we opened two gifts with her and let her play as we made breakfast and got them dressed. Mia mentioned that she wanted purple (he favorite color) balloons. We had planned to bake a cake for Amelia, a pink cake with purple frosting. So after dropping the kids off, Daddy ran to the store to order some pink and purple balloons, consistent with the color scheme.

Daddy's attempt at baking and decorating.

This years gifts were all either Tangled themed or Mini-Mouse. Lina did, as she always does, a great job of getting gifts. Mia loved everything EXCEPT the horse from the Tangled set. We'll see if that changes.

Mia's new backpack.

Amelia's favorite gift was her Mini-Mouse backpack. She had asked for it weeks early while toting it around in the Disney store. I told her then that we could not buy it that day but she could have it for her birthday. Over the next several weeks, she would bring up the backpack from time to time - I am sure to keep it in the forefront of our minds. What was cute and insightful as to why she wanted a backpack was when she put it on. Once on she said..."I go to school with Miles?" Sadly, not yet Mia, but you will soon. We love that you love your brother and want to be with him. We love that you are getting bigger and able to share so much more of yourself with us. We love you and all that you have brought to our family.

Happy Birthday sweetheart! You're a big girl.

American History Juke

This past Saturday we took the kids to Talbots, a local toy store, to look for gifts for their friends and cousins. As one might expect, it was full of families doing Christmas shopping. After a quickish shop, we walked a few blocks to a burger place for lunch. 20 mins into our lunch, a family who was also at Talbots, trotted in. Miles looked at me and said "Daddy, who was here first?" Not sure what he was asking, I asked that he repeated his question. "Daddy, who was here first?" ah, I got it..."We were." I answered, assuming he meant who was here first - us or the family who just walked in. To which he answered "No, the Indians were here first."

To which I answered..."Yes, you're right they were."

Juked American history style by a 3.5yr old.

And It Clicked!

While Beebles & Daddo were in town for Thanksgiving (more to come on that later!), we took Miles out to the park to practice his bike, and it seemed to click. On one ride, he went about 100 yards!! He had an audience of an old Mamma Sue kid, and the attention of a lot of encouraging moms and kids, and I think it made all the difference. I am so proud of our little man, and can't believe just how fast he has grown up - makes me a bit sad, actually.

Our Little Miss Update

We've been talking (semi-regularly) with a doctor at Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) re: Amelia's index finger nail abnormalities. She invited us to attend a conference of Dermatologists at Standford on Sat. 11/19. So we're taking Amelia to her first conference! The goal and plan is to get a discussion started between attending Dermatologists regarding options for treatment. A lot of dermatologists will examine her and later discuss her diagnosis and treatment options with our doctors at PAMF, who will then follow up with us.

Last week, in preparation of the conference, we went into Stanford for Xrays on Amelia's fingers. This is to help inform the dermatologists prior to meeting Amelia at the conference.

Having done some research ourselves, we thought her nails closely resembled Congenital onychodystrophy of the index fingers (COIF). From the review of the XRays, it looks as though our diagnosis was correct. Below is the direct quote from the review of Amelia's XRays.

"Identical anomaly involving the distal phalanx of the left index finger to the anomaly of the distal phalanx of the right index finger.

There is a slightly larger exostosis arising from the base of the tuft of the terminal phalanx dorsally extending into the subungual region. This exostosis measures slightly less than 2 mm
in height. It is presumably congenital and due to bifid development."

Translated and abridged - this means she has bone spurs on the last bone digit of each of her index fingers. The spurs pushed into the nail matrix/bed, which is the cause of the abnormality.

This is a very rare abnormality, only cosmetic and has no known health issues associated. There are surgical options, where a matrix transplant from the toe could be done to correct the condition. Timing is flexible and waiting until Amelia is older allows for larger structures to operate on. This makes for an easier operation with a more predictable outcome. Waiting until Amelia is in her teens would also allow for more advancements in the field of tissue engineering and in the surgical procedures themselves.

We will also start meeting with pediatric hand surgeons based off recommendations we hope to get from the conference. We'd like to learn as much as we can about various options, rates of success etc.

Included are Amelia's XRays (I annotated).

Now we know how much 'chubb' surrounds baby bones.

Mia giving the finger...twice.

Amelia is a beauty and we're looking forward to her charming the doctors at her first conference.

SO much to love about her

Amelia is a wonderful girl. There have been so many stories over so many months, few of which we have actually captured for posterity. We've always called her "determined" - I think going back as far as when she was 3 months old. But as she gets bigger, she is also tough and funny, and a little bit of a nudge like any second child should be.

Last night I was reading to Miles and Amelia before bed. They were sitting side by side on the chair while I sat on the ottoman and read upside down. Amelia started to wiggle. So Miles started to wiggle. Amelia started to touch the book, so Miles started to touch the book. So there I was with one hand on the book, one hand on Miles and one hand on Amelia.

I guess Amelia then decided she was done sitting on the chair, and launched herself off of it. I think she hit her feet before she hit her face, but if so, it was only to slow herself down a bit. Tim after hearing the thump and my pleading"AMELIA" - came to see what the fuss was about.

She picked herself up. Dusted herself off. Looked at me and said, "I did it."
Looked at Tim, "I did it, Daddy."
The looked back at me, "Owwww".

I just love that her first response is pride and the second one was pain - tough little cookie!!!

"Menah Saahd"

Amelia and Miles have not gone back to school since Halloween - they've both been home sick with the Croup - complete with awful sounding coughs and waking their parents up alternately all night long.

Of note: weeks ago, Amelia started calling herself "Menah". This has been an odd term of endearment between me and Tim since we fell in love, so I have been supporting this happy coincidence and I call her Menah right back sometimes.

Yesterday morning, after a fitful night, we kept both kids home, and I captured this video. I just think it is too dang cute.