Amelia loves Ella

In my family we show affection by bugging people. Poking, teasing, even tossing things at people. When I graduated from high school, a friend came for the weekend. Dad threw M&Ms at her. I explained to her that if Dad throws something at you, it means he likes you. To be fair, this comes from Dad's side. We always got into huge wrapping paper fights at Christmas every year. And even Dad's aunt and uncles do this. It's normal for them to be running around at the reunion, having a big water fight. This is one way I've learned to show affection. And apparently my girls are learning this early.

Yesterday Ella was standing up watching tv. Amelia was sitting on the floor. While she's not exactly mobile yet, she can scoot forward on her butt. She was doing that yesterday. I was sitting in the same room but not paying a lot of attention when Amelia started giggling. Hysterically. I looked up to see her sitting right behind Ella, poking her in the butt with her toys. Ella moved away. Amelia moved closer and then starting tugging on Ella's pajamas, giggling and grinning the whole time. Ella screeched "STOP!" and moved away again. By this time I was giggling too. This cycle continued for a few minutes longer, until Ella finally moved far enough away that Amelia couldn't reach her. I'm still giggling thinking about it. Amelia is learning very early that antagonizing someone is a way the Atherton family shows affection. Amelia loves Ella. She also loves to annoy her.

Two years old

Ella turned two yesterday. Already. Time is passing quickly and I swear it is speeding up. Maybe it just seems like it because I have more demands on my time.

Anyhow, Ella is now two. She can walk and run and dance and talk and kind of spell her name. She tries to write it too. She still only scribbles with crayons but they are darker and more deliberate scribbles now. She finally acknowledges Amelia (about time, she's seven months old) and sometimes shares her toys. This is great when it's not a crayon or a book that Amelia proceeds to eat. She's growing up.

Even as I type out the words that I can barely believe time has gone so quickly, I know I'll have this feeling many more times: when Ella begins school, when she has her first date, when she goes to her first dance, when she graduates and then leaves for college, when she graduates from college, when she gets married, when she has her first baby and makes me a grandma. Yeah, I know, I'm only 25 and she's only 2. But if the last two years are any indication, the time will pass quickly.

In other news, tonight I wore an old, faded tee shirt to class. Nothing special, just the kind of shirt you've worn so much that it's really soft and comfortable. The part that makes this newsworthy is the fact that I have not worn this shirt in about three years - since shortly before I got pregnant with Ella. It wouldn't have fit. In the almost three years (so 36 months) since we got married, I have been pregnant for 18 months. When I wasn't pregnant, I was trying to lose the baby weight and was rather heavy. In August I started doing Turbo Jam again and started counting calories. It has worked GREAT. I'm currently down 30 pounds and am lighter than I was when I got pregnant with Ella. I still have a little ways to go to my long term goal, but I can wear clothes I haven't worn in a few years. It's so nice to dig out a box of clothes that have been too small for a long time and have them fit again! Very exciting.