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Amanda Rachel
Amanda was born on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 3:16 pm

October 2008

This month was very busy, including a trip to the pumpkin farm, celebrating Grandpa Dave's birthday, a trip to the playground with friends, the city's Fall Family Festival, and of course, Halloween! In addition, Amanda made a big change this month in moving from diapers to underwear. Yes, she undertook (and has mostly succeeded in) potty training! She has good days and bad days, like all of us, and is slowly but surely getting the hang of it. She is very proud of herself and loves getting her "potty presents" when she successfully uses the potty.

She enjoyed Halloween much more this year than last year and continued to wear her pirate costume for days after. She also wanted to return to the neighbors' houses in the days following Halloween to collect more candy. She didn't quite understand or accept that you can only do that once a year.

School is going quite well and Amanda has made many friends there. She talks about them often, and when we see some of them at Tot Shabbat, they get so excited to see each other. She is also learning lots of new songs in English, Spanish and Hebrew. Luckily for us, her teachers routinely send home song sheets with the lyrics.

Though we thought it would never happen, Jen re-relocated to DC this month! Welcome back, Jen! And finally (finally!), we welcomed Amanda's newest friend to the world, Sean Bradford Dodson-Green (formerly known as The Rookie).

This month's theme seems to be that anything Elijah can do, Amanda can also do, no matter what.

Pumpkin Farm with Hannah

   

Choosing a pumpkin is quite a task. How do you pick just one? And who can even pick them up?

 

Load 'em up! Get a move on. PUSH!

 

Amanda gets a lift from Daddy, and also a helping hand onto the hayride

 

 

**Overheard this month**

Taking off her clothes: “I’m putting on naked!”

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Dave!

 

Amanda was so excited about his birthday that she kept turning to him, patting his hand, and saying,
"Happy birthday, Grandpa Dave!"

 

**Overheard this month**

"Mommy, your hair can go barefoot today"

Potty Training Princess

Part of potty training included "potty presents" each time Amanda successfully made it to the potty.
Here she is modeling one of her favorite ones, a tiara with matching earrings. She also earns an M&M (which she refers to as a "bean") for each successful venture.

And, this being Amanda we are dealing with, she requested underwear with cars on it, "like Elijah has." They don't make girls underwear with cars on it, so we had to buy her some boys underwear. She likes them just fine and hasn't even asked about the flap in front.

How she knows what Elijah's underwear looks like is not something we want to dwell on.

**Overheard this month**

After observing Stacey use the potty: "I’m so proud of you, Mommy! You made on potty!”

Playground!
    
Feel the burn
 
It's Jen! Welcome back, Jen!!
 
Suzanne, Merrie and the the Rookie actively watch, while Aleck, Chris and Luna tough it out on a bench in the shade

**Overheard this month**

Referring to the sunrise: "The light is on outside!"

Alexandria Fall Family Festival

Pumpkins and Ponies and Scarecrows, Oh My!

 

Pumpkin painting flanked by Faren (left) and Lexi (right)

 

Amanda's doppleganger, Mayah

 

Amanda lovingly helped create our shrunken head scarecrow. Then all of our scarecrow friends sat down for a picnic.

Yes, that's a snake she's touching. Stacey was not a fan of this activity.

Pony Ride, Revisited

At this event last year, Amanda's "ride" was more like a swipe of the tush on the saddle and then a torrent of tears. Things went much more smoothly this year.

Click on either picture below to see a video of the ride (video is 18 seconds)

 

She was a little apprehensive at first, but ultimately enjoyed it and even took time at the end to pet her horse and say,
"Thank you, Blue."

**Overheard this month**

Putting sunglasses on Stacey: "Wow, Mommy, you look like a little rock star in those!"

Meet Sean Bradford (The Rookie) Dodson-Green!

After a very long wait (he was 8 days late!), Amanda's new friend Sean finally came into the world. He's happy and healthy and though Amanda hasn't met him yet, she is very excited about him and often jumps up and down shouting,
"A baby, a baby, a baby!"

You can read all about Sean and see more pictures at http://rookieindc.blogspot.com/

**Overheard this month**

"I'm am"

Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh, Matey! Happy Halloween!

Halloween was lots of fun, and it was even warm outside. Amanda was so excited to go trick or treating with Elijah and her old friend Jack. Jack and his family used to live next door and they have recently returned to the area and joined us for the night.

Once Amanda heard that Elijah was dressing as a pirate for Halloween, she decided that was the costume for her, as well.
Her costume was marketed as "Sassy Swashbuckler"

   

Amanda threatens and Elijah poses, but in reality, it seems being a pirate is a lot of just milling around (with Maggie and Tonya).

The Neighborhood Gang on Halloween

Top (l-r): Tom, Yupin with Ricky (Little Devil), Aleck
Bottom (l-r): Amy with Andy (Banana), Jack (Monkey), Stacey, Amanda (Sassy Swashbuckler), Elijah (Pirate), Tonya (Big Pirate) with Maggie (Butterfly)

**Overheard this month**

At the neighbors' doors: "Trick or Treating!"

Amanda: 2 going on 16

**Overheard this month- Amanda the Teenager**

“That’s cool!” 

“That’s awesome!”  

 “No way!” 
 “Yep.” 
 “Nope.”

**Overheard this month**

Out of the blue over breakfast: "Where's the GPS?"

See all of these pictures and more at our photo gallery

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