Only Amelia...

Only Amelia Story #1

Mary picked out a beautiful cake for Amelia that completely tickled her. A lovely landscape with the princess/heroine above perched delicately on top, her name inscribed on it, the whole deal. She loved it and it truly impressed her friend with whom we vacationed this past weekend (to Cannon Beach, Oregon).

As she sat there admiring and whispering little things to her new portable heroine, I asked her what she was going to name her. I should have known better. Paralysis-inducing question. Oliver just spits out names without thinking - "Archer" for his toy dog from Nana, "Crochy" for his pet cockroach, "Baby Sandy" for his doll from Bubbe. Amelia agonizes and ends up naming things "Amelia #3." It's not at all that she's not creative, she just spends more time worrying about being dissatisfied with her selection than actually thinking about names.

Me: What do you think you'll name her?

Amelia: (suddenly goes crestfallen) What would you name her? I'm no good at naming anything.

Me: You are a creative girl with lots of ideas. What about giving her a name that has something to do with what she looks like?

Amelia: (ponders) Her name is Animal because she likes animals. See, she's reaching her hand out to the animals of the world.

So the four adults in attendance that weekend had to ask her questions about "Animal" the princess, only call her "Animal" when addressing her, etc. Many looks of suppressed hilarity were exchanged.

Only Amelia Story #2

In a classic case of Amelia being Amelia (i.e. "unique") she was about 30 feet behind me as the other three kids ran eagerly towards the beach. Amelia was dragging a paper bag that looked to be 50 lbs. I was a bit exasperated because it is always VERY difficult to keep her moving (think, cattle prod) and the other kids were about to crest the hill in front and get out of sight. I ran back to see what was keeping her. She had three absolutely enormous rocks in the bag.

Me: Amelia, can you please dump those rocks out so we can get to the beach with Oliver, Z, and O? (her brother and two friends)
Amelia: (sighs deeply) Mama, that's exactly the problem. An evil witch turned Oliver, Z, and O into stones and I would feel terrible leaving them behind, so I'm taking them to the beach. We can't just leave them lying here by the road.

You can imagine this one was challenging to solve. It is useless to point out that Oliver, Z, and O are about 50 feet ahead of us excitedly leaping onto the sand.

P.S. Credit for those gorgeous Animal-on-the-beach shots go to Jessyca, who was kind enough to meet Amelia's photographic needs exactly.