Cutie Patootie

Emily has been such a little cutie patootie lately, both in terms of her looks and her personality. As I mentioned in the last post, the school photographer got some great pictures of her this year. The photos are finally back, and this is one of the four poses that he captured.

Of course, this is a picture of the actual picture that I took with my phone, which is why it is so dark and grainy, but you get the idea. Personality-wise, she has just been such a charmer - very goofy and playful, but also very lovey and cuddly.

We have been working on potty training more diligently lately and she has been doing a great job with it. She has been in big girl underwear pretty much whenever she is awake and seems to be getting the hang of it. Although, we do still have some accidents and I think they are mostly because she just forgets that she isn't wearing a diaper, which I'm sure is probably hard to remember if you have spent your whole life in diapers.

Like Abbie, Emily got a chance to wear her Christmas dress this past weekend when we went to look at lights. Of course, people like to see little kids in fancy clothes, so she got lots of compliments.

Having the tree up (this is not our tree in the picture, by the way), has been lots of fun for Emily. She likes to look at the ornaments, and move them around, and take them off to play with. Frisbee, our Elf on the Shelf, has also been a big source of entertainment. The first morning with Frisbee in the house, Emily sat close by for well over an hour, just drinking her milk and watching very closely to see if she could catch Frisbee moving her hands. The next morning, when she awoke and found that Frisbee had moved locations during the night, she just burst out laughing. She just finds it all so fun and fascinating to have Frisbee around.

Halloween

In contrast to last year, when Emily refused to put on a Halloween costume, she was all over it this year. She chose to be a ladybug and had many opportunities to wear her costume.

She went to Boo at the Zoo twice during October, had a Halloween party at pre-school, and then went trick-or-treating (of course). She was really excited about it this year and loved the fact that people actually gave her candy. Most exciting for us, is that she is content with just collecting candy and doesn't really ask to eat it. As far as I'm concerned, that is the perfect solution.

I think that she really enjoyed seeing all the kids in costumes and all of the decorations. Oddly enough, however, there was one very tall kid in a giant gingerbread costume that totally freaked her out. He didn't come near her or anything, but just seeing him from afar really bugged her for some reason. So funny!

My difficulty on Halloween night was in trying to get her to actually smile and look at the camera for a picture. She still doesn't quite get that whole idea. Apparently, I got lucky this past weekend, though, because I finally was able to capture a smiling Emily that was looking at the camera.

This is how she seems to us all the time, but in every photo that I post she always seems so serious. In fact, it is so hard to get good pictures of her that I wasn't sure what to expect when the proofs of her school photos came back. Shockingly, however, the incredible photographer was able to get four separate pictures of her that are all adorable! Yes, apparently he is a very talented guy. I am so excited to get the prints back and to finally have some Emily photos in the house! :)

Colds, colds, and more colds

Poor little Emily has had constant colds ever since she started attending pre-school last month. One managed to turn into her first ear infection which we are still in process of treating - the first batch of antibiotics didn't do the trick, so now we are on to a second batch. We are starting to wonder whether there will ever be an end to the bugs that she can pick up at school.

Last Friday, we had our first parent-teacher conference with the head teacher in her room. The consensus from all three teachers in the room is that Emily is a very loving, sweet, gentle little girl who follows directions well, is respectful, and likes to help. Their hope for her is that she will learn to play with the other kids more and that she will join them in singing songs. In short, she is just hanging back and observing things, but is not the outgoing girl that we see at home. Time will tell whether she is an introvert who is shy in a crowd or whether she is just in the process of adapting to this new environment. Either way, I know that she likes school. She is always very excited to go and comes home talking about things that happen during her day.

Speaking of an excited, outgoing Emily, above is the photo that Chad snapped of Emily at Abbie's homecoming a couple weeks ago. As you can see, Emily just had a blast. The cheerleaders all doted on her - painting her face, and walking around with her, just thrilled to have a little "doll" to play with.

Around the house, Emily is as goofy as ever. The other day, she was spinning in circles, making herself dizzy. When she stopped spinning, she declared, "The house is falling over, I think." Of course, all these colds have also made her a bit edgy, which means that she isn't always in the mood to deal with Abbie. One night she declared, "Abbie tried to talk to me!" she was very upset that Abbie would try talking to her. I asked her what was so wrong with Abbie talking to her. She replied, "It's bad for my brain!" Alrighty then! She definitely has her own way of coping, though, and is apparently willing to share her wisdom with others. In response to a jazz singer on the radio, who must have sounded angry to her, she said, "He should go cuddle in his bed until he feels better." :)

As you can see above, Emily definitely likes to take her own advice. This is the cozy little nook that she made for herself yesterday - she gathered all her stuffed animals and blankets up in her little play house and then wiggled right into the middle of it. Once settled, she instructed me to turn off the light and close the door on my way out. She does this from time to time and then within a few minutes will call for me to come back and play with her some more. Funny girl!

Preschool

Earlier this month Emily started attending preschool two mornings a week. She goes from 9am - noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has been totally into it. She has always seen Abbie leave for school in the morning and now I think that she is excited to go to her own school.

Here she is on her first day. She looks kind of splotchy, but she hadn't been crying or anything. She just got into this trance-like mode - staring intently and taking it all in. We have been really happy with the place that we chose and excited for her to have the opportunity to interact with some kids her age while still being able to have plenty of time at home for naps and one-on-one attention. Of course, it is always about balancing the good and the bad, and on the bad side, she has already picked up a cold. :(

Other than this shift in her weekly routine, we don't have much news to report. She is a joy, as always, and her growing vocabulary and sentence structure is always fun to watch. Of course, there are a few zingers in there - every once in awhile you'll hear her say "Damn!" or "That's crappy!" We try not to laugh, but sometimes we can't help it. Then there are the incredibly sweet things that come out of her mouth. She was giving me big hugs yesterday and then she said, "I just love you, mama." So sweet!

First Haircut

Yes, it may be hard to believe, but Emily just got her first haircut this past weekend! I have been holding off for awhile, but it got to a point where the cute little blonde curls were getting a little scraggly looking. Unlike some kids who scream and carry on, Emily was really excited to get her hair cut. She has seen Abbie get haircuts before and likely considers it a "big kid" thing. We always go to one of those places that specializes in kids cuts and has TVs for them to watch. The incredibly serious look above is because she is just fixated on the TV, which she rarely gets to watch.

On the way to the salon, Abbie and I were talking about the TVs that they have and Emily asked, "Watch TB, Mama?" (Yes, she calls it TB.) I told her that, yes, she could watch TV at the salon because it is a special occasion. She replied, "Bad for my brain?" I cracked up. Apparently she was actually listening on all those occasions when I have told one or both kids that TV is bad for their brains. What I find kind of funny about this is the fact that she probably doesn't even know what her brain is or what it does. She just knows that TV isn't good for it. :)

Speaking of things that are bad for your brain, another recent first for Emily (although not a fun one) was her trip to the ER last week. Sitting in her booster seat, which is strapped to a chair, she used her foot to push off the table and managed to send the chair flying backwards. She, and the chair, and the booster all landed on their backs on the tile floor and she got a nice bump to her head. Kind of normal kid stuff (falls and bumps), but then 20 minutes later she began vomiting, getting groggy, and looking pale. Clearly a concussion - not good. Anyway, we decided that a little trip to the ER was in order.

Fortunately, she started getting better, not worse, and I think actually ended up enjoying the ride with the EMTs and the attention that she got in the ER at the children's hospital. Of course, it was a slow day at the ER and most of the time she was the only kid in the pod. She looked at all the empty beds and asked us where all the other kids were - as if she was hoping for a playdate or something. Ultimately, we just hung out and kept her under observation for awhile. As we got ready to leave, she decided that she liked all the party favors she received - the tiny gown, the ankle bracelets, and toe thingy that measured her pulse. Most of it was hers to keep, but we had to coax her into trading the gown for a Dora sticker.

I'm sure it seems a bit perverse to whip out the iPhone and photograph your kid in the ER, but clearly this was long after it was clear that she was OK. As for the chair with the booster seat strapped to it, she hasn't been real keen on using it since the fall and neither have we! We have resurrected the high chair for the time being. Many 2-year-olds are fine without any booster, but she is just such a tiny little thing, and we really don't need any more trips to the ER, so I think that all of us are happy with the high chair for now!

Always Observant

Ever since the day she was born, Emily has been the most observant child that I have ever known (OK, admittedly I have really only known her and Abbie, but she just seems really observant). In the photo above, you can see those keen eyes watching the fish in the fish tank at the doctor's office. I just love this picture because I took it from the other side of the tank, so you can see both her and the fish at the same time, which is kind of fun. Also, I love the fact that Emily happens to be wearing a dress with fish on it.

This doctor visit was for her 2-year old check-up. She is doing great and her percentiles are holding steady. She is 31.5 inches (10th percentile) and 23.4 pounds (10th - 25th percentile). So, she's growing steadily, but she is clearly taking after me. Right now the doctor is projecting her to be about 5'1" when she grows up. By contrast, Abbie is projected to be 5'4".

Although the picture above is from one of those stupid rides at the mall, we have actually been doing other stuff with the kids that is more interesting. Last weekend, we took both girls to the Dallas World Aquarium, which was really cool. These big blue eyes soaked in everything from manatees and octopuses to sharks and crocodiles. She just loved it.

Around the house we are working on all the usual 2-year-old things - we can't grab, we need to share, we need to be gentle with our books, etc. One of the more interesting things that Emily has started doing is blaming everything bad that happens to her on Abbie. So, for example, if I accidentally scratch her, she'll declare "Abbie hurt me!" When we point out that Abbie is nowhere in sight, she'll just stick to her story, "Abbie hurt me! Abbie scratched me!" Or if she falls, its "Abbie pushed me! Abbie knocked me down!" It is really kind of perplexing to watch - in a way its funny, in that she tries to blame her big sister; in a way its baffling, in that she seems to believe things that are so far from reality. We try to correct her, but sometime I think that just makes her blame Abbie more. Goofy girl!

Ah, to be a toddler . . .

It is really apparent from watching Emily that a toddler's life is just filled with all sorts of amazing and wonderful things. Because we don't have any pets (besides the fish), Emily rarely gets to see and touch real animals. She recently got to go to both a petting zoo and the real zoo. I think the petting zoo was simultaneously fascinating and a bit intimidating. She loved touching the animals, but also wasn't sure what to expect from them.

As for the real zoo, she was really fascinated by all the animals and watched them intently. She was even fascinated with the reptile displays - watching the fish, crocodiles, sea turtles, lizards, and snakes. Of course, when given the chance to actually touch a milk snake (very long and skinny, but harmless), she quickly declined. Below she is having a great time enjoying the mist that keeps the visitors cool on hot days (which we have a lot of).

Other signs that Emily's world is really fascinating come from the names that she applies to things, which always make me laugh and can't help but stimulate the imagination. A few that have made me smile:

She refers to the yoga mat as the "yogurt mat"
She refers to the pool guy as the "cool guy"
She believes that the mummies in her Halloween book are "mommies"

Of course the ultimate toddler-ism came at dinner last night. We had soft shelled tacos with ground beef, which apparently we haven't had in awhile. As I put Emily in her chair, she took one look at Abbie's taco and said, "poop diaper." Admittedly, they did kind of look like poopy diapers, but that just isn't the image that any of us wanted in our heads as we sat down to eat. Needless to say, Emily elected to have pasta rather than joining us for "poop diapers."

Happy Birthday!

Our big girl turned 2 yesterday! I feel like she has been 2 for awhile, but yesterday it became official. Abbie made her a special birthday crown, which Emily actually really enjoyed wearing.

We also had a small party for her. Ellie's family came over and Chad made pulled pork on the Big Green Egg. We got balloons and a big, insanely sweet, cake from Sam's Club. Emily definitely knew that it was her birthday and that it was a big deal. Periodically, throughout the day, I would hear her singing "Happy birthday to you!" to herself. Also, she kept saying, "Eat cake. Yummy!" which is pretty funny because I don't think that she has ever really had cake. As for presents, she got a keyboard, a water table, and a play grill. We actually haven't even given her the play grill yet because she was so happy with everything else.

Such a Ham

Our precious little peanut has been lots of fun, as usual. Above is a picture of her exploring the fountains when she accompanied us to campus one day. Of course, it is still almost impossible to get her to look at the camera or to smile. She hung out on campus with me while Daddy helped some of his students. In the middle of Daddy's meetings, Emily decided that she wanted to help too and she kept saying, "Me help kids." She wanted me to bring her to Daddy's office so that she could get in on the whole business of helping. She couldn't quite figure out why we never seemed to make it to Daddy's office. Hmmm.

One of our outings on Easter Sunday was to take a nice drive to see the bluebonnets, which are apparently really impressive this year. There are towns where huge fields of them seem to stretch out forever. It is pretty impressive. The rumor that is instilled in the children here from their earliest days in school is that it is illegal to pick a bluebonnet. However, being the contrarian role model that he is, Chad made sure to look this up, confirm that it is NOT illegal, and then proceed to tell every native that he meets that they are mistaken about this alleged law. That being said, they are very pretty, and are worth preserving, so we were careful to make sure that the girls did not pick any bluebonnets.

Emily really is such a ham when she is feeling good (teething is still an issue for her). She really likes to flirt and tease. She speaks in sentences more and more frequently lately and is doing a good job of putting words together. I don't always understand what she is talking about. Her ideas and stories are getting more and more complex and her memory is getting really good, so she sometimes will start talking about something out of the blue and I won't have any context to help me decipher it. However, most of the time she does a great job at getting her point across. 

She has taken an interest in cutting, utensils in general, and in cooking. She likes to help stir and gets excited about helping to make pancakes, eggs, PB&J sandwiches, etc. This is something that we regularly did with Abbie when she was this age, but now that Abbie is firmly established as sous chef (coat and all) it doesn't leave much room for Emily. Many times Emily will just make due with the play kitchen and will make me sandwiches, etc. Funny to think of a chef that doesn't eat even half of the ingredients that she cooks with. I'm hopeful that encouraging her interest in cooking will encourage her interest in trying new foods.

Last, but not least, our little ham felt the need to catch up on the news yesterday. So funny. Do you think the WSJ would pay us for the photo? Perhaps if they start marketing their paper to the under 10 crowd! :)

Big Girl

Emily is really getting to be such a big girl.

 She has been doing a great job with her words and has started putting together sentences. Last night at dinner, she said "Yummy! Thank you, Dada." Its so amazing to hear. Some of her sentences are less perfectly constructed, but still fun! I think that last night she was trying to say that she had had a good day, so she said "Good day me."

She has been really into pretend play lately and has been cooking up a storm in the play kitchen. She also likes to pretend that she is going places (like to the store) and will get all ready to go and then wave and say goodbye to us as if her ride is just waiting outside for her. When we actually do go some place, she gets really excited about it and likes to bring her purse, and put on her own shoes. Here she is ready for the weekly trip to Target.

Notice that she decided that her bunny blankets should go along for the ride and that a hat was essential, despite the 80 degree weather.

Emily was also very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa C. a couple weeks ago. She was really cool with them holding her, getting her out of her crib in the morning, etc. She frequently asked Grandpa to get her up on his lap so that she could look at the computer with him. She is fascinated with screens and totally bummed that the rest of the family seems to look at this TV thing from time to time, but that she is never allowed to watch it with us. Apparently the computer is the next best thing.

In general, Emily's mood has been great lately. However, she has also struggled with some pain from emerging teeth. A molar popped through last week and it looks like some more top teeth are getting ready to come through any day now. This morning she was in one of her really good moods - ready to play and read books. This seemed to continue after I left for work. As you can see, she looks thrilled to be at the park enjoying the nice weather.

Two!

Emily is quickly making the transition from baby to big kid. Even though her 2nd birthday is still a few months away, she is becoming more and more of a two year old everyday. She is showing more complexity of thought, more strong opinions, more times of frustration - all the struggles of being two. When she is in a good mood and things are going well, she is a total ham. She recently started entertaining us with her very own knock-knock joke, which Chad captured part of on video. It generally goes something like this:

"Knock-knock"
"Who's there?"
"Elmo!"
"Elmo who?"
"Abbie!"

Basically, the punchline (which is always nonsensical) always changes, and sometimes (like in the video below) is non-existent because she just cracks herself up at the thought of how funny it all is.

She is also doing a great job with her words. In the photo below, she put these blocks on her wrists and then said, "bracelets". When I was talking this morning about how much older she seems, she said "exciting". I'm just never sure what is going to pop out of her mouth. This past weekend, she surprised me by saying, "changed my mind." Last week I was wearing some pants that I hadn't worn in awhile and she surprised me by saying, "new pants!"

Of course, when she is having a two-year old moment it can be quite dramatic. When she feels frustrated by something she will cry and refuses to let anyone comfort her. She will cry and say, "No, no, no, no, no, no!" If you approach her she'll yell, "away, away!" Of course, if you go too far away then she will cry for you to come back.

She has also figured out how to go boneless if you pick her up when she doesn't want to be picked up. This past Saturday, Chad got her out of the car, but she didn't want to be held and didn't want to go inside. She went limp and he just laid her down on the mat outside the door. We just stepped over her as we unloaded groceries, etc. and she was happy as a clam to have succeeded at not going inside.

I think that ultimately I needed her to come inside for a nap, so I had to pick her up and bring her in, which made her mad, of course. Poor little thing.

Western Girl

Emily has also gotten into all the western stuff that has been going on around the house these days. We couldn't buy Abbie a hat without getting one for Emily, too. She chose this pink one and refused to take it off. Of course, the second time we went to the rodeo, we brought her hat but then she actually did take it off and Chad kept carrying it for her. This became problematic because all these actual cowboys kept smirking at him and saying, "Nice pink hat!" as they passed by. He was kind of embarrassed, I think.

The other big "event" for Emily from this past week is that she tried to climb out of her crib after nap and fell to the floor. She ended up with a bruise on her forehead but really wasn't hurt in any other way. It was definitely scary for her though, and she talked to me about it for days afterwards. Every time I put her down for a nap or for bed at night she would think about it and say, "crib . . . climb . . . fall . . . head . . . boo-boo . . . crying." This is her way of recounting things - she gives you all the essential words and lets you fill in all the small words around it. Needless to say, we have since put her mattress on the lowest level, which we apparently should have done sooner, but we just had no indication that she would try to climb out. And, I think that I have finally reassured her that she will be OK, but this was a really big deal for her. Hopefully this scare will make her think twice about stuff in the future, but who knows.

Hodge-Podge

I really can't think of a good, cohesive title for this post, so I guess it is just a random collection of items based on the photos that I have of our elusive Emily. It is so hard to get pictures of her because she just never sits still. Not a big runner the way Abbie always was, but always moving none the less.

Early in the holiday season (mid-December) we brought Abbie's class birds, Jack and Jill, home for the winter break. This was a great opportunity for us. Emily got to enjoy the birds and I learned that I would never want to be a bird owner! :) When they initially came home, Emily was fascinated. As you can see, she just plopped down by the cage and watched them intently. As time went by, the fascination wore off (for all of us) and we were happy to send them back to school last week.

As for Emily's holiday season, I think it was a good one. She seemed to really enjoy all the company that we had around the house. After New Year's things got pretty quiet and I think it was a bit surprising for her. As for presents, she seems to like everything that she got - a pillow pet from Abbie, a vacuum from Grandma and Grandpa C., a beanbag chair and a baby doll from Santa, some ball toys from Mom and Dad and Greg and Elizabeth, just to name a few. She is not very aggressive about it, but over time she did seem to get the hang of ripping open wrapping paper. The picture below is from a day sometime before Christmas when we were in Pier 1. She is a very tactile person and just loves soft fabrics. She got into this Papasan chair and just would not get out. I think she just loved the soft, cozy feel of it.

As for Christmas day itself, we bought a cute little Christmas dress for Emily. I couldn't wait to see her in it, but she wanted nothing to do with it. At one point I got it about half way on before she started to object, but that was as close as we ever got. So, random photos of her in PJs (like the one below) or in a diaper are pretty much all we have. The idea of asking her to sit on Santa's lap this year was out of the question, so we didn't even try it - way too much stranger danger for our skeptical little one.

Interestingly, Emily has recently come around to the idea of liking Halloween costumes. Who knows, maybe three months from now she'll be into wearing Christmas dresses. Anyway, her favorite is Abbie's old dragon costume. She wears it around the house for hours on end. Its pretty cute to see her swishing her little tail as she walks and letting out little baby "Rar" sounds.

As for other developments, Emily had her 18 month check-up on December 29th. Here are the stats as I can recall them - 18 pounds, 12 ounces (1st percentile), length is 10th percentile, and head is 19th percentile. Pretty much holding steady relative to past measurements.

Also, tooth #4 has finally broken through. It is one of the top center teeth, so now she will have a nice, symmetrical set of two on top and two on bottom. 

Finally, she continues to be a total charmer and have a great sense of humor (when she is feeling well, of course). Her vocabulary and pronunciation are incredible. I really can't even count all the words that she is saying. She repeats the last word of everything that we say and just knows a ton. Slowly, we are getting more and more insight into what she is thinking. The other day Abbie was annoying her and her response was to ask, "Abbie, school?" Like she was thinking in her head, "Why is this girl even here? How can I get rid of her so that she quits bothering me? I know, maybe its time for her to go to school so that I can have everything all to myself."

She also has a great memory and perhaps is a little too willing to follow directions. In December we did a jigsaw puzzle, which we had set up on a coffee table in the living room. Clearly, we didn't want her touching it, so we said "No, no. This is only for big people." Of course, now the puzzle is long gone, but the rule seems to live on. She has all sorts of puzzles for her age - little wooden puzzles with 4 pieces, etc. However, she won't play with them. Every time we try to show her one and ask her if she would like to do a puzzle she replies, "No, No . . . people." I have tried explaining that these puzzles are for little people, but she says, "No, no." I have also tried explaining that she is "people" too, to which she replied, "NO!" Too funny.