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.