21 Months Old: What's Happening

Another month has flown by, and Emily continues to grow faster than we can even believe. She's very independent, and wants to show us how "Emmy do it" with everything from getting dressed and undressed to helping unload the dishwasher, and grabbing her Swiffer every time the vacuum cleaner comes out.

She loves any kind of art (or anything that makes a mess), and it's so fun to watch her in her element. She gets Gymbo stamps every Saturday morning after class--just a rubber stamp of Gymbo, but she wants them on her hands, feet and tummy every time. We bought her a couple of stamps of her own, and it's very apparent that she enjoyed them.


Em hasn't used her high chair in months--it wouldn't fit close to our table, so when we moved to the new house in July, we just put it away and started using her booster seat at every meal. We love the fact that we all sit down to dinner together at night, and she seems to enjoy being at the table with us. She knows where each of our chairs is, and will ask us to move if we sit in the wrong one!

She continues to be a good eater most of the time. She almost always eats a great breakfast, and most days eats breakfast at least twice (once before we leave and again at school). She does pretty well with lunch, and dinner is getting to be a toss up. Some of her favorite foods are a little surprising--broccoli still tops the list, and she loves fish (especially salmon), green beans, peas and corn. Rice is something she asks for a lot, and she prefers it over potatoes. She loves cheese, and of course bread. When we have bread with dinner, we've started serving it at the end of the meal--it's the only way she'll eat anything else on her plate! Ketchup (or pretty much any sauce) is another trouble maker at the table--if she sees ketchup, she'll want to eat it with her fingers and not touch anything else. Pizza is the one food she'll always say she wants for dinner if we ask her--the only problem is that when she sees Daddy's black olives, she doesn't want anything else. Silly girl.

Our challenge with meal time is that she wants to play now more than eat. She'll sometimes take a bite or two of her food, and then pick up her plate and dump it on the floor! I mentioned it the other day to her teachers, and they couldn't believe it because she's so well behaved for meal times at school. We're working on our consistent reaction when she does it, and have even tried a time out chair a few times, which really seems to hurt her feelings. One night, she dumped her food on the floor and Mick told her to go sit down--she put herself in the time out chair and cried! Sometimes it's tough not to laugh at some of the things she does--but we know the behavior won't be cute and funny for long.

Em battled a 24-hour stomach bug this month, but she bounced back pretty quickly. It seems to be that time of year again when there's so much sickness going around--we're hoping she can steer clear of most of it this winter! It's nice that she's beginning to communicate with us when she doesn't feel well and tell us what hurts.

She's becoming more imaginative when she plays--one afternoon, she sat in Mick's recliner with Mickey and her baby doll and rocked her to sleep. Check out her funny little smirk as she tried to convince us that she was sleeping too.


She's becoming more attached to her stuffed animals, and she always wants to hold at least a few of them when she dances (which is anytime she hears music). Here she is dancing with Gymbo and Frosty.

Emily's vocabulary has to be at or above 200 words now. I was keeping a list of her words, but it was difficult to capture them all. I hope she'll always have the same love of books she does now, because I think us reading with her all the time is part of the reason she talks so well. She remembers everything and everybody, and is excited to keep telling people "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year." She won't know what to think when the holiday season has passed. I have to admit that I'm sad to see it go this year too--it has been a great month!

Christmas

Mick and I stayed up on Christmas Eve to help Santa's elves put Emily's new kitchen together, and could hardly wait until the next morning. She was up nice and early, saying "Santa, where are you?!" We had been talking a lot about Santa coming while she was asleep, so I'm not sure if she really remembered or not.

We decided to do breakfast before presents, because we figured she wouldn't eat once she got in her kitchen! We had pancakes and then let her open presents. She was very precise and tore every shred of paper off of the gifts--we gave her a stuffed Gymbo (the clown from her Gymboree classes), and Aunt Jenn, Uncle Jason, Cody and Chase sent this very cool baby stroller, which was great for carrying not only her baby, but also food and dishes once she got to her kitchen!

She was so excited by those two things that she wouldn't have cared if that was it, but Santa had dropped off one more surprise.

The kitchen came with a bunch of food, dishes, pots & pans and utensils, and I had set it all up for her--she came right in and made herself at home.

She missed absolutely nothing! Through the rest of the day on Sunday, and again Monday, she'd be in the middle of something and just stop and say "I wanna cook!" and run in her play room where we have the kitchen set up.

She liked cooking for Mommy, Daddy, Gymbo, and even gave her baby doll a chocolate chip cookie at one point. She enjoyed playing with one of us in there, but we'd catch her having a great time by herself too.

The eggs seemed to be her favorite--she'd flip them over and just laugh. Such a little clown.

I think Em had a pretty merry Christmas :). I honestly took more video than still photos, so check out the videos on her link to the right!

SANTA!

I was off work on Friday, so I kept Emily at home so we could have a girls' day together. We had a free pass from missing one of her Gymboree play classes, so we went to a music class this morning. Emily had a great time dancing and trying out tons of new musical instruments!

From there, we headed to the mall. I was determined to give her one more shot at Santa. We got there and there was about an hour wait for Santa--the mall here has a pager system, so we signed in and took our pager. We spent some time in the bookstore, which Emily loves--she'll just pick a book off the shelf and sit in the middle of the floor to flip through it. She also had a great time playing at the indoor playground, and we grabbed a quick lunch before our pager went off and we headed back.

Emily was SO excited to see Santa, and I was just hoping she wouldn't lose her nerve. She got more and more giddy the closer we got, and when it was "Emmy's turn," she not only went to him, but she held out her arms, let him pick her up, and sat in his lap!

I was so proud of my big girl :). She told Santa her name was Emmy Claire Jackson and she wanted him to bring her toys and yellow nail polish. Beautiful.

I snapped a few pictures with the camera on my phone while they were chatting.

She gave him a hug goodbye, and waved to him as we left. She was totally starstruck!

Visit with Grandma and Papa

I've been way behind on posting Emily's adventures lately--the end of the year is always our busiest time at work, and this year has been even more so. I've been working late almost every night after Emily goes to bed, which means I've fallen behind on some of the things I'd rather be doing this time of year.

We just signed a new contract with Mission Hospital in Asheville, which is about 30 miles from my parents' house. Last week, I needed to be at the hospital for part of the day Wednesday and Thursday, so I took advantage of the trip and took Emily with me. We got to Grandma and Papa's around 10:30 Wednesday morning, and I left shortly after that to head to Asheville. Emily was excited the whole trip, and when we pulled up in the driveway, she squealed "Grandma's house!"

She certainly seemed to have a great time, playing with some of the same toys I played with 30 years ago!


She also enjoyed taking a walk down the mountain and throwing rocks in this creek across from their house.

Then she took a turn on the piano and organ with Papa.

As usual, Grandma was taking the pictures, so she didn't end up in any of them!

We headed home Thursday afternoon, and will hopefully be able to plan more of these quick visits in the future!

Dance! Dance!

Check out Em's dance moves--I would have recorded longer, but my battery died!

The Next American Idol

Emily is quite the little performer these days—she loves to sing and dance, so we often find ourselves hoping no one is peeking through our windows as we have after-dinner dance parties in the living room. It seems like some of the Christmas music has really pushed her into high gear—we got in the car one afternoon from school, and she was asking for “Mr. Grinch! Mr. Grinch!” I had to purchase the song for my iPod so she can hear it on demand now. Frosty and Rudolph are also some favorites, along with Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey—very silly, but Emily loves it. She knows “Old MacDonald” and although her favorite part is the E-I-E-I-O, she loves to choose the next animal on the farm, so halfway through the verse, she’ll yell “COW!” or “CHICKEN!”

Her memory is amazing to me—she had a little rash on Monday (turned out to be a reaction to switching soap), so I picked her up early to take her to the pediatrician. We were in the exam room, and I told her we were waiting for the doctor—she laughed, pointed her finger and said “no more monkeys jumping on the bed!” If that doesn’t make sense to anyone reading this, there’s a kid’s song about five little monkeys jumping on the bed. When one falls off and bumps his head, Mommy calls the doctor and the doctor says “no more monkeys…” You get the idea. We haven’t sung that song in a while, but we also don’t normally talk about the doctor, so she evidently remembers it well.

We are certainly never at a loss for entertainment :).

Christmas Outing

This afternoon, we went over to Blakeney (our frequent spot) because Santa was visiting. We didn't stay in line to try to sit in Santa's lap again, but now we're considering going back out tomorrow because Emily had a fit to see him! It's just hard to tell if the wait will be worth it, or if she'll change her mind at the last minute. I didn't have my camera, and my phone doesn't take great pictures, but here's a shot of Em and Daddy with Rudolph,

the big snowman,

and checking out the big tree where Santa and Mrs. Claus were.

It was getting late--Em was tired and hungry, and we needed to get home or we might have stayed!

First Haircut

I've been thinking about getting Emily's hair cut for a while now--it's getting so much longer, and I know it will grow better and be healthier with the dead ends cut off. So sort of on whim, we went to Pigtails and Crewcuts, this cute little kids' salon that we pass by all the time. We were a little unsure of how she'd react, but she was sold when she saw the airplane!

Surprisingly, she loved it!

She sat up in the airplane in front of the mirror like such a big girl.

They had a special package for first haircuts where they saved a lock of her hair and took a picture at the end.

So neither grandma is panicking, we didn't cut off all of her curls--it still looks beautiful :).

Can Hardly Wait!

The boxes are just killing me! We ordered Emily a play kitchen for Christmas and had it shipped--I've put the boxes in an inconspicuous place so Emily doesn't get curious, but I'm just dying to put it all together.

Christmas Eve might be more fun for me than Christmas morning will be for Em :).

Echoes

Emily's vocabulary is expanding so quickly we can hardly believe our ears. One of her favorite words to repeat is "exactly," and she'll say it whenever we do.

When I picked her up from school yesterday, she hugged me and told one of the other parents "my mommy!" And she certainly knows how to say "I want my daddy/mommy," depending on what she wants.

Last night, Mick took her outside to see the moon and twinkles while I was cooking dinner (she LOVES going outside to see them), and it was a little cloudy, so they couldn't find the moon. Mick came in laughing because Em was outside saying "where ARE you Moon?"

She also enjoys talking on the phone more now--I don't want to be one of those parents who thinks everyone who calls needs to talk to her on the phone, but we do let her call one of her Grandmas or Papas sometimes, and she can carry on a conversation!

Other times, she'll just sort of echo what we say, or she'll pick out the word we put the most emphasis on and repeat it. Even though she can identify most everyday objects, it seems the most popular thing for her now is pointing and saying "whatsat?"

Boyfriends

Emily is quite popular with the boys in her class--Declan has been one of her favorites for a while now, but he apparently wasn't giving her enough attention since she's now completely focused her attention on Ben.

I have to give it to her--she always seems to choose the cutest boy in her class! Essence and Brandie say that Emily and Ben will get a book and go over and sit together and read, or just talk and hug each other. It's the most adorable little thing. Declan is jealous now, so he's following Emily and she wants nothing to do with him--it's amazing to me that at 20 months old, they're already playing the same games adults do!

Sometimes when we get to Gateway in the morning, Emily will get out of her carseat saying "Benny!". I have to admit, I've also coaxed her into brushing her teeth by telling her that Benny wants to see her pretty shiny teeth. Hey, it works :).

Daddy's Birthday Weekend

We went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN years ago with Mick’s family for Christmas and had so much fun that I thought it would be fun to go for Mick’s birthday this year. His birthday is December 4, so we planned to take Monday the 5th off and go for a long weekend. I was talking with Robbie & Stacy a few weeks ago, and they decided to come with us, so we rented a cabin in Pigeon Forge, and we’ve really been looking forward to the trip. I forgot to take a picture of the cabin, so I borrowed the one from the website :).

The whole area is Christmas overload this time of year, which is part of the reason I was so excited for Emily to see it. We left Friday afternoon and picked Emily up a little early from school. She took her shoes and socks off to get comfy, and played on Mick’s iPad most of the way up until we got into the mountains.

Shortly after we put it away, Emily started crying—we thought it was only because it was a little past dinner time, and we knew she was tired, too. We were wrong. We were almost all the way up the mountain, and Emily threw up—we realized then that she was carsick. The roads were so curvy that even I felt a little queasy, but this is the first time she’s ever been carsick, so we just weren’t expecting it. We pulled over and got semi-cleaned up. Luckily, we were at the cabin within 5 minutes, so no one had to ride far after that.

Robbie, Stacy and Zachary had gotten there a little ahead of us and had brought dinner with them, so we ate and got Emily in bed not too far off her schedule.

Saturday morning, we got up and decided to go to Dollywood.


Emily and Zachary were both difficult to stop long enough for a picture :).

We got there an hour before it actually opened, but were still able to go in, and it gave us a good opportunity to take some pictures and check everything out before the crowd started. Emily immediately found a snowman and told us he was ready to "walk away!"

We stopped to eat lunch and were surprised by a visit from Santa! Emily loved him from afar, but wanted nothing to do with him up close!

We found the kids section and spent most of the afternoon there--

we played games, rode rides,

and Emily practiced her dance moves with Uncle Robbie.

Some of the kids' rides had steering wheels and buttons to push to play music, and of course, those were her favorites.

She was completely mesmerized when we went into Santa's Workshop with the enormous toys!


There was a huge white board on this wall with a Christmas picture on it--all Emily had to see was markers, and she was there. She loves to color!

We had a lot of fun at Dollywood, and left just as it started to get dark. We had pizza for dinner at Mellow Mushroom, and we're now convinced we don't even need a sippy cup for Emily when we go out--she just wants milk with a straw like a big girl!

Sunday, we went out for breakfast and then to a store called The Incredible Christmas Place--it really is incredible, but there's so much it's almost intimidating.

We gave Santa one more try since the line wasn't long, but believe it or not, this was our best shot. We do know now that we won't bother with Santa at the mall--Emily was clinging on to me so tightly that I couldn't have put her in his lap if I tried!

We spent the afternoon in downtown Gatlinburg--unfortunately, Robbie, Stacy and Zachary had to leave a little after lunch to get home for work and school on Monday, but we stayed and had a great time. Emily loved the sleigh,

the phone booth,

and the choo choo with a little bell!

We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium,

which we knew she'd love. The walk through tunnel with "big sharks" and "fishies" was very popular,

but not quite as much as the crawl through tunnel in the Penguin Playhouse. Emily must have crawled through the tunnel five times (and she made Daddy go with her at least twice). The penguins were swimming all around her, and she was thrilled!

She had to give a hug before we left.

I thought this was a cute feature outside.

Em is getting so big!

Sadly, on Monday, it was time to head home. We spent about half the day at the outlet mall in Pigeon Forge, taking advantage of some of the great sales! Em's winter wardrobe is now complete--and it's a good thing, because we felt like we had to break every dollar we had for change to ride all the little cars and carousels outside the stores!

We had a terrific long weekend, but it's always nice to come home. Gracie and Bella were starting to get lonely!