Some days, I think of a list a mile long of things I don't want to forget to document--Emily is such a magical, joyful little person. I'm pretty sure I don't deserve to have such a sweet girl, but I'm certain she'll make up for it in challenging times to come :).
She's going potty now all the time--we do still have to pick up on her cues sometimes and remind her to go if she's playing, but most of the time, she'll stop and go on her own. She has stopped looking for rewards every time now too, which is nice, because M&Ms were usually what she wanted :). She was consistently staying dry at nap time too, so just in the last week, we've been skipping the pull-up during naps, and she's doing great. She even stayed dry overnight one night, but I think it was an accident, because most nights she doesn't.
I was recently in Philadelphia for some training and talked with some coworkers with kids around her age--they mentioned a show on PBS called Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood--it's based on the characters from Mr. Rogers, but it's animated. We decided to try it, and Em loves it! Daniel Tiger has a nifty little song for a lot of useful lessons like "find a way to play together" or "get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes and off to school." I've learned if we can make a song about something, Em is usually more willing to cooperate. Her favorite things to watch are still Dora and The Backyardigans, but she's much more open to watching any cartoon now, and a little variety is nice for us :). We are pretty strict about only having the TV on for a couple of cartoons in the morning, and then it goes off. Mick and I don't usually watch anything until after she goes to bed--instead, we'll turn on music most of the time, including during dinner. It seems to make our time together a little less distracted. She asks to watch TV more often now, but is fine when we suggest doing something else, and is happier helping with dinner or making "a project" anyway. It makes it more special when we bend the rules for a movie or something on a Friday night or the weekend.
Em's vocabulary continues to impress us, and most people we meet make comments about how well she talks for her age. Some of her favorite things to do right now are making up songs and rhyming. We sometimes don't even listen to music on the way to school--she'll sing her own made-up song the whole way there! She loves to rhyme, and when there aren't real words that rhyme with something, she'll make up her own nonsense words, and totally understands how silly she's being. She's really got a great sense of humor. She also likes to abbreviate everything now--she'll call cupcakes cups, or popcorn is pop, and she'll laugh and correct us if we say it the wrong way.
Em recognizes most of her numbers now, and some letters--they're working through the alphabet at school starting with A, and focusing on one letter each week. We play games at dinner some nights to see who can come up with the most words starting with a particular letter, and she loves those (and will occasionally throw in a nonsense word too). This week is E, which she loves, because Emily and Elmo start with E :). She recognizes her name when it's written, and will often pick out E on signs we see. I've picked up a lot of little "brain games" with dry erase markers for her when I see them on sale, and she'll sit and play as long as I'm willing to sit with her and give instructions--circle 5 monsters on this card, or draw a line through every green thing on this card, or trace a number or letter--stuff like that. I'll have to post some pictures of her favorites.
I'm sure there's other important stuff I'm forgetting, but I'll try to keep these up!
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