18 Months Old: What's Happening

The months are flying by so quickly, and it's hard to believe all the new things Emily is up to these days!

She is really developing a sweet little personality, and seems to genuinely care about other people. Her teachers have said that she'll walk up to other kids who are upset and pat them on the back. She's done that to us when she thinks something's wrong, and it's the sweetest thing! Here's a note her teacher sent home on her daily sheet one day.

Emily also knows the names of all of her classmates, and is quick to point them out to me and tell me who they are when we see them.

I've read a lot about language exploding for kids around 18 months, and it certainly has for Emily. We're working on the alphabet, but she's only up to A-B-C so far--she loves to hear the alphabet song though, and sways every time we start to sing. Let's hope it will be a few more years before she cares about our singing voices! She also knows that two comes after one--she fills it in every time someone says "one." She'll repeat the other numbers, but doesn't yet go there on her own.

Emily is forming lots of two-word combinations, like "Dada's truck" when we see a pickup truck that looks like Mick's, or "Emmy's paci (or snack, or Elmo, or shoes)." I think her favorite word right now is "airplane," and she loves to see them flying--we're thinking of taking her over near the airport one day so she can watch them take off and land.

She recognizes her own reflection, which I've heard sometimes doesn't happen until several months older. She loves to look at herself in the mirror, and will now say "Emmy" and point to herself. One day when I picked her up, her teacher had put her hair up in little ponytails, and she just loved it!

Unfortunately, they weren't quite as fun to get out as to put in, and I ended up having to cut the rubber bands out of her hair. We'll probably wait a little while before we use them on a regular basis, but she sure thought she looked beautiful with little sprouts :).

That same afternoon, we played outside some--this was her reaction when I asked her to smile for a picture. She's such a silly goose.

I've mentioned how much she likes to dress up, and my plan is to really take advantage of the post-Halloween sales this year so she'll have some things to play with other than our clothes and shoes! This was one morning before we left for school when she was having a particularly tough time waking up. She also likes to put on and take off her own shoes and socks. She still needs some help with the socks, but can put on and take off her own shoes. She doesn't always get the velcro strap fastened, but it doesn't slow her down!

Brushing her teeth (or hair, for that matter) is certainly NOT one of her favorite things. I'm a little nervous about her upcoming dentist appointment because I don't want the dentist to get one of her powerful little kicks when she tries to look in her mouth. We're brushing her teeth twice a day without fail, but it's definitely a battle almost every time.

We don't think we're near potty training, although Emily knows "pee pee" and "poop" and understands when she has a dirty diaper. I think she'll probably let us know when she's ready, so we aren't going to start pushing it. She does like to come in the bathroom with me, but usually just ends up trying to unroll all the toilet paper while she's there!

We've had a great summer--a few road trips (and she's been a trooper!), visits with family, and some extracurricular activities. Still, we're looking forward to a terrific fall, and are excited about the nice cool weather we're starting to feel. It will give Emily an excuse to wear some new fall shoes!

Trip to Wilmington

This weekend was Jenn's baby shower (can hardly believe little Chase will be here in only six weeks!), so Julie flew in to Charlotte on Friday night, and she and Emily and I drove to Wilmington on Saturday morning.

We got there just in time to have lunch, put Cody and Emily down for naps, and head to the shower. It's always so much fun to see all the cute baby stuff!

I missed a lot of the gift opening because Emily was acting silly and I was chasing her around most of the afternoon.

Once we got back to Jason and Jenn's house, Emily enjoyed playing in Cody's toy kitchen,

and Cody shared all of his cool toys with her!

They really seemed to have a good time playing together.

There's an aquarium in the nursery, and Emily got to sleep in the crib to keep it company until baby Chase gets here. We had to turn the light off because she was so excited about watching the fish!

On Sunday, it was raining and our plans for a trip to the beach changed pretty quickly. We went out to breakfast and Cody and Emily played inside for a while. This might be the closest we'll ever get to both of them posing for a picture :).

We ended up going to Monkey Joe's for a little while before we had to head back to Charlotte for Julie to catch her flight home. Emily decided to climb up the slide instead of using the climbing wall--she was like a little spider monkey!

Playing Dress-Up

Emily likes to play dress up with hats and things of ours, but she especially loves shoes and socks. She's worn sandals most of the summer, so I'm a little worried about cooler weather when she'll want to take her shoes and socks on and off multiple times a day!

This morning, I was changing her out of her pjs and changing her diaper when she felt the need to run around naked (one of her favorite things). She quickly found a pair of socks and some of my shoes...

too bad I can only post the ones after I got her diaper on,

because some of the others are truly hilarious. I remember when my sister and I used to play in my mom's shoes, and we called them "clocky shoes" because the sound they made was like "clock, clock" when we walked. Emily didn't seem to appreciate that story yet--she was too amused with herself.

Once she got dressed, she also added Mick's Georgia hat.

She's such a clown!

Hooray for Saturdays

We enjoyed the cool Saturday morning by staying in our pjs a little later than usual, and Emily enjoyed pushing Elmo and her baby around in her new shopping cart (another gift from Gra!).

After a few laps around the house, she decided they didn't need to ride any more, so she continued with the empty cart--I've tried to get her to go to the pantry and put food in it, but she isn't interested.

Some of Mick's friends from work were having a big cookout down on the lake, so we spent Saturday afternoon there. Emily loved being able to look at the water, and even saw some ducks!

There were a lot of other kids there, and one of them had this little Power Wheels Jeep that Emily liked climbing and playing in--she didn't quite get the hang of the pedals enough to ride in it much though.

Feels Like Fall

Friday morning, it felt like someone had flipped a switch outside and it was suddenly fall! It was quite a change from the weather we've had lately, and I was really glad I had recently bought Emily a few long sleeve tops and long pants--the high was only about 65!

After we all got home Friday evening, we put on our jackets and played outside a little. Emily enjoys hiding behind these bushes over near our house--here she is peeking through at me.

She likes being found almost as much as hiding.

She had such a good time running around!

Into Everything

Emily is so busy and curious, and likes to be involved in everything going on around her.

I had ordered some fall clothes for her online, and the box came this week--just look at the excited look on that little face as she tears into the box! She was a little disappointed that she only found clothes!

The only thing that could distract her from all that packing material was Mick's iPad! We have some apps just for her, but she likes watching Elmo videos on YouTube sometimes too.

Thursday night, we grilled burgers and veggies, and Emily helped me wash the peppers before we took them outside! She loves to play in the water at the sink, so she'll also wash her hands 30 times a day if you let her. As you can see here, her legs got a little bath too.

Gra's Visit

Emily wasted no time warming up to her Grandma when she got here on Sunday. She grabbed Mickey and a book and got comfy!

She can't quite say "Grandma" (or just chooses not to), and has decided she'll just say "Gra" for right now. We ended up letting Emily stay home through Wednesday--not because she was really still sick, but more so she could spend time with Gra. She seemed to have a great week--she got to mow grass in her pjs,

play with all of her toys,

and even got some new ones! Gra gave her a new baby doll that has a bottle and sippy cup, and her own diaper bag that Emily likes to use as a purse.

They took walks every day, blew bubbles, read books, played with Gracie and Bella, and had all kinds of fun.

It was such a huge help to us to have my mom here this week--she went home Friday morning since Emily had gone back to school on Thursday and we knew she was fine. It's so nice to not have to worry about her when she isn't feeling great, and I'm glad the two of them got some quality time together.

Change of Plans

Emily struggled with a fever all weekend, and we kept alternating acetaminophen and ibuprofen, so she tried her best to feel good. Still, we didn't want to get her out too much since she really needed to rest, so we didn't take full advantage of the beautiful weekend outside. On Sunday morning, she still had a fever, and we were already starting to worry about the upcoming week, so we called for backup!

I called my mom to see what she had going on this week and if she would mind dropping everything to come to our rescue. Luckily, she didn't have plans and agreed to come stay with Emily. Mick drove out to meet my dad and pick her up, and they got back around 2:30 PM, right about the time Emily was waking up from her nap.

We had a good day--Emily's fever seemed to have broken, so she went without medicine all afternoon and we even went to the mall for a little while. She still wasn't 100%, but was definitely improving.

She had a tough night last night and woke up a lot, so I'm really happy she'll be at home to rest with Grandma today!

High Fever

Friday around 11:30 AM, I got a call from Gateway that Emily had a fever of 101.5 and wasn't feeling well. I had a 12:30 meeting at work that I had to keep, so I called Mick and he went to pick up Emily and bring her home. He gave her some ibuprofen and she went down for a nap.

When my meeting was over at 1:00, I left and headed home so Mick could go back to work. Emily slept from about 12:45 until about 3:00 and seemed to feel better when she got up. She ate some lunch (she hadn't really eaten at school) and wanted to play.

As the afternoon wore on, she faded some---by around 5:30, she was acting a little sluggish and wanted to snuggle, so I held her and rocked her. She fell asleep in my lap for about 45 minutes, and by the time she woke up, I could tell her fever was higher. Mick got home around 6:30 and she was acting even more lethargic. We gave her some acetaminophen and took her temperature--it was 103.8 and Mick really wanted to go to the hospital. I wasn't as adamant about it since I had seen the way she was acting all afternoon, and was convinced there wasn't anything seriously wrong with her. Still, we'd never seen her act the way she was, and the medicine wasn't bringing the fever down, so we decided to head to the ER.

We got there at 8:00 PM and got in to see a doctor around 8:20--they took her temperature and it was 104. They gave her a big dose of ibuprofen, and then said they wanted to test her urine for infections, so they had to use a catheter (this was the toughest part for all of us). It took three of us to hold her down, but they were pretty quick and she settled down when they left. They couldn't find any infection, and she had no other symptoms aside from the fever.

We were there about 2 hours and ultimately didn't find out much, other than she was okay and we just needed to keep alternating the ibuprofen and acetaminophen, since the fever was probably caused by a virus and would last 48-72 hours.

Poor little Em was so tired that she finally fell asleep on the way home, and was in her bed by around 10:45 PM. She slept until after 8:00 AM this morning, and then took a 3 hour nap this afternoon! She had a pretty good day today, but still had a fever of almost 101 when she went to bed, even though we've kept the medicine in her system all day.

We're hoping she's feeling much better by tomorrow.

Apple!

My mom had some fresh apples from a friend's orchard that she sent home with us on Monday, and Emily noticed them in a fruit basket while we were fixing dinner last night. She pointed and exclaimed "apple!" and picked one up (she was sitting on the counter).

She had a hard time getting it started, so I took a couple of bites out of it for her and then she got the hang of it.

It's funny, because she's never been crazy about just plain apple slices, but she really liked eating it on her own like this.

You have to look pretty closely here, but you can see the swollen part of her bottom lip where she bit through it on Tuesday. It certainly doesn't seem to be bothering her much :).

Making the Best of a Bad Day

I got a dreaded call from Gateway this morning around 11:00--it's the worst feeling when I look at my phone and see that number come up! Emily had fallen at the small table where the kids eat lunch in her classroom, and had cut her lip. I think between the blood and the crying, they weren't sure how bad it was, so it sounded awful when they told me. I packed up and left the office immediately--on the way, I called Emily's doctor to see if I could get her in quickly. They made an appointment for her at 11:45--they're close to Gateway, so I thought they could at least assess and tell us if we needed to go to the hospital or the dentist if her teeth were damaged.

Then I called Mick, and it just happened that he was headed to a job in the same area as Gateway, so he changed course and headed over to see her. I talked to him when he got there and he said Emily seemed fine. I could hear her over the phone, and it definitely sounded like things were okay--still, I was almost there by then, so I wanted to go ahead and take her to see the doctor.

It turns out that she actually bit all the way through her bottom lip when she fell! The doctor said it will heal on its own without stitches since it isn't a gaping hole, and her teeth weren't damaged, so she was very lucky. She has a swollen lip and about a half-inch cut below her bottom lip.

I decided to just work from home the rest of the day, and I brought Emily home with me for the afternoon.

The morning started out hot and humid, but by this afternoon, it was beautiful outside, so we took out some sidewalk chalk and headed to the back patio. I had bought some popsicles on the way home, thinking they might help numb her lip a little if it was really sore. I thought they were way too big for her, but she grabbed that popsicle stick and went to town!

Disclaimer: these pictures get progressively worse!

I know, it looks like I'm a terribly neglectful mother, and like Emily is a little dirt dobber! By the time this picture was taken, she had taken her shoes off, dumped out the dogs' water bowl and played in it, gotten chalk all over her, and then dripped strawberry popsicle on every inch of exposed skin. I thought she deserved to be grubby and have a good time after the rough morning she had.

After Daddy got home and died laughing, we brought her in, stripped her down, and washed her off in the kitchen sink :).

Mountain Trip

We went to visit my parents in Brevard, NC this weekend. I'm embarrassed to say this is Emily's first trip to the mountains! It seems like we've always lived in a central location where my family comes to us when we all get together. This was a nice change, and we know we'll need to do it more often.

We knew my parents would be gone all day Saturday, so we took advantage of the morning at home to get a few things done before we left. We had lunch and got in the car at Emily's naptime for the 2 1/2 hour drive. She slept for about half of it. There was a festival going on in downtown Brevard, celebrating the 150th birthday of Transylvania County, so we spent a little while there. The drive had made us hungry, so we stopped for milkshakes, and Emily had a few sips of mine.

There were lots of things to entertain Emily--she got to climb on a real fire truck,

play on a choo choo train (she can now say "Choo Choo" and pull her arm up and down),

and we passed a Zumba fitness group dancing, so Emily had to join in. She got so into it that she was airborne at one point!

Emily loves flowers now, and even though she isn't always gentle enough to leave them like she found them, she does like to point them out, say her version of "flower," and tell us what color they are.

We headed to my parents house and got there just a few minutes before they did--in enough time for Emily to find all the good stuff to play with (like this little rocking chair).

We went out to dinner Saturday night at a huge buffet--Emily didn't eat great, but I think it was just because there was so much going on (and so much food to try). She enjoyed tasting lots of different things.

We met Uncle Jim Roy and Aunt Shirley at the restaurant so we could spend a little time together.

On Sunday, we went up into Pisgah Forest to a museum of forestry that was perfect for Emily--there was a tunnel for her to explore,

lots of animals to look at (including this bear, where she and Daddy practiced their growls!),

and even a simulated helicopter ride (she wasn't too sure about this one).

It wasn't too hot outside, so we enjoyed the big deck outside for a little while.

Emily acted shy around her Papa at first, but she must have said "Papa" three hundred times since we left! She's such a silly girl!

Emily enjoyed playing at Grandma and Papa's house as much as anything--my mom has kept a lot of the toys that Jason, Julie and I played with growing up, and Emily really enjoyed playing with this Fisher Price service station! It brought back memories for me too :).

By far though, her favorite thing of the weekend was the chiming clocks my parents have! This one was her favorite, and she would want to hear it chime over and over again. Papa reset the time on it so many times we were all convinced it would break!

I took a video of her watching it, and she says "Clock! Clock!" every time she sees the video now. It's too cute.

We hate that trips like this always seem to short, but we headed back home Monday morning to get ready for our four-day week.