We've been working on "please" and "thank you" with Emily because she's picking up on words so quickly now, and we both feel like those are both important ones to learn. I was not, however, prepared for Emily to start saying "please" when she really wants something. She likes to open the pantry while I'm making dinner and pick something out, hand it to me and ask for a "nack." It is usually fairly easy to tell her we're not going to eat crackers or goldfish before dinner, but last night, she handed me a sleeve of Ritz Crackers and (with her sweetest smile) said "cacker, peese!"
We're really going to have a hard time saying no to that precious little request!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Silly Games
Emily really likes to hide and for us to look for her so she can jump out at us. She'll hide in a kichen cabinet, closet, or just about anywhere she can find. Her new favorite place is this coat closet in our front hallway. She thinks she's so funny, and wants us to close the door for her over and over. We'll close it and say "where's Emily?" so she can push the door open and giggle. It's too cute.
On Sunday, we decided to set up the sprinkler in the backyard. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been, but it was warm and sunny, and we just let Emily keep her clothes on rather than change into a bathing suit. She had been running around with her lawn mower, but had to go check out the water and the new toy. She'd go in and out,
and she kept mowing, even after she was soaked!
On Sunday, we decided to set up the sprinkler in the backyard. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been, but it was warm and sunny, and we just let Emily keep her clothes on rather than change into a bathing suit. She had been running around with her lawn mower, but had to go check out the water and the new toy. She'd go in and out,
and she kept mowing, even after she was soaked!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Lazy 5 Ranch
There's a place in Mooresville, NC (about an hour north of us) called Lazy 5 Ranch that we've heard about from several people and finally decided to visit today. It's an animal park where you can really get up close and personal with the animals! You can either take a horse-drawn wagon ride through the 3 1/2 mile trails, or you can drive your own car through like on safari. We chose the wagon ride--we thought it would be more fun, and didn't want Emily stuck in her carseat while we drove through.
I called ahead and made reservations for the wagon (recommended), and we got there a few minutes before they loaded us up. We boarded the wagons in the horse barn, where there was a 3-month old baby giraffe whose mother wouldn't nurse her--they were keeping her separate until she was big and healthy enough to join the other giraffes. Emily enjoyed petting her!
This was our tour guide through the ride--he explained the rules up front--how to feed the animals, and which ones not to feed (anything on two legs should eat out of the bucket, but anything on four legs could eat out of your hand).
Here's what the wagon looked like--this was the one behind us.
Interestingly, our guide told us the zebras were the only animals there who had teeth on the top and bottom, and they would bite, so we didn't stop to feed them. A car behind us was confronted by a zebra though--luckily, they didn't roll their windows down!
There was so much to take in--we thought Emily would be smiling and laughing the whole time, but she mostly maintained this look of pure fascination.
She wasn't intimidated though--when we stopped at the first group of animals, Emily jumped right in and grabbed some food.
She stuck her hand out and fed the llama,
but thought his tongue felt icky!
This was the wagon behind us, to give you an idea of how the animals surrounded us when we stopped.
The giraffes were really cool--we were able to get so close to them,
and they just leaned right over and helped themselves to our buckets of food.
Here are the last few animals we fed on the wagon.
This was a little buffalo--the animals would run toward us when the wagon stopped, ready for snack time!
When the wagon ride ended, there was an area where we could walk around and see more animals--Emily insisted on carrying the bucket of food by herself, and most of it ended up on the ground.
There were miniature donkeys, kangaroos, lots of birds and fish, and even camels!
She enjoyed the sheep and goats, because she can speak their language!
She really perfected her "Baa!" today.
It was a such a fun morning--we stopped for lunch on the way home, and by the time we got back in the car, Emily couldn't keep her eyes open.
She slept most of the way home, and then another 2 1/2 hours once we got back and I put her in the crib!
I called ahead and made reservations for the wagon (recommended), and we got there a few minutes before they loaded us up. We boarded the wagons in the horse barn, where there was a 3-month old baby giraffe whose mother wouldn't nurse her--they were keeping her separate until she was big and healthy enough to join the other giraffes. Emily enjoyed petting her!
This was our tour guide through the ride--he explained the rules up front--how to feed the animals, and which ones not to feed (anything on two legs should eat out of the bucket, but anything on four legs could eat out of your hand).
Here's what the wagon looked like--this was the one behind us.
Interestingly, our guide told us the zebras were the only animals there who had teeth on the top and bottom, and they would bite, so we didn't stop to feed them. A car behind us was confronted by a zebra though--luckily, they didn't roll their windows down!
There was so much to take in--we thought Emily would be smiling and laughing the whole time, but she mostly maintained this look of pure fascination.
She wasn't intimidated though--when we stopped at the first group of animals, Emily jumped right in and grabbed some food.
She stuck her hand out and fed the llama,
but thought his tongue felt icky!
This was the wagon behind us, to give you an idea of how the animals surrounded us when we stopped.
The giraffes were really cool--we were able to get so close to them,
and they just leaned right over and helped themselves to our buckets of food.
Here are the last few animals we fed on the wagon.
This was a little buffalo--the animals would run toward us when the wagon stopped, ready for snack time!
When the wagon ride ended, there was an area where we could walk around and see more animals--Emily insisted on carrying the bucket of food by herself, and most of it ended up on the ground.
There were miniature donkeys, kangaroos, lots of birds and fish, and even camels!
She enjoyed the sheep and goats, because she can speak their language!
She really perfected her "Baa!" today.
It was a such a fun morning--we stopped for lunch on the way home, and by the time we got back in the car, Emily couldn't keep her eyes open.
She slept most of the way home, and then another 2 1/2 hours once we got back and I put her in the crib!
Friday, August 26, 2011
17 Months Old: What's Happening
Emily is learning so much. I haven't done a terrific job of documenting things as they happen--partly because they seem to be happening so quickly, and it's tough to keep up! I'll try to capture all the things from the past month.
Probably 6 or 8 weeks ago, Emily discovered her belly button and decided she liked to show it off--shortly after that, she found out she enjoys finding other belly buttons too. She'll gladly show us hers, but then she wants to point out ours too! She actually has learned many of her body parts over the past month or so--she's good at hands, feet, head, shoulders, knees and toes, and also knows eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Anytime she sees a bottle of nail polish, she holds it to her foot and says "toes!" She's a little girly girl and loves her painted toenails :).
Her little attitude is growing by leaps an bounds--Mick will sometimes tell her "no" and shake his finger at her when she's doing something she shouldn't be. So now, when she does something she knows is wrong, she'll look at him, shake her finger, and say "no, no, no" with a big smile on her face. It's cute right now, but I'm sure it won't be soon, so we don't encourage it.
Emily is a real chatterbox! She likes to grab one of our phones and hold it to her ear and say "hi, Da Da!" Whenever my phone rings, she automatically assumes it's Da Da on the other end. She says "bye-bye doggies" when we leave for school in the morning, and goes toward her bedroom saying "night night" to them when it's time for bed. She's always talking--she'll often ask us "what that?" when she's curious about something new, and she says so many things that we haven't quite deciphered yet. She has asked me to "read book" a few times, and has gotten to where she'll help with the story in some of her favorites that she knows. She also enjoys listening to songs and watching videos online--she really likes the Phonics Songs on YouTube!
I don't think Emily is near ready for potty training, but she does know when she has a dirty diaper, and will usually come over to let me know--sometimes she even brings a clean diaper with her! Still doesn't mean she necessarily enjoys diaper changes, but she normally cooperates pretty well as long as she has a book or something else to distract her.
This month has probably had more injuries than any other, which has not been fun for Mick and me. Emily is so adventurous and moves so fast that she'll sometimes have little accidents even with us right beside her--most of the time, she jumps right back up, but she's had a couple of pretty bad bangs on the head this month from falling. Nothing to warrant a trip to the doctor, but the Elmo ice pack has emerged from the freezer a couple of times. She's so strong and resilient, but it's tough to see her get hurt--we don't recover from it nearly as quickly as she does!
She's still a terrific little "helper," except for the fact that she sometimes has a different idea of help than we do--she loves to scatter clean clothes from the laundry basket as we're folding.
Being outside continues to be a favorite thing too, so we're looking forward to some nicer fall weather. Some afternoons, Mick will take her for a little drive in her car when he gets home from work.
Emily is turning into a little girl quickly, and we're trying to keep up with her! Each month seems to get better and better.
Probably 6 or 8 weeks ago, Emily discovered her belly button and decided she liked to show it off--shortly after that, she found out she enjoys finding other belly buttons too. She'll gladly show us hers, but then she wants to point out ours too! She actually has learned many of her body parts over the past month or so--she's good at hands, feet, head, shoulders, knees and toes, and also knows eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Anytime she sees a bottle of nail polish, she holds it to her foot and says "toes!" She's a little girly girl and loves her painted toenails :).
Her little attitude is growing by leaps an bounds--Mick will sometimes tell her "no" and shake his finger at her when she's doing something she shouldn't be. So now, when she does something she knows is wrong, she'll look at him, shake her finger, and say "no, no, no" with a big smile on her face. It's cute right now, but I'm sure it won't be soon, so we don't encourage it.
Emily is a real chatterbox! She likes to grab one of our phones and hold it to her ear and say "hi, Da Da!" Whenever my phone rings, she automatically assumes it's Da Da on the other end. She says "bye-bye doggies" when we leave for school in the morning, and goes toward her bedroom saying "night night" to them when it's time for bed. She's always talking--she'll often ask us "what that?" when she's curious about something new, and she says so many things that we haven't quite deciphered yet. She has asked me to "read book" a few times, and has gotten to where she'll help with the story in some of her favorites that she knows. She also enjoys listening to songs and watching videos online--she really likes the Phonics Songs on YouTube!
I don't think Emily is near ready for potty training, but she does know when she has a dirty diaper, and will usually come over to let me know--sometimes she even brings a clean diaper with her! Still doesn't mean she necessarily enjoys diaper changes, but she normally cooperates pretty well as long as she has a book or something else to distract her.
This month has probably had more injuries than any other, which has not been fun for Mick and me. Emily is so adventurous and moves so fast that she'll sometimes have little accidents even with us right beside her--most of the time, she jumps right back up, but she's had a couple of pretty bad bangs on the head this month from falling. Nothing to warrant a trip to the doctor, but the Elmo ice pack has emerged from the freezer a couple of times. She's so strong and resilient, but it's tough to see her get hurt--we don't recover from it nearly as quickly as she does!
She's still a terrific little "helper," except for the fact that she sometimes has a different idea of help than we do--she loves to scatter clean clothes from the laundry basket as we're folding.
Being outside continues to be a favorite thing too, so we're looking forward to some nicer fall weather. Some afternoons, Mick will take her for a little drive in her car when he gets home from work.
Emily is turning into a little girl quickly, and we're trying to keep up with her! Each month seems to get better and better.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Hot Dog!
Emily sure loves music she can dance to--she usually doesn't want to watch an entire cartoon, but she'll pay attention when the music starts for sure. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has some peppy music that she always enjoys, so I downloaded some of the MP3s for my iPod so we could listen in the car.
It's really too bad that she has to be strapped into the carseat and can't boogie like this when we're riding!
It's really too bad that she has to be strapped into the carseat and can't boogie like this when we're riding!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Bubba
Mick is on call this weekend and had to work on Saturday morning, so Emily and I spent some time doing girl stuff, including going on a little shopping excursion. We went to Kohl's for some picture frames, and she saw the Kohl's Cares display as soon as we walked in, because it was filled with stuffed animals. They have books and characters from Clifford the Big Red Dog, and she pointed and exclaimed "doggie!" We picked one up and she carried it around the store--she does this fairly often with different things (even in the grocery store), and then we usually put them back before we leave. Not this time!
She proudly showed her doggie off to Mick when he got home, and when we asked her what she wanted to name him, she replied "Bubba." She has held on tightly to Bubba ever since--he rides in the car with her and just about everything else. It's too cute! I think she's smitten with him, not only because he's a doggie, but also because red is the color she knows best, so she likes red things lately.
She proudly showed her doggie off to Mick when he got home, and when we asked her what she wanted to name him, she replied "Bubba." She has held on tightly to Bubba ever since--he rides in the car with her and just about everything else. It's too cute! I think she's smitten with him, not only because he's a doggie, but also because red is the color she knows best, so she likes red things lately.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Movie Star
I tell Emily she looks like a movie star when she puts my sunglasses on--this morning, Mick was playing with her before breakfast and she kept wanting him to put the sunglasses on her, only for her to pull them off.
She thought it was hilarious!
She thought it was hilarious!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Got Milk?
There's an Earth Fare right down the road from us, and on Thursday nights, kids eat free when a parent buys dinner. We decided to go tonight for a change of pace, and Emily seemed to enjoy it. We were out of milk, so we picked some up while we were there.
I've mentioned before that she loves to be a little helper--she was determined to carry the half gallon of milk out of the store. She did really well until about the halfway point, and then kept stopping to take a break and rest her little hand.
It was really adorable--I only had my phone to take a picture, so it's not the sharpest.
I've mentioned before that she loves to be a little helper--she was determined to carry the half gallon of milk out of the store. She did really well until about the halfway point, and then kept stopping to take a break and rest her little hand.
It was really adorable--I only had my phone to take a picture, so it's not the sharpest.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Flash Cards
I made Emily some flash cards with some of her favorite things--I haven't really looked for any when we've been shopping, but I'm sure I can find some that will hold up a little better than these.
She can't quite say all of the words, but she sure tries. And she's great at picking out the pictures when I say the words (this was "where's the lady bug?").
She seems to enjoy anticipating what I'm going to say next so she can sort through the pictures and find it.
She can't quite say all of the words, but she sure tries. And she's great at picking out the pictures when I say the words (this was "where's the lady bug?").
She seems to enjoy anticipating what I'm going to say next so she can sort through the pictures and find it.
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Girl Loves Shoes!
Emily is starting young with a shoe fetish, I'm afraid. She loves putting shoes on--and she's especially infatuated with this pair right now. Stride Rite had a great sale, so I bought these cute pink and brown suede shoes a little big so Emily could wear them this fall and winter. As soon as she saw them, she wanted to put them on (we were in the process of getting her undressed for her bath).
Now, every time she sees the box, she says "shoes!" and reaches for them to take them out and try them on.
Now, every time she sees the box, she says "shoes!" and reaches for them to take them out and try them on.
Silly Snacker
Emily loves to eat, but she's pretty easily distracted when something more interesting comes along. We've found that if we sometimes do things to break up the monotony of sitting in her high chair or booster that she'll usually eat better because she thinks we're playing a game.
Since she gets up at 6:00 in the mornings during the week and doesn't eat breakfast at school until around 8:30, she still eats something here before we leave. She loves oatmeal, and got to sit up on the island in the kitchen one morning this week!
When we got home that afternoon, she ate some dried fruit in her snack cup, which always makes her happy. She's decided now that the stairs are her favorite place to sit--she'll get on the second step so she can dangle her legs off.
Since she gets up at 6:00 in the mornings during the week and doesn't eat breakfast at school until around 8:30, she still eats something here before we leave. She loves oatmeal, and got to sit up on the island in the kitchen one morning this week!
When we got home that afternoon, she ate some dried fruit in her snack cup, which always makes her happy. She's decided now that the stairs are her favorite place to sit--she'll get on the second step so she can dangle her legs off.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Updates
Finally, I've caught up with posting videos and uploading pictures to Emily's sites--just click the Emily in Action and Emily Claire Jackson links to the right!
More Weekend Fun
We were in Super Wal-Mart this weekend looking for a baby gate and came across this bubble mower. Emily loves being outside so much and we thought she'd like to help Mick with some yard work. She actually "mowed" our grass while our neighbor was out mowing his. The mower blows bubbles when you push it with all four wheels on the ground.
The funny thing was that every time it started to blow bubbles, Emily got excited and stopped pushing so she could pop all the bubbles! It's in the garage now beside John Deere, and she wants to play with it every time we come in and out.
Emily also got a care package from her Grandma Jackson on Saturday with this cool little boom box--it plays four different instruments when you push the buttons. If Emily can dance to it, she loves it!
And Bella is always a fan if something distracts Emily enough for her fingers to be licked after eating graham crackers--check out that tongue in action!
The funny thing was that every time it started to blow bubbles, Emily got excited and stopped pushing so she could pop all the bubbles! It's in the garage now beside John Deere, and she wants to play with it every time we come in and out.
Emily also got a care package from her Grandma Jackson on Saturday with this cool little boom box--it plays four different instruments when you push the buttons. If Emily can dance to it, she loves it!
And Bella is always a fan if something distracts Emily enough for her fingers to be licked after eating graham crackers--check out that tongue in action!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Fun Sunday
We've decided to try to find a church to attend (I won't go into the long story about why we aren't currently attending--let's just say there are issues that lead to us being a little confused about where we belong in organized religion). There's a nice church right down the road from us now, so we went Sunday morning. Emily really had a tough time in the nursery, so we ended up bringing her back into the sanctuary, where she proceeded to run down the aisle squealing in the middle of the service. I don't think we'll be going back there--but not because of that. The church didn't fit us. I had to get a picture of Emily in her pretty little dress though.
We didn't leave the dress on too long--she needed to change into play clothes...
but not before she rode her horsey around a little!
This afternoon, we went to Monkey Joe's. We went to one for Zachary's birthday back in January, but Emily was a little young to really enjoy it. We actually just found out there was one in Charlotte (there are actually 5 or 6 of them!), and it's been so hot lately, we needed to stay inside.
The whole place was huge inflatable bounce houses, but there were a couple of separate areas just for toddlers, so we stayed there most of the time. There were a lot of older kids and we felt like Emily was safer in the mini-monkey areas. She found the doggie immediately.
Once she found a slide she could do on her own, she was in love!
She'd get to the top and then slide down on her tummy.
She must have gone down the slide a hundred times!
We thought she was losing steam at one point, but she found a little carousel with a lion, zebra and elephant on it.
She even went down the big slide with Daddy once!
On the way home, she entertained us by being silly in her sunglasses (she's showing me her eye here).
We didn't leave the dress on too long--she needed to change into play clothes...
but not before she rode her horsey around a little!
This afternoon, we went to Monkey Joe's. We went to one for Zachary's birthday back in January, but Emily was a little young to really enjoy it. We actually just found out there was one in Charlotte (there are actually 5 or 6 of them!), and it's been so hot lately, we needed to stay inside.
The whole place was huge inflatable bounce houses, but there were a couple of separate areas just for toddlers, so we stayed there most of the time. There were a lot of older kids and we felt like Emily was safer in the mini-monkey areas. She found the doggie immediately.
Once she found a slide she could do on her own, she was in love!
She'd get to the top and then slide down on her tummy.
She must have gone down the slide a hundred times!
We thought she was losing steam at one point, but she found a little carousel with a lion, zebra and elephant on it.
She even went down the big slide with Daddy once!
On the way home, she entertained us by being silly in her sunglasses (she's showing me her eye here).
Bye-Bye Ba-Ba
Yes, Emily has still been drinking milk from a bottle and she's 16 months old (judge us if you must). We've still been giving her a bottle in the morning before breakfast, and a bottle at night before she brushes her teeth and goes to bed. I'm not sure she really needed it, but we knew she needed the milk, and weren't convinced she would drink enough milk just from her cup.
So this weekend, we quit the bottle cold turkey, and she did great. She's drinking more milk from her cup and didn't even ask for her bottle once.
I know she kept her ba-ba longer than most people think she should have, but we did what we felt was best for her, and she quit when she was ready.
So this weekend, we quit the bottle cold turkey, and she did great. She's drinking more milk from her cup and didn't even ask for her bottle once.
I know she kept her ba-ba longer than most people think she should have, but we did what we felt was best for her, and she quit when she was ready.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Colors
Emily likes to scribble and color with just about anything--crayons, sidewalk chalk, markers, pens or pencils. We were coloring this afternoon and she started saying colors with me. I have to hide the video camera in order to capture anything--Emily always wants to stop what she's doing and play with the camera--so I propped it in a chair at the kitchen table. That explains the not so great aim here.
The end of the video shows off her penguin walk a little (again, the aim of the camera is off). I'll have to get a better one of this, because it's really cute.
The end of the video shows off her penguin walk a little (again, the aim of the camera is off). I'll have to get a better one of this, because it's really cute.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sounds Worse Than It Is!
When I left Emily at Gateway Monday morning, she waved and said bye-bye like everything was fine. I didn't even make it to work before her teacher called and said she had a 101.3 fever and a rash that looked like hand, foot and mouth disease!
She had what we thought was a diaper rash with little bumps on Friday afternoon when we got home, but they looked much better by Sunday. She has also been having a tough time with one of her molars coming in on the left side--her gums have bled a little and she didn't want to eat much. We attributed all of this to teething and didn't think much else of it.
I u-turned and went back to Gateway to pick her up, and called to make her an appointment with the doctor on the way. We saw the doctor at 10:15, and she confirmed that Emily had hand, foot and mouth disease. It sounds completely disgusting, but they should really come up with a different name, because there wasn't much to it. The doctor said it's very contagious and that most kids will get it at some point--there are rarely any complications, and there's no treatment--it just goes away on its own after 5-7 days. Since she had the bumps on Friday, we know we're at least in day 4 already.
So Emily and I stayed home on Monday--she was a little grumpy, but still wanted to play and do most of her normal things. She seems to really like these new puzzles we got this weekend, and is very good at matching the pieces!
I decided to keep her home again Tuesday morning, but by lunch time, she was feeling much better and hadn't had a fever in 24 hours, so I took her to school.
She had a great afternoon and seemed to be back to 100% tonight! Luckily, this apparently works a little like chicken pox, so she should be immune to it if it goes around again!
She had what we thought was a diaper rash with little bumps on Friday afternoon when we got home, but they looked much better by Sunday. She has also been having a tough time with one of her molars coming in on the left side--her gums have bled a little and she didn't want to eat much. We attributed all of this to teething and didn't think much else of it.
I u-turned and went back to Gateway to pick her up, and called to make her an appointment with the doctor on the way. We saw the doctor at 10:15, and she confirmed that Emily had hand, foot and mouth disease. It sounds completely disgusting, but they should really come up with a different name, because there wasn't much to it. The doctor said it's very contagious and that most kids will get it at some point--there are rarely any complications, and there's no treatment--it just goes away on its own after 5-7 days. Since she had the bumps on Friday, we know we're at least in day 4 already.
So Emily and I stayed home on Monday--she was a little grumpy, but still wanted to play and do most of her normal things. She seems to really like these new puzzles we got this weekend, and is very good at matching the pieces!
I decided to keep her home again Tuesday morning, but by lunch time, she was feeling much better and hadn't had a fever in 24 hours, so I took her to school.
She had a great afternoon and seemed to be back to 100% tonight! Luckily, this apparently works a little like chicken pox, so she should be immune to it if it goes around again!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Climber
Emily loves to climb on everything--she's a little daredevil!
She can now climb onto chairs or the couches with no assistance at all--check out those little tip toes!
She's always so happy with herself when she reaches her goal.
She can now climb onto chairs or the couches with no assistance at all--check out those little tip toes!
She's always so happy with herself when she reaches her goal.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
16 Months Old: What's Happening
This has been an extremely busy month for us, but we've had a lot of fun, and Emily has enjoyed the adventure. I guess most little girls haven't lived in three houses by the time they're 16 months old--hopefully this will be the last time she'll move for a good long time!
Emily is becoming more of a toddler every day--there are very few "baby" moments anymore, which sometimes makes me sad. When she's sleepy or doesn't feel great and wants to cuddle, or when I still get to rock her for a few minutes before bed are those sweet, wonderful times that I cherish now.
Animal sounds and impressions continue to be some of her favorite things to do. She can stomp and swing her arm like an elephant trunk, walk like a penguin, and raise her arms and growl like a bear. We have several different CDs we listen to in the car with her with songs like "Old McDonald," "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Hokey Pokey." She'll do most of the commands in the songs--including raising her arms up and saying "Ray!" when the song says to "shout Hooray!" It's just too cute.
Emily is quite the little helper--she's usually the first one in her class in the mornings, and her teachers tell me that she walks around and helps them get the classroom ready. She's great at pushing buttons on the copier or pulling out supplies or books :). She's the same way at home--I usually start making dinner as soon as we get home at night, and I've been giving her a job to help me. She really loves it, and is much more content when she's involved in what I'm doing. The island in the kitchen is huge, and there's plenty of room for her to sit closeby while I'm working there.
I had a big pile of chopped veggies that I wanted to toss in some olive oil and spices, so she put them all in the bowl for me while I fixed the chicken. It was funny when we sat down to eat and found tooth marks in some of the squash and zuchini!
Emily has decided she really enjoys washing her hands lately. We wash our hands pretty frequently because we're always touching the dogs, but they also have specific hand washing times at school, so she sees everyone doing it there too. I don't know if it's the soap or the water she enjoys more, but it's certainly not a bad habit to have.
Something we probably weren't prepared for this month is the perfection of the temper tantrum. Emily is such a happy, good natured little girl most of the time that her tantrums sometimes almost catch us off guard. She really knows how to test the boundaries, and likes to make sure we really mean it when we tell her no. She can turn on the tears with the best of them, and they look so authentic it's tough not to pity her!
We're still not quite settled completely (so please excuse the mess in the picture of the kitchen above), but I finished the main wall in Emily's room.
I wanted to leave it simple so we can add stuff as she gets older. Here's the before picture--
The potato heads had to go! I left the window valance up, and it matches the accent wall really well, so I'm happy with the way it turned out. There's plenty of room for her to grow into it, and she even has her own private bathroom, which will be nice as she gets older.
Emily is becoming more of a toddler every day--there are very few "baby" moments anymore, which sometimes makes me sad. When she's sleepy or doesn't feel great and wants to cuddle, or when I still get to rock her for a few minutes before bed are those sweet, wonderful times that I cherish now.
Animal sounds and impressions continue to be some of her favorite things to do. She can stomp and swing her arm like an elephant trunk, walk like a penguin, and raise her arms and growl like a bear. We have several different CDs we listen to in the car with her with songs like "Old McDonald," "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Hokey Pokey." She'll do most of the commands in the songs--including raising her arms up and saying "Ray!" when the song says to "shout Hooray!" It's just too cute.
Emily is quite the little helper--she's usually the first one in her class in the mornings, and her teachers tell me that she walks around and helps them get the classroom ready. She's great at pushing buttons on the copier or pulling out supplies or books :). She's the same way at home--I usually start making dinner as soon as we get home at night, and I've been giving her a job to help me. She really loves it, and is much more content when she's involved in what I'm doing. The island in the kitchen is huge, and there's plenty of room for her to sit closeby while I'm working there.
I had a big pile of chopped veggies that I wanted to toss in some olive oil and spices, so she put them all in the bowl for me while I fixed the chicken. It was funny when we sat down to eat and found tooth marks in some of the squash and zuchini!
Emily has decided she really enjoys washing her hands lately. We wash our hands pretty frequently because we're always touching the dogs, but they also have specific hand washing times at school, so she sees everyone doing it there too. I don't know if it's the soap or the water she enjoys more, but it's certainly not a bad habit to have.
Something we probably weren't prepared for this month is the perfection of the temper tantrum. Emily is such a happy, good natured little girl most of the time that her tantrums sometimes almost catch us off guard. She really knows how to test the boundaries, and likes to make sure we really mean it when we tell her no. She can turn on the tears with the best of them, and they look so authentic it's tough not to pity her!
We're still not quite settled completely (so please excuse the mess in the picture of the kitchen above), but I finished the main wall in Emily's room.
I wanted to leave it simple so we can add stuff as she gets older. Here's the before picture--
The potato heads had to go! I left the window valance up, and it matches the accent wall really well, so I'm happy with the way it turned out. There's plenty of room for her to grow into it, and she even has her own private bathroom, which will be nice as she gets older.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)