Books Everywhere

Emily still adores books (we're hoping she always will!) and likes to have them in every room of the house. We were keeping the books in her room up on the top shelf of her dresser, but thought she'd enjoy being able to reach them without us lifting her up. I ordered this cute little book case with canvas shelves, and even had her name embroidered on the bottom.

She just loves it, and it looks really cute in her room. It also helps that she can reach these shelves when we ask her to put them away!

Hiding

These are just a few more of our silly little hider. She gets so amused with herself, and we'll say "where's Emily?" and hear her start giggling.

If we ask her "are you hiding?" she'll say "yes!" and give herself away every time--it's so funny.

As if the little fingers and toes wouldn't give her away anyway!

Lesson Plans

I'm not sure why I've never posted this before, but this is one of the things I really like about Ms. Amanda, the lead teacher in Emily's Toddler 1 classroom. She writes out a lesson plan each week and makes sure we have a copy of it.

You'll have to click on the picture to enlarge it if you're interested in reading any of the details. One of the really cute examples is "Practice kicking ball. When it's your child's turn, they will be asked to make an animal sound." I can just see Emily snorting like a pig or growling like a lion as she kicks the ball :). I really appreciate knowing what she's doing during the day, and love asking her about it in the afternoons when I pick her up.

Changes

Mick and I were talking tonight about how neat it is to watch Emily changing--almost on a daily basis. Since she's mastered running, she has run into my arms squealing each afternoon when I pick her up.

That is until last week. All of a sudden, she started wanting to stay at Gateway--when she saw me come in her classroom, she'd start laughing and run in the opposite direction, or go straight to her teacher. Most afternoons, she's in the Toddler 2 classroom (where she'll transition next), and she loves the teachers in there--especially Ms. Essence. Emily talks about Essence all the time :).

Then this week, she's started getting excited again when I get there to pick her up, and she'll run straight for me. The difference is that now, she'll bring me whatever she's playing with to share with me, and then will grab my finger to show me something.

We love that she's so happy at Gateway, and it's nice that she gets just as excited about coming home as she does about getting there in the morning.

Visit from Grandma and Papa

Mick's parents came up on Thursday night to spend the weekend with us--I worked from home on Friday and they took Miss Emily on a shopping spree! They went to the mall and had a great time at Build-A-Bear Workshop, the Disney Store, and having ice cream. Emily was reportedly on her best behavior (although I think Grandma and Papa might be a little biased). She was so exhausted that she fell asleep on her way home with a huge Mickey Mouse on top of her! She made this doggie at Build-A-Bear and had breakfast with him Saturday morning.

I had booked Emily in a Play & Learn class at Gymboree Play & Music close to us--it was a free session to let us check it out to see if it's something we want to enroll Emily in. We got there a little early, so Emily got to play by herself for a few minutes.




She had a great time on the monkey bars and swinging rings with Grandma!


The instructor told us there were 17 kids enrolled, and the room filled up quickly when everyone started getting there!



It was so much fun! This was the 16-22 months age group, so Emily was right in her element, and followed right along with the instructions. They climbed, jumped, danced, clapped and did all the things she loves.

We even played with a parachute and blew bubbles! It was perfect for her, and we'll definitely be thinking about enrolling.

After that, we stopped at the pumpkin patch on the way home.

Emily wasted no time picking out her pumpkin. I think we might paint one rather than carve one this year.


The weekend flew by, and Emily didn't quite have enough time to warm up to Papa completely, but she did give him a few hugs and kisses :). She's still a little shy around men other than DaDa!

We'll just have to work on that a little by getting some more visits in.

Little Pumpkin

Emily is such a snuggly little pumpkin in the mornings, and we love the weekends when we can stay in our pjs for a while. I'm not sure why I like this picture so much--I think it's just sweet because Gracie is really starting to get pretty attached to Emily.

We discovered last week at the doctors' offices that she loves pumpkins (they are everywhere now), so we also did some fall decorating in our house this weekend--Emily and I were picking out some pumpkins in Target, and she found this little one that had a battery powered light in it.

She carries it everywhere, even now that she's broken the light (by throwing it like a ball). She even took it in the car on the way to school this morning. She now recognizes and names pumpkins, ghosts and jacks (jack-o-lanterns).

Little Diva

We had gorgeous fall weather all weekend, and since Mick had to work, Emily and I spent some girl time together, shopping and strolling around outside. We got dressed to go, and she needed her sunglasses.

She actually kept them on in the car, and even in the stroller! She's so much more content when she's walking on her own, so we really only keep her in the stroller if we're in a store with a lot of breakables or if it's very crowded. She's getting so good at just holding our hand and walking beside us, and I think it makes her feel like a big girl :).

September Artwork

Emily loves art--she gets to make at least one art project every day at school, and sometimes she'll take me over to show me hers if I ask when I pick her up. The pictures decorate the classroom during the month, and we get to bring them all home at the end of the month. There are way too many to post, so I just picked a few of my favorites to include.

This finger painting was one that she was particularly proud of--her teacher said some of the kids were just smearing the paint everywhere, but that Emily was very precise as she dipped her fingers in the paint and drew her picture. Mick said he thought it looked like a purple dolphin in waves, and it really does, now that I look at it that way. She's a genius :)!

This was another one I got to see the day she made it--her teacher pointed it out and said you could really tell that Emily got into gluing her school bus together and did it herself, because the windows were all crooked! It was true--most of the others had very straight windows and the teacher admitted to doing those. I really love the way she takes such an interest in expressing her creativity!

I always love her handprints and footprints--it's like a snapshot that will help us remember how little she once was!

This is a candied apple--it's difficult to see on the scanned picture, but the apple has little sparkles glued on it. I can just hear her saying "apple, apple" as she made it.

Day of Doctors

I took the day off today because I had scheduled three doctor appointments for Emily. A few weeks ago, I realized she had a dentist appointment, her 18 month checkup and her orthopaedic specialist follow up visit all within about a week of each other, so I moved them all to today.

We started with the dentist at 8:00 AM (which is something no one should have to do!). Emily took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in, and I had to wake her up around 7:15 because she was still cozy in bed! I was nervous about the dentist--she acted about like she does with us, and wouldn't cooperate enough for a real cleaning. I had to break out Elmo so we could put the little mirror in his mouth first, and then she decided the exam would be okay. The good news is the dentist said her teeth look healthy and terrific, and was glad to hear we force Emily into two brushings every day. All four of her canine teeth are coming in right now, and the dentist confirmed for us that those are the worst!

After that, we headed to the pediatrician for her 9:30 appointment. Mick met us there, and Emily was very excited to be surprised by Dada in the waiting room! She had a perfect checkup--she weighs 24.4 lbs (50th percentile), is 33 3/4 inches tall (95th percentile) and her head circumference is 18 1/2 (60th percentile). The doctor was impressed with her vocabulary and how well she moves and dances :). She got three vaccinations today (HepA, DTaP and the flu shot), and did great. What's even better is that even though she'll go in for a checkup when she turns 2, she's now completely DONE with her shots until she's 4 years old!

We came home for lunch and a nap, and left when she woke up to head to her 2:45 PM orthopaedic specialist appointment. She waved and made friends with everyone in the office as she strutted down the hall for her x-ray. Then she gladly picked out three stickers to add to the collection on her shirt from earlier in the day.

The doctor said her left hip still has slight dysplasia, but it's within the range that's considered normal. The ball hasn't developed quite as deep a space in the socket as her right hip, so he's not overly concerned, but still wants her to come back in 6 months for another followup. Looks like I'll be taking off April 2 for another day of doctor visits!

We had a good day between appointments--we went to Starbucks and Target this morning, went for a walk in our neighborhood, played outside, spent some time sliding and blowing bubbles, and (of course) read plenty of books! I'm looking forward to April already--Emily and I had such a fun day hanging out together, it makes me want to take more days off with no plans :).

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!