It’s time the monthly update about our little princess Emily Claire! She has had a great month and has learned so many new things.
I said last month that I was not keeping up with the words anymore- she knows so many that it’s almost impossible to keep up with her. Some notable words she has learned this month, though, are “circle” (when pointing at a circle), “purple” (when I was wearing a purple shirt), and she counted 1, 2, 3 when she was looking at a group of three goldfish crackers. I was so shocked when she counted the fish and also when she identified my shirt and the circle on her shower curtain. She is SO smart!
She has been enjoying the summer weather a lot lately. Every day she is either swimming, playing in the sandbox, or running around outside. It makes for very busy days but also for really great sleeping- a 2-3 hour nap each afternoon and about 11-12 hours of rest (mostly uninterrupted!) at night. There have been some “moments” though, that were pretty trying: I took her to my friend Leigh Anna’s apartment pool, and that water was too deep for her to touch by herself. At the pool at our gym, there is a huge baby pool that she can be “free” in (no baby boat, no Mommy carrying her). Well, she has gotten so accustomed to that kind of pool experience that she threw a huge tantrum on me about the pool at Leigh Anna’s. She didn’t want to be in the baby boat, didn’t want me to carry her, didn’t want to be in the water, or on the deck….it was a disaster! After about 40 straight minutes of tantrums, I apologized to Leigh Anna and told her we had to leave. Poor Emily was so angry on the way home that she cried and cried! She much prefers the gym pool where she can be free!
Emmy has been practicing her singing again this month. She knows almost all the words to the “Hot Dog Song” from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, “This Little Light of Mine”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, and the “ABCs”. She knows some of the words and motions to these songs: “Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink, I Love You”, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, “Peter, James and John in a Sailboat”, and “The Hokey Pokey”. It is so amazing to watch her learn a new song and new motions. She catches on to things so quickly!
Another new development is that she now requires applause after each “performance” … whether that be singing, dancing, playing piano, etc. She will turn to whoever is in the room, clap and say, “Yay!” and stare until everyone is clapping. It is hilarious! She is such a glory hound, it’s unbelievable. I am thinking of looking into a kiddie tap/jazz class or maybe baby tumbling for the fall- I feel like she needs an outlet for all her energy!
She has grown so much in her table habits. She is using a fork and spoon both successfully now and will wipe her mouth with a napkin or cloth if she is asked. She has gotten very independent with eating and really prefers to feed herself. Sometimes it is messy, but she is much happier and eats a lot more if we just put it in a heavy dish and let her do it herself. She even tells us, “I DO IT!” We recently tried peanut butter and she hasn’t had any reaction…in fact she loves it!
We will be heading to the beach in July and are so excited for Emily to visit the ocean again. She’ll get to see her Uncle Bill (Paul’s brother) and his fiancée and their granddaughter Addalynn. It’s been since Christmas that Addie and Emily got together, so it will be fun to see how they play together now. I have bought her one of the swimsuits with the floating panels inside the suit so perhaps she can play in the pool with us and we won’t have another meltdown like we did at Leigh Anna’s pool. We are also excited to spend some time at our favorite beach landmarks with her—she is starting to get to the age when she can have fun doing some ‘bigger kid’ things. Paul and I will also celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary while we are at the beach with an overnight trip to Charleston, SC. We are all super pumped for our trip!
