17 Months Old!

Well, Emily Fans, it’s that time again! The 17 month update! I can’t believe how big our baby has gotten this month!

First, I will attempt to list all of her new words….but seriously friends, I think this is the last time. Her vocabulary is HUGE! Basically, if you or I can say it, so can she. I am not even kidding. She is absorbing so many things right now and is even starting little phrases…I love it! Here’s my attempt at Emily’s Word List, Age 17 Months (new words in bold print):

1. apple

2. uh-oh (in response to falling down or dropping something)

3. doggie (FINALLY!)

4. Mama

5. Dada/Daddy/Dadadadadadad

6. more

7. more please (this one makes me *extra* proud!)

8. uh huh (yes)

9. uh-uh (no)

10. no (getting quite good at this one....ugh!)

11. Booker (sounds like “ocker”)

12. bite

13. ouchie

14. bye bye

15. baby (sounds like bee bee)

16. hi

17. hello (heyo)

18. poo poo

19. DeeDee (Jamey’s son’s name)

20. cookie

21. eat

22. cheese

23. GO!

24. help

25. up

26. grapes (gape)

27. happy (from “If You’re Happy and You Know It”)

28. outside

29. stack (for her stacking blocks)

30. RAAH (like a scary roar…we do this back and forth sometimes)

31. LOVE YOU

32. brush (like toothbrush)

33. cracker

34. cookie (sounds like “cocky”)

35. teeth (as in “brush teeth”…sounds like “teesh”)

36. shirt

37. socks

38. shoes

39. cup (sounds like “bop”)

40. Emmy (as in, her own name! I have an adorable video I will have Paul post…so cute!)

41. juice

42. pizza

43. Hey Dad!

44. Hey baby/ yay baby!! (see funny story below)

45. potty (poppy)

46. push buttons (sounds like “pusha buttahs”. She says this in the garage so she can push the door button, or with my computer mouse, or my phone…basically all over!)

47. I-E-I-E ( this is how she asks to sing Old MacDonald Had A Farm- she says I-E-I-E instead of EIEIO. So cute! She also attempted to say “Old MacDonald” but it sounded more like “Doda Dahduh” and she only did it once so I’m not counting it.)

48. Hot dog! (from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse closing song…she loves Mickey!)

49. Elmo (pronounced “elbow”)

50. bathtub (bottub)


OK so I’m calling it quits with 50 words…that’s PLENTY, in my book! And now, for the funny stories and new things she’s doing:


-A few days ago I was using the bathroom and Emmy came wandering in. She is getting very interested in the potty so I was making a HUGE deal about going pee pee in the potty—walking her through all the steps, etc. When I was finished she looked at me and said, “Yay Baby!” in the happiest voice!

-Also related to using the potty, if you come to our house right now I am sure you’ll be happy to know that you won’t need to flush the toilet after you’ve used the bathroom- Emily is now the official Flusher. Isn’t it nice to know that little job is all taken care of at our house? It’s like we have a maid, really.

-She played with PlayDoh for the first time the other day and liked it pretty well. Well, until she sampled a little bit…then she really didn’t have a lot of interest in it!

-She LOVES playing outside and playing in the dirt. Sometimes I wonder if God is challenging me by giving me a daughter who likes dirt so very much…I was hoping for more of a tea party/ dress up/ ballet class kind of girl, but it’s ok. I will love her even if she comes in dirty every night!

-She has learned to take off her diaper. No huge problems with this so far but we are really limiting the time she has to mess with it, and we’re definitely using the zipper jammies as long as possible until she grows out of this. I would hate to think of what this could lead to, haha!

-She picks out her own snacks. And by picks out, I mean she stands in front of the pantry until I finally open the door, then waits to be picked up so *she* can get it off the shelf. And don’t EVEN try to help her put her food on a fork or a spoon…oh no. She. Can. Do. It. Her. Self!

-Also in the realm of new independence, I bought her a “big girl” toothbrush and she LOVES brushing her teeth at night. She actually does not like me to help with this at all but I don’t love the idea of toddler dentures so I win. The other night after she drank her milk I put her on the floor to see if she would walk to her crib for bed or walk to the bathroom to brush teeth…she walked to the bathroom saying “Teesh, teesh”. I was SO proud!

-She said her own name to me when I asked her—“Emmmy!”

-She is singing like nobody’s business right now. I mean any song, especially little kids’ ones with hand motions, etc…she loves all music. Some current favorites are “Peter, James and John in a Sailboat”, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, the ABCs, Days of the Week, Months of the Year (haha- can you say Teacher’s Kid?). She wants to sing all the time!

-She is also dancing a lot- and it is hilarious! She starts out slowly, just moving her head back and forth…then comes the whole body rocking, and most recently she has added spinning in circles til she gets dizzy and falls over. It is hysterical to watch!

-She is rolling and throwing her balls and has attempted kicking as well, but doesn’t quite have the coordination for that yet.

-I was juggling (ok, ok, attempting to juggle) for her the other day and she took 2 balls and pretended to juggle them with me. She is very good at imitating.

-Speaking of pretending, in the grocery store now she has to hold an item (for whatever reason, the frozen items seem to be her favorite…I will never understand….) and while she holds it she “eats” it, by putting her hand on it, then pretending to put something in her mouth and chew it up. So funny!

-She currently weighs about 25lbs (clothed and with shoes). I peeked when she was standing on the bathroom scale. If I were betting I would say she is 30 inches tall and 24lbs. We go to the pediatrician next month so I will know for sure soon!


Speaking of my sweet girl she is just waking up from her nap so I have to run. Thanks for checking on our princess!

A Day in the Life....

Hello friends! I am so sorry about the lack of updates this month- it has been completely crazy! We have had WILD weather (snow for 3 days followed by 7 days of summery 80 degrees followed by what seems to be the second Great Flood), it’s the end of the quarter which means tons of work for yours truly....daddy is back on service which means more work for him....and, Emily is the busiest she has EVER been and is literally all over the place at all times! This place is a nuthouse!

Anyway, I won’t write too much because the big Month 17 update is mere days away (can you stand it?!) but I thought I might give some insight into Emmy’s personality right now. To say she is....unstable would be an enormous understatement. We are QUICKLY getting a taste for the terrible 2s...maybe she is starting early? Tonight I snapped pictures for about 5 minutes and this is what I got:

6:02pm Pure, unadulterated JOY at getting to carry around an old school calculator I have. Yes, she has a TI32. So cool!




6:03pm Reaching up and saying “Please, please, please” at me to get down her snow globe. The snow globe has a lot of rules that go with it....I’m just sayin’.


6:04pm- Getting a little rough with the snow globe. Warnings ensue.

6:05pm-- Far too rough with the snow globe and the warnings are getting us NOwhere. So, away it goes.

6:06pm- THIS happens:



I mean seriously....is the voting for the Oscars closed already? We have some major talent here folks!



6:07pm- Tantrum subsides, and our lovely daughter returns. Karen Katz book, anyone?



Who couldn’t love this girl?

16 Months Old!

It’s that time again- the monthly update! Sit back and relax because there is a LOT to say about the past month!

I suppose the biggest changes this month occurred in the areas of vocabulary development and gross motor skills. First- vocab. Emily’s word list EXPLODED this month…I will attempt to write them all here but bear with me- I know I am forgetting some. This is probably the last list of words I’ll be able to come up with because she has learned so many and is coming up with new ones faster than I can keep track!

*apple

*uh-oh (in response to falling down or dropping something)

*doggie (FINALLY!)

*Mama

*Dada/Daddy/Dadadadadadad

*more

*more please (this one makes me *extra* proud!)

*uh huh (yes)

*uh-uh (no)

*no (getting quite good at this one....ugh!)

*Booker (sounds like “ocker”)

*bite

*ouchie

*bye bye

*baby (sounds like bee bee)

*hi

*hello (heyo)

*poo poo

*DeeDee (Jamey’s son’s name)


*cookie

*eat

*cheese

*GO!

*help

*up

*grapes (gape)

*happy (from “If You’re Happy and You Know It”…see story below)

*outside

*stack (for her stacking blocks)

*RAAH (like a scary roar…we do this back and forth sometimes)

*LOVE YOU (oooh yeah, she says it! See funny story below).

*Oh Jesus (this is Mommy’s fault…sometimes I say this if I drop something or am frustrated. Emily made me eat my words this month for sure when she burst out with this one. I am not proud).

* brush (like toothbrush. This is funny because she loves to brush her teeth but does not understand why ‘brush’ is part of hairbrush. So when I hand her a hairbrush, she first tries to brush her teeth with it.)

*She has a name for her silky blanket but it is not printable. It sounds exactly like a curse word so we’re hoping this month to get some development out of that word and maybe it will not sound so vulgar.


And now, for the funny stories and memorable moments:


•Over Valentine’s day weekend Emily began saying “love you” to us. It is adorable, yes, and I wanted her to say it to me one morning when I was leaving her at Jamey’s. I kept saying “Bye Emmy, love you!” to her, but she was only saying “Bye Bye” and giving me these huge, cheesy smiles. Finally I guess she had had enough of me trying to coerce her into saying ‘love you’ because she looked up at me and yelled “GO!” I thought Jamey and I might die from laughter…it was hilarious!


•She has this Fisher-Price mirror/stage thing that sings “If You’re Happy And You Know It” as the first song. The other day she was standing in front of it saying “happy, happy, happy” and I couldn’t figure it out. Suddenly it hit me that that is the first song that plays, so I turned it on for her (we keep her toys turned off unless she is playing with them because I kicked one in the middle of the night last summer and quickly learned my lesson. Waking her up with a musical medley of fun was NOT what I was intending when I poked in just to check on her!) As soon as I turned it on she got really excited—she knew that song was first!


•She is really into imitation right now- she will mimic any word or action we can do. It’s cute because she wants to brush her hair when I have my hairbrush out, etc. Part of the reason her vocabulary has developed so much probably has to do with her willingness to try new words we say (haha…whether or not we want her to say them, as in the “oh Jesus” case!)


•For her 16 Month Birthday (her “monthday” as we call it), we bought her this tunnel and tent set from Costco. It was a huge hit! She loved the tunnel and immediately went into it. I put a few toys in the tent (it’s shaped like a teepee…so cool!) and she really liked it! It’s fun to buy her ‘big kid’ things.


•She is beginning to show a lot of interest in hand-game type songs. For instance, Jamey sings a song to the kids called “Peter, James and John In a Sailboat”. It has some pretty distinct arm movements and Emmy is now really trying to do all of them. Sometimes she will say ‘please’ and be doing the movement and that is my clue that she wants to sing the song.


•She has fallen in LOVE with grapes. I held off for a long time with them thinking that they were too dangerous, but now I cut them in half and she eats them like they are candy! She loves them so much and would eat them, her veggies (see Month 15 Update) and chicken nuggets for every meal I think.


•We discovered the only way to get her to eat ground beef (or any beef…she hates steak…crazy kid) is to smother it in tomato sauce and cheese. She loves it that way so we’re making Hamburger Helper-esque meals about once a week to get some beef in her system.


•She has begun giving me raspberries on my belly! It is hilarious and tickles so much! Unfortunately, she has also become really, really obsessed with lifting my shirt to do so…anytime, anyplace. Can we say “awkward?!”


•She is getting really good with feeding herself using a spoon. The other morning she ate oatmeal using a spoon. I will readily admit that it was NOT a pretty sight but she did a really great job, actually! I was so excited watching her.


•Her new “hideout” is Katie’s crate. I promise, she is going in there completely on her own. There’s very little we can do to stop her since she knows how to undo the locks on the crate and let herself in. Katie, however, does not mind being let out of the kennel one bit. In fact, I think she likes that Emily likes being in her crate!


•She has an insatiable curious streak…she gets into every cabinet, drawer, nook, and cranny in this whole house. It is sometimes cute and a lot of the time super bothersome. You just can’t babyproof a whole house! She unrolls the toilet paper, pulls all the dishtowels out, slams drawers, steals my makeup, and is this close to being able to wrap her whole hand around the doorknobs. Then we are really, really in trouble. Any tips on what we can do with her, folks?

And that about does it. I told you this would be a massive update! As always, thanks for checking on our girl. Enjoy the pictures in the new album and be sure to check back soon…new things are happening all the time!

First, Happy Valentine’s Day! We had a wonderful morning here and spent it taking Emily to the local Children’s Museum. She had a SUPER GREAT time playing and being with all the other children! We finished the morning with a delicious pizza from a great spot downtown. Emily was so cute all morning- ver loving and excited. It was so much fun to see her “in her element” so to speak and having so much fun!

As far as updates go...well boy is there a lot to update! I won’t share everything because then I’ll have nothing new for my Month 16 update next Saturday, but here’s a few snippets of what’s been happening in our house lately!


1.Emily has learned how to RUN! Have I mentioned this before? Anyway, she is a holy terror in the house, running as fast as she can, wherever she can, whenever she can. She cannot be stopped! So far she’s great at the running part but needs some practice in the “stopping” and “turning” departments. She is a tough girl though- she falls down and hops right back up-- no tears, kisses from Mommy, etc. She just keeps going!


2.Emily has also figured out how to blow raspberries on MY stomach! Isn’t that hilarious? There are pics of her doing it in the Month 16 album. It is so funny and makes me burst into giggles every time. There is a downside, however... now she is even more determined (if this were even possible!) to lift up my shirt at any time (any place, in front of any one....are you seeing the problems with this?) We had some friends over for the Superbowl and suddenly she was lifting my shirt up in the middle of the kitchen!! Thank goodness they were close friends! Haha!


3.She is saying SO MANY new words. It’s seriously going to take me a couple days to write them all down. Notable new ones include “help” (soooo helpful! I love this one!), “outside”, “hot dog” (no no- NOT because she is eating them! Because of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song, ha!), and....drumroll please....... I’m pausing for dramatic effect..........

LOVE YOU!! Yes-- it’s true! She says “Love you!”. But really only just repeating when we say it. But try wiping the big grin off my face when she says it....just try. :)


4.She has become such a big girl with the Goodbye every morning when I drop her at Jamey’s. I decided to just tell her goodbye instead of trying to sneak out and it’s working MUCH better- she gives me hugs, kisses, and sometimes will even say “die die” (bye bye”) to me. It makes my day!


OK- so that’s all for now. Like I said, the 16 month update is coming next weekend so I’ve got to keep some stuff for later~ Thanks for checking on our girl. Make sure you look at the new pics in the Month 16 album!

Asthma

We noticed Emmy coughing and having a lot of runny nose and sneezing on Sunday night but didn’t think much of it. When she woke up yesterday morning she was snotty and crabby but seemed to feel better after breakfast so we went ahead and sent her to Jamey's so she could play-- all morning she had been saying "Dee Dee!" (Jamey's son) so we knew she wanted to go over there. We gave her a breathing treatment before we sent her and then took her over. Paul and I were at lunch when we got a call from Jamey saying Emily was very fussy and seemed to be breathing hard. As soon as we could we went back to her house- her sister in law was there (Jamey had an OB appointment) and Emily was having a SUPER hard time breathing- tugging, grunting, pulling, breathing really fast (over 60x/min) and felt hot like she had a fever. We called the pediatrician and begged them to get us in, which they did. We took her over and they wanted to watch her and give her breathing treatments and also oral steroids. Her pulse/ox was 80 (good is 100) but we were having a hard time getting a good reading so we weren’t sure about whether to believe that. Her temp was 100.1. They watched her there for 2 hours and weren’t satisfied with how she looked so they sent us on to the ER.

When we go to the ER they checked her pulse/ox again and it was 89. Her heart rate was close to the 200s but albuterol can increase it so they weren't super concerned about that. She had to be strapped down to the board again for a chest Xray which later came back clear. They put her on 1L of oxygen but later cut it back to 1/2 a liter and then turned it off completely. We got the "official diagnosis" that she is most likely asthmatic and we will need to have an inhaler with us, or readily available, at all times (like, we don't have to take it every single place we go but we should always have the prescription filled and have it in a place where we can find it or get to it easily, and take it with us if we are traveling out of town or something). She was treated and released from the ER last night and I stayed home with her today. I already took her to the pediatrician for her follow up and saw a different doc than yesterday who said she looks much better but to stay the course and do the albuterol every 4 hours until this evening and also to finish out the 4 days of steroids they had us get.


I don't really know how I feel about all this- I am disappointed to have the 'sick kid' but I'm hopeful that asthma meds have gotten so much better now that she will be able to live a normal life. I hate to see her in the hospital but I hate even more that we will have to be vigilant with her and exposure to allergens, etc. . Most of all, I just hope she gets completely better. The doctor today said most kids have a 50/50 chance of outgrowing the wheezing and airway issues by age 5 but when I told him Paul is asthmatic and Emmy already has excema he seemed less confident that Emily would outgrow it. I guess we will have to see!! For now I am just relieved that she was able to be treated and released and that she is her same wild self today.

15 Months Old!

I say it every month so why make this one any different-- I can’t believe she’s growing up so fast! Emily is now 15 months old and is getting bigger, wilder, and more energetic (if that was even possible!) every day. Sit back and relax for a moments folks, while I fill you in on 15 Month Old Emily Claire!

---She has new words!! I think she knew I was secretly getting nervous about the lack of vocabulary expansion between months 12-15 so this week she really stepped it up and started using new ones! Here’s what she says so far:

1.apple
2.uh-oh (in response to falling down or dropping something)
3.doggie (FINALLY!)
4.Mama
5.Dada/Daddy/Dadadadadadad
6.more
7.more please (this one makes me *extra* proud!)
8.uh huh (yes)
9.uh-uh (no)
10.no (getting quite good at this one....ugh!)
11.Booker (sounds like “ocker”)
12.bite
13.ouchie
14.bye bye
15.baby (sounds like bee bee)
16.hi
17.hello (heyo)
18.poo poo
19.DeeDee (Jamey’s son’s name)


--- She is a walking machine now!! A lot of her time is spent on her feet, walking around our house. She will tell us “bye bye”, walk into the next room, and come back in a say “hi”. It is so funny! She plays it constantly.


---She is understanding SO much of what we say now. I read that she is probably in a stage of Language Acquisition known as the “passive phase” in which she is absorbing all of what we say and deriving meaning from it, but not necessarily saying all of what we are saying. (Did that make sense?!) So, we’re trying to help her associate different things with the words to describe them. For instance, while I was drying my hair the other day she turned the faucet on in our bathroom and, before I could get to her, she put her hand under the hot water. Right when I got to her I said “ouchie! ouchie!” and now when she sees that bathtub she says “ouchie!” and will not touch it! Not too shabby, if you ask me!


---Related to the language/talking, she has simple vocabulary flash cards a friend of mine gave to her-- they say things like cat, dog, car, corn, apple, shoes, etc. and each one has a different part of it that is texturized (like the dog and cat each have a patch of fur). About 2 weeks ago Paul and I were AMAZED when, out of curiosity, I held up the cards 2 at a time, and asked her to show me what each one was. I changed the hand I was holding the correct card in and she correctly guessed every single one!! We were blown away. It just further shows that she’s in the passive phase...but she is obviously understanding so much!


--- She is learning to take off her clothes! Ok, so we’re not thrilled about this one, but she is learning how to help us get her dressed and undressed. Just the other morning we were putting on her pants and she was standing up, holding on to my shoulders....made me realize that she was putting them on the “grown up” way!


---She loves to eat vegetables, specifically the green beans/peas/carrots/corn medley kind. I heat them up for her every dinner and weekend lunches too...she gobbles it down like it is candy!


---She is learning to eat with a spoon and fork! Plus, we have gotten her some more dishes and she has been pretty cooperative with using them, but leaving them on her tray. Also, she has decided that at Miss Jamey’s, she should eat at the table with the other kids. Jamey now has to lower the highchair and let Emily join the others...Jamey, we love you and you are a saint for putting up with our crazy lady!! :)


---Tonight, she used the potty for the first (and second!) time!! I was SHOCKED! She was trying to make “poo poo” and I said, “let’s let her try it on the potty instead” since I knew that’s what she was doing. You see, whenever Emmy has to poo she goes off by herself and tries, but she tries by sitting down on her bottom....thus making it MUCH more difficult to go. So, I grabbed her up and put her on the potty, and then hugged her because she was a little confused about everything. I just wanted her to try sitting there- I didn’t think anything would really happen...when all of a sudden, we heard a little plop!! She went in the potty!! (Side story- I was trying to put her diaper back on and wipe her bottom and she reached and very nearly reached into the potty to get her “deposit” back OUT. Yuck!) A few minutes later she assumed the position again so we ran back to the bathroom shouting “poo poo!! Let’s poo poo in the potty!” and voila-- she did it again! Now please-- we are not starting potty training now by any means, but I am seriously thinking of trying to have her poo in the potty because it makes it so much easier on her-- I don’t mind changing diapers at all but it is frustrating to see your baby struggling so, all because of her position. So maybe this is our answer?


---She loves to play “I’m gonna get you!” type games-- LOVES them! Right now her fave is to walk too close to me and then I’ll say “Emmy!” in this scary voice and she will laugh hysterically, walk a little faster, and then look back at me. It’s even better if I will chase after her stomping my feet hard or crawling on the floor. She gets completely worked up over this game and laughs so hard!


--- She LOVES to dance! She has a big Fisher Price toy set that plays a lot of songs and she loves to dance to it--- but her dancing is hilarious right now. It starts out as simple heading bobbing, back and forth...but then grows to be like, head loosely flowing from side to side, with whole body swaying and arms in the air. It is so funny to watch!! Another favorite activity is playing the music, dancing, and then turning to make sure Daddy and I are also dancing. If we don’t dance she gets SO mad!! She checks after every song to make sure we are bobbing our heads too...so funny!



So there you have it-- a synopsis of our girl right now. She is so much fun and this is an incredible age. I always feel like I love her current age the best but this time I really mean it, haha! She is tons of fun to play with and we love spending our time with her.

FINALLY feeling better!

After nearly 3 weeks of being sick, Emily is FINALLY feeling better! What a long Christmas break/vacation time (for Paul) we have had! Emily had viral bronchiolitis, a bad cold, and double ear infection! In addition to the ear infection, she was completely unable to hold down food for 5 straight days and lost a full pound....talk about stressed-out Mommy and Daddy! Thank goodness she is finally better and back to her old self. That is one 3-week span I do NOT want to relive!