Hello, Elmo!

Today we had an embarrassing (to say the least!) moment when we were at a local coffee shop. Emily was playing in the children’s area with a little boy about her age. He happened to have very bright red hair. After a little while, Emmy ran across the room, stopped right in front of the boy, and yelled out, “Hello, Elmo!” I was mortified, the boy’s mother was NOT appreciative, and the girl I was at the coffee shop with burst out laughing. Can you say awkward?!

20 Months Old!

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!

Baby's First Sentence!

On Sunday, June 14th, Emily surprised both Paul and myself by saying her first sentence! She and I were in the baby pool on the deck and Paul walked into the yard after returning from the grocery store. Emily looked at him and said, “Hello, Daddy! What......are.......you..........doing?” It was SO cute! She said all the words very slowly like she wanted to be sure she got them all correct. Paul and I just stared at her in amazement- she is SO SO SO smart! We are incredibly proud of that little lady!

Peanut Butter, Baby!

That’s right- we tried peanut butter for the second time night before last and it *appears* that not only is Emily not allergic to peanuts (phew!) but that this could be a new favorite food! She looooooves a little PB spread thinly on a Ritz cracker (and loves the Ritz brand version of this, too). I am so excited to try other peanut butter things with her! Just one more way she is getting so grown up lately. Big girl!

19 Months Old!

Hello again! It’s time for the monthly update! As always, I will begin with the list of words Emily now knows (new words in bold print) but there’s something different this month—this is absolutely, positively the last month for words. I know, I know…I have said this every month for ages now, but this is really it. She knows SO many words, and now she is making them into baby sentences (2, 3, 4 word phrases) so really…this is it. At some point I have to stop being Crazy Mom and I don’t need to document every single thing she says. Suffice it to say that if you can say it, Emily can say it!


So, without further adieu, here is the final words list:


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

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!!

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!)

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

49. Elmo

50. bathtub (bottub)

51. bath time

52. brush teeth

53. shirt off

54. numbers 1-7

55. what’s this?

56. yogurt

57. good girl

58. sorry

59. cool girl

60. fall down

61. clean up

62. go play

63. flush it (this comes out as 2 swear words put together, so we’re sort of avoiding it for now, haha!)

64. ready, set, go!

65. telephone

66. show (as in TV show)

67. sheep

68. cow

69. duck

70. car

71. hungry...eat!

72. snack

73. Bless you (when someone sneezes)

74. thank you!

75. Booker

76. Jack (Paul’s cousin Lorrie’s son)

77. turtle

78. I peed (potty training, anyone? Now you know my summer project!)

79. I poop

80. Daddy here!

81. Daddy home (as soon as she can see our house she starts asking this- it is SO cute!)

82. milk

83. cereal

84. Mommy (she has begun addressing me by name now- I love it!)

85. clothes off!

86. throw it (a ball)

87. Hello? How are you? (when talking on the phone)

88. pet

89. fish

90. work

91. help me please

92. night- night

93. turn it (like turn it on, please)

94. Katie (one of our dogs’ names)


Not too shabby, right? I am so impressed with all that she knows. Her brain just absorbs everything these days!


Now to the fun things she says/ has done in the past month:


-She now has all 4 molars and is working on her incisor teeth. I feel pretty certain the ones on the left are going to pop through first but they are HARD to see, especially when she doesn’t want anyone’s hands in there. She wouldn’t even let the pediatrician look!

-Over the weekend I drove her to Paul’s family’s house in WV so she could see the family for Memorial Day. Paul, his dad, brother, and some friends were all going to a NASCAR race and we didn’t want to be lonely, so we went on a roadtrip. Emily was an ANGEL in the car, thanks to the portable DVD player for keeping her entertained! I only heard from her every 30 minutes or so when Baby Einstein was restarting. It was Heaven!

-Emily had some very special visitors this month—my parents and sister, and my grandparents (ages 94 and 89!) came for a visit last weekend. It was SO nice to see my family again and of course everyone was taken by what a wonderful baby we have. I felt so proud! We had a professional photo taken of the 8 of us together and I will post it when I get it back. It really was a blessing that Emmy got to meet my Gram and Grandpa.

-She is getting very headstrong and is very willful. I believe our parents are looking at her and thinking the word “payback”…she is quite the tantrum-thrower, but Time Out is actually highly effective with her. Thank goodness! I don’t know what we would do because she really gets out of hand sometimes!

-Her feet grew again, and she is now at the end of a 4/beginning stages of a 5. I can’t believe how big she is getting!

-She visited baby Taryn, my friend Casey’s daughter. While there, she treated Casey to a concert of all the songs she knows, and gave Taryn a kiss. She is SUCH a sweet girl! Makes me long for another baby so she could be a real big sister…but, in case you’re wondering……..we’re holding off for a while. So don’t get your hopes up too high. ;)

-Speaking of babies, Miss Jamey has a new baby at her house named Corinne. Baby “Rinn”, as Emmy calls her, is a “BABY”, not a big girl. I asked Emily one morning if Corinne was a baby or a big girl and she yelled out (loudly!) “Rinn a baby!” So smart! Also, Jamey tells me that all the kids at her house have certain “jobs” that they do to help Jamey care for Corinne (did I mention that Jamey is a saint?!) Em’s job is to gently give Corinne the paci when she loses it, and apparently she takes the job quite seriously.

-Also since the addition of Corinne at Miss Jamey’s, Emily has become much more loving on us and on her toys. She constantly carries around babies and other toys and Jamey says she puts them all on the little couch she sits on at Jamey’s house. She is getting to be a very sweet girl.

-This was another musical month. Favorite songs include Twinkle, Twinkle, This Little Light of Mine, the ABCs, Peter, James, and John in a Sailboat, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Old MacDonald had a Farm, and Barney’s I Love You Song (you know I’m cringing at the last one). I am thinking of getting her a kids CD for in the car…any suggestions? I am thinking more like nursery rhymes/songs as opposed to like, Kidz Bop. If I want to hear radio songs, I’ll just listen to the radio.

That is about all I can think of/ remember. Thanks for checking in on our sweet princess and be watching out for new updates and pics—school is only in session for 14 more days so I will have a LOT more time on my hands in just 3 short weeks!

18 Month Check Up

I skipped out of work early today to take Emmy for her 18 month (ok, 18 months and 3 weeks) appointment. She tipped the scales at 23lbs 14oz (30th percentile), 33 3/4 inches tall (93th percentile) and head circumference of 18 3/4 inches (73rd percentile). This is probably the ONLY time in her life she's considered "tall"...she's 2 foot 9, people! :) She was chatting it up while Dr Amy and I were talking, and then she said, "Oh, so she says some words?" And I said she knows about 100 (75 last time I counted, which was over 3 weeks ago, and she is picking up about 2-3 a day now...I really can't keep up!) and the doc's face changed completely. She said, "How many words??" and I said, "About 100....why- how many should she know?" thinking something was wrong. Anyway, she laughed and said, "She should know about 15 at least...so you're pretty good in the word department!" I was so pleased to hear her say that! I mean, I know Emily talks a lot but I think any parent would like hearing a statement like that from their pedi. At least I did!

So, after that, she checked Emily out, we discussed the Flovent she is on for asthma and she recommended that we put her on a daily dose of OTC Zyrtec to control the allergy symptoms. We also discussed peanut butter and other nuts- she said the concern with regular nuts is not allergic reactions but choking hazards...so she discouraged those but said to go ahead and try PB. So looks like my sweet girl might get some peanut butter here soon! We also talked about strawberries and how she has had them already but Paul is allergic. Somehow I feel better having heard her say that it's unlikely that Emily is allergic (sorry Paul! I know, you said it first). So, now we can have 2 strawberry eaters in our house. :)

After that, she got 3 shots, cried a lot, and then we left! Her next appointment is her TWO year appointment, in October.

Long Time No Talk!

Sorry for the lack of updates! It is End of the Year time at school and I have been swamped, plus Emmy is not exactly making it easy on me-- she is wild, wild, wild! If we turn our backs for a moment she is into something (good or not so good!) and so we have to be on our “A- Game” all the time. My parents will be coming down next weekend to see her- it’s been since January that they last saw her so they are in for a big surprise-- she is hardly the same girl anymore. Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update- just 11 days till the next monthly post.

PS-- To all the mommies out there-- Happy Mother’s Day!!!