22 Months Old!

Hello again! It’s time for the monthly update- can you believe Emily is 22 months old now? I sure can’t! Here are some highlights and funny stories about our little princess.

-We have been playing a fun game where Emily asks something that sounds like a question and I respond with, “WHAT?!” in a very loud voice. (It’s funnier in person, I swear!) Well, yesterday morning we were playing before I had to leave for work and I said, “Emmy, can you give your Mommy a big kiss?” and she looked up from her toy and said, “WHAT?!” the same way I say it! It was SO funny, especially because she thought of it all on her own- we had not played the game in a day or two. She is hilarious! What made it even better is that while I was laughing she looked at me and said, “I a funny girl!”....yes, yes she is!

-She is getting to be quite the daredevil- jumping on the couch, beds, etc...basically anything. She also wrestles like crazy with Paul and likes to play very roughly....where is my sweet girl going?

-She and Jamey’s son DD have been playing “pretend” -type games a lot lately-- like going to the store together, etc. What is super funny to me is that Emily wants DD to hold her hand...and when he lets go, my little manhunter grabs it back! They are too funny together.

-She is loving animal sounds and body parts a lot lately. She always wants to do her animal puzzles and will tell you a lot of the names if you ask...same thing with body parts. Last night she woke up and I was wearing my glasses- she reached up, touched them, and said, “Glasses!”....such a smart girl.

-She is a dancing queen- loves all music! Lately I am noticing that she will dance different ways to different songs...makes me really excited that she hears these differences and already knows how to adjust her moves to match the rhythm.

-We are doing much more complicated hairstyles right now- French braids, regular braids, multiple ponytails, etc. It will probably all stop on Tuesday when the kids come back to school and I have to be there so early, but for right now we are really enjoying it!

-She is blurting out sentences left and right....her vocabulary and word acquisition skills AMAZE me! I read that toddlers can add a new word to their vocabulary every 90 minutes and I believe every bit of that, especially in a child like Emily who is constantly being stimulated by her parents or babysitter. Our girl is one smart cookie!

That’s about it for now- she is probably 25-26lbs and is about 34 inches tall...next time for the “official” visit is on or near her 2nd birthday pending no issues between now and then. Thanks for checking on our sweet baby.

So Long, Sweet Summer!

So today is the last day of summer for me before I return to work and Emily returns to Jamey’s. I am a little sad but I am so thankful for having had the last 58 days off with her (but who counted, right?) We had a WONDERFUL summer, and I know my sweet girl enjoyed it. Here are some highlights:

-Swimming at the gym pool with Mommy and Daddy.

-Staying a couple different weekends at Granny and Grandaddy’s house- always a treat! (Plus they have a piano that Emily LOVES to bang on...uh, I mean, play beautiful songs).

-Play dates with our friends.

-Playing in the sandbox, blowing bubbles in the kitchen, playing with water on her highchair tray (this was super messy!)

-The whole week of “cation” as Emily called it, when we were on vacation at Myrtle Beach. She loved every minute- time with Paul’s family, the ocean, the sand, the ducks in the stream,...

-Learning to eat whole apples (I have to post this video- it is hysterical!)

-Learning to sing songs- she is up to 22 songs now!

-Joining a gymnastics class and learning to do a forward roll after just one visit!

-Eating snacks in the living room (this is a treat!)

-Early morning snuggle time in the bed with Mommy and Daddy. We thought she would never hold still long enough to do this but she is learning!

-Trying Popsicles for the first time.


All in all, it has been a wonderful summer and while I’m sorry to see it end, I am glad to have had the time I did. I am also eager to get back to my job....well, at least until it starts. If you ask me tomorrow evening I’ll probably tearfully explain that I wish summer hadn’t ended, haha!

The Sweetest Girl

Today Miss Emily absolutely melted my heart. She was in the dining room, and I was in the kitchen (there’s a wall in between, so I couldn’t see her). I heard her keep saying, “Hi Daddy, I love you!” and I thought she must be at the bottom of the stairs saying it toward the upstairs, thinking he was home. Wrong! I walked quietly in there to see what she was doing and found her holding a picture of Paul and me together at the Hoover Dam. She was looking at the picture and saying, “I love you Daddy” over and over....and then while I watched, she kissed MY side of the picture and said, “Mommy!” It was so, so, so sweet. I picked her up, all teary eyed like I get, and just hugged her for as long as she’d let me. I couldn’t believe she was being so loving toward our picture! My next mission- to buy her a durable plastic frame (no glass!) and put our picture in it. Apparently, she likes the looks of us! :)

First Gymnastics Class!

Today we took Emily to a gymnastics center for her first class- a Parent/Tots Class! She had SO MUCH FUN! Seriously- she was running and jumping, rolling over, going through tunnels, and jumping into the Pit (see the picture). We will probably start taking her beginning in the Fall session, that begins August 31st. It’s every Saturday from 9:10-10am! Emily loved wearing her leotard but NONE of the other kids had on anything other than play clothes...I was That Mom today!! Whoops! Anyway, she had a terrific time and we are really looking forward to doing this with her. We are having her birthday party at this same gym so she should know some great tricks by the time that rolls around! Hard to believe our girl is big enough for a class now!

First Big Girl Hairstyle- the Braid!

Check it out- Emily had her first braid today! She is getting SO big. Also, after dinner last night she said, “Ok, I ready to go now.” Did I mention she is getting big? :)

21 Months Old!

It’s time for the monthly update! Emily was a big traveler last month- going to Granny and Grandaddy’s and taking a trip to the beach! She is getting so big and doing so many things....I need to start keeping a list going all month long so it’s not so hard thinking of all the things to put in the update!

Here’s what she’s doing now:

-Eating whole apples! She bites them, skin and all. Do not even TRY to cut them up- if she sees a whole apple, she wants the whole thing. I need to take a picture of the aftermath- the apple is basically skinned in 100 different places...it is hilarious!

-Opening doorknobs. This is not my favorite new trick, for sure.

-Potty interest- she wants to sit on the potty A LOT now. She is not really doing anything when she sits there, but the interest has finally arrived. My personal goal is to have her totally potty trained by Christmas.

-Wearing “makeup”. Whenever I am getting ready she comes in the bathroom and opens my makeup drawer. I have to give her a brush and she brushes all over her face saying, “make up! make up!” It is pretty amusing to say the least.

-Singing....oh boy, the songs! She LOVES singing so much! She knows probably 15 songs now and so we play Karaoke in the car, the grocery store, etc. She wants to sing all the time.

-Colors- she can now identify red and blue with pretty good accuracy.

-Shapes- she finds circles EVERYWHERE and is working on squares (‘scare”).

-Letters- she can ID letters E, A, and O with pretty good accuracy.

-Coloring- she loooooves to color! Any time, any place, if you have crayons or markers and some paper, she will gladly color for you. Or if you happen to leave a pen out, she will happily color your couch.

-Wrestling. I’m serious. I need to video her with Paul in the evenings- she loves throwing herself on top of him and falling off (he catches her!) and running into him from across the room. I have no idea where she sees this kind of behavior but it is pretty funny to watch a seemingly sweet little girl acting so wild!

-Saying sorry. She is KILLING us lately with saying, “I sorry!” over everything! She will not stop until you say OK and then she says, “all right”. It makes us feel awful when we say, “Gosh Emily you sure have a lot of toys” and she says, “I sorry! I sorry! I sorry!”


In the next few weeks we will be transitioning back into our routine with going to Miss Jamey’s a few days per week and getting ready for me to start school on August 10. I’m hoping to do a lot of swimming at our gym pool with her and having some playdates with friends before things get super busy again. Check in soon for more updates on our little princess!

Beach Trip 2009!

We are back from a WONDERFUL vacation. We had a fantastic time at Myrtle Beach and enjoyed getting to spend time at the beach and enjoy the company of Paul’s family. Emily LOVED the ocean and had a terrific time. Here are some highlights:

-First and foremost, the beach. Emily had NO fear about running into the water and enjoyed heading to the ocean every morning for a few hours. She built lots of sand creations (we will not call them “castles” this year...that would be a stretch!) and had so much fun making new friends with kids on the shore.

-Singing- Emily has learned the words to so many songs! She sang Skinnamarinky Dinky Dink (I Love You), Head, Shoulders Knees & Toes, This Little Light of Mine, ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song, Twinkle Twinkle, Victor Vito, the Bumblebee Song, We are the Dinosaurs....and probably a lot more I am forgetting. She loves to have someone sing to her and if no one will, she will sing to herself!

-Emmy loved having her Granny, Grandaddy, and Grandma Frances around to play with her non-stop and take her on long walks. The resort where we stayed had a lot of ducks in their lake and she loved seeing them every time we walked somewhere.

-Meeting other kids- there are two funny stories here. First, we saw Emily with a little boy who was about 2.5 years old. Let’s just say her “pick up” skills really need some improvement-- she started circling this poor boy and saying, “Hello, what are you doing? Hello, what are you doing?”....over and over and over! He just looked stunned and didn’t say a peep- it was hysterical! I wish we had had the camera for that- we were cracking up! The second funny story was Em’s “ability”, if you will, to join in other children’s play on the beach. No matter how old the kids, she would plop down in the middle of their sand play and just start playing with their toys! It was funny because she is so little....something tells me a few years from now kids won’t be so willing to let her come in and wreck their castles and things!

-Going out to eat-- one night we ate at a seafood buffet (we are not usually buffet people but Paul and I LOVE crab legs and it’s the best way to get them at the beach) and she ate...and ate...and ate...and ate!! We could not believe all the food this child consumed during the trip- she must be getting ready for a growth spurt or something!

-New toys! While on the trip Emily got a super cute bowling set (cloth animals are the “pins” and she doesn’t play with them like a normal bowling game- she lines them all up in a row and talks to them!) as well as Mickey Mouse (MeMe Mouse) and Tigger (Kiggo) stuffed toys....she loved them! Usually she doesn’t care much about toys when she first gets them (case in point for this trip- the Build a Bear dog Paul and I stuffed for her during Nap the first day....at least I had a coupon so it was free because she did not touch that dog the whole trip!) We were so shocked at how quickly she started playing with the bowling set and the Disney friends.


Overall it was a wonderful trip and we are so glad to have been able to enjoy the ocean with Emily. Now it’s back to work for Paul and just a few more weeks of summer vacation before I go back to work too. The summer sure does fly by when you’re having so much fun!


PS- I just thought I would let you know I am writing this in absolute quiet because Paul took Emily out for Daddy/Daughter Date. He has been doing this for a few months now, taking Emily out to get little treats and spend special time with him. Today’s agenda was a trip to pick out her first Mr. Potato Head, picking up lunch from Sonic, and heading to the park for a picnic and playtime. Just thought everyone should know he is the best Dad around. :)