Saturday, January 24, 2009

Emily at 18 months















Now that Emily will be 19 months in a less than 2 weeks I figured it should get the stuff down about her at 18 months. Emily is so much fun and such a cute, independent, active toddler. She acts like she is older than she is and of course wants to do everything that Stephanie does. At her appointment she weighed 22lbs 7oz (with shoes on) and was 31". She has been that tall since her one year check up (which must have been mismeasured) and again is the smallest in the family. I think Parker has past her on weight and maybe height also. We sure have some small little girls in this house. This month she got 2 more teeth and needs to get 2 more on the bottom to be set until she gets her first molars in. She is finally getting better on sleeping through the night. I would say once or twice a week I get up once just to give her her nuk back. So much better than a couple months ago. She sleeps with her blanket and now a snowman(after Christmas sale item that she fell in love with from day 1).

She is starting to talk more and probably has about 15 words. Not all understandable to everyone but she loves to say "hi" to everyone but she has to say it first and if that person starts talking to her then she will become quiet and pretend she didn't say anything. So she is still a little weary of strangers and needs to be by me. She can also say " thank you", "mine", "more", "treat" (that's a favorite), "up", "ball", "cow", ni-nite", "no", "santa", "tree", "dirty", "dada", "mama" (sometimes), and some others that come out here and there and may be what you want them to be in that moment. She nods and points and say "dada" for everything else she can't say.

She is getting interested in the bathroom, more because we are trying more with Stephanie. If she goes, good, but we aren't pushing it. She loves to play with her puzzles and is learning to do the simple ones. She also plays with the pegs, dollhouse, stuffed animals, house fort in the basement, cars, and dolls. She is terrified of the Tickle Me Elmo and of a radio controlled car. As soon as she hears either one she will cry and go running to either Jeff or I. Not sure why they scare her but she doesn't even have to see it, just the sound upsets her. They got big stuffed animals for Christmas, a dog and a tiger, and at first Emily was scared of them but now she loves them and will lay on them and pull them around the house. She loves putting on shoes. Her shoes, my shoes, Stephanie's shoes, and even Jeff's shoes. Walking in them is sometimes more difficult. She also loves to wear hats inside. It can be at home, in church, or at the store. But not outside or in the car. It can be anyones hat too. She loves putting them on, taking them off, pulling them down over her eyes and walking in them. It's all very cute and fun.

She loves to eat, loves to have ketchup with what she is eating, loves to ask for a treat as soon as she is done, and as of now eats most everything. This week alone she has had spinach, artichoke hearts, broccoli, cauliflower, and mac and cheese with squash added. The night we had broccoli, we ran out because she wanted more and we had already finished it. I can remember Stephanie eating and loving broccoli at this age too. Hopefully Emily will continue to eat good foods.

She is such a busy, fun, loving little girl who is growing up so fast. She wants to do it all for herself and knows that Stephanie has things she doesn't, like a big bed and a booster seat at the table. She continues to ask for those but she'll have to wait some time. She's still my little baby for now and I'd like to keep it that way. Love you Emily!!

Christmas part 4












Our last Christmas celebration was at work with Jack and Mia. Emily was very happy to see Mia since they went to Florida for Christmas and she hadn't seen her in almost 2 weeks. When it was time to go she wouldn't even let me hold her, she wanted to stay with Mia. She is such a big help with the girls. We had such a wonderful Christmas this year and feel very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Christmas part 3






Cousins Emily and Charlie




















The day after we were at Jeff's parents we went to my parents for the next Christmas celebration. The kids had a blast with all their cousins, aunts and uncles, and of course Nanna and Grandpa. The kids got lots of wonderful things and had a blast opening it all. Emily got a little crazy with the cake we had after singing to Jesus. She sure enjoyed it.

Christmas part 2








Emily trying to eat a deviled egg




The day after Christmas we went to Jeff's parents with his brother Jimmy to celebrate with them. The girls were good and had lots of fun Grandma and Grandpa and especially their dog. Emily loves dogs but she only loves them from afar. She had to keep an eye on him but didn't want him getting to close. They got a lot of dollhouse people and furniture for their dollhouse from Santa. They couldn't wait to get all them home to put them into their dollhouse.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Way to go Emily!!

I know I keep telling myself I am going to finish the Christmas posts and get the rest of teh pictures up but I just haven't had a chance. But I need to write this one here because I was so proud of Emily today. This morning I could tell she was about to fill her pants so I asked her if she needed to go poop. She said yes, and walked right to the bathroom. We took off her pants and diaper and she sat on her little potty and went!! No big deal. After another failed attempt of trying to get Stephanie on the potty I couldn't believe how easy it was. Not scared at all. She sat there and went like she had done it before. That was it for the day but that was more than I expected. I had brought the little potty up thinking she might want to sit on it when Stephanie is on the potty but I never thought she would really go. I'll keep asking her but I am not expecting her to be trained at 18 months. It would be nice to have one out of diapers though. Yay, Emily!!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Christmas part one











Emily after seeing Santa













Parker playing with new Christmas toys



Emily has a cookie




Emily so happy with Jessica's seal


Cousins Emily and Tyler



Cousins Jessica and Emily




Our Christmas fun starts at my Grandpa house on Christmas Eve. After we go to church we head there for some dinner, Santa, presents, and lots of family fun. The girls looked beautiful in their dresses. Emily wore a dress my mom had bought for her and then she made one for Stephanie to wear. Since they were sick the week before Christmas (just with colds) and I had to reschedule their Christmas pictures I was a little worried that both girls were in white. Thankfully neither of the girls got too dirty and my mom is so wonderful on getting the dresses back to looking new. I wasn't sure how they would do with Santa and if was worse than I expected. Both of them were terrified. Emily so scared once she could see him that she wouldn't go near him to get her present. Stephanie ran to the far part of the basement because she didn't want to go near him. After Santa left they of course said "more" because they wanted him to come back. Hopefully next year they won't be as scared. They were both good all night and even stayed awake in the car ride home around midnight.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Stephanie is growing and learning at 3 1/2

It is hard to believe that Stephanie is 3 1/2 already. Sometimes she seems like such a big girl like when she says "bye" and goes with her teacher to her classroom and then she has moments where she seems more like she is 2. I am hoping with a new year and with more therapy for her we are going to have a great year and have lots of improvement. She is still working on learning more words and does try and repeat and imitate, all which are good things to have her do. She made progress last year and more since she started school in the fall. Yesterday she had a wonderful day and it was great to have her sweet, happy, fun, goofy self back for a day. As soon as she got up today I could tell it wasn't going to be the same as yesterday. That's not to say she didn't get mad yesterday but she recovered very well when she got mad and those instances were very few. That's how I know she can be good and once she gets the help she needs she show everyone what a wonderful person she can be. So she will be starting more speech later this month. We are going to some additional speech therapy at Marquette University twice a week with the graduate students, they have their work cut out for them. Then she will also do once a week at Children's Hospital. Stephanie has told us that this is going to be a good year for her. We told it needs to be because Emily with be entering the terrible 2s. Oh great, that will be fun.

So these are the great things Stephanie has done this year:

she can understand most everything you tell her

she can identify herself and simple pictures in a book (when she wants to of course)

she can follow more complex directions

she is beginning to understand when she does something wrong there are consequences

she can do her peg puzzles with little help

she learned to jump on the trampoline

she learned to take off her shoes and socks and put them on (just learning the socks now)

she can climb up the ladders on the swing set outside

she learned to sit on a regular swing

she can take her pants and pull ups off and can almost get her pants back on

she moved into a big girl bed

she can get in and out of her car seat herself

she learned to open presents

she goes to school

she learned she hates the snow

she's not sure fo she likes the a big swimming pool

she loved going on vacation with her whole family

she got her first real haircut

she took her first music class

she had her first sleepover at Nanna and Grandpa's house (and did well)

her vocabulary has blossomed to over 20 words:
dada
ni night
uh-oh
more
please
thank you
all done
cheetah
trick or treat
hi
bye
Santa
Christmas tree
juice
taco
treat
teeth
out/help (they sound the same but used in different context, makes it a little hard)
shoe
school
go
snow
cheese
ya

Not all these words are totally clear but she is trying and right now that is all we are looking for. A lot of what she accomplished may not seem right for a 3 year old but she is making progress and trying and that we want her to do. We know she is stubborn and strong willed but we know she can do these things are we are going to do everything we can to help her succeed. Here's to a great 2009 for you Stephanie. Keep up the great work.