all about Emily

Emily is so much fun right now. For weeks I've been thinking, "I need to write this down!" so now I'm doing it :)

Emily gets so much love from the whole family. Levi loves to be goofy to make her laugh. She will copy his crazy dancing and funny sounds. They love to chase each other. Anna likes to sing to Emily- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is what she sings whenever she's trying to calm her down. Anna is my great helper with Emily. She can get her in or out of bed, get her dressed, feed her, play with her, and watch her for few minutes. She's also good at tickling Emily to make her laugh. Everyone loves peek a boo and patty cake and pony girl with Emily. Emily gets fussy like any baby in a car seat unless Anna and Levi are in the car. Then she can watch them in the back seat and they can play games with her. When the kids head outside or upstairs to play, you can always count on Emily following them as fast as her little legs will carry her.

When Sam comes home, Emily screams a high "Aaaah!" and runs to him saying, "Dah-deee" over and over. Then she tries to jump and flaps her arms and nods her head because she just has to move all over because she's so excited that Dad is home.

Emily is starting to enjoy books. Her favorite is far and away this All About Me board book. She has actions for almost every page and carries it to me to read it to her several times a day. I made Sam take a video of me reading to her (while Levi has a conversation with Siri in the next room).


She also loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar and will put her hand in mine so I stick her finger in to every little hole in all the food. And of course, all of Karen Katz's Where is Baby's.... (Bellybutton, Mommy, Easter Egg, Pumpkin, etc...) books.

Emily loves to be outside and recognizes the word, so when I ask her if she wants to play outside, she runs to the back door and when I say we're going on a walk she runs to the garage to get in the stroller. She is fearless and will climb most everything. She goes down any slide, no matter how tall and says, "Wheeee" the whole way down and claps for herself at the bottom. She is totally trusting and jumps off ledges at the playground as long as she sees me below her.

Emily has learned lots of words. She started signing around her birthday- all done, more, and light- and has learned lots of signs and words since then. Over the summer all the kids would wave goodbye to Sam when he left for work in the morning, so whenever Emily heard a car start or saw a car drive by, she would start waving. It was adorable. Some of her first words were "all done" (ah-dah), "no," "uh-oh,"and "ma-ma-mee" for Mom or food or help. Since then, she's started saying "up" to be picked up, "nummy" or "ummy" for food, "nana" with the sign for banana, "a-po" with the sign for apple, "shz" with the sign for shoes, "ooff-ooff" with sign for doggy, and "I-nigh" with a wave goodbye for "night night!" (that's one of my favorites). She mostly calls me Mommy ("mahMEE"), not Mama, which at first I was a little sad about, but it's so cute to hear her say it, that it's hard to stay sad long.

She's using her words more creatively now,  too. For instance, today, I put a clip in her hair and she pulled it out saying, "No. All done." She will often say or sign two words to try and communicate what she means. She also babbles a lot and spent several minutes today gesturing with her hands out, palms up babbling away saying, "Um blah na mo, um um na do tzz um um." Anna could hardly contain herself she thought it was so funny how serious Emily was telling us something very important.

Emily has all sorts of silly daily habits. She likes to suck water out of the spray bottle I use when I do Anna's hair. She likes to pull out every. single. board book. She likes to pull out all the place mats, kids cups, and my aluminum soup pot which she carries around until she finds a good place to hide it. She likes to wear shoes and brings me shoes to put on her feet several times a day. She takes my hand and pulls me to the pantry or fridge when she wants a snack. She goes down so easily for her nap and sleeps about 2 hours. She loves her pacifier and her blanket and whenever she finds her blanket in the house she squeals, hugs it and buries her whole body into it.

Emily is such a happy and easy-going baby. She is curious and unafraid. She often scares other toddlers at the park or storytime because she walks right up to them and will sit close or grab a toy right next to them. Until very recently, her cousin Daniel who is 6 months older was literally terrified of her and would burst into tears when she walked into the room. With a bit of exposure therapy he can now say "Hi Emily" and be within a 10 foot radius of her. She's easy to leave with babysitters and nearly every single person who has watched her has said she's the easiest baby they've ever watched.

We are so lucky to have her and I have been able to enjoy every stage she's been through. I can't get enough of kissing and cuddling her. It thrills me every time she speaks or signs. She loves music and I am filled with delight when she dances. I still nurse her before bed and I cherish that time to cuddle her. She is a joy and our family has been brought closer because Emily joined us. I can't imagine life without her now.