I was thinking I would just wait until she turns 2 in April to do an Emmy post, but there's just too many things I want to remember about this sweet girl that I figured I should do one now as well.
I want to remember how we walk around our neighborhood with her little stroller. Sometimes with Wolfa inside, sometimes a baby, or days like yesterday when she was adamant that we push the stroller with no one sitting in it. Also, the walks where she leaves the stroller halfway through and I end up carrying it back home as we walk.
It's also a big deal if she keeps her gloves and hat on (wearing her sisters hat above, haha) for an entire walk. We haven't walked as much (her walking with her stroller or walks with her in her stroller) with the cold because I just can't get her to keep those dang gloves on! Or a blanket over her if she takes them off. I've started to be able to get her to wear a pair of my cotton gloves, so big on her little hands, but it's something!
Then there was the afternoon back in January where she refused to nap and then fell asleep in the stroller at almost 4 p.m. as we walked home from picking the big kids up from school. That's one way to get her to keep the blanket and gloves on! Ha!
Other than the day above, she really is a great napper (thank goodness since that is when I do my schoolwork). I already dread the day when those blessed naps come to an end, but we'll deal with that when it comes :). I usually put her down around 12:30 (give or take) and she takes a solid 2 hour nap, sometimes a little more. She's also a pretty solid 7 to 7 sleeper. Lately she will talk or kick around in her bed for awhile after we put her down, so who knows when she actually falls asleep, but we put her down around 7. In the morning she'll do the same until we come get her.
Oh the bottle. I really need to help her ditch the bottle but she loves it and I just haven't wanted to fight that battle. The first thing she says when she wakes up for the day or from nap is "wilk" while also signing it. I've given her a sippy cup with "wilk" a few times and it's definitely not the "wilk" she is attached to, it's what it comes in. I gotta just do it... and someday maybe I will, haha.
Other habits that might not be considered the finest... She is the cutest little TV watcher. She sits up nice and tall on the couch with a stuffy in her arms, or will wrap a blanket all around herself and it is the cutest thing.
She got hooked on Cocomelon, which I purposefully tried to do in hopes of it saving my sanity on our flights to PA (it helped a little), but now if she hears anyone say the words Coco she lights up and squeals "coco!" all the way to the couch, thinking she will get to watch a show. My Mother-in-law was talking about a dog named Coco once and Emery heard and sure enough, bolted right to couch.
And while we're at it... they don't usually eat on the table, not so sure what was happening this night of scarfing pasta right before bed, but why not.
After a few times of Belén requesting pictures after church, Emery will now sit on the grass after we walk home from church and just start saying CHEESE.
Garbage day will forever be a favorite. I love it when we are inside doing something and she hears the truck. She runs right over to the window saying "UCK!"
Flying with a 20 month old toddler is not for the faint of heart. She loved running around the airport early in the morning while waiting to board our flight.
She watched some shows on and off, but mostly climbed around the plane (thank goodness both of our flights--there and back--were quite empty).
Taking the plane pamphlets out and then putting them back in gave us a good 15 minutes of entertainment which was great.
Our flight was later in the day on the way home and she was getting wild. After quite the battle I got her to fall asleep, but sadly it only lasted about 30 minutes. It was a good reset for her at least. Phew! I felt like I deserved a gold medal after those flights.
Because this is how we both felt by the end.
Pretty views were my prize.
A few more pics from our travels:
These pictures are a little backwards but I'm too lazy to switch them all... here we are saying goodbye to grandma with the Baltimore Crab.
Goodbye to these guys.
These two were the cutest trying to fist bump each other in the van.
Fun at the Farm Show.
She didn't leave me much milkshake...
With the butter statue.
Pretend closing her eyes.
Learning the ways of climbing over the changing table to get on the couch.
I was trying to think of favorite foods or foods Emery doesn't like, but can't really think of any. She eats most things, or at least tries them. Lately, she really loves standing by the pantry each morning, begging for gummy vitamins.
Yogurt face!
Ducky kisses. I love when she goes around the room giving each of hugs and kisses or high fives and fist bumps. It's the best.
I love that she calls her applesauce pouches "salsa" and that she calls her fingers her toes. She'll stick out her hand when I have a bottle of honey out and yell "Toes!" wanting me to put some on her fingers. She used to say thank you, but now says "el-come!" Maybe some confusion with when to say which, haha.
She loves looking through our family photo albums and can often be found on the couch quietly looking at them, pointing out the people in them she knows.
She has a killer fake laugh. When we are all laughing about something, she will notice and just bust in to a fake laugh, hand over her mouth and all. Then we all laugh harder and so does she.
She really enjoys the snow.
She ate a few marbles from Shae's Gravitrax set, but thankfully they came out just fine in her poo. A little terrifying for mom and dad.
I came into the kitchen one day and she was crawling into the (turned off) oven. SO. BUSY.
In fact, church looks like this most Sundays because we get to a point (sometimes pretty quickly) where we just can't stay in the bench anymore:
She discovered the light switch in the fridge and loves opening it and pushing the light button on and off.
She went through a phase where every time we'd get her out of her crib the sheet was fully torn off. Thankfully, that has since ended.
She is so cute with owies and scrapes. Looking at them with a very worried face, saying "owie" and pointing them out to everyone. She seems extra aware since Darin's knee surgery and seeing his big owie and the weeks of icing his knee. She would often look at his knee and then her own like she was trying to figure out if she also had an owie.
Her nap/bedtime routine has become a bit more particular. She likes to read a few books, turn on her sound machine, turn on and then off the light, shut the door and then we cuddle in the rocking chair. I used to always sing her You'll Be In My Heart from Tarzan, but now she thinks it's fun to yell "No!" when I start that song, then I go through a slew of church songs, just the first few words, and her yelling "No!" until I get to one where we she doesn't yell "No!", will let me keep singing, then points at her crib and I lay her down. Lately she will stop saying "No!" when I start singing How Far I'll Go from Moana or Circle of Life from Lion King (that's always interesting at the start, haha!)
Speaking of The Circle of Life, it is our favorite to turn on the video of that song and watch Emery watch it. When Rafiki holds up Simba, she will hold up Wolfa with a big smile on her face. Sometimes we grab her and hold her up for that part and she loves it. If comes on in the car, she will hold up whatever she has around her, a book or cup. It's adorable.
She has the cutest little shoulder shrug/head down look when she is sad about something. She will also put her hand on her forehead and say "Oh goss," or her hand over her mouth when something is funny.
She has drawn on a few walls (her and her cousin together at Grandma's house!), she just has a magical way of finding any writing utensil that gets left out.
She hasn't had as many instances of crying so hard that she almost passes out like she has in months past, but just last week we were leaving a building and she tripped and hit her head and cried so hard and couldn't get that breath that I started to feel her go limp in my arms and then roll her eyes back and then she finally managed a breath. Oh it's such a hard and scary moment for me! Thankfully those moments don't happen often, just so different from anything I experienced with my other kids as they got around to that long held out breath faster than she does.
She loves taking baths with her big sister. Also, singing EIEIO, sleeping bunnies, Wheels on the Bus, and Ring Around the Rosie.
Hard to say what her favorite book is as she could sit and read all of them with me all day long. I've tried to incorporate a few "longer" books recently and she has especially liked We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Pete the Cat and his Groovy Buttons, and Super Truck.
She keeps us busy, but she also keeps us smiling and laughing and we are just so happy she is part of our family.
