Emily's emerging personality and some of her sweet gestures

Emily has been seeking out kisses from mommy and daddy lately. Unsolicited kisses only happen every so often and so we relish in the moments she leans in, puckers, and plants one on our lips. Something else she has been doing is walking up to me and grabbing my hand to lead her. I usually have to grab her hand and hold on tightly. Funny thing is she does it when I really don't need to be holding her hand because it's usually in our front yard when she decides she wants me to guide her. Or maybe she wants to guide me. Another thing that I thought was so endearing was when we were riding in my sister's car the other day. My mom was in the back row seat feeding my new niece, Aubrey, a bottle. Aubrey was sitting in the row in front of my mom and Emily was sitting beside Aubrey. She saw my mom holding the bottle for Aubrey and Emily decided that she would help her by holding onto the bottle as well. She did this for quite some time and only stopped because the bottle had to be repositioned.Which was out of her reach. She was being such a little mommy.

As Emily grows older and more verbal her little personality has been emerging more and more. She, like she has been since about 4 months old, is still very easygoing. She has had periods of time when she is not herself and has fussy days but for the most part she just goes with the flow.A lot of times I suggest things to her and her reply is ok. She says ok a whole heck of a lot and I know she has no idea what she's saying ok to most of the time. Don't get me wrong, she does show her cranky side at least once a day. What this looks like is a scream, a clenching of fists, and throwing her little body on the floor. These tantrums don't last long but she lets me know when mommy is working on her nerves.She is very easy to take places and she interacts with other children very well. She loves being out and about. When I take her to the nursery at church, she barely acknowledges that I'm leaving and when I return her reaction is less than enthusiastic. Though I would like to see some excitement in her face I know that it's a blessing that she does well without me.When she is around her 3 year old boy cousins they often bully her and take things from her. Usually she just shrugs it off and stares at them. Then moves on to something else. She's also a very cheerful baby. She often giggles and smiles widely throughout the day. For some reason she thinks I'm hilarious. The feeling is mutual. She's also very curious about her world and I can often see the curiosity in her eyes. She likes mimicking me and we often make a game out of it. She keeps me entertained most days.

Dance Dance

Emily has been into music for a long time now. Ever since she could sit up she would sway or rock to anything that could be considered a beat. One time when she was able to crawl and pull up by herself a commercial with a treadmill in it came on the tv. She went over to the tv and pulled up to hang onto it. She then preceded to sway to the sound of the treadmill beat. Last week at my sister's house we went outside. The wind was blowing the wind chime hanging on her front porch. She then began dancing to the sound of it. So pretty much she can dance to anything. Dancing without holding onto anything is her newest thing. I captured some of it on video. She generally dances to Elmo's World theme song. Unfortunately on the day I finally decided to capture it she didn't dance to it. But luckily (well lucky for me anyway) I caught her dancing to another song on Sesame Street. It was brief but you'll get the idea.Without further ado here is Emily and her original dance moves....

Outside and dandelions

Took Emily out on a warmer winter day. She loved walking around. Mid way through our adventure she discovered dandelions. I picked one for her and she enjoyed rubbing it between her fingers and then of course tried to eat it. From then on every time she noticed one she would stop in her tracks, say uh oh, bend over, and try to pick it.

Footsteps in Progress Update

I was on the phone on Tuesday when I noticed Emily standing in front of me. I then noticed that she was actually moving her feet forward. It didn't register that she was actually walking. I had to interrupt my conversation to let it sink in. She took like 5 steps to get from the end table to the coffee table. On Wednesday while I was at the hospital visiting my new niece Aubrey, Josh called me to tell me that Emily had walked through my mom's living room and through her kitchen, turned around and began to walk back the way she came before plopping on the floor. I don't know how many steps she took but I know for her small little legs it was a lot.I am so excited that she has finally started walking because the waiting was so hard at times.

Footsteps in progress

Emily has finally decided to give this walking thing a try. She's not walking yet but has taken some steps. This past week she has been practicing standing for longer periods of time and taking a couple of steps. Most she's done so far is about 3 or 4 at a time. She can go forward and backward.The other night she took a few steps to turn herself around. My mom was there and said that she has never seen a child try to do more complicated movements before doing the more simple ones (such as walking forward). Emily has also been taking a step or two on soft surfaces such as mattresses and couches for about a month now. Which is also more complicated than on being on hard ground. My theory is that she does this because she knows that if she falls she won't get hurt.I'll tell you what,I couldn't be more pleased. I was beginning to think she would be crawling when she's in kindergarten.:)

Cell phones

Well, I learned a valuable lesson today...never let your 16 month old play with your cell phone. Emily has been in love with cell phones since her aunt Patience came to visit in Aug 08. At the time she was 11 months and had never been allowed to play with one before. Aunt Patience was brave and allowed her to play with hers. Since then I have let her play with mine. At first I was very dutiful and made sure I watched her play with it (with the key guard on). In recent months I have become lazy and so she has been able to make a couple of calls to her aunt Angelica in Nashville and to her poppy Larry in New Jersey. Another time she did some type of multimedia transaction that got stopped before it became a headache. Anyhoo, this was all made possible because she had learned to bypass the key guard by closing and then opening my cell phone again. Well today ends her privilege to play with cell phones in our house. Others can allow her at their own risk. Today she activated the push to talk feature on my cell phone and so I had to call ATT to straighten it out. She has figured out things I have never figured out on my cell.

First, and possibly the last, Snow of 2009

Headphones

I put some headphones on Emily today. When I did she got this big grin on her face and began singing.

Jan 09

Emily is getting too old too fast. She has been busy bouncing on her butt (as usual) and discovering new things to figure out. Her latest trick is to high five (courtesy of my cousin Kara). I can't wait to teach her more things like that and silly phrases too. She is becoming a little more silly too. For example, the other day she had a Cheeto in her hand. The dogs, as usual, were eying it like little hawks hoping she would share it with them (as she usually does). Not this time. First she held it out towards Mattie acting like she was going to let her have it but right before Mattie could get her mouth on it she jerked it away and smiled. She did this at least twice to the poor dog. She then proceeded to do the same thing to Jack. She thought that she was quite funny indeed. She's still very much a social baby. She shies away from no one. She's still laid back but has become slightly more opinionated about how she wants some of her day to be run. Her favorite thing to do (besides bounce on her butt) is to go bye bye. If you suggest it you better be ready to leave right then or she'll have something to say about it. She still jibber jabbers in what sounds like Chinese. Now she has brief conversations on whatever she deems to be a phone at the moment in her language and then says bye and pretends to hang up. She will do this over and over for a few minutes. She also loves to be sung to. It is often the way to calm her when she's upset. Her new word is "again" and she now has 12 teeth. She is still considering walking independently. She can do it so well if you hold her hand but still plops when you let go (though sometimes she braces herself before sitting). For the first time today she practiced taking a couple of steps on the couch (she only feels safe doing this on a soft surface because she knows she won't get hurt) and I kind of forced her to take a few steps to get to her walker. This was only the second time she took steps on the floor. I pushed her towards the thing (gently) and she took a few steps to get to it. So at least she's showing a little more interest and can do it. She's just refusing to do it at this point. The girl is just way too cautious. Which is good but can be a little frustrating at the same time.

Christmas 08

Well, Christmas came and went so fast. Emily had a good one. She got to munch on a Reese's pb cup in the shape of a Christmas tree, tear a little wrapping paper, and play with some new toys. Not sure which one is turning out to be her favorite but it seems that she's leaning toward a Little People car ramp set (she likes to watch the cars and/or people slide down the curvy ramp. We also went over to my parents' house and enjoyed some crazy times with my family (nephews and nieces tore into some presents with great speed and we ended the night playing Pictionary Man which I suck at). The very next day we loaded up and headed to PA for a 10 hr trip in our little 2 door Accord to save on gas. That was a little brutal. I missed our big truck greatly. Emily traveled very well. She hardly fussed for that long trek but did have sleeping issues while up there. She needs a crib in a room by herself or she just can't unwind to go to sleep. We also got to see snow. Although it did melt the day after we got there. We also got to surprise my grandma (Emily's great grandma) with a 80th birthday party in her honor. That was fun. My whole extended family on my mother's side was there. I got to see a cousin that I hadn't seen in 7 yrs (he's been busy with 4 tours of duty to the middle east) and his daughter who is only a couple months younger than Emily. I also got to meet another cousin's little 6 month old daughter. So all in all it was a good Christmas. Though it did take 3 days to recover from the trip.Newest addition,my cousin's baby Madelyn Marie
Emily with her great grandma Swingle at her 80th bday party
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