Precious Moments doll

Emily has a little Precious Moments doll that, if you press on its tummy, will say a little prayer (the one that starts " Now I lay me down to sleep...."). The other day I said the prayer at the same time as the doll said it. Emily seemed intrigued and smiled. A few days later I discovered that she is trying to do the same thing. She'll babble in her own language along with it as it speaks and out of all the words spoken she can say "night" and at the end "Amen". That got a big smile and chuckle out of mommy.

Let's Go Tar Heels

March Madness is here and I have found myself watching games between teams I could care less about. That's when I know I've caught the fever. Of course when the Heels play it's a different story. Hopefully they can make it all the way this time.

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....