ABC's and 1,2,3's

I'm convinced that Disney's "Choo Choo Soul" has taught Emily her ABC's and 1,2,3's. Last week her grandma Jane was singing the classic ABC's song and Emily joined in. Now, she only said like 10 letters or so. But still, I didn't know she knew any of them. So, I was pleasantly surprised. The next day I was singing them again. I got to D and she said "l,m,n,o,p." It was jumbled together and she probably will, like me and many others, think it's one letter. Anyway, it made me laugh because it was as if she was thinking ok, let's get to the best part of the song. Tonight I was reading one of her favorite books, "Five Little Ducks." I decided to count the ducks and see if she would repeat me (I knew she could count to 3 since I often do before I tickle her). Well, she counted the fifth and final duck and decided that she wanted to count to 10 instead of five. I was surprised at this as well. She watches Disney's "Choo Choo Soul" a couple of times a week and this particular DVD sings a song about the ABC's (though the tune is totally different from the classic one and so that's why I was surprised she knew her ABC's the other day) and another one that counts up to 12. Thank you Disney for doing my job for me. And they say t.v. rots your brain.

Can you say.....?

Emily has never been much of talker. She's been able to say words (aside from mama and dada) since about 12 months or so. But for the most part she has spoken in her own made up language and occasionally threw a real word in there and in the past few months she's used about 10 words or so to communicate things to us. I've enjoyed listening to her speak what we've dubbed Chinese. But I've been wondering when she would begin to say more. This past month has answered that question. Don't get me wrong, she's still not very talkative but in the past couple of weeks she has repeated me more and more. Now I ask her if she can say (insert word here) throughout each day. Usually she will oblige my request and it tickles me. I've ceased keeping up with the words she knows because it's getting to the point that if I ask her if she can say it she usually can. So, the list would get too long. She also babbles to me more and I can tell she's really trying to tell me something but I usually just stare at her in puzzlement. Eventually she gives up on me and moves on. One word she's been saying a lot lately is medicine (it's a little garbled but I can make it out). She had a runny nose a couple of weeks ago so I gave her some Benedryl and so now when she sees that bottle she requests it. She gets upset when I tell her no but what can I say, I can't feed her drug habit. :) She's starting to give up the fight though. Tonight she found the medicine once again and requested some. I said no and she handed the bottle to me without incident. Another word that I taught her yesterday was ketchup. Josh overheard her and said "that's blog worthy." Only because the man LOVES ketchup. Emily is getting to the point that if you dip it in ketchup she'll usually eat it (excluding foods that would be disgusting with ketchup on it of course). Looks like she might take after her father. The cost of buying for 2 ketchup fanatics is something I don't want to think about just yet.

Mommy's Helper

Apparently there was an opening for "Mommy's Helper" and Emily signed up to be it. Glad that she did because I need all the help I can get. Some examples include trying to dress herself, trying to put on her shoes, getting mommy and daddy's shoes for them (she usually matches them correctly),wiping floors,wiping tables,closing doors behind us,and cleaning up messes she makes. Speaking of messes,the other day she had gotten into a cabinet in the kitchen. Said cabinet holds the cereal. Said Emily loves to help herself to said cereal. Unfortunately when she had her fill she decided to dump the cereal on the floor. Well mommy got flustered and let Emily know just how flustered mommy was. So, Emily began to pick up the cereal and put them back into the bag. I praised her by telling her "good girl" and "good job." Well, she decided to go for an encore performance (except this time she mixed it up and dumped it on the couch) the next day. While helping me put the cereal back she said "good job." Apparently she was grading her own performance. That or she thought I was doing a good job. Now if only I can teach her in order to be "Mommy's Helper" doesn't mean she is supposed to be the source of the mess that she helps me clean up.

Things I've Learned About Being a Mom (so far)

1. Though toddlers are quite short, somehow they can get within reach of things you thought were safely out of their reach

2. Though their legs are short, their will is strong to out run you.

3. If your child is quiet, there's a good chance they're up to no good. So you best go check.

4. Some children love Tums and don't seem to have an indicator in their tummies that tell them 10 is enough for now.

5. Even when you sometimes feel defeated, you know you'll be ready to deal with your child's antics tomorrow. Why? Because you love them that much.

6. It is very difficult to stay mad at a child that acts remorseful and sweet after they do something they know they're not supposed to.

7. If the cap on the medicine isn't screwed on all the way, you better be ready to either call poison control or ready to clean up a mess. Fortunately I haven't had to deal with calling poison control yet but I did learn that purple can be hard to get out of the carpet.

8. No matter the temperature outside, a child will play out there as long as you let them.

9. If a child says "no" while they're doing something, they're fully aware they shouldn't be doing it but their will is too weak to resist.

10. A pacifier is nice when they're small but a seemingly impossible thing to get rid of when they get older.

11. Chances are that if it's sweet, they'll eat it and won't want to stop (cake is Emily's vice).

12. A kiss from your child is one of the best things in the world.

13. Your child's laugh is probably the best sound in the world to you. It is for me.

14. When your child points to the furry animal in the yard and finally says "cat" instead of "dog" you know they're listening and absorbing information. So you better a) feel proud and b) watch what you say around them.

15. Don't let your child disappear with a box of cereal because you might find the whole thing dumped on her bedroom floor.

16. Dogs are a great things to have when a child is eating. Anything they drop on the floor is cleaned up pronto. My dogs are currently cleaning up some cereal on her bedroom floor.

17. "Child proof" is not always child proof.

18. Sometimes the dog bowls are just too hard to resist. So is pretty much anything else that isn't a toy. For example: kitchen utensils, fish food, the trash can, or soda cans. The list is endless.

19. Often times my child is one of the most hilarious people I know without even trying. Of course I'm biased.

20. Being mimicked by your child is one of the best forms of flattery. As long as what they are mimicking is G rated.

21. A bath for a child can be a great mood stabilizer.

22. Though it's not always easy to raise them, children are one of the greatest gifts from God.



Though I've learned much more, these are just some that I can think of right now.

Random Pictures

Had a very difficult time finding shoes for Emily that could be worn both with church clothes and casual clothes. Her feet are pretty chubby and so we had a specific design in mind. We went to 13 stores when it was all said and done. This is what we found. :)

Loves (with a capital L) to get into the cabinet and snack on cereal


Also Loves (with a you know what)to pretend she's drinking soda. Ok, she Loves to actually drink it but isn't usually allowed to. Unfortunately for her this can was unopened (See how she's licking the can. Maybe she already knows the lick and it's yours rule)

First Time at the Movies

Last week I decided to give taking Emily to the movies a whirl. I did not risk a movie that I had to pay for. I do not have money to waste. The local theaters around here show free movies every Wednesday of the summer break. Some movies are fairly recent while others are too old to be considered a treat to go to. The latter was the case for us. It was the Veggie Tales: The Pirates That Don't Do Anything. But I went with my mom, sister, and a couple of my nephews. Kind of like a play date. Only her cousins (both 4) are only partially into hanging out with an almost 2 year old. Such snobs. :)Well, the first on my list of concerns was that Emily would be scared of the dark and the loudness of the movie. Didn't seem to faze her. The next was that she would be loud. Only cried out a couple of times. I mean if you hold popcorn near a girl's face you best be ready to hand it over faster than you can say "Veggie Tales is kind of boring" or a mini tantrum will ensue. Okay you need to be able hand it over much faster than that. Anyway, another concern was that she would get bored. That concern was realized pretty much from the word go. But stuff snack foods and juice in her grubby little palms and boredom is kept at bay. For a while anyway. She then played musical relatives. First she sat on grandma's lap, then mine, then aunt Jenn's. She also got to stand on one of the chairs. That is until she got carried away dancing to the Pirates That Don't Do Anything theme song. You see the chairs, well they're the folding kind. She's not heavy enough (though my husband is falsely claiming she weighs 35 lbs. Which I really don't think she does and besides 35 lbs still ain't heavy enough for this scenario) to keep that seat folded down. She was jumping and swaying to the music like a crazy person when all of a sudden there go her chubby little legs through the back of the seat (where the seat meets the back of the chair). Took some wiggling and a retrieval of her croc but she was set free. Didn't even draw a cry out of her though. Surprised me that that doesn't make her cry but if you don't give her a drink fast enough she will at times have a full blown meltdown. Anyway, she also played "be boo" (aka peek a boo) with her neighbors in front of her. They didn't even acknowledge her when she popped her head between theirs and said "be boo." Maybe they don't know how to play "be boo." While sitting with Jenn she also reached to the seat arm in front of her and nabbed some nachos (thankfully sans cheese) from a girl that wasn't aware of Emily's sticky fingers (literally and figuratively). Jenn actually put them back and said sorry. I don't think they're going to be eating the rest of those nachos. But hey maybe they will since she didn't lick them. I need to teach her the important lesson of how to lay claim on someone's food and/or candy. You got to lick it and it's yours. All in all she kept herself entertained by anything and everything besides the movie. I guess we'll be going back to the movies with her in 2011 or so. Bottom line, if you truly want to watch a movie with a 2 year old in tow, expect to have to rent the movie later to catch the 75% you missed.

4th of July and other happenings

The 4th was a day I was a little nervous about (as mentioned in prior post) but it turned out I worried in vain. Needless to say, I was relieved. My family and I journeyed over to the state fairgrounds for their festivities.Emily ran around in the grass and danced to the music. She also had her first experience with cotton candy. She didn't realize it was food at first and treated it like it was a piece of trash and put it in the cup holder of her stroller. I then showed her that it was edible. It took her a few bites before she decided that it was a tasty treat. We then watched the fireworks. She looked at them for about a minute. At the beginning of the display she even danced a little to the sound of them. Not much of a rhythm to them so she quickly abandoned that activity. She then decided that running around was more fun than watching the fireworks. She made grandma and grandpa chase her around. All in all it was a fun evening. The other thing I felt like mentioning happened last night. Emily was having some difficulty falling asleep. So, after a couple of hours I decided to get her out of her crib and have her sit with me. She eventually found a Target flier and we perused it together. We were looking for objects she knew. We arrived at a page with a row of vacuums on it with a doggie sitting next to them. I pointed at the doggie and asked her what it was. She is usually very quick to say doggie but this time was different. She seemed distracted and wouldn't say doggie. She kept staring at the vacuums. After about 10 times of asking her what the doggie was she finally pointed to the vacuum, put her hand up, and said "all gone." That is what she says when she sees something she's wary of. I guess it makes her feel better. I wasn't sure if she would know that they were vacuums in the picture. But she confirmed that she did. I got a big kick out of it because even pictures of vacuums compel her to make sure that they are indeed "all gone".

Below are some pictures of Emily and her cousin Aubrey on the 4th.

Emily's Fears

I thought of this blog subject because one of Emily's fears has just gotten her into a panic. Don't worry, I've already comforted her and reassured her and now I'm just letting her calm down on her own since my efforts aren't doing much good. So, Emily is soooo scared of the vacuum. Just seeing it sends her into a frenzy. Today I just wanted to move it back to where I store it. She saw it being rolled across the hallway for maybe 2 seconds and for the next 15 minutes she cried, screamed, and whined. She even went to the door (it's closed for fear of another panic attack) of the room where the vacuum currently is and pushed on it. It's as if she was just making sure she can't get to it. I learned a valuable lesson: mess with the vacuum only when she's asleep. Unless I have to vacuum her room that is. As I type this she is periodically checking the room that the vacuum was in to make sure it hasn't reappeared. Though it is slightly amusing I am hoping she will soon convince herself that it's not going to hurt her. I'm getting tired of getting anxious when it's time to vacuum. She is also scared of showers and sprinklers. This is a new fear and it baffles me. She loves baths, pools, and lakes. But get her near a sprinkler and she'll stand near it to look at it but will not put herself in the line of fire. Showers make her cry and so baths are her only option for getting clean. Now I'm wondering how she'll do in the ocean when we go to the beach next month. Those waves can be scary. I guess we'll just have to keep her in the shallow end. The only other fear that I can think of that she has is actually a blessing. She's very apprehensive when it comes to stepping down. She'll climb up stairs but not down them. She's very cautious and I'm very thankful for it. Saves us from having to use band aids. Now let's just see if she develops a new fear tomorrow when we go to see some fireworks. One of my only memories from when I was 3 was being carried away from a 4th of July fireworks display at the fairgrounds screaming because the sound of them frightened the crap out of me. Funny thing is, we'll be going to the same fairgrounds tomorrow. Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that she hasn't inherited this fear.