Starting to play together!

Due to their age difference, I figured it would be a while before the girls truly played together. Recently there have been more moments of that, including a major dress-up session. At first, Emi didn't want to dress up, but Alaina kept begging her and eventually she relented. By the end, she was wearing a dress, crown, and wings. Princess dress-up school has begun!

This picture is from a tree-lighting ceremony we attended. The girls were shaking jingle bells together.

Finally, something special happened today. Emi says a lot of words, but hasn't done a lot of phrases yet. Today she said, "Oh my goodness!" and "Look at Emi!" multiple times. (Kind of makes me wonder if I say those things a lot...) It's so fun to see her combining words and making sentences. These types of things are so exciting for me as a mom. Not because I get any credit for it, but it's amazing to watch a human being develop and grow.

Is it possible to look at this picture without smiling? I need to catch up on some posting, but thought I'd at least include this one for now. Emi is doing great. This morning she was eating strawberries and said "triangle" because I had cut them into shapes that looked like triangles. Yesterday I asked her to take a wrapper to the garbage can and she understood me and did as I asked. She is able to understand and respond to so much now, and learns new words all the time. 

Emi thinks it's Mardi Gras!

My parents took Alaina strawberry picking recently and Emi gobbled up the strawberries. I didn't get a bib onto her in time -- oops!

It's always fun to play with pillows:

Look at this adorable smile! I just want to cover her with kisses!

I met my friend for a walk through the park while the husbands took the kids to a bounce house place. It was a beautiful time, and Emi enjoyed getting set free from the stroller occasionally to explore:

Emi's first baseball game. I don't know if I'll leave this picture up because it didn't go well and we might not want to remember it. 

Emi and I had a secret Panera date yesterday while Alaina was at VBS. She enjoyed little bagel bites, fruit, and shared a mango smoothie with me.

Leaning sideways to see the baby in the camera...;-)

I'm starting to have some fun moments of communication with Emi. Yesterday morning I asked her if she wanted cereal, toast, or a waffle for breakfast. She kind of whimpered after cereal, again after toast, and then after I said "waffle" she got quiet and then said "Wa!" Such a seemingly small interaction, but it excited me because I was able to ask her preference on something and she verbally communicated what she wanted. Hopefully the fact that I understood will motivate her to do so again. 

One of Emi's 1-year molars has sprouted...there was one painful night. I'm guessing the other three won't be far behind. She still loves going places, being outside, seeing people, music, and is still very curious and friendly. She likes to look at things to figure out how they work. Yesterday she examined the part of the porch glider that makes it slide back and forth. She can now open all the interior doors in the house. That took Alaina longer because we had regular knobs whereas now we have a different type of handle. 

We put Emi in one of Alaina's dress-up outfits and then realized that it looked a lot like what Alaina was wearing that day:

My happy, smiley girl!

Content. :-)

Emi's First Birthday

On Emi's birthday, my mom, Alaina, and I took her out for her first ice cream. She loved it! I think she was a bit resentful that we had kept it from her for so long. What a fun birthday treat.

Emi's grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins all came a couple days later to celebrate her birthday. I made all kinds of brunchy foods, including a fruit/yogurt/granola parfait area since Emi loves fruit and yogurt. She gobbled up that plus french toast casserole, egg casserole, etc. It was so fun having family here to celebrate the first year of Emi's life with us. To top it off, Emi also took her first real steps during the party (she had taken 2-3 before that, but this was the first time she truly walked from one person to another). Now that it's almost a month later, she's confidently walking all over the place as though she's been doing it for years! 

Emi loves "playing" the piano! She really loved when her cousin played. He played the same song over and over again, so when we look at pictures of him I remind her of the song and I think it helps her remember him.

Emi loved her cake! She ate the frosting first, then went back and shoveled the cake into her mouth! I think I have a better picture of that somewhere, so I will try to post it if I find it.

At Emi's 1-year checkup, she weighed 22 pounds (80th percentile) and was 30 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile). She is a healthy girl! She loves to eat, especially pasta, ground beef, chicken thighs, avocado, yogurt, any kind of fruit, peas, corn, really almost anything. She really gobbles up pasta with tomato sauce. 

She is saying more and more words, too. Here's a list of what she's said so far (that I can think of) so I'll remember years from now: mama, dada, Alaina (na na), ball, baseball (ba ba), tries to say drink, bye, hi/hey, night night, me me (I think that's "Emi"), I think she has said "backpack" but Todd probably thinks I'm crazy, no, boo, tickle, buppa (Grandpa). I'm sure I'll probably think of more at some point.

She loves being outside. She does a lot of gesturing/pointing and grunting to indicate that she wants to go outside or wants a drink or snack or something. If I had to use a couple words to describe Emi, they would be friendly and curious. She loves greeting other people at home and on outings. She always has a smile for them. She is also always interested in touching things, exploring, opening doors/cabinets, looking to see inside things, etc. I know some of that is just normal behavior for her age, but I think she is particularly like that. For example, I got a musical card for Mother's Day and she kind of tore it open to see the mechanics of where the sound was coming from. It will be interesting to see if these two words still describe her in a few years. I'm also encouraged by how flexible she is. I often have to wake her from a nap to get Alaina from school, and she never complains or is grumpy. She always has a good attitude about it, even if I'm in a hurry and rushing her to get in the car. 

Sister love

Pretty much every Saturday, we make a family trip to the farmer's market. Emi enjoys the people and dog watching, but not when we stop for too long. Alaina usually doesn't want to go but changes her mind when she sees the free samples.

Alaina has been much more interested in playing with her sister lately, and Emi is usually game to play along unless Alaina tries to get too physically forceful with her.

Emi wants to call Daddy

At the Park

This girl loves to swing, just like her mama!

March/April

Emi loved playing with Todd's aunt and uncle this week. They have a granddaughter who recently turned 1, so they're officially experts on playing with babies her age!

She got a cute Fisher Price vanity as an Easter present:

First Easter basket (included lots of healthy treats, a couple small toys, and her first toothbrush and toothpaste):

Emi is a sweet baby when getting the interaction she wants. Just today she nuzzled my face with hers multiple times. She lights up and smiles when people are around. If we are trying to get something else accomplished and aren't focusing as much on her, she can be pretty whiny. Understandable, though, considering her limited vocabulary. She is cruising all over the place now and has been for weeks. Likes to investigate and explore and does not listen to "no." Will respond to songs and sing little parts of a couple songs. Her vocabulary acquisition has slowed down and she seems to be focusing on gross motor right now instead. 

Feb/March Fun

Emi and Alaina enjoying pajama time:

Emi and Grandpa:

Crawling all over the place, getting into trouble:

Classic "big sister jumps in front of the camera at the last minute" picture:

She loves to look at Grandpa's iPad with him:

Trying on Alaina's Rapunzel dress:

Messy "I just ate pasta with tomato sauce" face (I have a similar picture of Alaina as a baby, and in the same shirt!):

Who does this resemble?

 

This is a photo of me (Elise) as a baby when I was right around Emi's age. Is it just me, or do we look a lot alike? :-) 

Emi has a favorite book...it's actually from the $1 bin at Target, a Sesame Street book called Bubbles Bubbles. I've thought for a while that she's been saying "bubble" (well, it's more like "bubba"), and now I can say I'm sure of it. She now crawls over to get the book and says "bubba bubba" and today we went to baby storytime at the library, they blew bubbles, and she said "Bubba! Bubba!" So I guess that is her other very official word besides "Mama" and "Dada." I think one night last week when Todd got home from work she said, "Hi Dada." She loved going to storytime today and just getting out of the house. This is a girl who loves to get outside, go different places, see new things, and interact with various people. Winter is not a good season for this. In another couple of months, we'll be able to get her more of this sort of stimulation. Today she even loved getting out in the 60-degree weather and feeling the wind in her hair. She also loves looking at books and being read to, but only certain books. If something gets too wordy, she won't enjoy it unless there are flaps to lift or something. She enjoys helping turn pages, too, but usually I ask her to do it and then she does. Tonight while reading Goodnight Moon she was able to point to a couple items pictured (I usually point to each thing as I read).

Nine Months Old

Emi is nine months old today. She loves attention from people, smiling, being tickled and kissed, and gives me zerberts on my cheek.  :-)