Two Years Old!

Dear Emily,

I can hardly believe that you're turning two today!  In many ways it seems like you were just a newborn sleeping in my arms.  I remember how we used to have to swaddle you, rock you to sleep, and figure out what you wanted by the type of your cry.  How far you've come!  Your communication continues to astound your dad and me, and your vocabulary has exploded lately.  You'll repeat almost anything we say, and you often will say words that we had no idea you knew (and much to my chagrin and your dad's delight, one of them is fart).  Recently we spent quite a bit of time away from home, visiting relatives for the holidays.  You seemed to love every minute of it, and basked in the attention lavished upon you by your grandparents, uncles, and aunts.  And then, when we got home last night you were so happy to see Oscar, your new cash register toy, and your monkey pajamas.  After giving Oscar multiple hugs and kisses, you told him "Hi Occar.  At Gamma's."  I guess you owed him an explanation for your lengthy absence.  And just this morning, I told you that you were such a big girl and you said "mommy big girl".  I clarified that yes, mommy was a big girl and then asked you if you were a big girl too and you said "no".  I asked you what you were, and you said "two"!

You've been giving a LOT of attention to the alphabet song lately, and sing it several times per day.  You'll say "mommy do it" when you want me to sing it, and when I tire of that song after several renditions, and tell you I'm done for now, you will turn to your father and say "daddy do it".  How quickly you are learning to utilize both of your parents to your advantage!  You also love to count, enjoy reading books (especially about Pooh or Elmo or animals), play with your baby dolls and their accessories, and your new train and Duplo sets.  You are active, often excited, and seldom do anything for very long.  You are affectionate, almost always granting requests for hugs and kisses.  You are adventurous, and love to explore new places and toys.  You are a quick learner, a curious child, and often determined.  You are, to me, a perfect manifestation of love.  Your dad and I were remarking recently that in addition to how much we've seen you learn and grow, we've been equally stretched and challenged.  We've grown in patience, and also in love.  I had no idea how having you in my life would change it, and how my capacity to love another human being would grow by leaps and bounds.  I love you Emily Bear!

The First of Many

Our family celebrated the first of many 2009 Christmases this morning.  Because of Eric's work schedule, and visiting our families, we'll have plenty of different opportunities to open gifts and remember the birth of our savior this year.  Emily quickly learned how fun it is to open presents, and kept repeating "more presents" every chance she got.  Her favorite gifts seem to be a carton of eggs that squeak and teach shape matching or her new baby, which she has yet to realize is designed to accompany her at bath time.  And maybe, just maybe, said baby will help her forget how much she hates having someone wash her hair.  Unfortunately, our memory card decided it didn't want to store all the pictures we took, and we're still not sure why, but we still captured a few fun moments!

Emily Sings the Alphabet

Lately Emily's vocabulary has been growing almost exponentially, including learning some letters and numbers.  In this video, she sings the alphabet song with her Disney princess laptop, although she has a little trouble keeping up.  What she lacks in speed and accuracy, she makes up for with sheer enthusiasm.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/8090544]

Hug!

Emily is very into hugging people these days.  But it doesn't end there.  She frequently also wants to hug her baby doll, her stuffed animals, and even pictures in the books that we are reading.  Tonight, I let her watch a video while I made dinner, and when I came in to check on her a few minutes later, this is what I found.  I have no idea how long she had been that way, but I think Oscar deserves an award for most tolerant cat EVER!

23 months old!

Emily,

I've been reminded this month of just how blessed I am to be your mother.  It's been an emotional past couple of weeks, but your smiles, your giggles, and just your physical presence in my life have been such a joy!  You're catching on to things so quickly these days.  Just today you learned the word "snow" and apparently told it to daddy when you went outside today after we got our first blanket of snow over everything.  You can also count to ten - albeit you often skip numbers - but your eight, nine, and ten are always right on!  And, I woke up the other day to you singing part of the alphabet to yourself.  I haven't been able to get you to repeat a whole string of letters yet, but if I sing it and pause, you'll supply the right letter most times (especially if it's H, P, or S).  And just tonight in the car, we had a whole conversation.  I told you we were going to see Andy and Sarah, and you said, "Ahn-dy, Sa-wah, house".  And then I confirmed this and you said, "door?  knock" and I said yes, we could knock on their door and then you said "night night.  Baby Abby go night night", and I said, "sure, yeah, she goes night night".  What a little chatterbox!

You LOVE playing with your baby, and making sure she has her bottle, and that she gets rocked to sleep.  If we sing "rock-a-bye baby" though, you'll throw her vehemently down on the floor when we sing "down will come baby".  We'll have to work on that.  You also really like to color, though mostly you just dot the paper with the tips of the crayons and ask me to draw various things that come to your mind.  I draw a lot of animals and babies and shoes.

You're learning to reason, and if I tell you that you need to eat three bites of (insert healthy food here) before you can eat a cracker, you'll usually do it.  You also generally listen really well, and are (excluding that recent trip to the Gap with your soon-to-be aunt Kara) very well behaved.  You do, however, still whine a LOT.  And this is unfortunate, because I can't really punish you for it, but I can't stand to listen to it either.  It's easy to fix though, because 9 times out of 10, you just want my undivided attention.  And I can usually give you that.

We decorated the Christmas tree last weekend, and you loved it.  You like all the "balls" hanging on the tree, and you like to show it to everyone that comes over how pretty the tree is.  You've enjoyed playing with your Little People nativity scene, but we've lost baby Jesus, and that could present a problem in your theology soon.  Mary?  Check.  Angel?  Check.  Jesus?  Who's that?

Thanks for lighting up my life, little girl.  I can't believe that in another month, my baby will be two whole years old!

Love,

Mommy

Sad, but also Thankful

I've decided to write this post and make public some sad news because it's part of our life, and sometimes sharing helps.  Eric and I were thrilled to learn quite a few weeks ago that we were expecting our second child.  By our calculations, baby number two would arrive the first week in July, meaning that Emily and baby number two would be exactly two and half years apart.  It seemed perfect, and we knew we were ready to do this baby thing all over again and grow our family.  We got Emily a t-shirt that said 'I'm going to be a big sister' and planned to have her announce our big news to our family this weekend at Thanksgiving.

But instead, things didn't go according to our plans.  For whatever reason, God decided this wasn't the right time or the right baby for us.  We found out yesterday that I'm experiencing a miscarriage; an ultrasound revealed that this baby wasn't nearly as big as it should be for how far along I'm supposed to be.  We were sad, obviously, and we still are.  I already miss this little person, and the place I was imaging he or she would hold in our family.  But I'm also filled, appropriately enough, with a sense of thankfulness.  We're already a family.  I have a husband who is strong and supportive, who loves me and listens to me, and who I'm glad I get to spend every day of my life with.  And together, we're already parents.  We have the most wonderful, loving, and vibrant little girl who gives lots of hugs and kisses, and frequently walks around the house saying "mommy...are you?  Are you mommy?".  And though we want another child, if that's not in the Lord's plans for us, that's okay because my heart is already overflowing with love for my family and the blessings that God has bestowed upon us.  So during this week of Thanksgiving, yes, I'm sad, but also thankful.

Score One for Mommy!

No, I didn't post this somewhat gross picture of my daughter to make you queasy. Instead, I want proof (and a hearty congratulations) that she is consuming broccoli and cauliflower. Emily and I have daily battles over what she eats. In short, I offer up a variety of fruits and vegetables, and she rejects them. That (with the exception of bananas and sugar-free applesauce, both of which she truly loves) pretty much sums it up. I've tried to be tricky, and occasionally can sneak in vegetables in soup without her realizing it, but they can't really amount to much. Yesterday, Emily and I went to the Farmer's Market and bought some locally grown broccoli and cauliflower. We went home, I cooked it, pureed it, and added it to some (organic!) macaroni and cheese and voila - success! Score one for mommy!