Oh Emily!

Another lovely September evening...we were watering our newest tree (Scoomadon Chim Chom according to Addie, Little Tree according to Emily) and Em saw that running hose and just couldn't resist.

PS, if you'd like to hear the tree names, see below:

A Gorgeous Colorado Sunset

The other night, the girls were playing out on the deck while we finished up the dinner dishes inside. Emily came bounding in, telling us to come look at the sky. She is my sky watcher, always noticing the colors of the sunsets, the shape and color of the clouds in the sky, whether a moon is present - during the day or evening, and what shape it is. She predicts rain often when she sees dark clouds, and usually her predictions are correct. She loves puffy white clouds, and likes looking for shapes in the clouds. I love this about her, because I feel like sometimes we all get so busy, it's hard to remember to look up and appreciate the beauty that is constantly looking down on us. I love that she is always reminding me to look up.

Beautiful girl with her beautiful sunset

Elizabeth kept pointing at the sky, saying "touch touch" She wants to touch everything new and beautiful.

Elsa gloves, they're nearly always on

Have you looked up today?

Sisters' Sweet Snuggles

Emily has really grown into her role as big sister these last few months. She loves to snuggle Elizabeth and talk to her, "whatchoo need honeybun? I right here." is something I hear often when Elizabeth is crying.

As Elizabeth has gotten bigger and more sturdy, Emily has watched as Dad has stepped up his wrestling game with Baby Sister, and Emily has decided wrestling Elizabeth is pretty fun, and Elizabeth loves it too!

Emily's in Undies!

At the end of August, Emily decided she was ready for undies. We went through about 7 pair that first day, but then within about a week, she was accident free and has had very few accidents since then. Yay Emily!

Two big girls!

 

Now and Then

When Emily and Pop Pop came in from the garage looking like this....

 

Chris had to take a picture, because it reminded him so much of this picture, one of his favorites of him and his dad....

Emily and Elizabeth

While Elizabeth is very loved by both of her big sisters, up until recently Addison has shown a bit more interest. Last month, Emily asked to hold her baby sister and ever since then, she has been having a great time playing with, talking to, and bonding with Elizabeth.

 

Sassy Pants

Emily is helping us all experience the emotional roller coaster known to most as the terrible twos.

NO!

This is the face of a grumpy toddler. 

 

Emily's Colors

Emily has been very interested in learning colors lately. She was showing her interest by pointing at colors and saying "lello" or "geen" so we took her lead and started doing flashcards, which she just loves. I tried to take a video, and the camera kept stopping recording, so these are all in pieces, but it's pretty neat to see her name the colors!

Sock Hands

It's a phenomenon that started in our house last month. Invented by Emily and quickly picked up by Addison, putting socks on their hands or asking Mom to put socks on her hands has become quite entertaining here.

 

 

 

 

 

DeeDee's Bling

Emily has learned that Dee Dee will share her earrings. We all know how much Emily loves her accessories. Earrings are just the best. The danglier, the better!

Emily is a Walker!

It became official on Sunday, August 5th, when she took 3 or 4 steps 4 or 5 times while Skyping with Uncle Mike and then again later in the day while Skyping with CeeCee and PopPop. We now have the computer hooked up to the TV so we Skype on the big screen. Seeing herself on the screen along with a cheering audience helped her stay on her feet.

The next day, she was walking all over the place. Her longest distance was from the stove to the TV in the family room. In the following weeks, she would revert to the knee walk often, but would also walk on her feet. It was probably about 50/50 knee/feet for a couple of weeks, and by the end of August, she was on her feet the majority of the time. As of today, she will still scoot around on her knees once in a while out of habit, but when reminded to get to her feet, she does!

That first week, on Tuesday evening, we spent some time out on the deck and Emily had a chance to show off her new skill!

Look Mom! No hands!

This is SO exciting!

 A couple of weeks later, Dad took Emily and Addison to the playground and got some great videos of our little walker on wood chips!

Yep! I am a walker!

Accessorizing

Emily chose to accessorize her own outfit today (7/31/12) with this mom-headband inspired necklace/scarf and hair-tie inspired bracelet. I love how she chose colors that really do go well with her outfit.

Flower Sniffer

Emily Walking (On Her Feet)

Last month, Emily started walking (while holding a hand) very well. She still prefers her knee walk, but will walk alongside someone while holding their hand.

She walks from chair to chair on her own and has been seen standing up on her own and walking up to three steps on her own.

She will now reach for a hand to help her walk when she's on hard surfaces, but when she reaches carpet, it's down to her knees, because her knee walk is still the fastest way to get around.

Here's a video from June 19th of Emily walking around with Chris. When it looks like she's licking Addie, that's a kiss. Emily went through a phase of licking for kisses, but her lip pursing skills have advanced, and her kisses are less wet these days. She will purse up often, asking for a kiss, because she sure does love lip smackers!

S'Up?

The Knee Walk

In case you haven't seen it yet, this is how Emily's been getting around for the last month.

We've Got Talent, Yes We Do!

Last night when I was cleaning up toys, I picked up our wooden disk stacking toy and asked Chris if he did this:

He swore he hadn't. Emily has been getting the hang of getting the little hole to line up with the peg, but neither of us had ever seen her stack them according to size. She must have done this while I was making dinner. Tonight, we tested her to see if we could watch her repeat this amazing feat. She mixed up the red and dark orange, but she does seem to be getting the pattern down.

Moments like these fill us with such pride! Watching Emily stack the disks, deliberately choosing which one would come next, was so exciting. I think Chris and I were both ready to climb to the top of the roof to tell the world what a smart little girl we have.

But wait...there's more!

This morning, Addison was in the living room while I was in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast. A suspicious quiet, followed by the crunching of leaves brought me in to find this:

She had used a push toy to climb up onto the table so that she could reach the plant. When I walked in and she saw the surprise on my face, the biggest grin spread out on hers.

Addison has been taking one step away from furniture for quite some time, but on Friday, April 6th, she took four steps from a chair to me. We had spent the afternoon with Enslea, and after Bree came to pick her up, Addie was standing by the front window, saying goodbye to her friend. Then she turned around, and took four steps away from the door. I was so excited I grabbed her up and rushed out to the driveway, where Bree was loading Enslea into the car. I had to share the big news! Then, two days later on Easter Sunday, Addison became a true walker. She was walking 4, 5, and 6 steps all over the place (and receiving lots of cheers from the Nicolls, which probably helped keep her going!) After Easter, though, it was back to crawling and single steps away from safe handholds.

But this morning, that table climb must have boosted her confidence, because the rest of the day she walked in little bursts all day long. We managed to get a little of it on tape this evening.

Emily and Addison are changing, growing, and learning so much and so quickly. They amaze us every day and fill our lives with so much joy. 

Peek-a-Boo!

In the last month, Emily has really started getting into playing peek-a-boo. She thinks it's so funny when we act like we don't know where she is.

Emily Headbangs

I guess we have a little rocker on our hands. Chris captured this video of Emily headbanging to the Smashing Pumpkins last month. He later discovered that she would headbang on cue to this particular song each time he played it. Recently, though, her tastes have become a bit more refined ;) as she has discontinued her Smashing Pumpkins headbanging and taken up rocking out to Vampire Weekend with Mom.
*While I stand firmly in my belief that I have better taste in music than Chris, I will admit he has better video taping skills.

Happy Dance!

Emily started doing a happy dance last month. Things like the happy dance, head banging, and sisters making eachother giggle happen quite often, but are hard to catch on video because whatever fun that is causing the dancing, head banging, or giggling is always immediately forgotten when the camera is spotted.

Emily's happy dance is most frequently triggered by music, but a dance party can start out of the blue, just give this girl something to be happy about!