Winter Weather Advisory and Some Games

Today was a cold, gray, stay inside and do nothing day.  Emory chose to stay in her jammies all day.  I offered her several times the option to get dressed in some real clothes, but each time she voted to "keep my jammies on."  I briefly changed out of my fleece stretchy pants to make a quick trip to the dollar store.  Meaning, I changed into jeans, went to the store, came home and changed right back into my fleece pants.  And would anyone have really noticed if I had worn the fleece pants with polar bears on them to the dollar store anyway??  

We spent the morning doing what Emory enjoys lately--playing in the basement.  She likes to go down there and fix breakfast for us.  There's all kinds of lovely and random junk down there and she uses miscellaneous items to play out this routine of feeding us over and over, mimicing most everything we do and say to her.  So today when she called me downstairs for "breakfast" she had prepared waffles and bananas.  I was directed to sit down on the floor in front of a pink blanket she had spread out on the floor.  She put Piggy on the table and handed me a bib (a blue pom pom).  Then she puts the tray on my chair (a piece of packing foam) and then she says a prayer.  By the way, this is the sweetest thing she has started doing.  I think her prayers generally go along the lines of this:  Dear Lord, Thank you for this day.  Thank you for this night.  And thank you for our food.  In Jesus name we pray, Amen."  The things she thanks God for usually vary, but it's always interesting to see what she says.  And sometimes she takes over the prayers or interjects things.  I love it.  Anyway, back to our breakfast.  After we pray for the food, she hands me my plate (another piece of packing foam) and pours me some cold milk.  After the first bite, she always asks "More?" 

After we eat, we move into the next phase which is her tucking me in for a nap.  She brings me a ton of animals, covers me with a blanket, brings me a pillow and tells me to call her if I need her.  When she leaves she always tells me that she's going to wash the dishes. 

The other thing she has made up in the basement is that the creepy closet under the stairs is the grocery store.  She wants to go in there and shut the door, but there is no light in there.  This doesn't seem to phase her, but personally, I don't really want to go in there in the complete dark!

So we ended the day with all of us watching Charlie Brown Christmas.  We started watching the Peanuts movies before Halloween with the Great Pumpkin, then the Thanksgiving one and now the Christmas one.  Emory LOVES the Peanuts gang, especially Snoopy.  And she really has learned some wonderful phrases like:  You Blockhead!  What's all the Commotion?  What's going on here?  and I'm gonna slug you! (although I asked her what that one meant and she didn't know, so I figured it's ok)  She has been asking for a candy cane every day because she has a book that has a picture of hot cocoa with a candy cane in it.  So Brian made some of his famous hot chocolate and we had candy canes with it.  I didn't think Emory would like it, but she did and ate all of hers. 

It was a nice day to be lazy!    

Daddy, Chase Me!

This is what Emory said to Brian in the kitchen tonight while I was getting dinner ready.  I don't know why, but those words just struck me tonight.  Isn't that the cry of every little girl's heart?  To be pursued so intently by someone...  She of course meant for him to literally chase her around and around two of her little chairs that she had brought over and set up in the middle of the kitchen.  But it made me think of how our hearts naturally desire that pursuit because that is what Jesus did for us.  And does.  Gave his life to save mine.  To provide the opportunity for me to spend eternity with him.  I love seeing Emory's face lighting up with pure delight and hearing her squeal and giggle as Brian chases her around the house.  I pray that she will experience the joy of her Savior's pursuit as well. 

Fall Cleaning

This is what happens when I attempt to clean out Emory's closet and pack up clothes that are outgrown or out of season...

That's the bottom half of a bathing suit from the summer before last.  I guess this is appropriate, because when I did the clothes packing up ritual at the beginning of the summer she wanted to put on a super hot pair of fleece pajamas and refused to take them off, despite the 100 degree heat outside.  So it only makes sense that she would want to wear her swimsuit when it's freezing outside!  She sure is cute though.  

Dear Lightning...

Dear Lightning,

We really appreciate all you do to encourage some Mustang spirit around here.  You do a wonderful job at pep rallies, football games and all other community appearances.  And, your biggest (little) fan happens to live in my house.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I hear your name coming out of Emory's mouth more times a day than my own name.  However,

PLEASE stop showing up in Emory's room when it is time for her to go to sleep.  You can't sneak in, we still use a monitor around here.  Just when all is quiet and I think she has gone to sleep I suddenly hear "Hi Lightning!!"  A crazy cheering frenzy usually follows this greeting and often continues for a very long time.  I know Emory loves it when you visit, but let's try to keep it to a minimum...and maybe you could sing some soothing, relaxing songs instead of leading cheers.  The other members of this family like to sleep!

Thanks for your cooperation,
Mrs. Hunt

Punkin' Days

The three of us ventured out to the "Pumpkin Capital of the U.S." for Punkin Day.  I've never been to the Punkin Day festival before, so we really had no expectation.  It actually turned out to be pretty fun!  There was plenty of fair-type food to choose from, boothes to peruse, and pumpkins to see.  The weather on that Saturday was perfect for a pumpkin adventure--cloudy and cool.  Emory has been very excited about pumpkins this year, so she was screaming "pumpkins!" every time we saw pumpkins.  We didn't stay too long, but we did enjoy some great junk food (including funnel cake!), walked around a while, and grabbed some kettle corn as we left.  On the way out of town we stopped off at the Pumpkin Pile and picked out some pumpkins to take home.  It was a fun morning!

   

Chalk It Up!

The latest obsession around our house has been "chalking."  Reminds me of the 80's when we chalked our friends' driveways.  This was before toilet-papering took over.  Actually, I don't think I ever got the driveway chalked for myself, but I remember my sister being the recipient of it many times!  Anyway...Emory loves to chalk on the driveway and she asks to do it ALL.DAY.LONG.  But I don't mind, because it's pretty fun for me too!

In case you couldn't tell, most of the pictures she is drawing are either "a seahorse" or "Dadda"

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

I often find Emory sitting on things like this pretending to ride.  I've see her pretending to  ride this boat (she also does this when the boat is in the bathtub!), a tiny little helicopter, a stuffed horse...

Pretty funny!

Grrr!

Mad Face!  Aaaahhhhh!

Randomness de Emory

This summer flew by and school started off with a bang.  Brian is technically the one who is busy, but since we live vicariously through him, Emory and I consider ourselves pretty busy too.  We were able to spend a lot of time with Brian over the summer, which was wonderful and I think we've both been going through a little withdrawal these past few weeks.  BUT, we've made up for it with several social engagements and trips to school activities where Brian is working. 

Emory is my best little buddy these days, my constant companion.  And I would not have it any other way!  I can honestly say that I love her company.  She is constantly surprising me with the things she says and she makes me laugh and smile all the time.  I'm about to make a random list of all the things I can think of that she says and does lately, mostly for me to remember.  So you have been warned!

• In July, we took Emory for her 2 year check-up.  Everything went well--she weighed in at 23.5 lbs and 34.6 inches tall.  She's pretty scrawny still, but nothing to be concerned about.  To me, she actually looks like she's thickened up a bit, but if you try, there is not an extra inch to pinch on her anywhere!  (Except for those adorable little hiney cheeks, but those are only mine to pinch!)  The doctor did hear a small heart murmur, but said that is common during this time when they are growing so much and so quickly, and hopefully she'll outgrow it. 

• Some of Emory's favorite things (according to her):  favorite food--waffles; favorite song--Twinkle Twinkle Little Star;  Favorite Movie--Pig Movie (Charlotte's Web) 

• Due to our insanely hot summer, we decided to forgo watering our grass in favor of getting one of those do-it-yourself big pools.  It took her a few times, but with her little floatie on, Emory started LOVING being in the water!  We'd strap her floatie on and she would demand to be "put down," so she'd go be-bopping around the pool all by herself.  As soon as we'd lower her down in the water, she would just giggle with delight for the first several minutes.  Then she'd start kicking her feet and go all around the pool chasing down whatever toy she wanted. 

• School has started now, which means that football season is in full swing.  Our little town has a pep rally every week and all the school kids go and it is also open to the public.  We went to several pep rallies last year and Emory liked it.  But this year, she is CRAZY about the pep rallies!  She gets so excited to see Lightning (the Mustang mascot), the cheerleaders, the band, and Travis (the band director).  It's really getting funny how she talks about Travis as if he's a celebrity.  These are the questions that she asks me repeatedly all throughout the week lately:  "Mama, do you hear the band? Mama, is Travis directing the band?  Mama, do you see Travis?  Mama, do you see the cheerleaders?  Mama, do you see Lightning?  Mama, can Lightning hold me up?  Mama, do you want to go to the pepperrally?" 

• On two different occasions recently, I have heard Emory complimenting one of her little "friends."  The first time she said to her friend "Taryn, I like your pretty dress!"  The next time (on another day) she said to another little friend "I like your sandals, Ella."  Oh how my heart melted to hear her saying those sweet words! 

• The church nursery has not been Emory's favorite place lately.  So we decided to start letting her just come in with us to the service and work on her being quiet and still.  She usually wants to bring Piggy in with her and I've noticed that after we shush her and tell her to be quiet and not talk, she then picks Piggy up, puts his little snout up near her face and whispers the reprimand on to him.  "Piggy, be quiet.  We don't talk in church." 

• She has started referring to her Little People ride-on toy as her car.  She hops on, tells us "goodbye" and heads off to various destinations, most often to Mansfield to see her "cuz-ans."  And when we are actually getting ready to drive somewhere, she runs to her "car" and says "you want me to drive, Mama?" 

• Lately we have been using the basement and the stairs for entertainment (we've been desperate since it was too hot to go outside).  It's a whole new unexplored room, and she is content to stay down there and play by herself.  This works out really well when I'm trying to get dinner ready (since the entrance to the basement is right in the kitchen).  I help her get down the stairs, then I come back upstairs and get everything ready while she plays.  The other day she was down there and I would check on her every few minutes by calling down to her "You ok Emory?"  And her response was "I'm ok, are you ok Mama?" 

• As I mentioned, Emory's favorite movie is Charlotte's Web.  She LOVES it.  She'll watch it over and over as many times as she can.  She cries when it's over.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed she was singing one of the songs from the movie, the one that Fern sings to Wilbur at the beginning.  Since then, I've observed her doing several things that are from the movie, and I can only guess that she is pretending that she is Fern and Piggy is Wilbur.  She will ask for a blanket, wrap Piggy up and tuck him into her little stroller while singing "there must be something more to us than you and me...it must be tangled up somehow with destiny...i used to think the sum of one and one was two...but we add up to more, me and you..."  And she knows all the words.  Or she'll tuck him into bed, or put him in her bathtub and pretend to give him a bath.  It is SO stinkin' cute! 

I guess that's enough for now.  Emory Faith, what a delight you are!  I can't count the times I am in awe at the sweet nature God has blessed you with (which also happens to be a blessing to your parents!).  I am overwhelmed with thankfulness that you are on loan to me while we are on this earth and I am the one who gets to spend each and every day with you.  Best job in the world.    

Initiation

I have been a mother for over 2 years now.  During that time I've experienced many things that really seemed to define motherhood.  I've been tee-tee'd on, poo'd on, thrown up on, snotted on, cried on, had things spilled on me, hair pulled, jewelry pulled, along with other much nicer things.  But I would say that the one event that officially ushered me into motherhood happened the other day.  My sweet little angel came walking into the living room where I was sitting and she was holding her hand out and saying "here Mama."  So I reach out unknowingly and take whatever it is she is handing me.  As I look down into my hand I realize, oh yes, it is a booger.  Thanks Emory. 

Womanly Wiles

Today we have an example of the art of feminine wiles.  Somehow Emory got two grown men to join her in the following activities:

Tea With GaGa

  

Cooking With PaPa

 I'm not surprised...it's pretty tough to say no to that face!

Diaper Wedgie

Be warned:  partial toddler nudity to follow.  If you can't handle it, close this page now!


I'll give you a minute to exit if you haven't yet. 


Don't worry, it's tasteful toddler nudity. 


Ok, hopefully at least the grandmothers and Aunt April have stuck around because this is just so funny.  I had to take a picture of it. 

Diaper Wedgie!  Ouch!!!  

18 Month Check-Up

Well, I'll have to figure out how to do this all over again, since it's been so long since I've posted something.  We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration and loved having Brian home with us for two weeks straight!  But for now, I'm just going to post a few things about Emory's 18 month check-up which was a couple of weeks ago. 

She FINALLY broke through the 20 lb barrier--blazed past it actually! (ha)  She weighed in at a whopping 21.8 pounds!!  Whoo hoo!  And she's 33 inches tall.  That puts her in the 15th percentile for weight and 90th for height.  Also, her head is still on the large side--she's in the 85th % for head circumference.  We really like shirts with buttons around the neck. 

Everything was fine at the check-up and she survived her one shot extremely well.  She's much braver than I am!!  (Is that the right word?  Braver?  More brave?  I've lost my ear for grammar...)

Each day she surprises me with the things she picks up.  She chatters away most of the day, putting more and more words together to make little sentences.  I wouldn't say she's exactly conversational yet, but she can definitely fill the silence during a meal!  Lots of observational phrases or bossy directions. 

Some of the fun things about Emory right now:
-She loves to "cheers" with us.  Our meals are interrupted frequently with her requests to do cheers with her sippy cup. 
-Affection.  She is returning and initiating affection--she'll voluntarily come running up and say "hug Mama" or come at us making her cute little kissy noise.  Irresistable!  And when we ask for a hug, she lays her head on our shoulder. 
-Books.  She is still LOVING her books.  She will literally sit for an unlimited amount of time and let us read books to her.  Sometimes it is a constant string of different books, and sometimes she wants to read the same book 20 times. 
-She is obsessed with anything having to do with moo cows.  Moo cow book, moo cow song (Old McDonald), moo cow movie.  This really goes for most any type of animal--cows, sheep, horses, ducks, puppies, pigs...  She got a couple of new movies for Christmas about animals and she literally bursts into tears when the credits come on and she begs to see it "gin." 
-Speaking of the tears, she is also starting to exert her opinion more often.  Lately there have been tears over leaving the duck pond, getting out of the bathtub and leaving the dirt in the backyard to go for a walk with us.  (Those were the incidents this week)  I think we're probably pretty lucky that this is a new thing and it happens infrequently enough that we find it unusual.  Fits are a rare thing for her.
-Puking.  I'm hoping this is a phase and a somewhat normal toddler type thing.  Several times over the past couple of weeks she has thrown up during a meal.  Seems like she eats a lot of something pretty quickly and/or is playing a lot while eating (as in at a restaurant where she is looking around more than paying attention to the meal).  It's only fair because Brian and I still laugh about the "puking incident" with Cousin Blake all those years ago.  What goes around comes around I guess...

I know the last couple of things are not so fun things, but even those are really not so bad.  Emory is such an easy-going, laid-back, sweet, funny and fun child.  We are so blessed by her and grateful for such a precious gift from God. 

A Comfy Place To Sit

This is how I often find my kid--having dumped the contents out of any container and plopped down inside.
 

Ok Miss Emory, now give me a snarl...:

And more container sitting:



And this one just because she has the cutest backside!  Look at that squat form...Perfect!

Halloween

This year was Emory's first attempt at trick-or-treating.  Since she's never had candy, or dressed up in a costume, or had any idea what Halloween even is, we didn't expect much.  She loves to see the cheerleaders at the football games, so she was definitely on board when we told her she was going to dress up like a cheerleader.  She happily got dressed and we took off in the stroller for our main stop at the church.  She carried her little bucket around on her arm like a purse and was totally amazed when people would come up to her and dump candy in it!  We made a couple of other stops on our way home and called it a night.  Here are some pictures of the cutest cheerleader I've ever seen!

On our way to the church.  She kept repeating "Cheee-rrrr" on our way there.

She spent the whole time at the church standing there with one pom-pom in her hand (she actually did have two) and chewing on that laffy taffy, trying to figure out what was going on with all those crazy dressed up people.  She never got scared or cried, but she didn't laugh or smile either.

Hmm...

And the highlight of the evening--her first taste of chocolate milk.  Our super cool neighbors were handing out Yoohoo!  Um, yeah, she loved it.   

Obsessed!

Yes, I think I have developed an obsession.  Little girl tights.  They are ADORABLE.  And they come in every possible color and print imaginable!  Such a perfect accessory to any girl's wardrobe this fall and winter. (and probably spring)

(I know it's hard to see the tights in this picture, but it's too cute the way Florence is looking up at Emory, like "So, can you reach that door handle yet and let me out of here??")

At'l Do Farms

Last weekend we visited At'l Do Farms and had a lot of fun!  We skipped the corn maze this year, but maybe we'll be brave and try it next year.  We did ride the cow train, which was probably more fun for Brian and I, but Emory humored us and smiled every now and then.  We looked at the hay and pumpkins, walked around, and once it got dark, we took a hayride out to "Pumpkin Hollow" to see all the carved pumpkins.  I would say the highlight for Emory would have been the petting zoo, where she got to see pigs, goats, sheep, a cow, and chickens.  She fell in LOVE with the cow.  In fact, this was the first time she has ever said the actual word "cow."  She knows what they are, but before she saw a real one up close and personal, she would just say "moo" when she saw a cow.  But she spent quite a long time standing in front of the cow and yelling "mooooo cowwww!"  Then she would run to the next pen and see the sheep and yell  "paaahhhhh," then run back to the moo cow.  She is still talking about the moo cow and the paahhh.  And every time we say prayers, she interrupts us to say moo cow and paaahhh so that we will thank God for them.  And she won't stop saying it until you pray for them!  So funny!  It was definitely a fun fall activity and we'll have to go again next year.

Highchair Growth Chart

I found a couple of old pictures of Emory in her highchair and compared them to some recent ones.  I think it's fun to see how much she's grown! 

These first pictures were taken April 26, so about 6  months ago (she was nearly 11 months old):

Notice her head is just above the Chicco label

And feet just barely hanging over the edge of the seat

Now, the next pictures were taken October 19 (almost 17 months old):

Her head is above the top of the seat!

And feet past the orange part.  Now, the footrest is in a higher position here than it was in the first picture, but the orange thing is the same. 

She can just barely rest her feet on the footrest now.  And she loves to "stomp" her feet on it!  



More Climbing

Emory is loving figuring out all the new things she can climb up on now!  I'll come around the corner and she'll be up on something just looking so proud.  She loved going up and down the stairs at Uncle Boyd and Aunt April's house.  That was a workout!  (for the person who went up and down with her, that is!  Good thing for those cousins who could keep up with her!)

16 Months

Emory turned 16 months at the end of September!  I did a pretty decent job throughout her first year of writing down everything new that she learned each month.  But since she turned a year old and we moved and over the crazy summer, I just slacked off.  So I will attempt to compile a list of everything she's doing at this time.

She is full of words these days!  I still do a lot of interpreting, but she recognizes a lot of objects and people and attempts to say the names, or at least her version of it.

People:  Mama, Dadda, Me (Emory), Gamma (Grandma), PaPa, Ga-Ga (Granddad), Gmmrr (Grandmother...sometimes Grandmother and Grandma are indistinguishable and other times I can detect a slight difference), Babril (Aunt April), Ca-Ba (Uncle Boyd), Ba (Blake), Ha or Kick It (Austin), Brook, Shelley, and Halleekate. 

A list of her other "words":  (many are her version of the word, but also there are plenty that would be recognizable to other people.  Some I cannot even begin to attempt to try and spell how she says them...so I'm just mostly going to put down any word that she recognizes consistently and says the same noise for it each time) 
cook, spoon, fork, milk, table, chair, banana, strawberry, waffle, bean, grape, bread, cupcake, goldfish, cheerio, chicken, ham, burger, buckle, drink, cup, eat, hot, go, all clean, bath, meow (the cat), woof woof (dog), duck, cow (moo), horse (neigh), cheerleader, kick it, night night, bath, shower, towel, George, ooh-ahh (monkey sound), La-La (Elmo), movie, couch, help, please, more, Bible, Clifford, Piggy, baby, farmer, bird, tree, car, trash, Brittni, Co-Co, diaper, booger, tee-tee, poo-poo, birp, toot, belly button (bo-bo), shoe, pants, purse, ball, shampoo, clock, blanket, happy, teeth, chin, nose, eyes, ears, two, bed, Violet, light, fish, outside, stick, cheese, french fry, apple, green, phone, snack, computer

She is putting two words together all the time:  Mama eat, Dadda night-night, etc.  Every now and then we'll hear a three word sentence:  Dadda bobo see? (Daddy can I see your belly button?)  It is so fun to see and hear everything going on in her little head these days!  This morning I was wearing a green shirt and she said Mama green and pointed at my shirt.  Her first color! 

She loves to see when I am cooking.  Her phrase for when she wants to be picked up is "Mama see?"

She still uses her signs most of the time.  She knows more, eat, drink, milk, please, thank-you (although this one has been pretty recent and I have to ask her for it), help, table, and baby. 

She LOVES her books.  She will bring a book and ask you to "ee-ee" it, then as soon as it's over, she wants to hear it "gin."  And then "gin."  And "gin."  And "gin..."  Right now she is obsessed with her Bible stories.  She asks for them all the time.  It's really hard to say no when she asks for "mo" Bible stories. 

Oh, and the word no!  She definitely knows that word, although she doesn't always mean it when she says it.  But right now it is still insanely cute to hear her say "Nyo" in the sweetest little baby girl voice.

That's about all I can think of right now.  I want to be able to remember these funny and sweet little things that she does and says!