18 posts tagged “emory” (page 2)
This weekend we bought a big girl bed for Emory! Oh my gosh, where has the time gone? I cannot believe we are about to be without a single crib in our home. It is hard to believe just over a year ago we had three cribs, and now we will have none! There are many things that are wonderful about reaching this point...we can go places entirely stroller-free...our children can communicate (most of) their wants and needs...but I just can't help but be sad to see time passing by so fast!
Aidan has been very sensitive..moreso than usual. He saw me with tears in my eyes after taking all the sheets and things out of Emory's crib. His face got so serious, and he looked like he was holding back tears. The same thing happened the other day. I was transferring our wedding video from VHS to DVD, and I stopped to watch a clip of my late grandfather wishing Jason and I a wonderful marriage. I started to cry, and Aidan saw my face and started to cry, too.
Alanna has been really interested in the wedding video, and she has decided she can't wait to marry me when she grows up! :) Somehow, I think she'll change her mind! She loves watching the reception and keeps asking to watch everyone dancing. Toward the end of the video, there is a clip of everyone doing the Hokey Pokey (this was just a funny thing the DJ did after the Murray-Sanderson clan did the Rock Lobster). Anyway, Aidan and Alanna started doing the Hokey Pokey, and Alanna started striking these poses that just cracked me up every time she sang "That's what it's all about!"
This morning we did a grocery store run, and luckily for the kids, there were three kids' shopping carts available! It is hilarious watching them push their carts around. One of the carts is really hard to steer...the wheels barely turn at all. Aidan and Alanna get frustrated with it, but not Emory. I don't know if it's her persistence or brute force that she uses to maneuver that thing around. She's the only one of the three who can handle it! We got to the checkout line with only a few things that weren't on the list...which we caught, thank goodness!
Today was "one of those days," but we made it to the end...at which point I was ready to fall into bed.
Emory is giving me a run for my money; today she decided she was going to test me at every turn. I handled things calmly for a good portion of the day, but ultimately, I failed...miserably. And yet, no matter my level of frustration, she was happy as could be. At nap time (and bed time), she has been slowly getting aggravated that she can't get her blanket just right. She wants it covering her shoulders and her toes, and it is just barely long enough to do so. Once I get her covered just right, she moves, and all is lost! So she struggled with this problem for quite a while this afternoon; I tried to help her, but as soon as I "fixed" it, she moved, and it wasn't right anymore. I tried helping her fall asleep, so that she wouldn't notice the imperfection...but to no avail. Not knowing what else I could do, I let her cry about it (or more accurately, scream about it) hoping she'd wear herself out, which she didn't. Unfortunately, this meant she'd keep Alanna (and Aidan, supposedly) awake with all the ruckus. I have offered bigger blankets on several occasions recently, and today it sent her into orbit...she didn't want them in the room with her, let alone in her crib. She turned beet-red, tears filled her eyes, she screamed at the top of her lungs and pointed vehemently at the door, and though I couldn't understand all the words coming out of her mouth, the message was clear. "THERE WILL BE NO SUBSTITUTE!!!" (or even a supplement, for that matter!)
I called Jason to blow off some steam, and we agreed that we would need to get her a bigger blanket that she would accept. I sat down with Emory, and I "informed her" that she would be getting a bigger blanket that she would need to take to bed with her. We talked about her being a big girl, and she could still hold her (precious) purple blanket, but she needs a big blanket. So, she looked up at me with her chin on her chest and frowned as she agreed to this new scenario...clearly not happy about it. "Okay," she said, so very dejected. So after Alanna finally woke up, we all went off in search of a blanket for Emory. I can't take another day of this...as it's been slowly escalating over the last few weeks. I gave her three choices of blankets that were the softest and coziest I could find, and she chose a pink blanket with a big ladybug in the middle. (I chose not to direct her attention to the Lightning McQueen fleece throw as we walked past it, and no one else saw it! phew!) She wouldn't let it out of her hot little hands until we got home.
So at bedtime, I had thrown her new blanket (that she was so excited about ) into her bed. She looked down, pointed at it and said "I want that out my bed" or something like that. I reminded her about our conversation, and she acquiesced. She actually looked so pleased as I tucked her in with a blanket that covered her all up...I couldn't believe I'd been at my wit's end with her. Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy!
Fortunately, Aidan was an angel all day...save for the few times that he and Emory got into a tussle over a toy. Alanna had a few meltdowns, but was fine for the most part. After everyone had gone to bed, I checked in on Alanna, who "had to go to the bathroom" I don't know know how many times. I apologized for being grumpy...she apologized for her meltdowns...and I told her I would pray for patience (as I do daily...and nightly.) She then told me that I should pray for patience at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I asked if she would help me, and she agreed to...and with all that praying, it just might be enough! :)
From The Loop:
Aidan and Alanna's first use of symbolic language were proto-words, not true words...animal sounds that they used as labels when they saw those animals. So they loved ducks and fish, but the fish sound we made (a little popping sound with your lips) was something they "said" whenever they saw fish for quite a while. Jason wouldn't let me count it as their first word. For the two of them, there were so many things coming out of their mouths that seemed like word attempts a few times, but then not again for a little bit, that I don't really know what word was their official "first," though I kept a list of their first 150 words in their journal.
Emory, who makes no bones about anything, was much clearer when it came to her first word. It was early December of 2006...she wasn't quite 10 months old. I thought I'd heard her say "no" earlier in the day, but I figured I was just hearing things. Then I was getting ready to go somewhere while Jason fed her, and he came upstairs to tell me Emory just said "no." (I hadn't mentioned anything about my experience earlier that day.) She didn't want whatever he was trying to give her, and she emphatically said "no" a couple of times as she turned her head away. I went downstairs to see if we could elicit it again, and sure enough...a vehement "no" when I offered her some baby food. I couldn't believe it, and yet it is so "Emory" to have "no" be her first word. She knows exactly what she wants (and doesn't want,) and she has never been shy about letting us know what that is.
As I recall, this was the beginning of her complete and sudden strike on baby food. Just after I'd bought a big package of baby food from BJ's, she decided she wouldn't have anything to do with it.
It's official. Emory is absolutely obsessed with Lightning McQueen. We have 4 different styles of Lightning McQueen cars...similar to matchboxes. Every morning, she looks for the "Dark Red Lightning McQueen" (after he got his paint job in Radiator Springs) and has it in hand before breakfast. If she can't find it, there is a crisis at hand. Jason did a "google images" search for Lightning McQueen, and Emory was SO thrilled to see SO MANY pictures of LM. We've talked a little bit about potty training, and she would REALLY like some LM underwear, which they don't make for girls. But she was so excited at the prospect, it may be the perfect motivator when we decide to make the leap. Does it really matter if she wears boys' underwear??? It's not something that had ever crossed my mind...but I'm thinking it just might be worth it! She is so funny...our rough and tumble little tomboy, who loves all things stereotypically for boys!
We were at the play area at the mall today, and Aidan and Alanna were making cautious attempts at jumping from one "structure" to another. Then Emory decided to give it a shot, and with hardly a moment's thought, she just jumped. She didn't make it, but she didn't care. She just popped up, told us that was a "big jump" and did it again, and again, and again. As Alanna and Aidan practiced, they got closer and closer to meeting their goal. Only a few minor bumps! Emory got one big bonk on the head, and I was expecting a wail, but she just looked up like nothing happened. Aidan hit his nose once, and he got quite upset. He recovered when I told him I'd take a look, so he leaned his head back, and I told him I saw a dinosaur in his nose. He started to laugh and laugh, and off he went.
Another little vignette from my parents' last night. When Jason and I leave for Baltimore for a few days, and leave the kids at their house, we have concerns about just what Emory might get into. She is clearly very comfortable in their home. Fortunately, Emory tends to let out mischievous little giggles when she is doing something she shouldn't....or she's so quiet you know something is amiss. (The question is, will my parents hear and/or recognize these cues!) I didn't ever truly understand the meaning of things being "too quiet" in reference to toddlers until Emory came along. At one point, she disappeared around a corner, and the options were: a bathroom with a litter box, a laundry room with a litter box, a bar with lots of glassware and alcohol within reach and a bedroom. She was silently waiting in the bedroom (thank God) until she saw me turn the corner (I assume) at which point she let out her little giggle and started running across the room. When we play this game of cat and mouse, she has a funny little run...it's kind of a high-stepping, bouncy run with her arms out to the side. I caught her in my arms, and she thought she was so funny. We went to the family room, where I spoke briefly with my dad, when I heard another of those giggles heading up the stairs. So there, she had three bedrooms and two hall closets to get into. She went into the first room and ran as fast she could, cackling away as she heard me bounding up the steps behind her.
At our house, she loves to run ahead of us when we go upstairs, go into the closet in the master bathroom, close both doors and wait in silence until we open the door...and she starts to squeal.
She cracks me up. That gleam in her eyes never disappears...I hope it never does. My passionate, spirited little girl!
Emory has decided lately that she will be dressing herself, thank you very much. I'm not even allowed to touch whatever article of clothing she is trying put on, no matter how hard she is struggling. She might have it most of the way on, having struggled to get to this point, and be stuck, but if I lay a finger on her, she will take it completely off and start over. Occasionally, I can give her a small bit of assistance if I can convince her I'm not helping. For example, she couldn't reach down far enough behind her to pull up her pants this morning. So I said, "I'm just trying to get the pants into your hands, so YOU can pull them. I'm NOT helping you." And she acquiesced.
I figure the more she practices, the better she'll get at it, and that will be one less thing on my list of "to-do's" in the morning! But then again...I don't want them to grow up so fast! What to do??
Oh, and she has taken to doing airborne 360s, which occasionally end well...sometimes, not so much. She jumps in the air and spins, at times landing on her feet. She has learned this from watching Alanna....can't wait to see what's coming down the pipeline. I'm quite sure there are injuries in her future! Pray that it will be nothing serious!
Emory LOVES the Lightning McQueen pajamas she got for her birthday from Aunt Maureen. I mentioned them in a post previously...the word "Kachow" is written in big yellow letters across the chest. Typically, she loves to be tucked in "snug as a bug in a rug," which we must say as we tuck her in. Tonight, however, Emory wouldn't allow Jason to tuck her in, he could only put her blanket beside her because she didn't want to cover up Lightning McQueen on her pjs. I've got to get a picture of her in them!
I went in to check on her before heading to bed, and laid the blanket over her, and she said something in her sleep. Wish I knew what it was...
