independent little lady

Emmy rocking a white tutu with red Toms at church after a sleepover with KK and Papa

I wrote a draft for a first blog post when Emmy was a few weeks old. I wanted to write her birth story but every time I read it I questioned making it public. I read the first paragraph and laughed out loud... I didn't remember thinking this but I was so right!

Emmy was born on February 10, 2012 at precisely 10:43 am.

I happen to know with complete certainty that Emmy will be on her  own terms her whole life. I'm a little like that (okay, a lot like that) and I recognize it when I see it. From her conception to her delivery and now her sleep schedule, it's her way every time. 

 This independence is something I love about Emmy. This is also something that is going to drive me to drink. As Emmy's personality has developed, she has become so damn particular. There are so many things that we have taught her to do that now mean she is the only one who can do them. 

We taught her to hold a fork and spoon while eating. Now she grabs them from us so she can try to feed herself. She usually gives up and uses her hands but flings food off her fork for fun (like that alliteration!?).

 We feed her organic baby food from pouches (like these and these)with almost every meal. I love that she gets fruits, veggies and/or grains and yogurt 3 times a day without me having to force anything. She LOVES them. If she sees one, I have 5 seconds to open it or she will start grunting while flinging her arms up and down and whining. Then, she has to hold it and feed herself. Halfway through she needs my help to get the bottom half up. She will hand it to me and let me squeeze but she wants it back immediately to finish it herself.

She's 14 months. I don't expect her to be patient but holy hell, girl! 

Walking is still a struggle. She can't do it without holding someone's hand so we spend most of the afternoon hunched over, walking in little wobbly circles around the house. If she remembers the stairs, she will dart for them. She pretty much has going up mastered and going down is 50% success and 50% head first disaster. We have to watch her very closely and catch her if she is about to tumble. These two are back-killers.

Then there's the play time. She wants all fun toys to herself but she wants you right there next to her to keep her company and to hold all the things that she doesn't want to play with. 

I ask, "Emmy, can I have this?" and point to a favorite toy. She shakes her head, no. I ask her for something that bores her, she fetches it for me. She doesn't mind sharing - just not the ones she likes.

She has this dog, a really versatile and sweet puppy that can be pushed around the house. It's been wonderful... until she learned how to push it lightning fast from one wall to the other and then start screaming until someone turns it around for her. Joe swears he taught her how to turn around. Maybe she knows I'll just turn it for her. 

I realize this might sound like I'm complaining or that I think my kid is bad. The funny thing is, I don't at all! She is so sweet and affectionate. She is already thoughtful, caring and so smart. She is wonderful and I just have to remind myself that her independence is a strength and I will be grateful for this later when she is better at doing things for herself. I have thought about what I was like as a kid and I can remember wanting to do things for myself. Learning was... and really still is... fun so I need to let her do things herself so she can enjoy learning.

We had so much fun this weekend. There may be many days I hide my rolling eyes from her while she struggles to do something her way but those days are still happy ones. 

Joe and I often look at each other and say "YOUR CHILD" when she is being goofy or stubborn. Her personality is wonderfully us. 

emmy and the tubes

Tubes have become such a common procedure for toddlers that I thought it would be helpful to post about our experience with them.

Our appointment was set for 6am on Friday morning. The nurses said they make appointments in order of age with youngest first. Emmy was the youngest for our doctor so we got the first slot. 

She couldn't eat anything after midnight and only clear liquids after 4am. Emmy doesn't usually have a bottle until 7:30am but I decided to bump up her night time bottle to 5:30 so I could give her a little more at 9:30 to keep her full longer. 

We woke her up at 5:30 with the car already running. We changed her diaper, wrapped her back up in her blanket and loaded up. She was in a good mood and the most active toddler in the waiting room when we arrived. 

At about 6:30 they called us back and we got a private room with a bed, tv and rocker. They had a room with toys for the kids while they wait and a room for adults to get snacks, coffee, etc. It definitely made the experience more relaxing. We spent most of this time giving her kisses and telling her about how she is the best baby and how much we love her.

She was all, "Mooo-ooooom"

 A round of nurses came through to get her medical history, do questionnaires about any issues that might affect her during anesthesia and check heart and breathing strength. After that, we turned the lights out and I rocked her until around 7 when a nurse came in to get her. 

They let me carry her halfway then I bopped her up and down and told her to be good and she gladly went to the nurse who quickly went behind hospital doors. 

I started a timer and 15 minutes later the doctor was in our room, telling us that she did great and was waking up with the nurse. He said that her ears were really bad, there was still water in both ears and he expected it to bleed later in the day. He gave us some antibiotic drops.

When Emmy came back she was disoriented and loopy. I think this is why they said some kids love it but most hate it. She was so out of it that she couldn't get the bottle of apple juice pointed at her mouth. She cried and flopped around as if she had no control over her body. We laid her flat on her stomach on the bed and she stopped crying immediately. She needed to be grounded.

 She clutched her bottle of apple juice while we waited for another nurse to come in and give us the all-clear to go home. By 8am we were walking out the front doors with an only slightly irritated baby. 

We were not allowed to give her any solids or milk until we got home but as soon as we could we gave her a bottle of milk and put her down for a nap. Only a few hours after the tubes, she was up and running around.

 She slept most of Friday and by Friday night she was in a great mood. We even went out to dinner and she trooped and entertained everyone as usual!

She has already been showing more interest in walking but still won't let go of our hands or her walker or the couch. I think the walking will start soon though and when it does, she will be running! 

weekend water baby

Shopping at Costco on Sunday. She lives a cush life.

To say that we had a really great weekend would be an understatement. On Friday morning I decided that I didn't want to make any plans for the weekend so we could be bums all day. But then work was coming to a close, the weather was gorgeous and sure enough : we wanted to do something fun together.

On Friday night, we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Cajun Steamer with another couple and Emmy was well-behaved and sweet. It is so nice that she is pretty much over that clingy phase. She let everyone hold her and she watched us talking intently while sneaking fries off Joe's plate. 

I woke up pretty excited on Saturday morning. My mom and step-dad bought a brand new pontoon boat and invited us to go out on the lake with them. Our only instructions: show up at 9:30 dressed in layers. DONE. Mom packed lunches and lots of snacks and drinks for everyone. She had Emmy's sunscreen ready and all we had to do was load up in there car and drive about 45 minutes to the lake. 

I was a little apprehensive about how Emmy would handle the boat. She had never been on one before and with the water in her ears and poor balance, I was afraid she would get sick. 

I was so wrong to be worried. She LOVED it. 

From the minute we got on the boat she was into everything, pulling up so she could see the water and smiling non-stop. 

When we started to go fast, I held her waist tight at the very front of the boat and she started to squeal! She held on to the bars and rocked her body up and down as if she wanted to go faster, Rich sped up the boat and she threw her hands up in the air! Laughing and squealing, she looked over to me and smiled the biggest, happiest smile I've ever seen. 

With that smile, my heart was full. I tried to freeze that moment in my mind so I could keep it forever and pull it out whenever I need it. This kid is amazing y'all. 

She just knew that we all needed to see that joy, that pure happy thrill of something brand new and exciting and innocent.  

And we learned that her future trips will involve wearing her life-jacket ALL DAY. She has no fear. None.

Rich even let her drive the boat. This was cool until she remembered she could crawl all over the place and dig out snacks and jam to the music. So many new fun things.

Saturday was great, it was perfect and I am so thankful for those memories and I am excited about the memories we will be making! I did learn a few things the hard way... 

1) Go early. She started to have a meltdown at 2. We were headed back anyway but seeing her turn into unsatisfiable toddler jell-o was not fun. I'd rather lose a little sleep to avoid that episode.

2) Apply sunscreen on nakey baby before you leave the house. Once the excitement set in, she wasn't content to hold stil.

3) Pack a baby bottle full of ice cold water. Emmy is pretty good at the sippy cup but she can CHUG a bottle and she needed more water than she was getting in the cup. 

Honestly, those were the only things we would change for the next trip which will probably be at least once a month over the summer!

emmy in the library

Yesterday was a dreary, rainy day. I was able to get my work done by 3:30 so I left the office and picked up my lil bit for some time together. I didn't want to go home because I knew I would get into the routine of chores and meals so I texted my friend Keri to see if she was at work. Lucky for me, she was at the library so I told her we were on our way.

When I babysat Caroline (about Caroline here) we would go to the library and sit in the kids section for hours. She would play with the toys, read books and watch puppet shows. It was nice to get out of the house with her and even better, the library was within walking distance from her house so we got a little fresh air. 

When Emmy and I arrived, it brought back a rush of old memories. This is a different library but the attention to wonder and imagination that both of these libraries have created is exciting even for the adults. The Vestavia library, known as "The Library in The Forest" is literally tucked into the woods, with lots of windows, an open layout and even couches around a fireplace for reading. I DIE.

Emmy made herself right at home.

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Keri and I talked while she roamed around and played with a little red-headed girl named Molly. After Molly left a few boys came over to play in the castle that Emmy was using to put all her puzzle pieces in.

I swear, it was love at first sight. She was giggling and laughing at the boys and they were all very sweet to her. She picked up the dinosaurs right out of their hands and they would say "Oh, you want the Rex? Okay, you can have it". At one point I caught her standing on a brachiosaurus's head and the boy was voicing the dino's crying voice "Ohhhh, my head is squished! help me! ohhhhhh" and Emmy was just staring at him, mouth open like "you're weird."  It was definitely giving me the baby fever.  

In other news, Emmy is apparently reaching a new phase. When I picked her up, her teacher told me that she had pulled another girl down by her hair. I was shocked because Emmy is so sweet and shy. I looked at the little girl though and sure enough, her face was puffy and there were tears still streaming down her face. I felt terrible! I asked Emmy if she had hurt her and she shook her head 'no'. Then her teacher asked her, "Emmy, did you pull her down by her hair?" and Emmy nodded her head 'yes' and started laughing. Oh my.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long after this picture that I got to see her in action. She saw that boy's glorious long and naturally highlighted hair and grabbed tight. He was very kind as I unwrapped her fingers from his skull and apologized profusely. He said, "it's okay, she can play but I don't like it when she does that cuz it hurts". So we watched her and when she made her second dive for his hair, we decided it was time to go.

On days like this I am thankful for my quick cell phone camera and blog to keep the memories of the little things we did together.