A New Year

I didn't make specific New Year Resolutions like I usually do. I have some general thoughts on things I would like to do better or more but there are so many other things going on around here that I have been preoccupied.  January has brought many changes and we are still sorting through some things. I'm really looking forward to February and hoping that things will have calmed down by then.

 I thought I would just give an Emmy update because I haven't done that in awhile.

She is more into girly things these days. She likes to dress up and "go dancing" she says.  She loves us to tell her that she is so pretty. She gets a big smile on her face!

She loves the baby dolls and things she got for Christmas.  She likes to give her babies a bath and put them to bed. She thinks it's funny when I pretend like her baby is crying and she always tell me to sing "Rock a Bye Baby" to her babies, and animals too!

Emmy loves to sing and to be sung to. The songs she requests the most before bed are, "Hush Little Baby", "Itsy bitsy Spider" and "God is so Good".  She loves to sing too and can pretty much sing, "Jingle Bells", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Jesus Loves Me". 

Emmy continues to love books! She will sit and look at books any time. We read books everyday and she never gets tired of reading the same ones over and over. She loves to point at different things and ask, "What's that?"  She got some Olivia books for Christmas and is loving those but has recently started enjoying lift the flap books as well.  

Emmy continues to talk up a storm. Her favorite phrases right now are, "I do it" and "do me". She says "do me" whenever anyone else has had a turn (answering a question, being tickled, being hugged, etc.).  She is very independent and wants to do everything herself, especially, washing hands, climbing into her carseat or booster chair, putting socks and shoes and pants on, brushing teeth, opening a door, etc. The best way to get her to obey is telling her that I'm going to do something for her. If I tell her to come here and she says "no" usually all I have to say is, "obey mommy or I'm going to come carry you in here." Then she comes running! She actually is pretty good about saying "yes mam" which she has picked up faster than Jackson did. If she tells me "no" I usually just give her a look or tell her to try again and she will say "yes mam" and obey.

  

She is still a really good eater and will always clean her plate. I'm grateful she still likes things like salad, grape tomatoes, celery, cucumber and of course all the other typical vegetables. She eats anything I make which makes things easy for me. She also continues to be a good sleeper. Her naps are consistently 2 to 2.5 hours and she typically goes to bed around 6:30 or 6:45 and sleeps until about 7. She still never makes a sound when she wakes up. She lays quietly in her bed until I come in and get her. In some ways she can be very challenging but I'm so thankful we don't battle eating and sleeping.

It's so fun watching her grow and change and learn new things. She's so sweet and loves to give hugs and kisses (especially to Jackson). It's hard to believe this girl's coming up on 2!