She's Growing Up

It may seem like most of my posts have been centering around McGee lately and that Miss Em has been forgotten or pushed to the side, but that is SO far from the truth! In fact, this little spitfire, despite suffering from a slight cold or allergies, has been making quite an impact lately with increased vocabulary, newfound interests and an increasing penchant for getting into trouble. :)

Still preferring to walk on her knees rather than her adorably pinchable feet, Miss Em gets around quickly and CLIMBS on anything and everything she can! This last week I was walking down the hallway toward McGee's room where the two were playing when I heard his recent new deep laugh, "Huh, huh, huh....mommy look what Emily's doing!" Sure enough, Miss Em had scaled our favorite orange chair and thrown herself over the bed rail and was enjoying tossing herself around on McGee's big boy bed (aka a twin bed with a trundle drawer underneath and a very tall pillowtop mattress). Not exactly the best place for a not-yet-toddler and yet it is her favorite place to be! Another round of childproofing is in the works!

Daily she is surprising us with tidbits of understandable English. Today she woke up from nap crying (NOT normal) so I wrapped a soft blanket around her and we "glided" together on our ultra-comfortable glider (the modern day rocking chair). Her head lay on my chest for a few minutes and hearing her congested, heavy breaths I thought she might go back to sleep when suddenly she pops her head up, points to her bed and shakes her head saying, "I'm done." So I say to her, "You're all done sleeping?" and she says, "Yeah, I'm done." It was SO clear and I had a brief glimpse of what the future holds regarding conversations with my rough and tumble, sweet as pie girl with attitude. I think she will be a very too the point kind of girl, open, honest but not full of extra, unnceccesary words (unlike her mommy). She has always been a quite girl, barely making a peep for the first few months but I'm really enjoying as her talking has increased lately.

I/We especially LOVE her singing! Oh what rythm this girl has always had whenever she hears a beat or two of music, but now she opens her mouth and sings with the sweetest voice! It wasn't until just a week or two ago that we realized the sounds we were hearing were actually her singing the "ABC" song. Within a day or two after first noticing it, we heard her singing the whole song all the way through including clapping at the end! Then, just a couple of days later we heard her singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". We haven't recorded her singing yet, but I hope to capture it soon! Today actually a friend and her daughter were over to play and my friend noticed she was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" which confirmed it wasn't just our Mommy & Daddy ears that were hearing her song!

As pictured above, she has entered the "fascinated with buckles and straps" phase. Much of the day is spent standing at her high chair putting the straps together. Her look of joy and pride when she gets it is so rewarding to see! She loves to turn lights on/off and of course, she loves to play with anything that brother McGee is playing with (a future post on the state of "sharing" in our house may be necessary). She's been a big momma's girl most of the time, but lately she has really been opening up her heart (and arms) to others and has shared some sweet snuggle time with her grandpa's, grandma's and a couple of Mommy's friends. It's enjoyable to be able to sit back and watch the way she interacts, plays and cuddles with others. Her best feature so far seems to be the way she just makes people LAUGH! Her funny facial expressions come from Daddy I'm sure and her bobbing hips and dance moves may come from either (or neither) of us. I can't wait to see what the future holds for this adventure gal of ours!