much ado to do

Pop-pop RULES 3-6

It's that time again: yup, time to update this here diary thingie. Been another hectic month, full of agonies (treatments gone awry) and delights (sundaes!). 2-27 sporting her fave hat

Emelia just keeps growing without gaining weight, which I'm sure is some sort of physics problem. Entropy, perhaps. Or, hey, there's all this talk about super-colliders and black holes...mmm E does run very FAST (so she says).

rockin' 3-3

Run. Wow, does she do a lot of that. Has been, of course, but now she announces it with a "fast!" then takes off. She has also learned to count 1-5 pretty well, and does a "wunt, tooo, tree--GO!" and then takes off...for about 5 feet before there's a repeat. Delightful, unless you have plans to say, actually get somewhere. Details.

Crocus! 3-30

What else has she been up to? I really should write these things down...o yeah, that's why I started blogging. She does know every letter in the alphabet, amazingly recognizing and naming them. Every time she spells out a word she sees (like "nature's kennel" on my sweatshirt) she reads it back "MElya!" So apparently, every word is just another spelling for her name. Ah the ego of the young. 3-27 All "N"-ending words are partnered with a t, and many other words are pluralized (Daddies). No worries, as I was reassured by a speech path, as this is all part of learning to explore and conquer language. It is friggin cute.

3-10 trying to ride a trike at Tar-get

E is quite adept now at naming things and repeating just about every random word she hears. She'll also make demands like Song for whenever she wants you to put on music and/or sing. She names the cats, well, Deeb (who grudgingly allows petting) and Brownt Cat (some issues with Kudra have now been evidenced by her refusal to say her name). E has her first daily chore--she feeds the cats! What's funny is that she remembers to do it, but her timing may be off, like say wanting to feed them at breakfast when they get fed around 6pm. When we took the cats to the vet Monday, Maud'dib began yowling once confined to the carrier--you know that horribly pathetic yowl? Made E cry--she wanted him out and kept trying to free him. We kept telling her it was Ok, and now she will say "s'OOKAAAAAAAY" when things aren't going her way.

Pop-pop made a visit 3-5, which was much enjoyed by all! Every book was dutifully read by my dad for his biggest fan... 3-6 beat

3-7 sad to depart Soon (or rather "soont") they will come for her bday, #2 is coming up! Crazy. Almost 2 years. In that time we've seen her go from a wee thing (that wouldn't eat) to a slightly larger, talking, running, laughing, joking wee thing (that still won't eat).

2-25 looking mischievous She's not picky, just doesn't really enjoy the act of eating, apparently.

3-2 climbing up to be nosy
another type of nosy
finger painting with A. Caroline 3-2
3-1 reading with Daddy
abuse continues 3-7

We finally made it to the Nature Museum this past week, which was cool enough that we joined up! Butterflies, bugs, birds (specifically button quail), and even a bumpy slide was all explored. Future visits are excitedly anticipated.

The progression of enjoying a good stuffed animal now and then is trending toward obsession. One to two is present nearly all times, and wow they are getting filthy. But some would call it loved.

FIRST milkshake! 3-8 strawberry banana...

Any ideas out there on galoshes for a size 4.5 foot? No luck as of yet, so we just keep splashing in puddles and dealing with the wet consequences. In the meantime, we'll just hope she grows so next year we can nab a pair. I'm thinking red.

E will now climb (and sometimes fall off) stuff, from the stairs with some help, to chairs, to a stepstool--which she likes to jump off of when she doesn't fall off of it. climbing then stuck 3-12ish

It's funny to come into the main room to see her sitting in the big rocker with books and animals surrounding her. what?

climbing 3-19

O yes, the biggest thing for me? E finally suffers pigtails!! omgz we love it. Like little fluffy horns, they are cute points off the side of her fuzzy head. Which brings her to check herself out in the mirror, where I usually am given approval for my work. It is tough to corral the bits of different-sized fine hair, but worth the effort no matter how tragic it may be style-wise.

visit from good pal, Ezra 3-9

Sleep? Well, that's right up there with potty-training: works in progress. The potty training is just an attempt that we're going to put off again for a few months until I can be home to have her diaper-less. No daycares planned as of yet, so no rush. The sleeping thing I THOUGHT was improving, then last night she went to sleep wonderfully, only to be wide awake at 12.30 until 4.30am. Yeargh. She does this scratching, kicking combo that keeps herself awake. Sigh.

3-16 lovin' the lake
Daddy-time 3-15
where'd she go?

LOVES my shoes. weirdo.

Looking forward to the summer--especially 12 weeks from now when I'm done with my next internship. The end of my toil is nigh! Well, then 2 more weeks of class, studying for a cert exam, and finding a job/daycare....but that's for another day. sunny warm days this past week were great!

For the meantime, I can't think of anything. E is cute, fun, and getting to be more of her own person every day!

"helping" 3-22
dual/triple wielding 3-20

xo

time flies

Howdy all, 1-30 grins for Gram

It's been quite a long delay in posts, and I fear I need a personal assistant or else E is going to get to college before I get 5 more posts in

getting up there 2-1
! 1-23 Climbing. Yes, she's doing this too now.

So. Wow. E has finally discovered the english language. We love it now, but can already see huge phone bills in our future. That girl can speak! She is doing the whole echo-thing, which is super adorable. And be wary, ye visitors, as she is copying ALL words. Like "crap" and "shoot" and...well, we won't go there will we? 1-29 OOOH WOW

It's so fun, it's like the floodgates have opened and communication is here! She is learning as she goes, memorizing her books, learning the alphabet and numbers! The entire body is done pretty much, from eyebrow to ankle.

1-24

Animals are now becoming, slowly, a name instead of a sound ("snort" for pig is still in use and we love that so not going anywhere yet). Colors are really cool, and speaking of that--she now draws circles and is trying to copy other forms too.

help! man down! book overload!

reading by command of "Read? Book!" 1-31
online communicating with Gram and Pop-pop (not this pic)

And then, the sleeping. Yeah, well, whaddya gonna do? She still will fight against the dying of the light, so to speak, but once out has rarer occurrences of remaining awake. Still it does happen, and we hateses those nights. Usually when we have a reason to get up early of course. loving the stuffed animals - cycling through loving each one. These 2 showed up in the mail from Gram 2-2

We were all sick for a few weeks late January, complete with doctors visits for ME and stuffy/whiny times for us folks. Not pretty, and made fieldwork a bit harder. Would have LOVED a sick day, but internships do not merit those. which is a dumb rule. silly face --happy yet runny-nosed 1-29

ME has gotten taller, but whether or not due to runny/gross nose and fever for 2 weeks, she has remained at the same 21-22 pounds. Up to about 29 inches!! Hard to really measure her and she is a wiggler. And a jumper, now, and constantly dancing, and singing. Her hair is coming in furiously along with the last of her teeth (for this set). AND...she's starting to acknowledge when she's poo'd! Nope, this *is* the height of excitement! Still hating any trials of the potty chair. In due time.

inspection 2-13
snoozin time 2-13
singing and rocking 2-12
see? running around with two of em!
giggle-snort 2-10

1-26 at Shedd Aquarium w/ Caroline 1-26 I met them up briefly to point at fish

1-25 bath ("baf") goofiness

All in all, we've got a wonderful toddler with all the pros-and-cons to go with. We couldn't be happier.

2-14 waaaaay too brief Gram visit. Next time, Pop-pop too?
2-13 new shirt, rockin' my hat
2-10 She climbed up there. yipes
2-10 SOOO excited to lug the milk= milkch
future bike mechanic? Seriously she is fascinated. 2-6

Enjoy the pix

xo 2-18 no, not coffee yet. I swear.

2-18 first time that she INSISTED to take the bunny out, showed him the nature and stuff
2-15 silly face
loves this sweater. And the book. 2-21 2-18 pronated grasp
2-20 mid-pre-sleep run down
just cuz she can
LOVES her chair and can finally say "Meeelya" but not quite spell it. She's good for one go then starts to say O, A, and I a lot.

as usual, I should be doing something else

1-8 Baby, it's COLD outside. Let's go! (taken by Julia)

Hi loyal ME fans! You're in luck--I have work to do, Emelia's finally taking a nap (super late in the day, I'm sure I'll suffer later), and ... here I am to post! Oh yeah, and I have knitting tasks self-administered, piling up too.

Let me load up a zillion pictures to share. 1-7 jail-face

Benchmarks of the month include:

-Gettin air! Yup, E can now take small leaps in several bounds. We have had a lot of fun with this, lots of clapping and to-do.

1-20 reading library books!

-Making two-word sentences! Mostly, adding things to "more". And "please". This construes a sentence in baby-world, so we think it's cool sauce. today's cute

She has added to her NO WAY and THANK YOU with "more milk" (which sounds like a German word the way she does it milch!) "all done" and well, I'll have to share em when I hear em, but it is more than this I swear. I think combos with "down" are in there.

1-20 out with Daddy! Love the many hats she has! another handmedown of cute

-new words that kill me: Hair (haw-wer), foot, hand, "eat! eat!", "soup" (foll0wed by slurping noises every. time.), bath, wawa wawa, phoooooooooooooooooone, watch (wahtz)

-she is recognizing letters and numbers more

-she finally says BYE when someone is in earshot. Very cool and social of her.

-ME smiles for the camera. Then she grabs for it. ah well.

-she can help to zip up and down her sweaters and jackets, help put on her shoes, and help take off her clothes

-first trip to a museum--with A. Caroline, Drew, and Emily. Not me or D. Bummer, but apparently the museum still stands, and everyone had a great hour! 1-13 MOOOOO

I heard she tried to clean up the place. I try to get her to help clean up her messes at home, but my goal is not OCD! yipes

-use of fine motor stuff is getting better-hand position on markers and utensils is getting awesomer (a word. shush), with more refined use of them.

-teeth! there are 3 more, canines, that have arrived this month. With much whining and random no-sleep nights.

1-9 drawing in the cat room. Super exciting change of venue

When she wants to, of course, Miss E is a tad willful. ahem.

1-7 uber writing skillz

-It has been established that ME will NOT tolerate toe nailpolish! Caroline got to 6 toes, then suddenly E noticed and melted a bit. Covering with socks worked for a day, then 2 nights ago OMG OMG she could NOT move until I got it "ohff!"

1-18-she LOVES her stuffed animals. Each one gets randomly dragged around, put in the toilet, kissed, mauled (and cleaned then set to dry on the radiator). And yes, her halloween.part2 costume is still comfy and warm! don't judge.

1-6 Hair! it's crazy, and I cut it again this past week.

As predicted, I hate being away until 6pm most nights. ME is in good hands with Daddy (duh), and two sitter-aunts. Still, it sucks big time. I try not to talk about her at fieldwork, as it's super unprofessional, and as much as I really like the folks there, I have to recognize we are not friends. Maybe someday, but I'm a student, yo, and in a position to behave myself more than I usually do.

1-2 I think. Mostly, she ignores the mallet and pushes them through.

I have developed even more of a respect for those that deal full time with the Autism and special needs community. I don't know that I'll be a member of that group, and they are a strong group indeed. I just don't know what my future holds yet. Plus, I'm still keeping to a goal of working part-time (as long as we can afford it).

1-13 the Fisher Price saga begins with a farm...courtesy of Nana Caroline

So things are overall good. It's cold and icky, but we still try to get outside. A warning to you in warmer climates: I may show up one day!!

xo

P.S. 5pm and still napping. Yipes. Time to walk around the hood until dinner!

so fired

1-2 random hilarity on the tabletop
Wow. It's been a few weeks, and I have not posted!!

As I am currently a tad bit too tired and weak-sauce to do a post that is deserving of her ME-ness, enjoy a pic snak

1-3 reading to the ever-elusive, yet always just-outta-reach Kudra (and actually, as it's all animal sounds, E kinda does read this one herself! Most times, she makes up stories *and* words)

xo

1-2 Mohawk time with the hypoallergenic we-suck bubbles