27 month Update

Time is flying by and I don't want to forget any of Emmy's precious 27 month innocence...

Besides growing like a weed, she is also developing her little (BIG) personality.  It's not a surprise that she is rather headstrong (it was pretty much a genetic certainty.)  She thrives in the "helper" role.  Give her a task, and the girl doesn't walk, she RUNS to do it.  Cleaning spills, stirring food creations, finding lost items, she's all over it.  The one trouble with her helpfulness is that she doesn't think that I can make dinner without her, which is only further complicated by the fact that our kitchen chairs are on casters and she can open the fridge on her own.

While she is tantrum-prone mostly when I am preoccupied or when she is tired or hungry, she is otherwise a very happy little lady.  She seems to favor her daddy's extroverted personality and jumps at the chance to "see friends."  She is initially shy in new situations, holding onto my leg, but typically warms up after a short time.  She is excitable, self-confident, remorseful and tender-hearted.  She is sensitive to the feelings of others around her, always checking to make sure that everyone is ok.  She has the memory of an elephant and gets lost in her story-telling much of the time (so do we.)  I'm not sure how many times Nick's family has heard about the haircuts Molly and Darla had over a month ago; and every night when we open her devotional, our page is marked with a note Mimi left us during our trip home last Christmas.   Emmy talks about "Mimi's letter" nightly.  Pretty incredible how much the "little things" matter to little people.  She is appreciative and is quick to say "thank you."  My favorite is when she thanks me after changing her dirty diaper.  I will always cherish her response when I told her that we were going to go get ice cream for snack a couple of weeks ago.  She looked at me in disbelief until I told her to help me find her shoes.  Then she started jumping up and down, pumping her fists in the air, squealing "YAY!"  It was like she'd just hit the jackpot.  I hope that genuine appreciation never changes.

We're not really sure how Emmy survives on the little food that she consumes, but I am a firm believer in you eat what you're given or you go hungry.  Most nights she opts out of dinner without so much as a bite.  She's a sturdy little thing, so obviously it hasn't negatively affected her growth.  The best breakfast she's eaten in a long time was a homemade cinnamon roll.  For lunch, she'd eat a truck load of turkey pepperonis, cubed cheddar cheese and canned mandarin oranges or pears in juice.  Snack favorites include air-popped popcorn, goldfish and Welch's fruit snacks.  For dinner, she loves beans, rice and pastas (to borrow Emmy's term.)  Much like her Mama, Emmy will do just about anything for some chocolate.

She remains a rockstar sleeper with one up to three hour nap a day (typically noon to three.)  Bedtime usually falls around 7:45PM and she sleeps until any where between 7 to 8:30AM.  She is still in her crib, and loves it.  She hasn't shown any interest in climbing out, but, because we know it's coming, the kit to convert her crib to a toddler bed is in transit and should be here any day now.

She most loves painting body parts and leaving imprints on paper.  Her favorite color is green, with purple as a close second.  She loves listening to music and headbanging to it.  It's really adorable watching her try to keep up with Lady Antebellum as they sing "Need You Now."  She's still a Katy Perry fan, and also enjoys Adele.  Emmy loves Caillou and Dora something fierce, which remains my go-to if I need to feed Hannah and Emmy's losin' it.  She takes wonderful care of her "babies,"  who usually have similar timing for the same needs as Hannah.  Mickey always "has a dirty diaper" when Hannah does.  She can sing her ABCs, but doesn't recognize the letters yet, except for "I."  She can count to 10, and can get to 20 with some help.  20 is her favorite number, probably because we cheer each time we count to it. ;)

Her ability to express herself verbally has truly exploded lately.  She's a little sponge.  Nick and I get such a kick out of her antics.  Lately, if we tell her "no" to one of her requests, she repeats herself, very slowly, as if the only reason we said no was that we are a couple of idiots who couldn't understand her the first time.  Another one of my favorite new Emmy-isms also occurs when she wants something: She comes up me, pulls on my pant leg so that I'll kneel in front of her.  She then, very gently, puts the palm of her hand on my cheek, looks me squarely in the eye, and calmly says, "Yook-a-me, Mama.  Dora."

Other favorite phrases:
"C'mon, I show you!"
"Hear sumpin'?" (while cocking her head to the side)
"Mol-Mol, Dala own food!" or "Mol-Mol, Dala dat's EMMY'S" (when they try to steal her food or stuffed animals).
"Dada/Mama doin'?"
"Dada see bugs??" (while opening her mouth in preparation for brushing her teeth...Emmy believes that there are bugs that show up in her mouth before bedtime that must be brushed away, it makes brushing her teeth a tad more doable.)
"Mama.  Dora.  Clicker here.  Press buttons." (As she stuff the remote control in my hands, points to the buttons and commands me to turn the TV on to Dora.)
"Mama says NO OPENING!" (Said while holding onto her treat in the grocery store.)
"Helpa Mama!" (used interchangeably when she wants to help me cook or if she needs me to help her out of whatever bind she's found herself in.)