Belated Mother's Day pictures

Today is a day of realizing I forgot to put some pictures on my blog, I guess. Here are our attempts at family photos, taken on Mother's Day.

Beautiful girl

Here are some pictures I took a few weeks ago of Emma in our backyard.

16 months

She seems to have learned a lot the past few weeks. Now Emma knows where her head, hair, belly and toes are and she can find my nose and ears.

Belly.

Head.

She can look for, identify and pick up the  toys below when asked to find them. Most of the time. Pooh bear every time, usually good with the fox and yellow cat puzzle piece. Sometimes the yellow dog puzzle piece. I think her favorite color might be yellow since most of her favorite objects are yellow. Emma also knows what "socks" and "shoes" are and has attempted to say both words more than once. I'm fairly convinced she can say "socks" sometimes.

"Yellow cat," "yellow dog," "Pooh bear" (refers to either), "fox"

When asked to "snuggle" she will either pull the blanket or stuffed animal against her face and lean into it or (more likely) will lie down on top of it with one side of her head resting on it. She will also usually hug a Winnie the Pooh if you ask her to.

A not-great picture of her holding it to the side of her face and leaning into it.

She hasn't learned to say more any words reliably in the past month (still knows da-DEE, mom, happy, apple, hi, yeah), but she sometimes seems to say "cat" when holding that puzzle piece and says "what" occasionally though I don't think she understands it. She can typically be found at home dragging around one of her two Pooh bears. 

Being the food lover she is, she readily says "please" in sign language when we ask her to before sharing food. She'll also sign "please" when she wants things other than food, such as for us to move the gate so she can sit on the stairs. And occasionally she signs it for reasons I don't know. 

Her new happy sound is "dee-DAH" which is pretty dang cute; the "dah" part comes out either high-pitched or emphatic. She has learned how to climb onto the couch and the big blue chair, and how to sit on the bottom step of the stairs (as seen in most of this blog's photos since that's where Emma wanted to be when I was taking pictures today).

Sometimes she pulls a blanket over her head and walks around - surprisingly without bumping into much.

15 months old

At Emma's appointment last week she weighed in at 24 lbs (75th percentile), measured at 31 inches tall (65th percentile) and measured inches around her head (97th percentile!!). She continues to be a big girl. She is a very happy walker, continues to eat well and is growing more teeth! Her bottom first molars have made good progress and her top first molars are coming in. Her second bottom lateral incisor doesn't seem to want to make it's appearance anytime soon so she's got just three bottom front teeth.

Her latest tricks involving oral comprehension include being able to point to "mommy's nose", being able to pat her belly when asked "where's your belly?" and grabbing her toes if they're mentioned. She can blow kisses enthusiastically when asked to and sometimes does it spontaneously. She understands where to go if we ask "do you want water?", "are you hungry?", "do you want to go upstairs?", and "do you want a cracker?" Sometimes she gets "are you ready to go?" and heads for the garage. Typically she will obey when I ask her to "look at mommy" or "come here". 

When Bry gets home from work she likes to be in on our conversations and sometimes tries to talk over us or get one or the other's attention to remind us that she's there too. She loves to have her motions mimicked to show we're paying attention. 

Emma's favorite words to say include: "da-DEE," "happy," "apple," "mom." She can say "bubbles" sometimes along with other words and a whole lot of gibberish. =)

Her brain is definitely making more and more connections between things and she's figuring out a lot. It is a lot of fun to see her learn and do new things. 

Crazy curls. 

Emma is our sweet angel. 

I love Aiden's imagination

Here is a short gem from his time here Easter weekend:

Mom (my mom): Are you a nut?
Aiden: No, I'm inside a nut.

Long gem, because kids have the best imaginations:
Background-- Aiden was talking about the house being full of water and how we were on "boats", aka couches and such. Later in the day the water apparently froze over.
Aiden, informatively: "The sharks are frozen. (pause) Be careful not to run into statues."

Adult (I can't remember which of us): "Why would we run into statues?"

Aiden: "Because you don't know where you're going."

Bry: "Why wouldn't you know where you were going?"
Aiden: "Because you get lost and you didn't bring a map."
Bry: "Well, wouldn't you see the statues?"
Aiden: "No because you have a map on front of your face so you don't see it."

(Yes, so now you do have a map.)

I don't remember how exactly after that but the story transformed into you holding up a map while walking backwards in your sleep... what? It just cracked me up. That boy.

Extended Easter weekend - 2-week-late post

My mom, sister, and sister's kids came for a visit over Easter weekend. They arrived late Thursday night and headed back Tuesday afternoon. It was a fast few days but I loved the time we got to spend together. Bry took time off of work the Monday and Tuesday they were here so he could join us on our adventures and have some time to relax; he hadn't taken paid time off since our trip to Hawaii last July so it was a much overdue break.

We spent most of the visit chatting and letting the cousins play together - Emma was much more interactive than the last time they saw her [in October]. Becca and her kids got to see our house for the first time and I was so happy we could have all of them (and my mom) stay with us.

Playing together the morning after they arrived.

Emma was not a big fan of Landon's kisses but it sure was sweet.

Emma shared Costco frozen yogurt with me.

On Easter day the boys (Aiden and Landon) helped show Emma how to hunt for Easter eggs (sort of - sometimes they said "here Emma! I found your Easter eggs" and put them in her basket for her) and she started to get it towards the end.

She was a binky baby for the Easter egg hunt because she was due for a nap and very tired. 

They all looked super cute in their matching Easter outfits from Ah-ma.

On Monday (day after Easter) we went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium which I hadn't ever been to before and it was pretty great. It sort of felt like a smaller zoo while still having some impressive habitats and animals and a carousel. I loved that it was a zoo AND aquarium because we got to see a wider range of animal life which was really cool. I just love zoos. Sadly I forgot to bring my camera but here are a few pictures I took on my phone.

Emma thought these were pretty cool even if her face doesn't show it.

Three tigers. There was a fourth in a different habitat.

Saying "hi" to Ah-ma across the table while we stopped for a snack.
Wearing her super cute sweater from Sean and Renata.

I can hardly wait to see them all again. Just look at this cute face.

My baby is 14 months old!

Emma is a walking pro these days and loves it. 

She still likes most foods and has more recently discovered a liking for green beans, grapes and toasted oats (Cheerios). Mostly she likes fruit and ground beef and bread but she'll eat most things.

Emma now hates diaper changes. 

She still loves baths. 

I feel like this is my favorite age because of how fun and sweet she is most of the time. Her most used word/sound is probably"oohh!" (said in a high pitch) which I love every time. It's adorable. She does a lot of babbling that is also adorable. 

Lately she has started understanding how to put things together rather than just taking them apart; she can put a lid on tupperware or puzzle pieces on the board - though not in the right place. 

Behold the many faces of Emma (most of which you've seen before but now she's older):

Loves her Pooh bear.

Still has those serious brows.

I don't want my picture taken, mom!

Cool! A lens cap. I have never seen anything like it before!

I love when she makes this face.

Cute outfit credit goes to Becca. :)
I don't remember what this face was about.

Cheeser.
You can see the bottom first molars if you look closely.

Close up.

Who knew peeling paper off a box was so interesting?

Still loves books!

Love the curls. :) Her hair is getting so long!

Still a binky baby (when getting ready for bed).