Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Emma: 2.5 Years!

Dear Emma Jane,

You are becoming a little girl right before my very eyes!  You have grown up so much over the past few months that I don't even know where to start!

You started your first year of preschool in September and although you were nervous at first, you LOVE preschool now.  I'd say you cried for the first 2 weeks maybe with drop off, but ever since then you've been happy as a clam to go to school.


First day of school:
I love this sweet picture of you and Addy :)

Ready to go (with Daisy photo bombing the background)

You remain a very clear speaker for a 2.5 year old and people continue to comment on how well you communicate for your age.  Your teachers have told me that although you are the youngest child in the whole school, it often doesn't seem like it because you communicate so well.  And speaking of teachers, Mrs. Snook is one of your very favorite people.  You are always hugging her and telling her that you love her.  Then at home you tell us that you miss Mrs. Snook.

You have such a sweet temperament, and although you are starting to stand up to Addy, you usually still go along with whatever Addy wants.  "OK Addy. I will",  is one of your biggest sayings :)  You tell Addy all of the time that she is the best sister ever and you love to give hugs.  

You are a sensitive soul and melt down when spoken to harshly.  You cover your eyes with your hands and cry and cry.  Then you say, "Why you mad at me Mommy?", with the most pathetic little look in your eyes.  It's difficult to stay upset with you, that's for sure.  And I'm also sure that it's all part of your plan.  You are cute and you know it.  So much so that for awhile you were in a kick where you said (all of the time), "I'm so cute!!".  True story little lady, true story.

You can count to thirteen (then reverting back to seven), you know your ABC's, and you (finally) know your colors.  The colors took awhile, but a bit into the school year you caught on.  You are a very polite little thing, and answering "No thank you.  I'm fine." is one of your most common responses to a yes/no question.  

Your favorite TV shows usually coincide with what Addy likes, so you went from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse a few months ago to Paw Patrol now.  And that purple blanket is still your most prized possession.  Now you refer to it as "blankie" instead of "purple".  Not sure why you switched it up, but a few months ago you did.  You don't have any babies or toys that you are attached to like Addy does.  Just your blanket.  And you suck your thumb whenever you have your blanket, just like Addy does.

As far as attitude is concerned, the majority of the time you are still our sweet little Lou Sue.  You live in your own little world and can often be found dancing when there's no music on to the tune in your own head :)  I love it, and it's hilarious to watch you.  But there are of course some signs that you are headed toward the dreaded land of the "threes".  We have tantrums, we have defiance, we have screaming.  But in all honestly, all of that is pretty minimal with you.  Let's just hope it stays that way.

Over the past few weeks we have hit some major developmental milestones: the first thing being that you were transitioned out of your crib and into your toddler bed!  You love your new "big girl bed", and you took the transition like a champ.  You stay in bed (or at least in your room) all night and you sleep just as well as you ever did, which is awesome.  You have always been a stellar sleeper and you still are.  We put you to bed around 7:30-8:00 and you sleep until 7:30-8:00 AM.  Plus you take a 2+ hour nap every day.  It's fabulous.

Such a proud girl!  (Don't ask why you decided to wear Christmas jammies in March.  I just went with it.)


Once we found out that we were expecting our third child, we hemmed and hawed about what to do about the bedroom situation, and ultimately decided to have you and Addy share a room and put the new baby in your room.  You and Addy LOVE sleeping together, so we'll go with it for now.  It is however a big party in your eyes every time you sleep with Addy.  It takes you guys over 2 hours to fall asleep (and that's with lots of reprimanding from Mommy and Daddy), and I must say, you are usually the instigator!  Addy would go to sleep a bit sooner I think if you would leave her alone.  But you don't.  You jump around the bed and jump on her and get up and down.  It's quite simply, a bit of a disaster.   But that is with you both sharing the full sized bed.  So we ordered bunk beds (which should be arriving this week) and are REALLY hoping that if you have your own beds and can't see each other, you'll fall asleep faster.  Stay tuned for how that all turns out ;)

The other big milestone you hit (just a few days after the toddler bed transition) is that you are now POTTY TRAINED!!!  That's right, Mommy and Daddy will have a few short months with no children in diapers before the new baby comes.  One Friday morning in mid March, you woke up and told me that you wanted to wear undies.  So, ready or not, potty training was beginning.  

When you said that, Daddy and I went full force into it with no looking back.  And it's funny, because that's exactly how it happened with Addy.  One morning she told me she wanted to wear undies.  You made the proclamation just a week or so shy of being 2.5.  Addy was about a month earlier, but essentially the same age.  

And really, once you decided to do it, it was a breeze.  I thought Addy was easy to potty train, but you were even easier.  We didn't even do the whole tons of juice and salty foods thing to make you have to pee a lot like we did with Addy.  We just put you on the potty every hour or so for 2-3 days and even by the end of that, you could tell us when you had to go.  Now, three weeks later, if it's been several hours since you've gone I'll stick you on the potty, but for the most part, you just tell us when you need to go.  You wear underwear all day long (even for naps most of the time!) and a pull up at night.  And about half of the time, your pull up is even dry in the morning!

You have had so few accidents that it astonishes me.  The first day of potty training you peed once on the floor in the basement.  And the second day you pooped on the tile floor in the hallway (Mommy wasn't home for that one, ha ha).  But by day 3, you had no accidents, and other than one day when you were sick, you haven't had any since!!!  Even on day one of potty training we went to Al's for dinner, and you told Tina that you had to poop (which had always meant that you already went).  I cringed but Tina took you to the bathroom and sure enough your cloth pull up was dry and you pooped in the potty at Al's!  Ha ha, that was a big day for us because it was the first time you had ever told us you had to go BEFORE you went.  And you never looked back.  We are so, so proud of you Emma!

In the midst of potty training.  Love that you had to have on your sparkly shoes, outfit or not.  

You had your 2.5 year well check-up at the pediatrician and you are growing and developing perfectly :)  Even the doctor said, "Well, I don't have to ask you about her speech.  Clearly she's great with that."  You were chatting up a storm with her :) 



 Here are your stats:

Height: 37.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 28 lbs (41st percentile)
BMI: 14 kg/m2 (3rd percentile)

You are a tall, skinny little thing :)

And, as always we'll end my post with a barrage of photos :)

September:
Your second birthday party!  Honestly, you would not stand there and smile unless Addy was there with you :)

October:

Park time fun!

Halloween :)

November:

Your first school picture!

These Anna and Elsa wigs crack me up!

I stumbled across this picture of you and Addy that I never took notice of before, and I fell in love with it.  Such a sweet moment of the two of you before Ben's superhero birthday party.


At your school Thanksgiving party :)


December:
Who doesn't love a good red cup of Starbucks?

Happy girl!

You with your favorite Christmas gift: your very own Chapstick :)

Making Christmas cookies :)


January:
Your first team sport: soccer!  It went....as well as can be expected for a two-year-old.  Most of the time you were either trying to pick the ball up, or crawling around the floor pretending to be a cat ;)


Here's how we made our big announcement on Facebook... You've been promoted to Big Sister!

February:
Your favorite thing to wear: the Anna nightgown/dress up outfit

At Sky Zone!  You LOVE that place!

Our first (and only) time sledding this year :)

March:
Your first bowling experience!  So excited!

Indulging in some free Rita's (in our jammies, bundled up because it was SNOWING) on the first day of spring :)


So there you have it.  You life in a nutshell over the past 6 months.  Emmy, you are growing up so fast and I want to just freeze time.  You are so sweet and so darn cute that I can't help but smile when I look at you.  My little Lou Sue, you bring so much joy and laughter to our family.  When you come over to me, cup my face in your little hands and say, "I wub you Mommy", my heart literally starts melting.  I just want you to stay in this precious innocent stage forever and ever.  You are so full of happiness and love, and I hope with all of my heart that you always are :)

I love you to the moon and back!

Love,

Mommy