The Little Miss

I wish there were words to express how much I love this little girl.

I am truly in awe of her everyday. She has taught me and continues to teach me so much everyday. She turned 18 month old yesterday. It kinda blows my mind. I'm pretty sure she is still a baby, especially since she still fits in her baby clothes, lol! (But really she does. She is still wearing clothes she got last year for Christmas. Is she ever going to grow? I kinda hope she doesn't, I kinda love her petite little self.)

There is so much I love about this little girl. I love how she is entranced by her daddy.

I love how curious she is. She can spot things, including bugs, from a mile away.

She sure know how to have fun! She is one busy girl, always moving and doing something.

I love how she is not afraid of the dirt and believe me, she knows how to get filthy! I feel like people probably think I never bathe her, but really she just loves the dirt.

I just love this face! Sometimes I just stare at her, I am in awe of her beauty.

I love how she goes down slides backwards.

I love her laugh. It really might be one of the best laughs in the world.

I love how she is fearless. She really does not let anything stop her (including me!). She is so brave and so willing to try new things. And she is so strong and usually succeeds at everything she tries.

I love how she loves to be silly. She is always doing something to make me and P laugh.

This girl has more personality in her little pinkie then I do in my whole body! It is so fun to really see her come out of her shell and see who she really is. With her determination she is going to accomplish a lot of thing in this life.

A little about Em:

• She is very protective of us. If she ever thinks something is wrong she comes running and cries until it is all better. An example of this is when Jeff's brother tackles and then tickles Jeff. He calls for her and she comes running as fast as her little legs will go. As soon as she see what is happening he cries hysterically until Ricky stops, then she if fine. It cracks me up. She is obviously going to be very compassionate.
• She does this thing where she pretends to share with me but then pulls it away at the last second and does her adorable, yet evil-laugh. She does this for 10 minutes straight and multiple times a day. Apparently it never gets old.
• Saying she loves to climb is an understatement. If she sees something, anything, that means it can be climbed and she attempts it. This includes anything from ladders to bookshelves, chairs, tables, dressers, boxes, books, people, toys, bricks ... the list could really go on and on.
• She LOVES to be chased. It makes her run away in a a giddy gallop laughing non-stop. It is adorable and because love to watch and listen to her we do this activity quite often.
• She recently started telling us when she needs a new diaper. This is something P still doesn't even do. I am most definitely potty training them both at the same time. But not yet because I just bought 2 more boxes of diapers from Costco, but maybe after that.
• She LOVES to go through leg tunnels.
• She is brave! I don't even know what to say about this except that it is VERY scary as a mom. lol. It is actually scary for other mom's around too. Other people comment either verbally or with their face and actions on her crazy moves. I have had multiple parents stand with arms extended toward her at the park concerned she is going to fall. I think this mostly has to do with the fact that she is so small for her age so she looks like a 9 month old climbing the ladder at the park. They sometimes give me dirty looks like "What kind of a mom are you letter he do this?" Luckily I know her skill level despite her size, I am never too far away, she know how to get back up when she does fail, and there really is no way I could prevent her from doing what she wants unless I remove her completely from the situation. Like I said before, she is determined, if she wants to do it, she is going to do it.
• She has a little obsession with throwing things away. Most of the time she gets it right and only throws away garbage but I have had to pull clothes, toys, and other items out of the garbage. We actually think she might have thrown away our ipod touch... :( it has been missing since August and that is really our last option at this point. oops.
• I thinks she hates the computer. She LOVES to pull the plugs out and turn it off multiple times a day. Even at my parents house, if she is ever quiet that usually means she had gone into the computer room and is turning off grandma's computer.
• She loves to open and close doors right now.
• She has a weird obsession with the toilet water. She knows she is not supposed to do it, yet anytime P opens the door for her she sprints in with her evil chuckle throws open the lid and splashes in the water with her hands. GROSS! It is an on going battle that I will win one of these days!
• She likes to sing. If she ever hears music she sings along. It is usually just humming and mumbling but it is so cute.
• Her favorite songs right now are Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If you're happy and you know it, Dora, and I love to see the temple.
• She loves "D-D-Dora" as she calls it, just like in the song. She can spot her in stores from so far away. It always takes me a while to find her, but I eventually do and she is always right.
• When I do the dishes she stands between me and the sink and pushes on my legs with all her might to get me to stop.
• She is going through a double binkie phase. She wants not one, but TWO binkies at the same time. One for the mouth and one for the hand. After a minute Switch! She is too funny!
• If she is ever around Grandpa P she calls his name over and over and over and over (bambah, bambah) and the once he looks at her and says "Yes Emily" she just stares at him with the biggest grin I have ever seen. As soon as he looks away she starts doing it again. It is ADORABLE!
• Em kind of skipped saying single words and when straight to phrases. He most common words right now are "I don't know." If you ask her any question like "where'd it go?" That is how she responds with her hands held out to the sides. Cutest thing ever!
• She just started doing this thing where if I tell her anything about what we are going to do or why she says "Ooh" and nods her head.
• She recently started folding her arms and bowing her head to pray with us. She doesn't do it very often, but when she does it too is so cute!
• She loves to draw/color. Anytime she sees a pen, pencil, crayon, coloring, book, or even a piece of paper she starts drawing. It is obviously still just scribbles, but she definitely understands what it is and loves doing it. The only problem is she likes to draw on things that are not supposed to be drawn on and she is teaching P her mischievous ways. P never once drew on anything except paper until a few weeks ago when he saw Em drawing on the windows and walls and now that is apparently the fun thing to do. Needless to say they do a lot of cleaning up. All I can say is thank you washable crayons!
• Loves her big bro! If I ever drop P off at a friend's or if he sleeps longer than she does she just doesn't know what to do with herself without him. I try to make it a special one-on-one play time with her, but nope, I'm just not as fun as big bro. They do everything together! It is the best, well most of the time. They are either making each other laugh or cry, Luckily it is usually laugh, but they certainly do know how to fight!
• She is super smart but in a total different way then P was. At this age he knew his shapes and colors already. She doesn't know those as well but she is a thinker. I don't really know how to describe it, but she figures things out. Like if there is something she wants, she figures out what she needs to do to get it. For example if something is out of reach she finds and object, moves it, climbs it, and gets it. P never did this and still doesn't, he would just ask for it. It is hard for me to explain, but really she is super smart.
• She is starting to feed herself with utensils. I should let her do it more, but it just makes such a mess! I need to be better though otherwise she will never get better at it.
• She knows pretty much all her body parts all the way from her hair to her toes.
• She can make a happy face and a sad face.
• She likes to look at books but doesn't really like being read to like P did/does. I want and need to read to her more but it is hard when she gets up and runs away. Like a said, she is a busy busy girl.
• She loves to talk to her bro. Seeing them have little conversations just might be the best thing ever. It is so darn cute!

She also started talking a lot more. I decided to try and write down her words since I did it with P when he was about the same age (Click here to see that post). She doesn't have quite as many as he did at that time, but she is still a smarty! Her words are not as clear as P's were so we are still learning her language. Most other people don't understand her yet either. I think P understands her the best and he helps me sometimes. I think once Em learns a few more words it will also help with her frustration.

So here goes Em's words at 18 months:

1. No
2. Yes/un-uh
3. Hi
4. Mama
5. Dada
6. Grandma
7. Grandpa
8. Parker
9. Emily
10. Jesus
11. Temple
12. Book
13. Please
14. Thank you
15. I want more
16. I don't know
17. All done
18. Moo
19. Baa
20. Nehahahaha (Neigh)
21. Oo-Oo-Oo (monkey sound)
22. Quack
23. Cock-a-doodle-do
24. Ssss (Snake)
25. Woof
26. Growl
27. Roar
28. Chomp Chomp (for alligator sound)
29. Meow
30. Oink
31. Hoo-Hoo
32. Elmo
33. Dora
34. Vindie
35. Livvy
36. Holly
37. More please
38. Up
39. Down
40. Hot
41. Juice
42. Binki
43. Itsy Bitsy
44. Twinkle
45. Diaper
46. Poo poo
47. fish
48. cookies
49. crackers
50. gummies
51. again
52. uh-oh
53. GG
54. Icky
55. Oooh
56. Ow
57. Apple
58. Nana
59. Yogurt
60. Oatmeal
61. baby
62. blanket
63. socks
64. shoes
65. Hello
66. toothbrush
67. Shhh
68. Snoring sound
69. Ball
70. Choo-Choo (train)
71. Outside
72. Amen
73. Moon
74. Opa
75. Open
76. Close
77. Hup, Hup (for marching)
78. Bye
79. Sorry
80. color
81. again
82. boom
83. tickle
84. belly
85. toes

That is all I can think of now. Doesn't seem like very many compared to P's 250 words at this age. But she is still above average since most charts say she should be able to say between 5 and 20 words.

Well that is enough for now. Isn't she the best? I sure think so! I love our little miss and all the fun and adventure she brings to our family. So hard to believe she is already 18 months but what is even harder to believe is that when P was this age I already had an almost 4 month old baby! I certainly cannot imagine that!

Happy Half Birthday Em! We Love You!!