18 months old.

sweet bug.  i cannot believe you are a year and a half old already.  i can remember so vividly one year ago...you just sitting up for the first time, starting to cut your first teeth.  my, what a difference a year makes.  now you run and jump everywhere, complete with the gleeful narration of "running!  jumping!".  you have ALL your teeth except those two pesky ones and your big big molars.  you color and draw and jabber non-stop.  you have definite opinions, though i would argue you've always had those.  but you voice them now and aren't afraid to say no or to gesture and babble until we figure out what it is you actually want.  you will be moving in to the warblers classroom at school, starting the transition next week, and i think it will be a great new adventure for you.
you have really thrived at school these last six months, i have to say.  the explosion of language and sociability is amazing to watch.  we got a picture of you and your classmates from the school recently, and you like to pull it off the fridge, bring it over to us and name every person in your class.  it's adorable, and i'm so impressed that your little mind can discern all those names and faces in a photograph.  you also love a picture we have in the kitchen of me, dad, jj, kk, and big joe, taken when i was quite pregnant for you at the end of the summer.  you like to name everyone in that picture, too.
we started swimming lessons with you a couple of weeks ago and they are going great!  you seem to really love the water, and your dada has been taking you while i sit on the sidelines and watch.  i love what a great bonding experience it is for the two of you.  we have gotten in our pool a couple of times so far, but it's still not quite warm enough.  your little teeth chatter and you shiver non-stop, but you still refuse to get out and get upset when we make you anyway.  stubborn little bunny.
you really are a delightful, joyous little girl and we are so grateful for you.  you relish everything we do and we never get tired of watching your expressions as you discover something new.  you remain a great eater and sleeper (are we lucky or what?) and you love your cuddle time.  i nursed you for the last time on your 18 month birthday, a bittersweet decision for me, but you've taken it in stride, as you do most everything.  we love you, bean.  happy half birthday!
*these pictures were taken at turkey creek and in our backyard.  the young miss was not super excited about being photographed for this shoot, but she's still pretty cute, if i do say so myself...

apple of my eye.

justin tells me i am not allowed to begin every post with a comment on how far behind i am with posting...

i'm at work and i haven't wrangled pictures in nearly two months.  sigh.  so instead, i will just offer a mundane update.  emme is doing better with the crazy whining.  our consistency seems to be paying off, as she is more apt to respond more quickly to the words we always say (gentle touches, normal voice, say please, etc. etc.).  she is still very attached to me, but seems to be handling that better, too.  last night, i went to a sewing class and had to leave before bedtime and she didn't even cry when i told her goodbye!  that is a first in a long time. 

anyway.  it's a constant work in progress and there is no such thing as a static state in parenting, i'm learning.  this is a challenge for a "fixer" like myself...i just want to have a solution and be able to execute on it right away.  alas, that is not always feasible. 

in the evenings, i pick emme up from school after work and we usually head home where we try to combine some outside activities (chalk or swinging or occasionally swimming when i have the energy or the extra time) with the indoor activities that need to happen (gathering dirty diapers and laundry, loading containers from lunches, getting dinner prepped and on the table) while we wait for dada to get home from work.  i've been really trying to have dinners made or something set to go in the crockpot so we can eat together as a family when jb gets home.  it's harder than it seems with a kiddo that goes to bed around 7, but i've had varying degrees of success. 

the other night, i was chopping veggies to throw in the oven to roast, so i had emme sitting up on the counter helping me.  her help is hilarious, as she mostly likes to point at various things on the counter and sneak bites of raw zucchini or whatever else i'm cutting.  anyway, this particular night, she discovered an apple in the fruit bowl and we talked about how it was green and smooth and she picked it up and just started eating it.  i asked her if she wanted me to cut it up, and even tried to take it from her so i could wash it and get it in to more manageable slices, but she was having none of that.  we headed outside to wait for dada and she would not put the apple down, no matter what we were doing.  she actually made quite a bit of progress with it...i was impressed.  she doesn't love the peelings (though she will eat some of them), so occasionally she would toddle over to me and spit a small shred of green apple peel into my hand.  

come on, parents.

today marks the end of the second week of emme's transition in to warblers - the 18-36 month classroom at her montessori school.  all in all, i think it's been a good transition, if a little tough in some ways.  her sleep hasn't suffered as much as we expected, but her naps are not quite where they were/should be, which makes her more tired and irritable in the evenings.  that's especially hard for me, as i have absurd expectations that since i'm with her for so few hours during the week, each moment should be absolutely perfect. 

from around the time she landed in the emergency room on easter until a couple weeks ago, emme was going through a pretty intense mama phase.  the pediatrician told me she'd be more worried if emme weren't going through that phase, so i (and justin) worked on nurturing her through it, and offering alternate methods of communication that did not involve a high-pitched whine of MAMAAAAA.  she was doing much better, though she could still devolve into a clingy mess given the right circumstances.  anyway...this morning, she woke up after a normal night's sleep and would NOT be separated from me.  i had brought her in to our bed to read a few books before ramping in to the morning routine...she was going to read with dada while i showered.  well, i might as well have told her we were shipping her into indentured servitude - she was hysterical about it.  the remainder of the morning went similarly...she would fling herself at my legs and cry and call for me even when i was standing right next to her. 

what gives?  is this normal?  i think it is, but man...what do you do in this situation?  i know people don't typically comment a whole lot on my blog, but i would love to get some advice on this one.  the options we have tried/considered are:

• love her through it - give her attention because she must be experiencing some insecurity.
• re-direct her - try to distract her with a book/toy/food/outside/etc.  this is somewhat successful unless i'm still in view/hearing range.
• communicate with her - justin and i both try to explain calmly and with normal tones that we like her normal voice.  i also try to offer positive reinforcement when she talks to me in a normal voice preemptively.  this has not been very effective so far. 
• ignore her - assuming that this is an attention-seeking endeavor, rewarding it with attention is probably not reinforcing the behavior we want, so maybe we should ignore her?  i think i am going to be really bad at this.  i also think my deeply-entrenched sense of guilt over all things will make this very hard.  but...i'm willing to try if it might help. 

are there other things we should be considering?  is this one of those time-heals-all-wounds things?  to be clear: i totally have perspective on this.  this is NOT a huge deal, and the fact that this is our major parenting dilemma right now sets us in a very coveted category of families who have it WAY easy.  but, i'm just curious as to how others deal with these things.  my goal is to turn emme into a person that is fun to be around and well-adjusted (which i think she is, mostly).  tools and tips for aiding in that journey are always appreciated. 

as a side story, one of the new things our bug is saying lately is "come on".  it is adorable.  she does the little hand gesture with it and will say "come on dada" when we are going to the kitchen or outside or wherever.  very cute, that little rascal.  

random emme.

i haven't done a great job of capturing the little everyday ek moments lately, so i'm going to try to be a little better about that.  the other day, when i got to school to pick her up, there were only about 5 kids left and they were all sitting outside, enjoying the first cherry tomatoes harvested from the warbler garden.  everyone had eaten theirs, including emme, with the exception of one little boy who was playing with his in a cup of water, and another who was just holding his.  as i walked up, e greeted me and then walked over, plucked the tomato out of the boy's hand, and bit into it.  of course, the teacher put a quick stop to that, took the remaining tomato away, and many tears ensued (from emme - the other little boy didn't care too much).  i had to fight every natural inclination so i would not laugh, and instead use the opportunity to talk about ownership and redirect emme back into her classroom to gather all of her things.  but really, i thought the whole exchange was hilarious.  i am fascinated by the 18 month-old concept of mine.  since we're operating with a limited vocabulary, the word "mine" is used to describe pretty much every thing.  e once climbed up on to the teachers' bench at school, stood up, gestured out to the playground at large, tapped her chest (the ASL sign for mine), and shouted MINE!  as if the whole world can belong to her, she just needs to claim it.  this is not my favorite thing, with my adult values imposed all over the situation, but i am amused and intrigued by the process by which children understand such concepts.  having read only a bit about development, it's crazy to think we've got at least 6-12 more months before the concept of sharing can begin to be internalized by children (and, if i can judge by my interactions in the world, a lifetime before the whole sharing thing is really the go-to state of affairs).  anyway...if nothing else, the cherry tomato incident was a funny way to discover how much my kid loves tomatoes (fresh ones only, please). 

lately, emme has also been very in to dipping.  this is indicated strongly with her love of guacamole.  she will help herself to a chip, dip a huge scoop of guac, eat all the guac off the chip, then return the chip for a second (and third, and so on) round of dip, or simply place the used chip back in to the bowl, where a fresh chip is then procured for the next dipping exercise.  clearly, she has not yet seen the seinfeld "double dipping" episode...we'll introduce that one when we start letting her watch tv. 

another dipping exercise happens when she eats cereal in the mornings.  i bought rice chex when i was considering getting our family off gluten (a short-lived effort...lasted probably 3 days).  well, i will continue to buy them because we all love them - way more than cheerios, which was our staple cereal before.  for breakfast usually once or twice a week, emme will have cereal and fruit.  i always give her the cereal dry, but she drinks milk from an open mouth cup, so she eats each piece of cereal individually by picking it up daintily, dipping it into her cup of milk, sucking the milk off of the chex, then crunching the cereal.  this process is a very fine science for her, one that makes breakfast last 20-30 minutes, but is so endearing.  this kid, i tell ya.  

the 60th begins (easter 2012).

for easter this year, my aunt and uncle graciously offered their incredible condo in destin to my parents, for them to kick off my dad's 60th birthday (which is actually june 16).  they stayed for a week, and invited justin, emme, and me to join for as long as we could/wanted.  like idiots, we only booked the trip from saturday morning (fly out) to tuesday afternoon (fly back), but it was a great trip even though it was much too short.
saturday, mom and dad picked us up from the airport.  emme was a champ on both legs of the flight, even though she'd been running fever since the night before.  she actually woke up in the middle of the night friday night (before our pre-5a.m. wake up time) and puked in our bed and then just laid on me on the couch for the rest of the night.  it was not the most restful night we've had.  anyway...we found a spot to eat a quick lunch, then got to the condo and got somewhat unpacked and situated.  emme took a brief nap and we walked outside and attempted a little beach action, but it was a bit chilly for the wee one to get in the water (or the big ones, either).  saturday evening, my aunt and uncle came over, along with some close long-time friends of my parents.  my mom had brought gumbo she made (always a treat), and my grandma had made and sent potato salad (she is the master of all things potato salad), so we feasted, toasted, and watched the sunset over the beach from the back porch.  when i finally got emme down, my parents and justin and i got to watch the pink moon rise over the gulf - an incredible sight for sure.
sunday morning was easter, but when we woke up, emme's fever was over 103 or so already (it's been a while so i can't remember the precise temp).  we decided to give her some ibuprofen and leave her at the condo with dad, hoping she would feel better.  jj, kk, and i met up with the powell's for church - a lovely service - and i got to cuddle a little bit with sweet baby luke, my cousin robert and his wife alex's son.  after church, we went back to the condo and picked up emme and jb and headed to my aunt and uncle's house for easter brunch.  my aunt had prepared a spectacular feast and it was such a treat to get to spend that time with family we rarely see.
the rest of sunday was beach time and relaxation, but emme's fever never really broke.  i got her down at a reasonable time, again hoping that her fever would break and she would feel much better in the morning.  i was pretty confident it was something viral, since she'd just gotten her ear tubes a couple weeks before.  well, i've already written the story of her waking up in the middle of the night shivering, purple lips, and fever near 106.  i'm fairly certain i'm still recovering from the PTSD from that event.  yeesh.
monday brought a sleep-deprived morning trip to the pediatrician, but we spent the rest of the day on the beach.  emme even took a 2.5 hour nap on me under the umbrella by the water.  by mid-day monday, miraculously (or because of the rocephin shot at the hospital), ek was basically fever free.  tuesday was morning beach time before we had to pack up and head back to the airport.
we really loved every minute of this trip, despite the drama of the ER visit.  i look forward to our next vacation being hospital free....and hope to head back to florida annually.

these are the pics i have - i think there are about 2,000 more on jb's go pro, but we will settle for iphone and canon pics.

 before heading to the airport saturday morning, after a rough night on the couch.  

 sick baby in the airport makes for a sleepy flyer.  

a visit from the gaunts.

way back at the end of march, our friends the gaunts came to visit.  that was the same weekend i got into my car accident with the motorcycle, so the weekend started out a little crazy, but it ended up being lots of fun (albeit exhausting).  we had 3 kids under the age of 2 in our house - reid, 22 months, emme, 17 months, and leah, 3 months.  even though this house is much larger, i don't know that the space exists in the world that can contain two toddlers for two days.  so, we hung out on the deck a lot and got the littles out and about when possible.  we went to the salt lick for some barbecue on saturday and met up with my uncle who was in town for a wedding.  sunday we picked up breakfast tacos and hit the park for a picnic.  the highlight of the trip was sunday afternoon, when magically, inexplicably, all three children napped at the same time for over an hour.  the adults took advantage of this time to drink martinis on the deck and decompress for a minute.
to be fair, neither emme nor reid were feeling 100% that weekend, so that made for worse (less) sleep, more crankiness, higher volatility, etc.  still, we love the gaunts and can't wait for our next time with them...hopefully with healthier, better-sleeping kiddos.

 

 disclaimer: this picture makes me tear up every time i look at it, but it's such an amazing and accurate portrayal of how intensely dramatic my child can be.  this was taken after a too-short, restless night of sleep.  we were hanging on the deck and reid took her broom away so he could show her how to sweep....