Emily suddenly seems so grow up too. She is talking a lot--words, sentences. She says some cute things now. Some of her latests:
Mom, Cheryl and Alyssa came to visit a few weeks ago. Ever since then, every day, Emily has asked "where's Aunt Cheryl?", and we tell her that she is home, and she'll say "oh" as if she's surprised by the answer every time. Or sometimes when she asks, we'll say "I don't know, where is she?" and she'll say "up". Haha. She has also started asking about others too. If I go to get her in the morning when she's waking up, she'll say "where's dad?", I'll answer, then she'll ask "where's Ack-ee" (Ashley)? It's too cute. She'll ask about grandma, grandmom and grandpop, etc.
The fact that she says Ashley (Akee) is so cute too.
She is also OBSESSED with cookies, or as she called them for a while, "coo coos". Whenever grandmom comes over, she will bring over her homemade cookies. Emily has started saying "coo coos" first thing when she sees her (even before she says hello)--it's like classic conditioning. Haha. Any time you'd ask her what she wanted for a snack, she'd say "coo coos". I'd joke and say "you're going to turn into a coo coo".
My mom was asking if I had picked out any themes for Emily's birthday, and I hadn't come up with one yet...but when we got to talking later about her current coo-coo phase, I was saying how she is a real-life Cookie Monster, and it clicked--it'd be very fitting to have a Cookie Monster theme for her this year. She just recently started calling them cookies, after a good 2-3 months of calling them coo-coos.
Emily has also apparently been reading up on the "what to expect" books for her developmental stage, because those 2 year old behaviors are slowly creeping in...so far they've been cute though. She has just started making a pouty/mad face and will talk "fresh" in a grumpy tone to you at times or talk back to you. She also will have mini temper tantrums and will fight you to get into her car seat. Other times she'll want to get right in and buckle herself in.
Emily also is obsessed with the car and keys. She is always wanting our keys and my mini purse to carry around. We moved her toy car in from the garage into our mudroom downstairs so she can play with her car and "drive". She is always begging to "drive" our car too.
She also loves to shout for me when she wakes up now "mom, mom, mom"....I'm remembering to write this because she's doing it now. Lol.
Emily is still loving going to "class" while I go to the YMCA. It makes her feel like such a big girl.
Emily is also really big into babies right now. She carries her babies around a lot, went through a phase where she wanted 1 (or 3) to sleep with. When she'd see a real baby (or even a pic of one) she'd say "shhh baby" (because they were sleeping). It's so sweet.
Her FAVORITE movie is Tarzan. I remember when Ashley was her age, she was obsessed with The Polar Express Movie--well this is Emily's version of that. Any chance she gets, she wants to watch Tarzan.
I'm sure there is a lot more but that's all I can recall at the moment. This is why I keep these journals...lol.
As for Ashley, she's getting so big too, it amazes me.
She has a real thirst for learning. She has also really gotten into the "whys" a lot more. You'll explain something, and she'll say "but why mom, why?". She is also wanting to spell and sound out lots of words. She can spell her first and last name, Emily's name, and a few basic words like STOP. She likes to practice spelling words with our foam bath toys, and likes to trace letters. She learned a song at school : A says (a sound), A says (a sound), every letter makes a sound, A says (A sound). We practice with all the letters.
She's a good balance with activities--she is still so confident, outgoing, and friendly (most of the time) with kids, and loves to play and engage. Then other times she wants to stay home all day and just veg and play with toys (and watch TV all day if I'd let her).
Ashley still loves to dress up a lot. She loves wearing dresses (I invested in a few pairs of warm tights and sweater dresses). She likes to match--is conscientious of matching her headband (and will even try to have a matching bowl at breakfast).
Matt's cousins Josh and Ethan are teenagers now, and have totally outgrown their power-wheel jeep, so they gave it to us. Ashley loves to drive Emily or friends around (and actually does quite well). By the time she's a teenage she will be a pro. Haha.
Ashley's nature class has ended, but she liked swimming so much that we just signed up for the next set of classes. She's really done well, a lot less reserved about jumping in, comfortable..doing great. She really likes her teacher, Miss Sally.
Ashley has gotten so big that she has started to call us mom and dad more often than mommy and daddy....which makes me sad....I thought I'd at least get it until 5....
I went away for a few days as a late birthday gift...found a cheap flight and flew down to SC for a few days to have a "girls weekend" in Myrtle Beach then drove back to Greenville. While I was away, Ashley made a project in school. They had to color in a picture of a helicopter, then it said "if I could go anywhere on the helicopter, I would go _____". Ashley filled it in saying "to Myrtle Beach with mommy". I thought that was so sweet.
We also switched Ashley's big girl bed into an even bigger big girl bed. Her crib converted to a toddler bed, and then to a full. She was getting so tall that we thought it was time to switch it. The funny part is that her full sized mattress also happens to be the same full sized mattress that was my very first "big girl bed" in my 20s (prior to that, I always had a twin). Lucky girl. That was also a bittersweet moment for me. First off, she has a lot of furniture and her room's not that big, so when we switched it, it meant getting rid of her rocking chair/glider. This was the one that I had helped cover with the lavender minky-dot fabric when we were putting her nursery together, and this is the rocking chair that I rocked her in every single night since the day she was born. Even now at almost 4, I'd rock in it with her while we read our bedtime stories. Sniff sniff....I was sad to give it up. But we explained to Ashley that if she wanted a bigger sized bed in her room (vs a twin), it meant that we had to get rid of it, and she was totally ok with it. It was also bittersweet because my "baby" was REALLY a big girl now. Crazy. Although I have to say, as sad as I was to give up the rocker, I'm actually really enjoying the bed--now I crawl in it with her, and we lie in bed and read stories and talk. It's fun and a great bonding time for us (and daddy, we alternate reading to the girls each night).
Well, I think that's it for updates. Aside from school, classes, playdates, and the usual activities, we've also been enjoying all the fall festivities. I celebrated my 21st birthday for the 13th time at the beginning of the month too. Grandma, Aunt Cheryl and cousin Alyssa came down and we went to this new (huge) pumpkin patch where they also had rides, animals, mazes, activities, etc. Then we went to a smaller one with grandmom and grandpop another weekend. We also had our towns Halloween Parade, and Ashley had a school party (which I had to miss because Emily turned out to be sick that day, I was so sad), and Halloween Parade (which I did go to). Last night we went Trick-or-Treating. Emily was still sick with a cough and cold, but was acting ok otherwise so we took her out locally. Ashley wanted to be Elsa from the Frozen movie, and Emily was a strawberry. They both looked so cute. It was fun to watch them running to each house so excited.
Well that's the update for the kids now. I never got a chance to backtrack on updates like I had hoped to do, but the biggest one was that Cheryl and Billy got married on August 4, 2014 up in Kennebunkport, Maine.
