Emma Moves to the Music

It seems that Emma's appreciation for music is increasing.  From just shaking her head when she heard a song she likes, she then went to bouncing up and down on her knees, then to going side to side and now swinging her arms and twisting her body.  It's incredible to see.

She's slowly doing more and more actions to songs too, which is so cute, and able to follow the words, or maybe it's just familiarity with the song that she knows when to clap, stamp her feet and shout hooray - I'm sure you know which song I'm talking about.  She caught me off guard one day, when I played a song, Open Shut Them, Open Shut Them, Give a little clap....next thing I just hear these little hands giving off a clap (Melts your heart).  The excitement when the music starts up is too cute, she starts doing all actions at once. 

I watch a bit of Ellen on tv with Em and when the audience clap, she gets excited and claps, and when Ellen dances, well Emma dances too.  It's a little frightening how Emma knows how to control our IPhones, she's actually taught me how to operate a few things.  Other source of music....online videos,  it has taken some time for Emma to really show interest in this particular website, boowa and kwala, but now she knows what I'm talking about when we start it up, she sets herself in place and gets ready to participate in the songs.  Here is her tonight moving to the one song.....

5 Years and 13 Months

This past Saturday, Rod and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary!  I can't believe it myself, that 5 years have flown by, felt like just yesterday we were rushing to the venue, only to be too early to walk down the aisle.  For a day that went by in a blur I still remember it clearly, such a beautiful day with friends and family.

For our Anniversary we decided on a weekend away to a place in West Virginia, quite appropriate since 5 years traditional gift is wood, and West Virginia is pretty much all forest.  We were hoping to leave Emma behind, but she insisted she join us.  How could we say no?
Driving through the forest was absolutely stunning, the leaves have started to turn, but still a lot of green around, can just imagine how beautiful it must be in October, everything orange and red.  Arriving in WV and driving to our resort, we weren't sure what we booked ourselves into, as it seemed like a bit of a hillbilly state (not to insult anyone), but we were pleasantly surprised by the Glade Spring Resort. Newly renovated, friendly staff, beautiful golf courses.

Driving into Virginia

Stonehaven Golf Course

I wish Rod and I got a game of golf together, but Rod ended up playing on his own on Saturday, and Sunday I took up some pampering at the Spa.  Saturday morning we were woken up by yours truely at 5am! Despite the early wake up call, we were smothered with hugs and kisses by Emma, it was too sweet!
Not sure why I thought the 18th fell on a Sunday, so when Rod wished me, I said our Anniversary isn't until tomorrow, Oops!

It's funny how times have changed in the way we celebrate our anniversary, and what we do on roadtrips.  Instead of dining at a nice restaurant, we opted to order our meal To Go.  We wanted to avoid a meltdown from Emma, as she was a little crabby going into dinner time.  So a nice dinner on the floor of our room, just the three of us.  
As for the roadtrip, driving to and from our destination the radio was not ours, we listened mostly to Emma's CD's, nursery rhymes and lullabyes, quite sad when I know what song is coming next.  Rod definitely had a chance to brush up on his nursery rhymes, we even had a chorus going with me singing one line and Rod the next just to keep Emma entertained until we got home.  Those last 10 minutes were brutal  We had a good laugh, saying we never imagined singing nursery rhymes together.  And who knew that counting can keep a baby entertained and laughing, especially when you count fast, have a high pitch, low pitch etc, no wonder we're so pooped at the end of each day.  How things have changed in 5 years, but definitely in a good way.

Our munchkin is 13 months now, still not walking, but definitely cruising and trying to stand on her own, like she's trying to keep her balance on a high beam, wide stance and arms out, and the most excited look on her face, like, I can't believe I'm doing this!  She's becoming more adventurous doing things, sometimes we say she's too trusting that we'll be there to catch her. 



Our challenge last month, and actually still our challenge - naptime!  Emma is in transition of taking one nap a day.  This is a good thing as it gives us more time to do things, or so you'd think.  Not so when naps only last 45 minutes, or an hour!  An hour to last you to bedtime, not always a pretty sight.  I've tried a second nap on the days when naps are only an hour or less long but Emma just moans or cries or plays or sings or all of the above.  The only way to get her to nap is to put her in the car and drive around.  It's definitely crossed my mind to do this on a daily basis, but I know I'm only making it more difficult for myself, and it'll become costly.  Anyways, we will just pull through it and hope that the one nap eventually lengthens to 2 hours at least! 

For the first time in a long while we've had to deal with night wakenings, quite the rude awakening when you're used to sleeping through for so many months.  Weren't sure what was causing it, teething (definitely had the drool going and biting), reaction to the MMR vacccine (broke out with a rash all over her body), adjusting to a quiet house again (after Nix's visit and the King Family).
Turns out to be teeth, as of Sunday Emma has a seventh tooth about to pop out.  Poor thing.  Hopefully the next few follow suite pretty soon so we can get this over and done with.
 
Other developments and skills our little one has acheived....Emma continues to be a great help around the house, drying dishes (ie her tray and bib), unpacking the dishwasher (utensils only), unloading the washing machine and assisting with hanging up the washing (passing the washing to mom), although she no sooner takes it all down.

Emma's understanding of comprehension has increased.  I can tell her things like lets go upstairs and bath, and she'll head for the stairs, make her way up, crawl to the bathroom and stand by the bath.  If I ask if she wants to go to the swings, she makes her to way to the garage, or I say, "Shall we get the mail?", she'll head for the front door.  Telling her to put her shoes or socks on, she knows what to do,but can't complete the action on her own.  You just wonder how this all makes sense in their little minds.  But definitely gives me a sense of relief that my child is developing fine and no need to be concerned about her.   Emma's social skills is developing nicely too.  In my eyes she's such a friendly baby, always excited to see other babies, saying ba ba ba and pointing and shrieking.  When people greet her, she'll wave or smile, sometimes scrunch her face as if I don't know you and a little unsure of you.  She's getting good at saying "Hi" in the right context, on two occassions going to the post office as we've walked through the doors and someone was walking out, she said, "Hi".  The first time she did it, it was so unexpected, I had to laugh, the guy was caught off guard too and just said hi back and laughed.  Today while walking in our neighborhood, Emma saw a guy walking his dog, she pointed and said, "oof-off, then as he walked past she said "Hi", but got no acknowledgement back, I felt so bad for her.

She's definitely trying to say words that we say to her.  Just yesterday I was singing "Row, Row, Row your boat", and she started doing the action and saying "Row, Row, Row".  Reading books to her, she copies a few words I say as I point out objects to her.  Emma has started doing minor actions to songs like twinkle twinkle, itsy bitsy spider and if you're happy and you know it.  Just love the brilliance of this child and how quick she absorbs everything.

Gosh seems like I'm bragging about my child, maybe I am, but can't help feel proud of our little one and share it with everyone, especially when you all don't get to see her.  Lately we've been experiencing personal moments with Emma, where there will be something funny just between her and her daddy, or her and me, and it's those moments you just want time to freeze so you can enjoy iy.  Like this moment during our weekend away, while I was taking photos she just crept her way into my lap and just gave me hugs!  I look at this photo and still can't believe how lucky we are to have Emma in our lives, and how much joy she brings.  We just love this little monkey! (As if you all don't know that by now.)

Happy 13 months Emma!

Emma being a girl

Oh how Emma makes us laugh....

Today we were hanging out on our front porch, waving at the cars driving past and hearing the birds chirp.

I let her do her thing, cruise along the furniture, crawl around, or more like monkey around....it was so funny watching her experience crawling on concrete.
She wanted to crawl, but didn't quite enjoy the feeling of the concrete on her knees.....unless she was being a girl and didn't want to get our outfit dirty??