9 months - Emma and Company

I can't believe Emma turned 9 months on Saturday. She is as old as I carried her. She is becoming a little person and not just a rolly polly blob. She is eating solids, although we need to continue to expand her palette. She is still toothless although I swear she was getting teeth at 4 months. They still haven't broken through the gum line. She has not figured out the crawling thing. She flops around from belly to back and can get her legs under her as if to crawl but can't seem to figure out what to do next. There are many things she has yet to learn but she has become so much more interactive as of late.

Sophia and Emma have started to "play" together. And by play I mean Sophia tries to pick her up or pull her close so they can do things together. Sophie is just strong enough to pick Emma up under her arms and place Emma where she wants her. But she hasn't heeded my advice when I tell her to put Emma down because she is pulling on her more than picking her up. With play also comes fights. Sophia does not yet understand that Emma has no concept of "mine" and "yours." So things are often grabbed out of each others hands.

So far now they are two sisters who love each other and learning to navigate each others world's. Each getting older and melting our hearts more and more each day. 

Letting Go....

In less than two weeks Sophia will be heading off to full day, all week pre-school. My heart thinks she is heading off to college. So this is the feeling millions of moms have felt as their kids head off to kindergarten, off to middle school, off to college, off to get married. Letting go a little at a time. It's like letting out the line of my rod and reel. Just a little bit of letting go and waiting for that bite. And then reeling them back in.

I am excited because she will be learning and interacting and growing so much during this time. But I'm also nervous and anxious. I think it is a lot for her to be in school everyday and all day at age 3 but it is the option that has to work for us right now.

I am comforted by the fact that she will be at the same school where Phillip teaches. They will be able to have lunch together occassionaly and he will be on hand in case of any discipline issues. And because she thinks right now "I get to go to school with My Papa" I think this will ease her transition into school. She doesn't really get that she's not going to Miss Ellen and Miss Jackie's like she did last year.

I'm bummed that her former school/daycare had to close because a lot of their families moved and they simply didn't have the enrollment to sustain staying open. Sophia LOVES those ladies and really flourished in the last year under their wings. We were looking forward to Emma being there but she was their only charge. So alas, she is with a new daycare provider. We'll see how that goes.

The other thing that is very exciting about Sophia's beginning school adventure? SCHOOL SUPPLIES! Fresh crayons, Elmer's glue, sharp scissors all neatly packed into a backpack. This was totally lost on Phillip.

So while I have to let my little love bug go, learn, and grow...I do get to reel her in at the end of the day, hug her, kiss her, squish her and watch her take a bite out of life and soak in learning.

Updates

It has almost been a month since I last blogged! I have been loosing sleep because Emma still seems to want to eat every 2 hours so I'm usually too exhausted to blog in the evening and we were on vacation for a week and a half. I have a lot of topics/ideas to blog about its just getting back into the swing of things!

Emma had her four month appointment in the middle of July. She is a little string bean! She was only 11lbs and 11 oz. She is 25 inches long. I believe she was in the 10% for weight!

She rolled over for the first time (okay, she rolled over at 2 months when I put her on my bed but I think that was a fluke) on Monday. She now can't get enough of the rocking and rolling to her tummy. She loves doing it so much that we may have to stop swaddling her! She rolls in her crib when sleeping and can't quiet roll again to her back so she wakes up!

Emma is also drooling like CRAZY! I think she has to have a tooth coming in.

Like I said previously, she is still pretty intent on eating every 2-3 hours. While she gave me the gift of sleeping through the night from month 2-3 she is now waking up in the middle of the night once or twice. It is so exhausting! She is random in her timing and eager to nurse. It usually only take 30 minutes to nurse and get her back to sleep but of course in the middle of the night it is so disruptful. I hope she changes her way soon.

Other than that she is full of smiles, likes to giggle, and still prefers to be held than in the swing or chair!

Although Sophia is just 3 and certainly has her three year old moments she has also said and done some things that are so sweet and mature. For example most nights at the dinner table after grace she will say "thank you for making dinner" to whom ever prepped the meal. This isn't something we taught her. She just started saying it. It melts my heart every time.

Tonight when the girls were playing in their room and I was putting up their laundry Sophia was giving Emma soft baby toys to touch and play with. She would take Emma's hand and help her feel the textures and see the mirrors or pictures on the soft blocks. When Emma would reach out and touch it on her own Sophia would clap for Emma and congratulate her! She exhibited the same enthusiasm when she would roll over. It is so fun to watch Sophia enjoy Emma learning and discovering!

Updates

No thought provoking post today just general updates on the kiddos!

Sophia is 99.5% potty trained! Break out the champagne! She has only had accidents 2 of the past 25 days and one of those was because she was having too much fun playing! She has been wearing undies to bed and has woken up dry 11 out of 12 days since we transitioned out of the pull ups! She has also been successful in pooping on the potty and has been more regular too! So weird that my measure as a successful mom is my daughter's bathroom habits!

Sharing a room with Emma continues to go well. I put Emma down shortly after Sophia went to bed on Sunday night. Sophia wanted to look at her balloon but was less than happy when after looking at it I told her she couldn't keep it in her bed because it wasn't safe. A fit ensued. Emma slept right through Sophie's crying and screaming. Amazing.

Emma is two months today! We don't have our 2 month appointment until later this month so I'll have to update on her growth then. She took her first 'real' nap yesterday! She slept for 2 hours and 20 minutes in her crib. It was great.

We are headed to Ohio soon for my dad's retirement party. I'm looking forward to all of my siblings and extended family meeting Emma. Being so spread out across the country it makes me sad that they usually don't get to meet the wee ones until they are not so wee anymore so this is great timing and it will be fun to be among family for the second time in six months!

Random Tidbits

Please suggest your favorite pair of maternity jeans. I have two pairs that I hate this time around. A full panel pair from Old Navy that cuts into me where the panel meets the jean. A pair from Motherhood Maternity with a demi panel and the panel rolls and I'm constantly pulling them up.
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Sophie can now say "more" in sign language. It's so cute to watch her concentrate and put her hands together, fingers facing each other, and requesting "more." I'm bummed I didn't try harder to teach her "baby sign language" when she was younger but now that she is learning it at pre-school she should be able to help with teaching the baby!
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Sophie used the potty three times on Saturday and three times on Sunday! She reverted back to her "old" floor model potty instead of the seat that goes on the toilet but I don't care. She used the POTTY! Please, Lord, let this continue. I'm sick of buying Pull-ups.
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We are still indecisive about a name for Baby # 2. Would you like to weigh in?
Emma Louise (or Louisa for all options) Cann
Emma Louise Johnson
Emma Louise Kelly
Emma Louise Bache
Emma Louise Larson
Emma Louise Marie

Potty Training *Warning* I'm talking about elimination here-pee & poop

I was so excited the first time Sophie used the potty, she was 21 months old and we were ahead of the curve! We have had the potty since she was about 18 months. It was easy to tell when she was having a "movement" and the next logical step to us was get a potty, put her on it, stop having her crouch in the poop corner.

She pushed her potty around the house, put toys in it, sat on it like a chair, returned it to its place of honor in the bathroom. The first time she actually used it she was mid-poop when I went to change her diaper so I scooped her up, set her on the potty and she finished her business. We both smiled and clapped! Put the potty in the big people's potty, flushed it away, washed our hands and commenced to mark this historic occasion with a butterfly sticker on the potty calendar.

As you can see there were only a few successes in January but they were successes nonetheless. We rolled into February.

Not many more attempts and successes than January but still she earned some stickers. We traveled early in the month and brought the potty with but then were hit by the Blizzard of 2010 so it's not surprising her "trying" got off kilter.
And then March came:

Spring has sprung! Look at all of those butterfly stickers! She was a potty champ. "You'll use the poooootttttyyyyy." Just like Elmo sings in "Elmo's Pottytime" video. We were on our way. I bought less diapers, bought pull ups, encouraged her to use the potty. We traveled again in March, toted the potty with, she used it all week. Even though she became constipated. She peed in the potty. I was a proud mama knowing I was potty training before age 2!

And then came April.

Nothing. Nada. No Dice. Zero. Zip.

She sits on the potty with CLOTHES on. Stands up. Claps. Congratulates herself with a hearty "Yea!" but has accomplished nothing. She loves her diapers. Hates the pull ups. I have no idea what gives or what to do. We use the potty together but she has nothing to show for it. I only have frustration.

Any suggestions? What has worked for your toddler?

Language Acquisition

In college I took several hours in Linguistics. I actually took enough hours to get a certificate in linguistics but unfortunately it was before the program was a certified certification program so no gold star on my transcript or diploma for that! All that sentence diagramming for nothing!

I love learning about language and how our words are shaped and why our words are what they are. Often when I'm daydreaming I'll think about different words and what they really mean. Refrigerator has always held a particularly interesting spot in my brain. Some days it just sounds so weird to me. Re-fridge-er-a-tor. Weird. I wonder why we call the refrigerator a refrigerator and not a clock. Why a desk is called a desk...and on and on.

So as Sophie learns new words and meanings for things I am amazed at her language acquisition skills. One day she can only point to what she wants and the next day she has a word for it. For example our after bath routine usually includes Jean Nate (3 syllables Jean Na Te) after bath splash which I roll off my tongue with my best french accent. To Sophie this became "nah nah nah." She can correctly say and identify a car, train, and plane but mistakenly calls all trucks and motorcycles Trains or choo choos.

What is frustrating in this new phase of "semantic development" are the words I can't yet identify. Last night she kept saying "goo goo"-perhaps for the noodles I was preparing? But when I pointed to the noodles that didn't satisfy her need for me to understand "goo goo." On the drive home today she stumped me with "halla." Like she was saying "holla back..." Again, no clue. There are often times I have to ask for a definition from Phillip on new words but he doesn't have answers either.

So each day we will continue to learn and break her codes. For now though, I'll say "ni ni." Sophiease for "night, night."

Can't a mama get a break?

We must be entering the terrible twos around here. And not the terrific twos as my sister called them the other day-you don't hit the terrific twos until you turn 21.

Just when I thought we had the bedtime thing figured out Sophie moved onto the next manic fit in the book-bath time. She used to LOVE bath time. Bubbles, splashing, toys, sticky letters, and "nah nah nah" afterward (just like my gramma used to give my sister and I when we would visit.) But this week it is standing up, not wanting to sit down, full on tears and hysterics and "MAMA, MAMA, MAMA!" as I try to bathe her.

I don't know if it was too many bubbles or the sound of the water but something has changed and bath time went from delightful to devilish.

And to top it off, she tosses in some bedtime fits too.