18 Months

Where oh where has the time gone? My Little Em Bug is a year and a half old! This month he has been the happiest, snuggliest little guy! He gives hugs and kisses whenever he gets the chance and it melts my heart when he gives Clara kisses! He's obsessed with his Bearbears (Carebears) and likes to carry them around singing, "Bearbear Bearbear" like he heard on Clara's Carebear video. He gives them kisses and has them give everyone else kisses too! Emmett's new favorite thing is to give anyone who looks at him the biggest, cheesiest grin. So big his eyes are almost closed. It's adorable and of course everyone smiles back.

The cutest Bearbear around!

This month he has made vast improvements in the communication department. He repeats everything we say and has a lot of new words. Of course they are more like sounds and only people that spend a lot of time with him can understand them, but he consistently says the same sounds for each word. He has also started stringing two words together like "right dare" and "I do it." He has learned more signs too. It is less frustrating for all of us now that he is better at communicating.

Emee continues with his stubbornness and throws himself down on the floor for tantrums. It's really more like he launches himself forward complete with screams. Luckily it stops almost as quickly as it starts. It's actually kind of funny because it is so comical. What's not comical is when he headbutts us, hits us, or kicks us. Most of the time I don't think he is trying to hurt us, he just thinks it is fun to flail about and he likes the reaction he gets. Dada said that he has moved on from trying to kill himself to trying to kill someone else (those heatbutts seriously hurt).

In a big boy booster seat

Someone colored on his face...

The Little Guy has shown more interest in the potty. He sometimes asks to sit on it and tries to pull his pants down. I happily oblige because I would like nothing more than to be done with diapers. He sometimes goes and sometimes doesn't. Since he is almost always dry in the morning I have been putting him on the potty right away and he usually goes (I learned it is important to point the penis down or I get a bath). I am hoping the fact that he has always wanted to do what everyone else does leads to an early potty training...but I'm not holding my breath or getting my hopes up. I'll just go at his pace and see what happens. I just don't want to miss my early window like I did with Clara and then have to wait.

Emmett LOVES to read. He reads to himself, he lets Clara read to him, and he constantly brings us books and plops down on our laps. He has favorite books and he will pull each book out of his bookshelf and look at it to see if it is what he wants. If he doesn't want it he throws it aside. 

These two are trouble makers!

Buggle continues to be the sweetest little guy and we all love him so much. Clara loves to give him hugs and snuggles and genuinely misses him when she's away from his for a day. I couldn't have picked a more perfect baby to complete our family!

Emmett's Stats

Weight: 24.2 pounds 

Height:  31.5 inches 

Head Circumference: 19 inches 

What Emmett Wears

Most of his clothes are 18 month and 18-24 months with a few 2T thrown in. Shoes are a size 5.

Things Emmett Loves

Mama and Dada, Clarita and Bailey, playing with his toys, people in general, spitting, splurping, eating-especially fruit, animals-especially his cats, going for walks in the stroller, swinging, Gymboree, baths, being outside, climbing, balls, running, hats, trying to jump, dancing, eating, socks, shoes, bikes, scooters, blowing bubbles with straws.

Things Emmett Does Not Love

Waiting to eat, having things taken away from him, being set down when he is hungry or tired, and being told no.

Eating

It really just depends on the day. Some days he eats everything and other days he will only eat a select few things. His favorite foods are pizza, pasta, cheese sticks, and tangerines/oranges (although he loves all fruits). He won't really eat meat unless it's in the form of a chicken nugget and veggies are hit or miss.

Signing
He signs more, eat, sleep, water, hat, please, thank you, baby, all done, outside, dog, cat, fish, horse, ball, train, drink, brush teeth, car, shoes, socks, wash hands, Dada, Mama, diaper, tree, bird, banana, boat, pear, star, monkey, book, penguin, help, cheese, star, leaf, carrot, rain, plane.

Talking
He says Mama, Dada, ma (mas), awa (agua), cl (clara), up, dow (down), a a (hat), baal (ball), bah (bye), awa (agua), uh uh (uh oh), papa (pizza), baby (Bailey), bapa (Baza and calabaza [pumpkin]), Aba, da (thank you), aa daa (all done), dat (that), I know (I don't know), myyy (mine), nah (no), dare (there), nana (naranja [orange]), abi (habichuela [green bean]), bearbear (Carebear), bebe [baby], pe (pez [fish]), turto (turtle), mer (comer [eat]), tar (star), wehwah (Clara), deet (dientes [teeth]), chee (cheese), emo (Elmo), neighneigh (conejo [rabbit]), pa (pan [bread]), ama (grandma), wite dare (right there), I do dit (I do it), apane (airplane), anah (oh no).

How Emmett Sleeps

Emmett goes to bed around 8:30 and sleeps until around 7:00. He takes a nap between 1:00 and 2:00 for two to three hours. He sleeps with his sleep sack, water, and a million animals. His favorite is Conejo followed closely by his Carebears. 

Teeth
He has five, both bottom front, his top left, and his top incisors.

Nicknames

Snugglebuggle/Buggle, Little Guy, Baby Emmett/Baby, Baby Bug, Buddy, Emee, Bubba

Monthly Exciting Events

January 14, 2017: First time on skis (he wasn't a big fan)
January 28, 2017: First ice cream (it took three attempts but he loved it)

Monthly Pictures

Monterey

Dada and Mikael had a conference in Monterrey and somehow Erin and I got convinced that it would be super fun to drive four small children to meet them for the weekend. It just happened to be my birthday to boot! Luckily the trip went pretty well. Emma fell asleep right away, Jeffery slept for a little while, Emmett was happy and fell asleep when we were almost there, and Clara kept us entertained including complying with Jeffery's requests to "make me laugh Clara!" 

We dropped the Johnsons off at the hotel, picked up Dada and headed to the Shoff's house. Clara was beyond excited to get to play with Kiera and Liam was excited that Emmett could actually play and kept commenting on how much he had changed since last March when he could barely sit up. Unfortunately David was out of town, but we enjoyed spending time with Lizanne and she was an amazing hostess as always!

Saturday, Lizanne and Liam stayed home while we took Kiera and met the Johnsons at the aquarium. Clara was pretty excited and Emmett was much more excited than Clara was for her first trip. He kept signing and saying pez (fish) and pointing excitedly to all of the fish. He was excited to see the penguins and waddled around saying "awk awk" (obviously the sound penguins make)! Jeffery was pretty excited about the fish, the scuba divers, and he told me his favorite underwater animal was a giraffe. I think he may have been a little disappointed that we didn't see any! The kids enjoyed watching the fish get fed at the giant underwater adventure and Clara and Kiera had a blast designing digital fish for the digital aquarium. Even little Emma had fun!

We went to lunch and Emma and Emmett flirted and Emma kept giving Emmett things like food, napkins, utensils...it was super cute! Jeffery was so tired that he fell asleep at lunch. Clara jabbered away and played with Kiera. We headed to Trader Joe's after lunch and the girls had fun finding the otter (and receiving their lollipop prize) while Emmett enjoyed picking out oranges.

Lizanne was super sweet and invited the Johnsons over for dinner and all the kids had a blast playing. Liam was great at entertaining Jeffery and Emmett, Kiera entertained Clara, and Emma wandered around playing a little with everyone. The adults actually got to relax and enjoy some wine and conversation! I need some older kids to help me out! 

Sunday we hit up the park before heading home. It was a great weekend and we are excited to see the Shoffs again in March for our annual trip!

Aba Turns 70!

It's hard to believe, but Aba turned 70 in January! We had a small party with our family and celebrated our favorite Mom and Aba. She does so much for us and it's always nice to be able to do something nice for her. The girls had a blast playing with Tio Robert and Tia Erika and eating tiny ice cream cones. We let them eat dinner by themselves at the little table and I'm not sure how much eating they did.

Sharing is caring

Clara decided to get into the present!

Bathing three children necessitates wine

Poking Tio Robert

Looking at animal pictures with Tia Erika

Clara insisted on putting all the candles she could find on Aba's cake so it was pretty full! We had a great night and enjoyed celebrating Aba and spending time with our family!