Emi

She is almost 18 months old and this kid is amazing.  She is beautiful and funny.  She loves.  She loves so much - her brother, her parents, her toys, her blanket, etc.  She is a gentle soul - and doesn't like loud noises (never has) or yelling - at or around her. The other day I tried to get the Co-Op kids to be quiet, so I had them all yell for a second.  Emi burst into tears.  If her brother gets put in timeout, she will dutifully go and sit next to him until the timeout has been completed.  She's a hugger.  One of my favorite things about this child are her warm, tight, totally-means-it hugs - and when she pulls away from the hug, she usually has a huge, eyes-lit-up, scrunchy nosed grin.

But don't get me wrong, she's pretty tough, too.  Being Eaton's little sister, she's been in training for toughness since birth. (For a video of Eaton holding - and "tickling" - Emi hours after she was born - click here)  She's probably gonna have a scar under her lip from the table incident a couple weeks ago and she got her first bloody nose after smacking her face on the floor at the Yunesson.  She is always trying to keep up. Running, climbing, jumping.  If she sees Eaton doing it - sign her up.  She is pretty socialable and gets along with kids much better than Eaton did at this age.  I think we were at the point with Eaton around this age, where he would tackle, or completely ignore any other kids his age. She loves to do what the older kids are doing.  She always wants what her brother has, wants to do what he's doing, wants to see what he's seeing...

She's talking like crazy now.  Recently she's started saying some 2 syllable words (More went from Mo to Mo-Wa, and the Wa goes up like she's asking a question) and 2 or 3 word phrases. It's so fun to hear. I think my favorite as of now, is "Hi, Mama!" and "Hi, Daddy!"  They come unprompted and randomly multiple time throughout the day, and she always sounds so genuinely happy to see us.  There's a few words that she uses signs for as well - more (mo-wa and 2 pointer fingers touching), please (pees ad rubbing her belly), help (haaaap said with both arms up). She is always copying what other people are saying and she's picking up more and more words every day.  Eaton likes teaching her words too - then he gets really excited and proud when she does repeat it.  She has some very strong opinions and "No, Mine" - "My [insert thing she wants here]" or - "More [insert thing she wants here]" are common phrases around here. When Wes is gone she walks around going, "Dada, wook? Dada, wook?"  Yesterday I heard "No! Mine braa-ah (brother)" which made me smile and cringe at the same time.

She loves songs.  Little Bunny Foo Foo and Itsy Bitsy Spider are her current favs.  We sing a little song that goes "Emi's here today, Emi's here today, We're so happy that Emi's here today." We insert different people's names and she loves it.  Today I was walking back with the kids in the stroller and I heard Emi quietly saying in a sing-song voice, "dada...day...dada...day...mama...day...mama...day..." and so on. MELTED my heart, my breath left my chest and made my legs weak.  So cute, my baby girl, singing to herself about her mom and dad.  I will revisit this many times over the course of her life when she doesn't like us quite as much.

Emi Lou - you are so incredible and I love waking up everyday as your mom. However, I don't love the how early you have me wake up most days though :) I am cherishing this time with you as a baby and can't wait to see all the amazing things (even the things that may be amazing only to me) you will do each and every day of your life.