She keeps going, and going, and going...

Emmaline has turned into the Energizer Bunny lately! Until we force her to settle down for her 1 nap and bedtime, she is going 100 mph. Climbing on furniture and then trying to get from one piece of furniture to another seems to be her favorite activity (other than looking at books or throwing food at mealtimes). You would think then, that any injury would come from one of these adventures..... nope! She was just walking out of the bathroom this morning and face-planted into Dan's night stand. She scraped her chin and had a bloody nose. She cried for a few minutes and then was ready to keep playing. She patiently sat while Dan got it to stop bleeding and cleaned up her face.

The 2011 Word Explosion continues: she has added "shoe", "sit", "doll", "ba-ba" (bottle) and "water" to her oral vocabulary. She is also picking up new signs - please, book, and love are new. She still uses older ones too (more, eat, drink, milk, cookie, sleep, bath, hat, all done, nodding yes or no, sit, diaper, and want). It's not usually spontaneous but she does do it in context if we ask her to "show me ____".

I posted 3 new videos on Facebook this week. The big hit is her with Hokey Pokey Elmo. 2 videos of the Little Gym are also featured - one on the low beam and one playing with balls. They're all pretty adorable. We also have some videos of her climbing on the coffee table and playing, but I need to edit those for time before they're posted (I think the limit is 2 minutes).

I turned 30 today! It's been a wonderful birthday weekend. I remember last year, all I wanted was for Emma to say "ma-ma" and of course, she didn't. Today she said "ma-ma" a lot and gave me hugs and even brought me my present. She is such a sweetie pie. I couldn't have asked for a better family!

Where does time go?

I can't believe that February is almost over and this is only my second blog of the year! I keep intending on updating, but there always seems to be something more important that needs to be finished first. Tonight I decided to make this a priority.

Sleeping troubles are currently fixed (knock on wood). The allergy medicine seemed to make a difference right away. We also tried experimenting with cutting back on milk. As soon as we stopped giving her a bottle before bed she started sleeping all night again! I thought she'd put up a big fight about no bottle, but I offered her a bottle of water for a couple nights. She didn't want water in a bottle and then stopped signing for milk at bedtime. After a while, we tried taking the allergy medicine away, but her cough came back and she started waking up more at night. One day at daycare they forgot to give her one of the bottles at daycare. We didn't know, but she slept fantastic that night. The following day they gave her both bottles and the one from the previous day - that was a horrible night. So, we're giving the allergy medicine every night and have cut back to just 5 oz when she wakes up and 5 oz after her afternoon nap. Once she started sleeping well, our happy, silly baby returned!

We're pretty sure that right now she is either teething or going through a growth spurt (possibly both). She's pretty fussy during parts of the day, but overall is doing great.

She had a major spurt this weekend with her vocabulary. (What a relief!) Last weekend her only words were still "mama" "dada" and "no". Now she is also saying "nana" (banana), "og" (dog), "abby" (Gabby, a girl at daycare), "Aiden" (a boy at daycare), "ball", "Jo-jo" (one of the cats) and "baby".

Emmaline absolutely loves books. She seems to have a new 'favorite' every week or so. Right now it's "Everyday Babies". Our bedtime routine starts with bathtime after dinner, play time, books, and then rocking her. Most nights, during play time she chooses books over toys. Sometimes she wants to look through it by herself, sometimes she pretend reads to us, and other times she wants one of us to read to her. She also loves the "That's Not My..." series (we have dinosaur, cat, and penguin). It cracks me up when she grabs my hand and makes me feel the different textures.

Emmaline has also turned into a little daredevil at home. She can climb onto my cedar chest and likes to dance around on it and then run to the other end and dive into the chair. She climbs on top of her little table and then onto the coffee table and plays around on that too. At the Little Gym, she is currently loving the balance beam. She figured out last week how to get on the low beam on her own and has walked several steps without us even spotting her. Even on the high beam (with an extender) she walks/runs up and down it with very little support.

She is also developing her own sense of style. She enjoys wearing her red bib backwards, like a cape. Headbands have become "necklaces" and she wears (at least) one every day. Her godmother gave her a little purse for Christmas that had a pink, plastic bracelet inside that Em loves wearing. Like me, she is a fan of hats (beanies). Even in the house, she usually insists on wearing one. Since she puts them on herself, they're usually backwards. Or else she wears mine or Dan's and then her eyes are barely poking out.