twenty-two months old - 12.27.13

wow, that month went by fast! it's hard to believe we've already hit another month birthday! emery annabelle is twenty-two months old.

when we got home from texas, we put up our christmas tree at home. emery loves it. she calls it a "kih kih tee-uh. soo piddy!" (christmas tree. so pretty!) and she did a great job of not touching it. she even helped me put up the lights outside. a few times she was able to say, "mer-ruh kih kih" (merry christmas).

for christmas, we've traveled to wyoming to visit blake's family. she really did a great job on our flights, despite the late hour. she liked to point to folks around us, identifying "boy" and "girl" regardless of age - we find that people of all ages like being called boy and girl. haha.

emery is enjoying time with her other grandparents and uncle brandon, or "unca por cha" (uncle pork chop), as he's affectionately known. and of course, she LOVES their dog, jaxsyn. emery follows her around, asking "where puppy go?" and today she even started to feel grown up enough to command her: "gah-seh, sih!" (jaxsyn, sit!) jaxsyn must not speak toddler, because she doesn't obey.

yesterday morning, we heard emery in her bed singing: "ha-pee ber-day to you! ha-pee ber day to you!" (happy birthday to you!) she sings other songs, but so far this is the only one i can understand.

today, emery came down with her first real big fever/cold. she's been a very healthy girl so far in her twenty-two months with only a few runny noses and a couple of very low, short, shot-related fevers. after some baby motrin, she seems to be managing ok. the family has passed this illness around and we were hoping she wouldn't get it too, but she managed to catch it too.

so today we only had a quick photo session with emery's new pink backpack that she got for christmas.

 emery's new back pack is perfectly sized just for her and embroidered with her name.

 she decided to wear daddy's hat.

 when she took off daddy's hat, she told me: "ah-wee hair meh-hee!" (emery's hair [is] messy!)

 emery wanted to play "hee-oh game" (video games) like daddy and uncle brandon.

Christmas Letter 2013

2013 has been a sweet year with joy that outweighs the tougher moments. We continue to be grateful for our blessings.

We began the year settling in to a new place: a 3 bedroom rental townhouse not far from our little one bedroom condo. It's not glamorous, but it's perfectly-sized for our little family. We used the Two Marines Moving company, and they were a big help with the transition.

In February, we celebrated Emery's first birthday with a small party of close friends and family. Emery got a lovely pink cake all to herself. We were so happy to have Blake's parents and brother visiting from Wyoming to celebrate with us. Blake and his family also visited the International Spy Museum and went to a Washington Wizards game.

In March, as the weather got better, we started going on walks in our neighborhood. There is a small, secluded park just down from our house. We like to push Emery on the swing or take a trip down the slide. The park is surrounded by trees and always peaceful and quiet, except for some chirping birds. Our neighborhood is also close to several running trails which Blake likes to use when he can.

In April, Tiffanie was able to go on a weekend getaway with some close friends in Indiana. Blake and Emery enjoyed the daddy-daughter bonding weekend. Blake likes to take Emery on walks and to read her books, though she is getting better at reading books to us. She surprises us with how observant and receptive she can be.

In May, Blake finished his coursework and comprehensive examination for his PhD in Educational Psychology. He is officially considered a Doctoral Candidate and is working on his dissertation. His graduate program is in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, and he has a specialization in counseling. His dissertation is looking at contemporary rites of passage and the transition to adulthood.

This summer Emery enjoyed going to the pool a few times and riding on the train at Burke Lake Park.

In August, Tiffanie began her 9th year of coaching Freshman Cheerleading at West Springfield High School. The Freshman team cheered at football games and also joined the JV team to compete in two JV competitions and won first place in both! 

Tiffanie continues to work for the Office of Institutional Research at NOVA -- as she has been for the past 5 years -- now primarily from home while Emery sleeps. 

This fall, along with his full-time job as a counselor and academic advisor at NOVA, Blake taught two Student Development courses at NOVA. His classes helped students transition to the college environment, think about their future careers, and prepare for different aspects of adult life. He enjoys getting the opportunity to teach.

At the end of December, Emery will be one year and ten months. She loves puppies and kitties, Mickey and Minnie, and helping mommy. She surprises us with how much she remembers, understands, and can jabber on and on about all day -- unless of course she's in front of other people. She takes a little while to warm up to new people, especially in a large crowd. We love to see her organized side coming out when she lines up her toys, faces toys all the same direction, and groups toys together. She loves to color, use stickers, and "take care" of her stuffed animals. She pretends to give her animals a bath, comb their hair, and send them on adventures.

We spent Thanksgiving in Texas visiting Tiffanie's brother, Bryan, and his wife Sherry, along with Tiffanie's parents. We were also able to see Blake's aunt, uncle, cousins, and his folks and brother came down from Wyoming. This Christmas will be Emery's first trip to visit Blake's family in Wyoming. She's excited to meet Blake's folks' dog, Jaxsyn. Emery knows she's a "biiiiig puppy!" 

We are blessed and grateful for a happy and healthy year. Thank you for loving us and being an important part of our lives.

Love, Blake, Tiffanie, & Emery

An experiment

My daughter has all the makings of a future researcher. The other day she took all her stuffed animals into the kitchen one by one. She lined them up side by side along one wall facing the center of the kitchen. Trip after trip, animal after animal, she traveled from the living room to the kitchen and carefully selected a spot for each animal. If an animal fell over to the side, she repositioned it so it was upright and facing the center.

In the center of the kitchen were two animals separated from the pack: a black dog and a white sheep. Both animals were facing the same direction as the others, meaning their backs were to the group. It looked like they were being ostracized, like they weren't welcome with the others. Trip after trip, she walked past the dog and the sheep to carefully line up her many other animals. When she ran out of space along the wall, she started cramming the remaining animals into a corner, and at the end she had a giant frog crowdsurfing everyone.

I watched all this and even helped transport a few animals, but I consistently wondered about the ostracized dog and sheep. I said, "Don't you think the dog wants to play with everyone else? Why don't you move him over there?" She ignored me and kept working with the others. I continued to ask about the dog, as did Tiffanie. Nothing. She ignored our requests. So to see what would happen, I simply rotated the dog in the center of the room so it could face the others along the wall. On her next trip into the kitchen, she stopped in the middle, bent down, and turned the dog back around the way it had been.

I walked into the living room and said, "Man, we've got some social experimentation going on in there."

twenty-one months old - 11.27.13

i'm way behind on our 21 month post. we went to austin, TX to visit my brother and sister-in-law for thanksgiving this year.

emery annabelle is beginninng to repeat more of our statements as we say them: which means we need to watch what we say and what she can hear! this week she described something as "so boo-tee-fuh" (so beautiful!) and i don't remember saying that to her. she said her jammies have "pokey daws" (polka dots) and i don't remember teaching her that either.

she speaks in decent sentences most of the time: "i sih cow" (i sit [on the] couch). "i go bye-bye." "i go dow sears" (i go downstairs). she's also starting to put concepts together. i said: emery, i need a nap! and she said: mommy tired! she also knows our normal order of events: when i take her upstairs for a nap, she says: "chay die-der. go nigh-nigh" (change diaper. go night-night).

she can identify more letters: A, B, C, D, E, G, H, J, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, Y. she knows numbers 0-9, and pretends to count 13, 14, 15 - though it sounds more like dir-tee, fo-tee, fih-tee, dir-tee, for-tee.

she's great at categorizing her toys. she lines up her Little People and her animal bath toys. she matches her disney memory cards by tv show: all the mickey mouse friends in one line and all the winnie the pooh friends in another line.

she's a sweetie and a cutie and loves to be silly and laugh!

on her 21 month day, she wasn't very cooperative for official pictures (as if she ever is!)

halloween - 10.31.13

for halloween, emery dressed as a sunflower. this year she played with the neighbors and enjoyed seeing our friends at church. the weather was relatively warm and there were only a few sprinkles of rain.

blake dressed as a runner or soccer player or something like that, and i dressed as a runner - which is a major stretch if you know me!

 we're establishing a tradition: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (left: 2012; right: 2013)

twenty months old - 10.27.13

emery annabelle is twenty months old!

it's hard to keep up with all of the things emery is learning every day.

she's doing a great job putting words in to sentences. while we ride in the car, she watches the other cars and says: "i see uh reh co-wa" (i see a red car)! and narrates the passing cars. we had a plumber check our pipes last week resulting in a hole in the drywall. when she saw it, she said: "i see hole!" one of her toys sings a song that starts: "hello how are you today?" and yesterday she said to her bunny: "heh-yo. how war you today?"

she can count to six, skips seven and eight, then finishes with nine and ten. she can identify several numbers by sight: 2, 4, 5, 6, 0. she also know several letters by sight: A, C, E, H, O, U, and Y.

today our nursery worker said she signed: "thank you," which we've worked on, but i haven't seen her use on her own. and in the car, i asked her to sign: "cat," and she knew it. she was pretty close on "mom" and "dad." i guess we should work on some more signs.

her favorite show is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. she frequently requests: "bickey mow." she knows all of the characters: daw-duh (donald), day-dee (daisy), doo-dee (goofy), dah-do (pluto), mee-nee (minnie), bickey (mickey). she can sing the last word of most of the lines of the theme song and the ending song, if i start them. she also likes sesame street and knows: eh-mo (elmo), bih bir (big bird), yo-ee (zoe), co-key moh-ter (cookie monster), goh-ger (grover), ee-nee (ernie).

she remembers songs and lines from books. if i sing/recite familiar songs/books, she can finish some of the lines. even songs i don't realize she knows: oh holy night, jesus (something about that name), come to my rescue, the gilmore girls theme song, and lots of her books - she picked up Hop on Pop (dr. seuss) and said: "uh uh cuh" (up cup) and "ah ah tah" (all tall).

she refers to herself as "ah-wee" (emery) and also "bubba" because we call her bubba/bunny. she calls my mom "ma-ga" (grandma), my dad "pa-pa" (grandpa), blake's brother "un-ca po cha" (uncle pork chop - an affectionate name for brandon), blake's mom "yo yo yo" (jo), and we're still working on blake's dad: avi/alan/pa-pa.

along with getting a good handle on color adjectives (e.g., "bu shear" - blue chair, "gee see-ser" - green sticker, etc.), she likes to identify possessives: "mommy's gah-keh" (mommy's jacket), "ah-wee shoo" (emery's shoes), "daddy's ea-uh" (daddy's ears - which she follows with a tug on blake's ears!). she's been using "big" for a while and has recently added "yih-yuh" (little). she announces when it's "dar" (dark), "bigh" (bright), "ha!" (hot), "co" (cold).

it also amazes me how a twenty month old can already stall and drag her feet at clean up time. how does she know? haha. i insist that she put away the things she takes out, and these tasks frequently become minor battles. looks like the twos aren't far away.

emery is a sweetie pie and loves to be silly and we're so blessed by her every day!

when she puts sunglasses on, she says: "i coo" (i'm cool).

nineteen months - 09.27.13

emery annabelle is nineteen months!

at her 18 month appointment at the end of August, emery was 19lbs 12oz (below 5th pctl) and 31.75 in (25th pctl). she's a skinny little girl, but the doctor said she's not worried since emery eats well and she's healthy and happy. also at her appointment, her doctor said she should know and use at least 20 words, i quickly estimated it was over 100. when i got home, i wondered if that was an exaggeration, so listed all the words/phrases i know i've heard her say (not counting animal sounds or words she understands but hasn't verbally said). and the list was over 200. since then, i definitely can't keep up with how many words she's adding practically every day.

in the past week, she's started connecting adjectives and nouns. instead of just saying "bu" (blue) or "shear" (chair), she points and says: "bu shear" (blue chair). i was surprised yesterday when she pointed and said: "owa bow" (orange bow) - i didn't know she knew orange without repeating me. she's getting fairly consistent with yeh-yo (yellow), gee (green), bu (blue), puh-pul (purple), and sometimes red, owa (orange), and pee (pink). she knows a few shapes too: circle, star, square, triangle.

we're working on counting. she knows two, fo-wa (four), figh (five), sis (six), nigh (nine), teh (ten), dir-tee (thirteen). i often hear her over the monitor saying: two, figh, sis, nigh, fo-wa - so, not so much in order yet.

if i set her up right, we can count together:
me: emery, can you count? one...
emery: two
me: three
e: fo-wa
me: five
e: sis
me: seven
e: two
me: eight
e: nigh
me: ten! good job!
e: doo jaw!
me: eleven...
e: dir-tee (thirteen)

however, if i start: "one, two..." she still skips to "fo-wa." haha. and thirteen sounds just like "dirty" so maybe that's why she's so familiar with saying it.

emery has twelve teeth: four in the top front, four on the bottom front, and four molars. it's possible the ones in between are on their way, but i haven't seen them cut through yet.

emery loves to see cars and calls most vehicles of any size a "co-wah" (which makes her sound like she's from boston) and she greets every car she sees: hi co-wah! hi co-wah! bye co-wah! walking through a parking lot becomes very repetitive, needless to say. trucks, buses, and other equipment are called: "big co-wah!" she adds "big" to most objects she sees, but so far she hasn't distinguished big from little. everything is big!

a few funny phrases she uses are: when she wants to see my phone, she used to ask, "were key go?" (where'd kitty go?) because a picture of kitty is my lock screen. now that's morphed to just saying, "key-go" when she points to my phone. when she sees pictures of herself, she says, "hi baby!" so we've told her, that's you. so now she says: "hi you!" when it's time for me to put her in the high chair or take her out the door, i say, "come here." so now when she wants me to pick her up, she raises her hands and says: "c'mere!"

this dress is emery's one and only Diane Von Furstenberg (for BabyGap) dress. it was on a ridiculous sale and i had two coupons!

there's a curl in the back of her hair that's getting longer, but we still can't tell if the rest of her hair will get any waves in it or not.

eighteen months - 08.27.13

emery annabelle is one and a half!

emery has begun repeating us more - she talks a lot. most of the time, she'll try to say something if i ask her to. today, i gave her a few tiny bites of oreo and she went a little nuts trying to get more "boopies" (cookies). i decided three little bites was plenty. yesterday, i dropped something in the kitchen and exclaimed: "BA!" and she instantly cracked up and shouted: BA! BA! so we went back and forth shouting: BA! i thought maybe the neighbors might check in on us! haha. when we pray for our meals, she folds her hands and says: "ah-meh!" (amen), sometimes i help her remember the whole prayer: "Thank you, Jesus, Amen." and encourage her: "Good girl." today she prayed: "tee-too, ah-meh. gah-go." (thank you, amen. good girl.)

she's starting to show her sensitive side, frequently exclaiming: "oh no!" particularly when she spills or drops something. and especially when she sees someone crying. in one of her picture books on a page showing verbs (a picture of a girl eating an apple says "eat," a girl lying in bed says "sleep," etc.) there is a picture of a baby crying and it says: "cry." she points to that picture and makes a very concerned face: "oh no!" she has some bear puzzle pieces with interchangeable outfits and heads, and some of the bear faces are sad. i think they stress her out!

she's also started answering questions: "yeah" or "no" instead of just repeating the last word. "do you think gramma likes the redskins?" emery: "no." "emery, you're so pretty." emery: "yeah."

she's starting to figure out some of the colors. she still defaults to "yeh-yo" (yellow) but even in the last week, she's started to get "bu" (blue) right more often - mostly when she offers it up on her own, less often when she's asked directly. it seems she sometimes gets green and yellow mixed up, but occasionally, she'll point to something and say: "yeh-yo?" and that'll be right.

she has eleven teeth. the new one next to the bottom front left has made its way in, i'm sure the opposite one is nearby. even though all four molars have been showing for several months, we think they're (painfully) still working their way in.

we've officially dropped to one nap a day. we're still working on what time of day is best - it seems like mid-day is working out ok. she may be crabby or sleepy other times of the day, but won't lay down - so we spend some time sitting together on the couch reading or watching a show, just to get a little down time.

emery loves spending time with the cheerleaders. if you ask her: "what does a cheerleader say?" she responds: "rah rah rah." she comes to practice with me for only about 20 minutes before blake picks her up on the way home - he usually arrives before we even start. but as soon as the girls walk in, she brightens up and says: HI! the girls love her. and now when she sees any teenage girls, she gets excited: HI!

several times today, i said to her: "happy birthday" and she said: "happy!"

emery is doing a cheer clap, complete with skirt-swinging motion.

emery, where is your hair? where is your nose? where is your tongue? where is the door?

emery, can you do a flip?

getting your picture taken is exhausting! [taking pictures of a toddler is exhausting too!]