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!]
