March 2011

It is hard to believe that Emma Kate will be 16 months this month and has been home with us now for 8 months. I always hear parents say, "cherish everyday because time passes quickly"! I now understand that completely. Emma Kate went to the pediatrician this month and she weighs 22 pounds and is 31 inches tall which means she is growing like a weed! She is walking great, is also beginning to run some and loves to dance to music. She knows some of her body parts like ears, nose, mouth, eyes, head, hair, legs, feet, hands, arms and tummy. She is still not saying words yet but will sign more and all done when encouraged at meal times. Even though she is not saying much, she understands and responds appropriately to requests and commands. She loves to give kisses and blow kisses.

Emma Kate started a Parent's Morning Out program this month. I was really concerned about the first day leaving her. She has always had me or Calvin with her so this is her first experience not having us around. She has bonded really well with us and we really felt like she was ready for this. I was expecially excited about her being with some other children. I stayed with her the first day for about 20 minutes, then left and told them to contact me if she got really upset. I went home and waited for the phone to ring but it did not. YAY!

We have had some gorgeous weather lately and are getting outside more often. We ventured out to 2 different parks this weekend just to get outside and enjoy. We also try to get out in the wagon and go for rides around the neighborhood.

Here are some pictures from the month so far! Enjoy!

Ready for my first day of school (parent's morning out)

I love my new Kai Lan backpack!

Out at dinner one night

Cool Ray

Can't sleep without all my friends! (No animals were harmed during this nap)

Crazy hair!!!!

Ready for my bath

St. Patrick's Day

At the park on the bench swing with daddy!

February 2011

It seems to me that we have been very busy this month but now as I sit to write down all our exciting activities, it does not seem like we have done much at all. Well, I will tell you what we have been up to and post some pictures anyway. Chinese New Year was on February 3rd and it is the year of the rabbit. We went to a Chinese New Year celebration across town. It was very croweded but fun. We met some other families who have adopted from China. They had some dancing, singing and lots of food. Calvin felt like we were back in China with the odd offerings of food. We tried a couple of things.

We have had some beautiful weather this month. I think the high today is supposed to be 73 degrees. I don't think we are through with the cold weather yet but it has been very nice to have such warm weather. I had to dig around in all of the clothes I had purchased for Emma Kate while we waited to see if I had any short sleeve shirts that would fit her. I did find a couple things and we bought a few things too. Little ones just grow so fast! The first pretty weekend we had, we went and bought a wagon so we could have some fun outside time. I was not sure what Emma Kate would think about the wagon or if she would be scared of it but she just sat down and enjoyed the ride. We also bought a potty chair for Emma when we bought the wagon. She has been indicating when she has a dirty diaper so we know we will want to start introducing the potty chair to her soon. I took the potty out of the box when I was in her room and I took the empty box in the other room. When I came back in her room, she was sitting on the potty chair looking at her book. It was so cute, I had to grab my camera.

She is still not saying any words but is babbling more and she loves to point at things and make a sound which means a variety of things such as; what is that? or I want that. Sometimes it sounds like she is saying "Hi". Her walking continues to improve. She is walking all over the place. She will still trip on her own feet or a toy and we cringe as she goes down but she just pops back up and keeps going. She is a very busy little girl but I guess most toddlers are. We are planning a trip to the beach with our friends Brian, Stephanie and Sylvie this summer. It will be so cute to see the girls together again. Okay, here are the pictures!

The dragon dance is about to begin

The dragon dance!

Calvin and Emma Kate

Kathy and Emma Kate

Exhausted after Chinese New Year

I love my new wagon

Sporting her new Paul Frank jammies!

Sitting on her potty chair and reading

I'm busy mommy

She used to be afraid of this but now she loves it.

She is carrying 3 purses in this picture; an orange see through one, a pink glittery one and her purple poodle purse. A diva in the making for sure!

Love this picture...we were going into a store and she was walking with her daddy and I had to take a picture. So cute!

Signing off until next month. Hope everyone is doing well and still comes to read the blog.

Much love to you all,

Kathy



Lots of changes!

Well, Emma Kate has been such a busy girl over the last few weeks. She is walking all the time now around the house. She spends much of her time playing by walking to one area and getting a toy and then walking to another area and putting the toy down. Her balance continues to get better the more and more she walks. In China, we bought her some squeaky shoes. When she takes a step, they squeak. She loves them and it really encourages her to walk. With all the walking, comes falling. She fell today and bumped the area between her nose and mouth on a toy. She screamed and cried and I tried to comfort her. While she was crying in my lap, Cooper was sitting next to us on the floor and making this crying sort of sound too. It was the strangest sound. It was like she was upset because Emma Kate was hurting. Cooper making all that noise also acted as a distraction for Emma Kate and she got over it pretty quick. She does have a mark on her skin and I felt so bad that that had happened. Guess I don't win the mommy award today.

We went to the pediatrician last week and Emma Kate got a glowing report. She is now 20 pounds 14 ounces, and 29 3/4 inches tall. In the past six months, she has gained 5 pounds and grown 2 1/4 inches. We have now taken her off formula and she is drinking milk. We will next tackle getting rid of the bottle and use cups only. She only gets bottles at naptime and bedtime now.

Anyway, I know you are on here to get a quick update and then see pictures so here you go! Enjoy!

Fun with Daddy's hats!

A diva in the making??

When Emma Kate is walking around, she really wants to be carrying something.

Not sure who she is calling!

She took these bags from me after I emptied them. She put one on her arm and held the other one. And no, she was not allowed to keep playing with them...she was only allowed to play with them for a few minutes.

Who knew an empty box could be so fun. You can carry it around and you can sit in it and let daddy push you around!