As usual, it's been a long while since I last sat down to give an Emma update. She's doing well. Several weeks ago, I took her to her 18-month doctor's appointment. She weighed 18.4 pounds. She was very well behaved though she kept trying to take the doctor's stethoscope.
Emma is now 19.5 months old and her latest fetish is her baby doll. She doesn't go anywhere without it. Sometimes it's hard to get her to put it down for a nap so I can bathe her. We usually have to tuck the baby into my bed and set a book beside it before Emma will leave it unattended. She also feeds it, gives it water, and prays with it. The baby can sit and clap its hands. Emma likes to shove it in random people's faces and demand that you "Kish!" it. She doesn't seem to need it for security at all. She really just likes imitating those things that Mommy does for her each day. I am glad that Emma hasn't thought to demand a diaper for it. I don't have any that fit and I'd have to tear the house apart looking for something that will suffice.
Emma's vocabulary is continuing to grow. She still has a hard time pronouncing many words, but most of them are understandable. She is still spot-on with the number of syllables in any given word, even if she doesn't pronounce the word correctly. She is starting to use two and three word sentences as well as string thoughts together. Emma woke up one morning after Daddy had gone to work. She searched the house for him and came back to me. She showed me her empty hands and said, "Daddy all gone!" She can also say things like:
See, Socks!
Hair Band
Dog, Link (Shade, Phyzzy, Lucy, Winnie...whatever dog she's with)!
Brussels Sprout!
Socks and Shoes!
Look, Moon!
A bird!
Kitty, Kitty, Kitty
Kitty, MEOW.
Link Come!
Purse, Keys, Bye-bye!
One, Two, Three
Three, Two, One
Elephant!
She's also learned the names of our friends: Muk! (Mark), Anana (Alena), Gon (Jon).
Animal noises: Meow, Quack-quack, MOOOOO!, Woof. She grunts when she sees a pig.
Emma still really likes to sing. She seems to enjoy music by Celine Dion, Whitney Huston, pretty much any woman with a huge voice. I personally don't like that kind of music at all, so we watch a lot of youtube together.
Emma still eats well. She eats more food at each sitting than I do and takes much longer doing it. I've taken to bringing a book to the table to read while Emma enjoys a full hour of munching and crunching. The only thing difficult about her eating habits is that they're unpredictable. For the past month, Emma has been crazy for grapes. Earlier this week, I bought some more for her and now she refuses to really eat them. One day she'll be in love with chicken and the next, she won't really wish to eat it. If she ever liked a certain food at all, she'll choose to eat it again after a few days but sometimes food isn't fit for consumption after that amount of time.
Creativity - Emma is extremely creative and loves to experiment. She loves to tear her food into bite-sized piece and put them in her cup of water. Dave and I are both annoyed by this, but we also strongly believe that since she really isn't hurting anything, we should let her be. She usually doesn't waste the soggy food. She continues to eat it. Sometimes I want to tell her, "No, Emma. THIS is how we use the fork." I have to remind myself that she is learning and should be allowed to do so. I see a lot of other parents constantly telling their kids "no" to everything, harmless and not.
I also want to cut the "no" word from my vocabulary as much as possible. If Emma is holding her fork incorrectly, I can instead say something like, "Hey Emma, great job with the fork, now...can you hold it like THIS!" If she holds it correctly, she gets praised and loved on. Instead of telling her what she's doing wrong, I wish to tell her what she CAN do right.
Can I eat it?
Emma Grace
This looks delicious!
Who is Emma Grace?
Emma was born on October 3rd, 2006. Her mommy and daddy are strange but loving parents. They are eager to teach her about Jesus and how much he loves her!
5 comments:
I enjoyed reading your update on Emma. I so agree with your last two paragraphs. Becca will also do things like dip her food in her milk or water, which grosses me out, but if she's eating it and not dripping it all over the floor, we usually let her do it. The whole "no" thing is something I have to work on more. I did really well before Ally was born with using positive statements instead of no to redirect Becca, but I find myself saying no a lot now. It wears on me when I'm saying it so much, so I know it must wear on Becca too. Thanks for listening to me ramble and for sharing your thoughts.
I enjoyed the update too! Sounds like Emma is a tiny little girl. I bet that makes all her speech seem that much more impressive. I bet Asher is going to seem huge next to her and he's really not that big. ;)
If I may comment on the "no" thing... I think I look at the word "no" differently than you probably do. I look at "no" as a way to set boundaries as opposed to telling them something about what they are doing is wrong. Of course, sometimes what they are doing is wrong or unacceptable and then I think it's necessary. I imagine some of it is situational. 3 years ago when I had 4 small children ages 3.5 and younger, it would have been near impossible to just redirect 3 baby/toddler/pre-school age children while taking care of a newborn, so maybe some of my "no" usage is left from that. But in any case, I find that if I use "no" to set boundaries while still working on praising their good behaviors and building them up throughout the day, "no" doesn't seem so negative. ;) It just seems to define the "yes."
I'm not sure I explained that well. I'm sure a lot of it just differs for individual family and situations too. I just hope you don't think I'm awful when I use "no" when we visit next month. ;)
Hi Jamie,
I understand what you're saying about "no". And like Tricia, I use it way more than I should and often feel worn down by the use of it. I prefer to redirect as much as possible, but it's not always easy.
When you guys come to visit, I'll be "no-ing" right along with you!
I am totally and completely not qualified to chime in on this post. And yet, I am. :)
Our culture really emphasizes "no." We call it many things, but really what it comes down to is recognizing undesirable more than desirable. (Sure, you'll get a ticket for speeding -- but has anyone ever given you feedback for driving safely and respectfully? Which generates more talk, praise of good weather or complaints of bad?)
Because of that cultural bias, we may try to defend our constant regurgitation of negatives or we may not even perceive it at all. It is *tough* to retrain ourselves to look for the positive and, especially, to phrase instructions in the positive. "Don't" and "no" come so easily to most of us.
But we can, with practice, learn to do it without the "necessary" negatives. As an instructor required to teach for hours or multi-day workshops using only positive statements -- not empty praise, but concrete instructions and accurate feedback, "keep your spine straight" rather than "don't bend over" -- I can attest that it's quite possible and the results are noticeable.
But it takes practice. :) And then it gets easier with practice.
(As far as boundaries go, for the previous comment, you can replace "don't go in the living room" with "stay in the kitchen." A simple change, but it does make a difference!)
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