Your love for the upside down world

You crack me up with your silly almost 18-month antics!

Tossing your head and sometimes your whole body backward because you love the feeling of being upside down.

You also love to stand on my legs or on my belly or even on the 4-wheeler or edge of the couch and practice your balance. I must say you're pretty good at it, too!  

You are showing great acceptance and maybe even enjoy being in the water.  Dad has been taking you to swim lessons for a couple of sessions now and you'll dip under without much fuss.  Hooray!

We also play a game in the car every day after we drop Eleanor at school which you ask me "Eleanor?" and point and we talk about Eleanor not being in the trees or in the house (as we pass them on the way home).  I say, noooo... Eleanor is at school.  I'm glad I get to spend time with you independent of Eleanor.  

I miss her while she is at school, too - but I feel so lucky to get to stay at home and be just your mom, too.

Blowing us over has been a new thing you find hysterical, we do, too!

Love you dude!

Mom

Maaaa vs Daaa

Hey Emmett,

Defying the typical path, you seem to have found it easier to call me maaaa, instead of daa or da da. It took me a while to figure out you were actually calling for me sometimes, but now that I know it's fine. However, that hasn't stopped me from trying to teach you da da each time you say maaaa (yes, you say it loud and long - it's cute!). However, the past couple days you seem to be catching on to the da da thing and this morning while I was in the bathroom showering and you were hanging with your mom and sister in our bed, I heard "da. da." and I was like "did he say da da?" and they all said yep and you said it again and I said, "I'm in the bathroom" and you came running into the bathroom. VERY AWESOME! Made my heart so warm.

Thanks little guy for being such an amazing addition to our lives. You fill me with joy every day and I look forward to the many many moments like this we will share together throughout our lives.

Love you!

Dad

Bedtime Hugs and Kisses...

Hey Buddy, (I seem to call you that more than your name, but you seem to know your real name so that's good).

Anyway, last night I had the pleasure of putting you and Eleanor down by myself as your mom and Pappa went to a Ziggy Marley concert. Eleanor was nice enough to hang out in her bed until I put you down (and she actually fell asleep all by herself which was awesome - hopefully we can start a trend). Anyway, after I fed you a bottle you rubbed your eyes and popped up from laying in my arms to your normal sitting facing me in my arms position. You looked me in the eyes then leaned in and gave me a kiss followed by a big hug. You then leaned back again (I thought you were going to push away and want to get down as you often fight going to sleep - think that's me in you.) looked at me and then leaned back in and gave me a kiss followed by a big hug. After that you just slid down a bit and laid your head on my chest and promptly went to sleep.

That nearly made me cry little guy. It was definitely one of the first unprompted signs of affection you've given me. Sure, you'll hug me now and then when I instigate it, but this was all you and so awesome!

Before we chose to have a 2nd kid, I know your mom and I both wondered how we could love another child as much as we did Eleanor, but we humans are amazing and I've definitely found every bit of love for you that I have for Eleanor. Thanks for coming into our lives and for being such an amazing kid!

I love you bunches!

Love,
Dad

Away We Go!

I never could imagine life with two kids... and now I definitely can't imagine life without two kids!  

You are so impressive in so many ways and you bring a smile to nearly everyone who sees you.  Strangers just can't help but tell me how cute or handsome you are.  You're a baby now, so that's all you should be, but I hope as you get older, you develop into a deep thinking, caring, intelligent boy who is so much more than just "cute"!

You turned 1 year old and about a week before that, you started walking, officially.  You've been able to walk for quite a while, but lacked the confidence to let go.  You would hold onto us with one hand and march all over the place, but as soon as you felt our finger wiggle out from your hand, you would drop to the floor almost immediately.  You tried a couple of steps back and forth to Daddy and I on the deck about a month prior to turning one and we thought you were there... but you just weren't quite ready... and we were okay with that! 

The catalyst that finally set you on your way was camping.  Touching and crawling on all of those dirt and sticks is enough to fuel anyone to stand upright and try!  It is always so thrilling to me to see a baby gain the confidence to walk.  It was inspiring and invigorating with Eleanor and I felt the same rush with you.  Beaming from ear to ear, I was, as I watched you toddle over precarious ground covered with obstacles such as rocks and tiny mounds.  There's no stopping now!

At 1 year, you are already a climbing machine, too.  You climb on the kiddie chairs and even on the table when I'm not looking!  You have fallen quite a few times, but are starting to get the hang of it.  My parenting philosophy involves natural consequences within reason... so falling off a kiddie chair is one thing... falling down the stairs, I just won't let you do -- despite your efforts!  

Other amazing things... you have all of your teeth, including canines, already.  I'm sure you still have 2 year molars and I haven't been able to count them all yet... you chomp down HARD when I try to get my fingers in there, but you have gotten all of your teeth before nearly all of the babies I know who are anywhere close to your age.  We just went on vacation to Pacific City, OR last weekend with some friends who had a 2 year old (Nik) and he was just getting his canines!  You're 1!!!

You are also well on your way to signing.  Current signs include: milk (sometimes, but you often try to lift up or pull down my shirt, stinker!), dog, hot, sit.  I need to work on teaching you more because I know you're thirsty to learn!

You crack me up these days when you nod your head "yes" or shake it "no", when you pretend to spit in the sink after "brushing" your teeth like you see your sister do, and dive bomb into my chest to nurse.  

Today, you also started giving me kisses.  Open mouthed ram your face into my cheek style, of course!  So precious, though.  You're also quite a good hugger!

I love you more than any words little one!

Love,

Mom 

Pbbbt

Funniest thing that you do right now is make the pbbbt sound with your mouth after I toot.  (Ok, fart).

Other adorable things at 9 months:

-clap your hands when others do or when we say "yay"!

7 Months Old - Laughing, Rolling Front to Back, and Almost Crawling

Hey Little Man,

You bring me so much joy on a daily basis.  Everyone who meets you (strangers at the grocery store, your grandparents, our music teacher) all say you are the "happiest baby".  And I must agree.  You smile a lot, you rarely cry.  You only cry when you are really, really tired just before I give you milk in bed, normally.  Sometimes you cry when your big sister harrasses you a bit more than you'd like.  But the vast majority of the time you smile and show us your squinty eyed grin whenever any of us come into the room.  Your sister can make you belly laugh by doing a screech or playing a crazy game of peek-a-boo with you and it's one of the greatest things for me to watch!

You've been rolling from your back to your tummy for quite a while now, my notes say since around October 15th.  And a couple of months after that, you started scooting backwards.  But still no crawling.  You are starting to do "planks".  Straight arms and pushing all the way up, but you haven't figured out how to get your knees underneath you and start moving forward.  Consequently, tummy time leads to frustration.  You do LOVE to stand and are so proud when you hold my fingers and take wobbly steps.

This month my goal is to try to get you more interested in solid foods.  The "new" thing in parenting is called Baby Led Weaning.  It's essentially giving you super steamed foods as opposed to purees.  So far, you aren't a lover of food.  A butternut squash pureed packet (Happy Baby Organics) was your favorite so far.  The pureed green beans, the carrots, the apples, not so much.  And the tiny banana chunks we have tried you sort of chew, but then give me a gag face when you get ready to swallow.  Last night I tried a little tortellini from my bowl and you actually seemed to enjoy that.  This week, it's steamed butternut squash and maybe carrots and whatever else is on our plates!).

I can't wait to see who you grow up to be.  I'm so excited about our future as a family and am so pleased we decided to add you to our family.  We thought long and hard about it and I wasn't initially sure I could love a second baby the way I loved Eleanor, but it's true what they say... my heart only grew.  I love you every bit as much as I love your sister!

Love you little man!
Mom