Emma Bemma Boo

Emma is definitely not my "little baby" anymore. She has gotten so big...think she will be wearing mostly 2T clothes in no time which Angel took a long time to do. We call her our little monkey-do because everything that Angelica says, does or goes....Emma is right behind doing the same thing, or at least trying to! She has a huge desire to be just as big and able as her older sister. This little girl has the sweetest nature and loves to snuggle and give kisses and always wants to have attention on her and words of approval! On the other hand, this little one has the strongest will and temper...and I thought Angel had one! She doesn't give up and fights for her cause. I am learning how to effectively handle her melt downs and avoid them in simple ways as well. She is getting better with "obeying" and manners and apologies etc.

We are still waiting on her last first molar to come through and hoping the other teeth are soon behind....she has been a very slow teether...which I am telling myself is a big contributor to her pickiness with foods. So different than her sister who ate everything we eat since she was little and still does today. Emma would rather have her cheese, yogurts, applesauce, STRAWBERRIES or fruit of any kind all day. Although she will eat chicken nuggets, teriyaki chicken and hot dogs of course. She wants to hold the big girl cups ALL by herself, she is doing better eating cereal like a big girl with milk (although she likes to drink the milk before eating the cereal), and loves peanut butter and jelly and would eat peanut butter all by itself. Hoping that her food selections start to widen though as dinner times can be a little challenging!

Emma wants to get into her car seat and buckle herself because "Gel-Ka" does it. We have taught Angel how to buckle herself completely in her car seat so when we move her to the back of the van when the baby comes she can get in and be a big help to mama! So Emma can get in the seat, but the buckling isn't happening and she isn't pleased with us helping!

She loves animals....she loves to chase birds thinking she can catch them, she loves to pet dogs, she LOVES BEARS and would spend all day at the zoo. So far doesn't have much fear.

The big accomplishment of yet though has happened this week. Emma has been a co-sleeper since she was basically two months old and gave up the bassinet. She was a very avid nurser and like Angelica would always pinch, touch and twist my neck while she nursed and in order to fall asleep (so weird and hoping it isn't a genetic trait we have going on here). So in order to fall asleep she needed mama's neck....believe me I have tired to come with inventive ways to make a fake me neck! Starting at the end of July, I was able to just open my door and tell her to go night night for nap time....she would go get in my bed and fall asleep!!! This got me thinking that maybe we just needed to bypass the whole sleep training in the crib thing and go right to the bed. Again, so different because we just moved Angel out of a crib this year as well!!! But after so many attempts of 6 hour screaming sessions in the crib.....I decided to give the bed a try. We found an exact match to the one we got Angelica for $5 at a yard sale on craigslist. So Monday I got it all set up and nap time put her down. Monday was a rough day and night and she did end up back in our bed around 1am. However, Tuesday was better and Wednesday even better. Today it only took 5 minutes for her to stop fussing at nap time and hopefully tonight will be easier as well. Last night it only took about 30 minutes or intermittent crying and she stayed the whole night again for the second time in a row. I have been amazed at how she "loves" the idea of the big girl bed but cries when she knows she doesn't' have my neck to hold. When I go in to check on her she immediately reaches out her little hands to grab it. I do admit that I miss my cuddly little bed buddy, but very thankful that she will be sleeping on her own before this baby arrives. The next step is to move she and Angel in together...one step at a time though.

She loves to go potty before and after her baths (and would like to go whenever Angelica goes....which is actually happening more often now so keep your fingers crossed that we might be potty trained before this baby comes!)....her hair is starting to thicken and grow and she has curls that pop up in the back....she loves saying her Angel of God and Hail Mary prayers....and is also getting excited about the baby coming and wants to play with her she says. All in all....my girlies are growing and it is so true that these moments fly by and hopefully we can savor each one as they happen....and I am glad I have this blog to help me record some of them.