Moments

This week Emily has been learning all sorts of new things.  While we were washing dishes together today she figured out how to get her own sponge wet from the faucet.  That was not nearly as fun as filling up a small cup with water and shaking it around.  She laughed so hard when she saw the water fly out of the cup and splash us both for the first time.  She did it quite a few times and neither of us could stop laughing.  She was a big help in wiping up the puddles of water when we were done doing the dishes.

Emily and I have a pretty sweet system for doing laundry.  I lower her into the laundry basket and she picks up the clothes and then I stand up and turn towards the washer and she tosses them in.  When it is time to switch the clothes to the dryer, I put them on the door on the dryer and she pushes them inside.  She also helps pull the clothes out of the dryer and put them into the basket, although she insisted on carrying a few items in her arms up the stairs today.  She then hands me the clothes one by one and I fold them.  Her favorite finds are dad’s socks and her own clothes.  Today she tried on each one of her clothes as we pulled them out of the basket.  When we were finally putting her clothes away, she found her swimsuit and she tried that one too. She tries to put all clothes over her head, but she hasn’t quite figured it out yet.

We were walking home tonight from a friend’s house and I asked Emily a question.  She shook her head and said no – a first! Up to this point she just says “yes” to everything.  We played a new game, saying “no” and shaking our heads and then saying “yes” and nodding our heads.

Emily has added crabs to her animal repository.  She now steps side-to-side and opens and closes her hands while shaking her head back and forth.  Yes it is adorable!

We tried painting with water on construction paper today.  Emily thought it was cool for a few minutes and then started drinking the water, splashing in it, and finally dumping it all out.  (There is duct tape on almost all of our outlets now because Emily decided to try plugging things in one day and all I could find was duct tape to quickly cover them).

Emily still loves books and sitting on things that are just her size.  She likes this little reading corner in her room, but she still prefers to back herself up and sit on our laps after handing us a book to read to her (which I love). We’ve almost finished reading Stuart Little together, something we do on a blanket in the sun in the afternoons after she wakes up from her nap.

This is how she greets Dad every morning. Such excitement and joy.  She also waves good-bye when he walks out the door.  A few days this week she has insisted on wearing her hat at breakfast.  She signs “hat” over and over and won’t go on with her meal until it is on her head.

Emily has been handling the cold (below 0 and single digits) rather well and navigates the icy sidewalks like a champ.  She walked all around our complex without falling once.

Some days are just so good, and today was one of those days.