My Emma Girl

I need to focus this post on my Emma girl and what she's been up to lately. She is getting soooo big and is learning soooo much.

First of all, let me say she is an awesome big sister. She is so kind and sweet towards Hannah. The first few weeks, she mostly ignored her. I must admit, that was kinda nice because I figured, "Hey, she's not being rough with her and she's not feeling neglected." Now, she's not only taking notice of her a lot more but I think she's really starting to care about her. She always wants to know where Hannah's at and what she's doing. She likes to come give her kisses and hugs and *gentle* pats. She brings her her lovey and binky and displays nothing but affection towards her. We're so proud of our sweet girl.

Part of having a little baby in the house means that you learn some mothering skills. Emma's very best friend and very best "baby" in the whole world is her kitty from Build-A-Bear that she got for her birthday from Aunt Mae and Uncle Ian. She sleeps with him and carries him EVERYWHERE. He never leaves her side. Well, now, she mothers him. As you can see from the picture, poor kitty needed his hair brushed and had some boogies that needed sucked from his nose. And, as all us Mommy's can relate, you have to balance baby care with your own so she managed to take care of her sweet kitty while brushing her teeth :)

We have also been working very hard with her on learning some simple "chores" and she is doing great with them. Every day, we have her put her shoes away by herself, put her dirty clothes in her hamper, she puts her books on her shelf (or on the floor in front of the shelf), and will help us pick up her toys at the end of the day. We give her lots and lots of praise when she picks up her things and she really enjoys it. I'm starting to notice that she's doing it without me asking her.

As part of her bedtime routine, I have been saying a prayer with her and showing her how to fold her hands and bow her head (which she does very nicely for all of about 3 seconds, but hey, it's a start). I've been struggling with what type of verbal prayer to pray with her. I thought, what would a baby be thankful for? What would a baby worry about? So, I pray in the first person, as though I'm her, and we thank God for Mommy, Daddy, Hannah and all our other family members. Tonight we thanked God for our awesome teachers at daycare because they do fun stuff and care so much. We ask God to watch over her through the night, to guard her dreams, help her be a good girl, be healthy and grow. Her favorite part, though, is the Amen. It kinda sounds like May-Mee. And she shouts it really loud about five times more like a Hallelujah. It's kinda funny because the first few times I tried to quiet her and say, "Okay, that's enough, time for night-night." I wondered how I would even try getting into an exlpanation of what it means to be reverent to an 18 month old. But then I thought, "What's wrong with celebrating at the end of a prayer in anticipation of the great things God will do?" I think sometimes we really can learn so much from our kids.

Anyway, miss Emma Liz is doing great and we love her so much.

And, because I just can't resist, here's a picture of sweet Hannah before I go :)