Life on Lofty Lane: Our growing 2 1/2 year old!

It is hard to believe that Emerson is 2 1/2 and that in just under 6 months she will be 3! She brings so much joy to our lives every day with her sweet little grin, her giggles and laughter, her beautiful and cheerful eyes, and the silly (& smart!) things she will say. She is growing into the sweetest big sister and just last week hugged Cameron, gave him a kiss and told him she loved him. It made me so happy to see and hear that since I think for a while she was hoping we would get rid of the little guy. :) Now she thinks he is fun and asks me if he can play with the blocks with her. She shares the blocks with Cameron for the most part and I absolutely love seeing them play together. She has gotten so independent at times and is definitely possessive with things she believes are hers. She will tell us "It's mine! I had it first!", which I have no idea where that came from because we don't say that to each other. Maybe she came up with that? Here lately we have gotten a kick out of her telling us that she said "Please" when she wants something. Usually it will be something like she will ask for gummies after dinner, which I don't ever do, but the girl knows what she wants. So she will say "Gummies please?" and I will tell her "No sweetie, you don't need gummies right now" and she'll say "But I said please!! Pah-lease! Mommy please!" How do I explain to her that yes, she said the magic word, but that she doesn't always get what she asks?! :) Another thing that will crack me up are the glares she will shoot my way when she is frustrated with me... ohhh man, she has some good ones. And bless her heart, she is doing her best to make sure I understand she is irritated, but I think it is so cute and funny. So I try not to laugh or grin where she can see it, but I really do find this funny.

I am not sure if she is having nightmares or if she is getting scared, but she has been waking up in the middle of the night almost once per week. I will wake up and hear her screaming and crying and fun up to her room to see what is wrong. Usually I'll change her diaper and hug her for a minute before telling her to go "night night". One night she asked if she could sleep with us and I caved and said ok. So she slept between us and I think she had a great time. She was tickled to be able to do that. So the next night she wanted to do it again, but I didn't let her... so far so good because she hasn't asked again. But she does like to lay down and snuggle on the couch sometimes with me now to watch tv. She has claimed this one blanket and won't let us use it. Sometimes she will lay down on the floor to watch tv and Frank has gotten down there with her.

At night we will change for bed and talk about the day. Most of the time Frank and I tag team and she loves having us both talk to her before she goes to sleep. We sing some songs, are starting to say a nighttime prayer (we hadn't been doing that), sing the ABCs, etc and then she will give me kisses on my left cheek, then my right, then my left again, then right again, and on and we are both giggling because she just cracks me up. So I will stop her and say ok, it is time to go night night. So we tell her we love her and lay her in bed and she will usually say she loves us and says "Goodnight mommy", and "Goodnight daddy" in her sweetest little voice and I hate to walk out of her room because it makes me want to hug her close some more.

She loves planes and helicopters. Frank got a toy flying helicopter for Christmas and she likes watching him fly it around. One day we need to go out to the airport and watch planes take off and land. She also loves trains and asks about them all the time. And of course, she loves the golf course... it has been pretty cold, but we were able to go the other day so she could use her new golf clubs and she had a blast. I know it is going to be fun for Frank to teach her (and baby brother) how to play... and she looked so darn cute. I, of course, think she is a natural. :) She also had fun pretending to drive the golf cart since Frank let her sit in his lap when we went out to get their clubs in the car. That is one of my favorite things about the golf course, too... I haven't met a person who doesn't have fun driving a golf cart. :)

Her best friend is still Violet, but I think Cameron is getting in place to claim that title before too long. But right now Violet still gets special attention being pushes around in the shopping cart or stroller, she gets pretend diaper changes, and is fed lots of pretend food by Emerson. She has a great imagination and is always having pretend telephone conversations, making pretend food in her kitchen set, and pretty much anywhere we go!

Food is still limited for us as far as options, but lately she has tried a few news things like cucumbers! I was surprised she liked it, but she had several slices.

Two words I don't like, but that are going to used more soon are potty training. Emerson really did not like it when we tried this before, but we are going to give it another go soon. I know she is smart enough and that is actually part of the challenge. She knows what it is and what you do, but she is stubborn. So we will see if we can get her to like the idea of wearing cute underwear soon and using the "big girl" potty.

Emerson sweetie, when you read all these posts about our family and you read these updates I hope you can tell just how special you are to us and to everyone you know. We love you so very much!!

Here are some pictures of Emerson's other half milestones and more. :)