Birds of a Feather: Emalyn: Four Months in our Arms

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Emalyn: Four Months in our Arms

Today marks four months since we first held Emalyn in our arms. The last month has brought alot of growth and firsts for Emalyn. It is such a joy to watch her change and mature.

She is talking more and more. We still cannot understand everything she says, but she babbles in full sentences now and has at least 50 words that she uses regularly. Some of her most common words are hi, night night, bye bye, up, down, okay, sure, more, please, help, bow, ouch, cat, eat, snack, cup, bite, bubble, pool, and bird.

She remains an adventurous eater. She definitely likes a lot of things I would have never offered her if she hadn't said "bite". Some of the most surprising things she enjoys are guacamole, dates, and blue cheese. I find it very funny that she will eat things like those, but not drink milk or juice...she does love green smoothies, though.

She is anxious to use the potty like Adair does. I worry that I am missing an opportunity to potty train her, but I am just not ready. Every night before her bath and during most diaper changes she asks to sit on the potty. She hasn't put anything in the potty yet, but I think that day is coming and when it does I will have to seize the moment.

She has learned to take off her pants and put them back on and enjoys doing it over and over again. When she started that, we knew it wouldn't be long before the diaper came off. We were right! I was at the doctor with Myla Grant one day and got a text from my mom of Emalyn asleep in her bed with a naked bottom. After that, I started putting her in footy pajamas for nap and bed times, but it didn't take long for her to figure out how to unzip those and take them off. Now, she is sleeping with her diaper taped on and her pajamas pinned up. I am loving her new skills as much as she is, but sleep time isn't the ideal practice hour.

In addition to communication and gross motor skills (ie dressing and undressing herself), she learned to swim and slide this month. As adventurous as she is, some activities still make her nervous, but she warmed up gradually to the pool and slide and now loves both. She doesn't mind putting her face in the water at the pool and will kick her legs and move her arms, too. On the slide, she no longer timid and will go down all by herself now. She also loves to play pretend with her play kitchen and baby dolls. It's so neat to watch her imagination flourish.

We also celebrated Emalyn's second birthday this month. She had the best time and needed no help ripping into her gifts and eating her cupcakes. We are so thankful for this sweet little life that God has entrusted to us. We are thankful that two years ago, her birth mom made the decision to spare her baby girls life despite the difficulty of that decision. We cannot imagine life without Emalyn and it certainly feels like she has been in our arms far longer than she has!