Emily is "Free" (3)

Emily is three!  I can't put words on what it's like to see my little girl grow up and see her little personality develop from baby to toddler to little girl.   Sweet, sensitive, and smart are still the words that come to mind. This has been a big year, with the arrival of her baby sister and move to a new house.  She enjoyed new activities (gymnastics, romp & stomp) and spent a lot of time with friends.  She still loves to read books, do puzzles, play with her animals, and visit family.

A few interview questions with the birthday girl, asked over the course of a few days.

Who is your best friend? Rosalie

What is your favorite color?  Purple, and pink

What is your favorite book- The cat in the hat

What is your favorite animal?  An owl.  "Did you know that when owls are really still, they let people pet 'em?...[Giggle...]  That doesn't really happen."

What is your favorite food?  Cupcakes

What is your favorite game?- Daddy's chess

What is your favorite thing to drink? Grape juice  [not sure where this one came from - she won't really drink anything besides water lately.  Or chocolate milk.]

What's your favorite thing to do outside?   Ride tricycles

What animals do you sleep with? My night night animals.  [Papa Bear, Monkey, Baby bear & bunny]

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Plant something in the garden 

What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Read a book together

Months ago, we started talking about her birthday and going to visit Granny in Philadelphia and go to the zoo.  The big event did not disappoint!!  We enjoyed perfect weather and made it through the majority of the zoo.  Some favorite animals were the rhino, giraffes, and kangaroos, as well as a close encounter with a tiger.    More pictures are here in our June album.

Getting close!

Adara has started really wanting to crawl.  Uncle Alden took this video today:

A post on Emily at age 3 is coming soon.  Things have been a little chaotic around here.   In the meantime, a quote.

Lauren: Emily, what lives in a garage?

Emily: [thinks] Stuff!  

Swingset Unveil

Emily turns three next week, but the celebration has started early.  This is a pretty good reaction for a girl who was running a high fever and spent the rest of the day sleeping or lying on the floor.

Adara at 8 Months

our baby girl is 8 months old.  

sidenotes: 1) emily chose this photo 2) when alasdair commented to emily that adara's shirt looked like a kimono, emily started calling her a "kimono dragon" 3) note our unfinished cabinets in the background.  hopefully someday soon we will be done living out of boxes.

these days adara likes to:

sit up to play. her favorite game is to take all the toys out of a basket, also loves the music table. starting to stand while supported.

eat. especially corn & sweet potatoes. where a jar of baby food often lasted a emily a day or two, adara eats 4-6 per day, in addition to nursing 4 times.

wave. she loves to wave at mom, dad & emily, but will also engage total strangers. she made a lot of friends at ikea this weekend.

talk. all the time. combinations of ya ba da ma ga. if she wants your attention she will grunt or cough and bang her hands on her lap until you look.

she's learning to give kisses. (ie lean her face against mine and laugh delightedly)

we've learned that she does not like to be hot! after some nighttime battles, we realized we'd been dressing her too warmly. on a hot night it's not unusual for big sister to be sleeping in full length PJ's and a blanket, while baby sister is in just a onesie. guess which one spent her first months in a philadelphia summer, and which in a NH winter. :)

just trying to savor her baby-hood!