End of year recap bonanza!
We know it has been a while since we've updated the webpage... well, here are a bunch of pictures and a recap of what's been happening in the past several weeks!

Emma got to experience real snow for the first time on November 8th. Last year, Emma wasn't really old enough yet to "get" the whole concept of snow, but this year, as soon as the first flakes started to fall Mommy bundled Em up and took her out into the yard. Emma walked around in it for a bit and tried to catch some snowflakes as they fell. Unfortunately, the hat and mittens Mommy put on Emma (that had been Mommy's when she was a little girl) were a bit too big! This meant that we took a trip to buy Emma a hat and mittens that would fit her for this winter, along with her very first pair of snowboots. After much searching, the winning pair are a lovely lavender and pink and feature one of Emma's favorites, ELMO! When we got home, Emma tried on her new snow gear in the warmth and comfort of the living room. She is definitely ready for the snow now!

Emma's 18 month doctor's appointment went well. She is almost 33 inches tall (75th percentile) and weighs almost 22 pounds, and was happy to have gotten the last vaccination she'll need until kindergarten. She also had her flu shot, so hopefully she'll be protected from the really bad germies this year. Em has had her first cold of the winter season, which put her out of commission for a whole week. She spent a lot of her time sitting in her booster chair on the floor of the living room, reading or watching her Wiggles video, and even more time snuggling and sleeping with Mommy. (Emma decided to share her germs as a birthday present to Mommy this year.) Em actually moved her booster chair from its storage spot and set it up on the floor so she could sit in it - good thing she's getting a table and chairs of her own for Christmas!

Emma has been learning lots of new words (her vocabulary now has over 80 real words in it, along with many more words that we can't quite figure out yet but that Emma knows mean something) and just in time for the winter weather, she has a new favorite book, too - Snow, which was an early Christmas present from her Aunt Cathy. Emma sits and "reads" Snow over and over again, and asks for it to be read to her over and over and OVER again too. When Emma reads it, what we hear is "Snow. Snow! SNOW! Snnnnnnnnoooooow. SNOW!" as she turns the pages. (If you think that sounds exciting, you ought to hear her "read" Great Day for Up! - "Up. UP! UPUPUPUP! Up. Doggy. Up! UP!") Emma can tell you that Santa Claus says "HO HO HO!" and she is working on "Merry Christmas!" too. She's been to see Santa once, but is going to go back in her Christmas dress to get her picture taken with Santa in the next few days.

More pictures and updates coming soon!
- posted by Heather @ 3:18 PM