Summer 2008

I can't believe that we are in the middle of summer already. What a busy summer it has been. Our new house is now feeling more "homey" with the addition of driveways, patios, and landscaping and less like a construction site. We still can't play in the yard because we haven't seeded our lawn yet, but we have been meeting our neighbors and making new friends.

Emerson continues to be busy with all her regular therapies and this summer we added weekly music therapy sessions. At the first session, the music therapist sat 2 feet in front of us, played her guitar, and sang with her beautiful, but rather loud voice. After she was done, Emerson stood up and told her "All Done". Emerson now sits a little further back and does much better.

Ahhhh, how to describe Emerson at almost 2 1/2 years old. She is pure joy and love, mixed in with a side of fiesty. She is incredibly lovable and such a snuggler. We snuggle after every nap and she lays on me and sighs and says, "mommy" in the cutest, sweetest way. She is a completely easy going, content little girl, EXCEPT when someone tells her "NO". Then she screams out, turns to me (or whomever the offender is) and says, "No Bite!". She has never actually bit me, but she lets me know that she is thinking about it.

Emerson seems to be doing well and learning and to be honest I really just don't worry about it. She is doing things in her own way, at her own pace. Her vocabulary right now is pretty big, but she really isn't combining words that often. Typically, kids start combining words once they know about 50 words. Emerson has a vocabulary in the hundreds, but really only says them as singletons. She can count to ten (minus #7), say parts of her ABC's, and most importantly, when we tell her we love her, she says, "I You Too" with her face all scrunched up. Oh, she makes the funniest, craziest faces.

Emerson is finally able to climb up and down stairs and on and off furniture pretty reliably. She is getting SureStep SMOs next week and hopefully that will improve her stance and gait. All I can say is she certainly can't sneak up on someone when she is walking.

The biggest obstacle right now with Emerson is her overly social behavior. We were at the pool this morning and Emerson loves the water. However, we spent very little time in the water, because she loves greeting people and socializing even more. She got away from me a few times and gave random legs at the pool hugs. UGH! Thankfully, everyone is always very nice, but it is very uncomfortable peeling her off of stranger's legs. Then she cries and reaches for them, like "Don't let my mean mommy take me away from you!!". She loves all, everyone, and then some. I often find her greeting and chatting to bugs like they are people. Other than that, I really can't complain. I have met more people this summer and have totally learned to come out of my more introverted comfort zone. I'm not shy, but I am now way more "out there" than I have ever been.