Emma's Two!

 Emma as a two year old…
- Is talking like crazy. New words every day! She loves to sing and chat. She's thrilled when we can understand and carry on a conversation with her.
- Emma's two year molars popped through at some point in the past few months. I was looking at her the other day and noticed she had more teeth on one side than the other. Sure enough one whole tooth had come through and two others have poked through the surface. Oops for not noticing earlier. This girl is tough and handles pain well.
- She loves her babies. She named one, "Aye Aye." Aye Aye sits at the table, watches TV with Emma (even if the TV is not on), sleeps with Emma, gets books read to her, and gets pushed in the stroller to "Mimmy's hou" (Simeon's house) all day long.
- She is always copying Samuel, who I believe she calls "duel" (similar to Samuel calling himself, "buel" for the longest time). We hear "me too" hundreds of times a day.
- She loves to dance and perform all the time and makes people laugh everywhere we go.
- She has her fussy moments, mostly because she wants to be held all the time. However, she's over 30 pounds and my arms give out carrying her around. She actually recovers pretty quickly if she's given a moment to complain (in private, because no one else wants to listen to that). It's when I keep trying to distract and entertain her that she gets more worked up.
- Emma loves TV now. Her favorite shows are Cailou and she still has a love for Baby Einstein, but she'll also watch Clifford with Samuel if that's what's on (Clifford is his current favorite, like requests to watch it 10 times a day kind of favorite). She doesn't zone out as much as brother does, but will sit and watch for a whole show now. As much as I hate her watching very often, I'm so glad we have an easy way to get her to sit still for our flight to France in a few weeks.
- She still drinks milk from a bottle about once a day. She was almost weened about a month ago, but then we had a few rough nights due to ears and teeth and gave it back to her as a comfort item. Now, she requests it all day long and no other cup will suffice. I think we missed our window to take it away without much fuss. So, that will be Emma's New Years Resolution. No more bottle in 2013. :) I've been hesitant to give it up because it keeps her feeling like a baby.

My favorite Emma phrases of the moment:
- "Fomo Me" (Follow me)
- "bowel" (bottle)
- "Sigh sigh" (Butterfly)
- "Mommy silly" (Or Papa, or brother, etc.)
- "Cheese" (Camera)
- "Mine Dee"
- "Nigh Night" (any bed)
- "see see see" (Christmas Tree)

Happy birthday sweet baby girl. You bring us so much joy and we love you so much!

Not too many reject pictures this time. Mostly because I had the TV on behind me. The only trouble I had was getting her to take the bottle out of her mouth AND smile. I got her to to work with me by putting her baby on my head. :)