43 months old

Another month of growth and development for Emily!  One of Emily's big things this month has been made-up words.  She just randomly comes up with things sometimes, even if she clearly knows the correct term/name.  The words usually come and go, but she has had longer-lasting terminology, too.  For instance, she loves "squatting" the hose (i.e. spraying it).  Lots of things also "whoosh" for all sorts of reasons. 

Although Emily has not yet gone through the "why" stage, she constantly asks, "What's that?"  She has also started pointing out rational irregularities in books and on TV.  For instance, "Chickens don't wear hats."  "Rainbows don't have faces."  "Bears don't drive cars."  This makes reading books a laborious chore sometimes.  We rarely actually read the words.  I am glad, however, that Emily has finally started choosing library books other than Berenstain Bears. :o)

I can't decide if Emily has an imaginary friend or if she's just naming stuffed animals, but whenever she's pretending her companion is usually named Allison.  Once in awhile she mentions other kids she has recently played with. but it's mostly Allison.  In this picture Emily & "Allison" (a.k.a. George) are doing their "homework".  They were drawing birthday cakes and people which eerily resembled the machines from the Matrix.  Notice that "Allison" had to have an extra book to sit on to see over the table. ;o)

In other art department news Emily is big into solid coloring.  Any papers she gets from Sunday School or storytime at the library end up with everything colored the same color and all filled in.  She does pretty good about generally staying in the lines.  She's getting pretty good at cutting on lines, too.  However, some perfectionistic firstborn traits are starting to shine through.  If it's not "right" or "perfect" in her mind than she gets upset and it often gets trashed.  She loves writing her name--especially on papers and on the cement with sidewalk chalk.  As was the case with the picture posted last month, all the letters are there, you just have to use a bit of imagination and turn around a couple times to find them.

Emily has also made big strides in riding her bike.  She has figured out how to brake and stop at every intersection and alley to look for cars.  Yesterday we went to the castle park and back.  On the way home she got stopped by a Waverly police officer and received a coupon for a free ice cream treat at DQ for being safe and wearing a helmet.

One sort of sad thing this month has been Emily mentioning every few days that, "I don't like my new house.  I want my old house."  With further probing it usually comes down to the fact that her old house had a dog.  I guess she remembers more about Cheney than I thought.  She also still points out the "doggie hotel" (i.e. the vet clinic/boarding place) on the way out of town and sometimes says, "Cheney is in the basement."  This gives me a twinge of guilt and sadness, but life is so much less stressful without a dog right now.  So Emily is just going to have to wait.