The Emmons Kids

Happy 5th Birthday to Alexandra

// July 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // Milestones

Happy birthday sweetheart!

On July 5, Alexandra turned five years old. We knew this day was coming; our daughter has been reminding us of the fact daily. She doesn’t like to count the days until something happens, preferring instead to count the number of sleeps. So we’ve been counting down the number of sleeps until her big day for at least a month.

This day means as far as age goes, our little girl is no longer a preschooler, but the number merely validates what we’ve seen and known for a while.

A few weekends ago we had a “girls only” trip to the grocery store. Ally put on a dress and wouldn’t leave the house without her purse, lip gloss and sunglasses. When I laughingly asked, “Ally, why do you want to take all that?” Her simple reply was, “Because you always have those things, Mommy, and I want to be like you.” I know the days of my daughter wanting to emulate me will be over before I know it, as will the days when she asks me to play “dollies” or hold her just because.

Ally is very independent, with a can-do, take charge attitude. Her outgoing, chat with anyone personality is wonderful, but can make me nervous when it comes to strangers. Ally prefers to do things for herself, and we encourage her to be that way, but there are times she’ll ask us to “help” her. Although I know she doesn’t really need it (sometimes that’s my response), I often oblige, because that voice in my head reminds me how fleeting time is and one day I will only be able to reminisce about helping my little girl with simple things like brushing her teeth or washing her hair.

This fall, Ally will start kindergarten, not just because she meets the age requirement, but because I know she is ready. Since our public school only offers half day, Ally will attend a full day program at her current private school with at least two of her good buddies.

I know she’ll be in good hands as she’s already learned so much and she’s happy there. I think her favorite lessons have been learning to sing The Beatles Yellow Submarine in sign language and a dance routine set to Smash Mouth’s I’m a Believer. She performs both of these just about every other day. The fact she knows each by heart is amazing to me, as this old-timer has a hard time remembering where I put my keys!

A few highlights of Ally’s past year are:

• Our fall trip to Disney World where we celebrated Halloween and Ian’s birthday, and Ally was finally tall enough to ride the thrill rides, which she loved. She got to know some of the staff on Thunder Mountain because she rode it so much.

• The excitement of dressing up as Cinderella for Halloween. She insisted on wearing the same costume from the previous year.

• Introducing the Elf on the Shelf to the kids at Christmas time. Ally was skeptical, telling me that magic wasn’t real. Luckily when Bernard showed up in a different spot day after day, she seemed to be a bit more believing. It made us wonder how much longer she’ll continue to believe in Santa.

• Ally learned to ask her father’s permission to do something when he’s half asleep and he’ll say yes. Luckily she only asked if she could paint her nails and toes. She did a decent job, but got some pink polish on our cream carpet. Rather than removing the spots, I think I’ll leave that memory there.

• Being a big girl at her great uncle’s funeral, and telling her pappy he shouldn’t be so sad that his brother had died, since he would see him again when he died too.

• Demonstrating her father’s love of electronics by skipping around the house chanting, “I love it!” when Eric installed her TV in her bedroom (the first in our house).

• Telling me the morning of her birthday, “Now that I’m five I can do whatever I want…I figured it out all by myself.”

There are so many other highlights I could list from the past year too. And as I read this over one last time before publishing, my eyes are full of tears. Alexandra is a light to us and a constant reminder that as complicated as life can seem, it’s the simple joys of a parent holding their child and the smiles and laughter that truly matter in life, which she has brought us in spades.

Happy birthday, Alexandra. We love you.

A Tooth Sighting!

// July 17th, 2008 // No Comments » // Milestones

After months of waiting, Ian is finally getting his first tooth at 10 1/2 months old! Eric spotted it last night, just starting to poke through Ian’s gums on the bottom right.

We are so used to our boy’s toothless grin that I confess it will be odd to see him with a pearly white, albeit adorable of course!

15 Months Old

// October 5th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Milestones

Today Ally is 15 months old! Adding to her accomplishments, she now says Daddy and doggy. Somehow Mommy has been lost from her vocabulary and she finds it funny to call me Daddy now too, giggling whenever she says it.

Actually Ally has turned into quite the Daddy’s girl, following Eric everywhere and fusses until he picks her up and carries her around the house with him. As an indication of how wrapped around her finger Daddy is, he obliges 95% of the time. The remaining 5% usually has her pouting until Daddy gives in within a couple of minutes. Not that I’ve been forgotten. I still get plenty of hugs, kisses and giggles and am the one Ally wants when it’s time to sleep.

And although I don’t know how, she seems to have found even more energy. Even her teachers at school comment on how energetic Ally is, running circles around the other kids and as rambunctious as all the others combined at times. Our concern is that she has no fear, which results in many bumps, bruises and scrapes. She’s now hit her head at least three times in practically the same spot. I only half joke about buying her a helmet to wear.

Ally now eats everything that we eat, and her favorites are fruit and cheese. The best was the day Daddy gave her roasted red pepper and black bean soup – in a bowl with a spoon. Now Ally can feed herself with a fork and spoon just fine (although with a rather messy flair), so this was not the best idea. I think we will be finding spots of that around the kitchen for years to come. I’m just glad she actually liked it, or who knows what a mess it would have been.

Finally she is enjoying doing things we ask her to so that we will clap and cheer for her. This includes throwing away her diapers and any other speck of dirt (literally she will pick up and trash a blade of grass) she finds around the house, as well as many non-trash items such as remotes, lids to our pans and such. She’s even taken to pretending to throw things away when nothing else is handy to get us to clap for her. Ally will also put her toys away before leaving a room when asked, get her cup, and any number of other things.

She’s been trying desperately to put on her own socks and shoes, but hasn’t mastered it yet. With how fast she’s picking up new skills, I’m sure it won’t be long before she’s conquered that as well.

Ally Turns One!

// July 5th, 2006 // 3 Comments » // Milestones

Exactly one year ago today, Eric and I were at the hospital eagerly awaiting the arrival of our little girl, when at 2:40 p.m., with her umbilical cord wrapped twice around her neck, Alexandra Faith made her appearance. She was more beautiful to us than we had imagined and even tinier too.

Right before the nurse weighed Ally, she asked Eric and me to guess her weight. I guessed 7 lbs., 7 oz. and was exactly right. Mommy intuition had already set in. For Eric’s part, he was a natural from the start and even now, no one can make Ally giggle like her Daddy.

It’s hard to believe that Ally is one year old today – and what an amazing year it has been. We’ve all grown so much. Eric and I are a long way from the time we changed her first poopy diaper in the hospital, which was a two-person job (okay, it’s back to being a two-person job, but that’s only because she absolutely refuses to lay still long enough to be changed unless one parent serves as entertainment!). Ally now rides face forward in the car, which seems insignificant, until you realize how much she can see, notice and take in, a far cry from the infant that was unaware of her surroundings and slept through every car ride.

All the things people told me that I’d simply responded yes, I know or yes, I’m sure, to are now so real to me – enjoy every moment, the first year goes so fast; their looks change so much from the day they are born; you’ll appreciate the days when you could lay her down in one spot and she would stay there.

We are as much in awe of Ally now as we were on the day she was born, and delight in the glee she finds in the daily tasks in life that we take for granted – the way she giggles when walking hand in hand with Mommy to check the mail, pointing at things and “talking” to Mommy and Daddy about them. Our tiny bundle of joy is still just that (and always will be!), albeit the tiny is no longer appropriate.

Happy birthday Ally! Your Mommy and Daddy love you more than you could ever comprehend (and a lot of other people do too!) and you bring such joy to our lives. The day you were born was the day we realized that miracles really do happen. On your special day, and every day, our wish for you is a long, safe, happy and healthy life, filled with joy.