I apologize for my long absence and delinquent updating. It's been a couple of months and a lot has happened in our (read: Emma's) world. For starters, she is WALKING. August 13th went into the record books as the first day that she stood up on her own in the middle of the room and walked more than 3 steps. It started a little rough with lots of crash and burns but she got better at controlling the falls. The trips and tumbles have become fewer and far between and she is getting harder and harder to keep up with!
Emma loves to be chased! She will walk half way across the room and look back at you and giggle. When you start to chase her she will laugh and giggle and run into the arms of whomever is not chasing her as if to be "saved."
What else is she up to, you ask? Well, she is a chatter box! It seems like she is always jibber jabbering about something. She has become a lot more interactive as well. If you ask her what a cow says, she responds with "moo moo moo;" what does a sheep say, usually a short pause followed by a definitive "BAAA;" and my favorite, what does a doggy say "woof woof woof woof."
Let's back up a little bit from this and recap the 4th of July. We had another great week at Lake Okoboji with Melissa's parents and Megan and Kevin. The big highlight of the weekend was when Emma took her first steps. She took 2-3 steps from Melissa to me and we were all very excited! Despite her new land-based accomplishment, most of the weekend was spent in the pool. Emma loved floating around on her little baby inter-tube, splishing and splashing, and being passed around the pool. We also spent some time on the boat, Emma's favorite spot was on Grandpa John's lap helping him drive the boat. That same weekend, my parents were in the neighborhood for a wedding so they stopped by to spend time with Emma. Dad and I had even had time for a nice bike ride around the lakes.
More recently, like this past Wednesday, Emma made her Minnesota State Fair debut! The highlight was the cattle barn (the title of which is a little misleading because nearly all the cows in the barn were milkers). Emma was enthralled by the moo cows. The lowlight of the fair was loosing Mr Moo. For those of you who don't know, Mr Moo is Emma's car seat and stroller companion. He goes pretty much every where that she does. I am very thankful that Melissa realized with in 10 minutes of our last Moo sighting that Emma, despite her fondness for the stuffed bovine, had tossed him overboard while cruising in the stroller. I am even more thankful for the stranger who picked him up off the ground and propped him on a bottle recycling container so he was clearly visible. I'm not sure who was more relieved, Emma or Melissa. Wait, yes I do - it was definitely Melissa.
Emma wouldn't take her eyes off the cows. She was mesmerized!
She almost touched this little guy until he turned his head to lick her leg. I thought she was going to crawl on top of my head!
Blake Sheldon - Melissa's celeb crush.
These are the usual suspects. From left to right, we have Teddy, Mrs Moo, Mr Moo and Chester.
Chester was a gift from one of Emma's (and our) favorite teachers at day care and our "go-to" baby sitter, Ms Sarah. Sadly Sarah left recently to return home to Illinois for college startup. We knew she was always there to watch out for Emma and love her in our absence. At school (daycare) Emma was her shadow. We miss Sarah dearly.
Sorry for the long wait between posts. I hope to be better in the future of keeping things more up to date.
With love as always,
Jason, Melissa and Emma
