countdown to 2!

Emery,

In a little less than a month, you will be two years old! Here are lot of things I love about you...

• you love anything with wheels, especially buses, trucks, trains, and cars
• when we're in the car (and if you're not watching your "moo-mi" on the DVD player) you love to gaze out the window and shout out whatever type of vehicle you see
• your favorite said "moo-mi" is Shrek and you get a huge grin and start to dance whenever the theme song comes on
  
• you adore your little "Booby" and get very concerned whenever she cries-- you run to me and yell "baby!!"
• you love to kiss Ruby on the mouth and are not satisfied until you find her lips!
• you really love to give hugs and as you wrap your arms around one of us, you say "hug" while you're doing it
• you are fascinated by all children (strangers or ones you know and love) and give hugs to them all-- even if they push you away, you are adamant about giving them one!
• You love to watch daddy give mommy a kiss and when he hugs mommy, you run over and join in
• since Christmas 2009, you insist on being rocked to sleep while we sing the first verse of "Silent Night", which you call PEACE because of the last sentence
• over the last couple of months, I've been able to increase the bedtime songs to include DADDY ("I'm so glad when daddy comes home"), STAR ("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") and JESUS ("Jesus wants Emery for a sunbeam")
  
• When you wake up in the middle of the night crying and I go in to check on you, you pick up your blanket (you two faves are the monkey quilt and dog "blankie" that Grandma Jeanne made you), sometimes your bears, and point at the glider and say "ROCK!"
• You love being outside and would spend all day in the yard if I could let you... so I put gates in front of the two front doors and we open them a lot so you can look out and see all the cars and trucks and buses drive by
• I swear you have your own language that you think I understand! For the last 6 months, you have full conversations with me, where you look at me intently and make gestures like an adult. Erin said yesterday that you sound like you're speaking in Turkish.
• You love Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba and Elmo. Whenever I'm near the computer or TV, you're asking to watch one of the two.
• You really enjoy playing with your trucks, buses, trains and cars. You like to line them all up, either next to each other or in a line front to back, in which case you push them and say "CHOO CHOO".
• You used to say "CRUCK" which meant either a car or truck, along with "BUS" and "CHOO CHOO" for train. Over the last couple of days, you've started saying "truck" and "car" for each one. It's amazing to be able to watch you learn concepts and to see your little mind working so hard!
• You LOVE baths. You REALLY LOVE splashing in the bath and bubbles. I finally bought sensitive bubbles because we use them almost every time!
• You DON'T LOVE the process of getting the shampoo out of your hair. Daddy doesn't really try, but I'm willing to fight for the suds to come clean. :)
• When you are happy about something you accomplished, you yell "yeah!"
• You are a great clapper. We were watching "Dancing With the Stars" this morning and when the dance ended and everyone was clapping, you put down your truck, turned toward the TV, and clapped along with them.
• You have gotten so used to wearing glasses that you can now scratch an itch under your glasses and them push them back up your nose
• You like wearing your BYU baseball hat we got for our Australia trip last summer and can even put it on now (you insist on wearing it like an adult, pulled down low in the front)
• You and your daddy love spending time in front of the computer playing music. You like to stand facing the big speakers and dancing.
• You still like your bottle-- usually one in the morning and one at night with milk. If it's been a hard day, you'll sometimes ask for one in the afternoon and it seems to calm you. I don't mind one bit.
• You are very helpful. You like to wash things off with a wipe or washcloth. You also really enjoy when I vacuum. You follow me around the house and sometimes use the mop as your own vacuum.
• And the word "vacuum" is what you use if there is any type of motor involved with something... anything that sounds remotely like it, you yell "vacuum" and point to it.
• You HATE getting your diaper changed. EVERY TIME. It makes my job a little hard, as I've gotten kicked plenty of times.
• You love your monkey sweatshirts, your shoes (the Crocs and flip flops are your favorites) and getting dressed in general-- you tell me each thing as we put it on, like "pants", "socks", "shoes", etc.
• You like to kiss the picture of Jesus and the children that I hung for you in the family room.
• You like having a blanket on you whenever you're sitting... in the car this past winter, on the couch reading books or watching TV, in bed, when we rock before bedtime, in your crib... you love that we have blankets all over the house now for Ruby because you think they were put everywhere for you!
• You really like Max, who you call "Matt".
  
• Sometimes he's naughty and takes food right out of your hand. Sometimes you give him food through his kennel door or when he's at the foot of your high chair waiting for something to fall. You squeal with delight when eats it.
• You love helping with laundry and especially when you can watch the water start up in the washing machine.
• You are really good about staying away from things I tell you are hot, like the oven and Nonna's fireplace
• You worship your papa and as we round the corner by their house, you start yelling "papa" before we're even at the driveway
• You do the same think when we get close to daddy's work-- I find it fascinating that you can already recognize where we are!
• You really like Andy and can say his name very clearly.
• You love to carry around phones and have one sided conversations on them. Whenever my phone or Nonna's phone rings, you say "Papa?" and then "daddy?"
• If you ever spot a pacifier, you insist on shoving it into Ruby's face, whether or not she wants it
• You try and share your bottles with her
• There's only one word I've been trying to get you to say for a long time... more. You still do the sign language for that word, which you've been doing for a year now.
• You love climbing stairs and can go down the big winding slide at the park by our house, even though it makes your mother VERY nervous
• You often go to the door and plead "WALK!"
• You enjoy going on walks and being on the front porch, sitting in the wicker chair
• You love car keys and like to "unlock" the kitchen door with the keys
• You love Nonna, but not so much when I'm around. You spend a lot of time yelling "Mom-MYYYY" and hugging my leg.
• You call Ruby "baby" most of the time.
• You love stars and can recognize the shape every time you see it.
  
• You know how to count 1, 2. You've been doing it about a year now, as I always say "1, 2" when we get dressed-- like 1, 2 socks, 1, 2 shoes. When you have two things, you will yell, "TWO!" and get very excited.
  
• When we go Target or the like now, Ruby stays in her car seat and you stand next to it in the cart. I usually get you a toy car that has buttons on it so you can push it over ad over again and listen to the sounds or watch the lights. After awhile, you get bored and hand it to me or throw it over the side and say "all done".
  
• You really like pens. You colored on two of the doors in our house last week.
• You're very compassionate to little ones crying and whenever you hear a baby or child crying, you come to me and say "baby" in a concerned tone.
  
• You love to blow your nose. On anything. Wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, my shirt. You hold it up to your nose and bend forward and blow out of your mouth. You look like an adult who really is blowing hard. It's one of the funniest things you do.
• I love you more every day. When I'm not with you for a short time, I can't stop thinking about how you would like something, or what you would be doing if you were with me. I love taking you places to watch your face light up, like at the dino museum or farm country. You love to explore, run around on your own and crouch down on your haunches to see something closer. I've realized that you are your own little person, who knows what he likes and what he wants to do. And I'm so grateful for every minute we get to spend together. It's fun being one of your favorite people.
• You have started repeating the last word that I say in a sentence, but here are some of the words you can say now on your own: daddy. mommy, baby, Booby, Andy, Corky (Corey was coming into town and I tried to teach you his name. When you saw him for the first time at the airport, you said "Corky" without coaching. It was priceless!), Nonna, Papa, Matt (Max), Jack, Zanna, Pinky (that's what you call Brooklyn), car, truck, bus, lellow (yellow), lalalala (means light to you!), HOT!, pants, shoes, socks, shirt, walk, rock, keys, seat (last week you said "car seat" together, but you haven't done it since!), Elmo, Abbie, Brobee, remote (as in, Emery, can you hand mommy the remote? and then you hand it to me and say "remote"!), hat, eat, hun-gy (as in hungry), NO, NO WAY, YAY!, dite-dite (you've been calling that a cracker for months!), juice, milk, water, wet, doggy, dog, cookie, cheese (you love to ask for cheese and then when I open the fridge, you get it out yourself from the bottom drawer), bath, owwie, ouch, poop (like when I was changing your diaper today and you yelled "POOP!"), help, please, pizza, ni-night, blankie, mouse, slide, up, down, away, hurt, head, mouth, teeth, nose, ears, hands, toes, eyes, apple, nana (for banana)