The last post occurred right before Thanksgiving, so that's where I'll pick up the narrative about Emmitt. We visited Casey's parents at their house in White Stone on Virginia's Northern Neck Peninsula. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Emmitt had a great time exploring their house and yard, and he especially enjoyed taking a trip to the Kilmarnock Community Center, where we went bowling. Emmitt loved watching everyone bowl, and he wanted so badly to join us. He even picked up one of the smaller balls and carried it around for a bit. He was very pleased with himself for being able to carry a bowling ball, and he got very frustrated when he couldn't pick up some of the larger balls.
In early December, my sister, Krista, joined us on a trip to a Christmas tree farm in Mechanicsville, VA. We found a great tree there, and Emmitt had a great time running around the farm and watching the farm workers use a machine to shake the dead needles off of the trees that people purchased.
About a week later, Casey hosted a very successful cookie exchange, and I took Emmitt over to play at my parents' house. The cookies were delicious, but we probably gained several pounds in the weeks that followed as a result of having way too many cookies to eat. We didn't make ginger bread cookies this year, but I think Emmitt will be ready for that next Christmas.
Speaking of cooking, Emmitt loves cooking, and he has his own table in the kitchen where he cuts up his toy vegetables and fruits, pretends to fry things in a pan, and pretends to mix up delicious soups that he likes us to taste. Given that his parents love to cook, this comes as no surprise to me and Casey, and we're doing all that we can to encourage Emmitt's interest in the culinary arts. We're currently growing seedlings for a summer vegetable garden, and we know Emmitt will be excited to help us tend it.
Okay, so back to the holidays: we hosted a brunch for our parents and Krista on Christmas Day at our house. Krista had spent the night on Christmas Eve, which was a lot of fun and is something that I hope becomes a tradition for our family. Christmas Day was a great day of family fun, and most of it was focused on watching Emmitt play with the toys that people gave him.
This squirrel puppet, whom we later named Milkweed, was waiting in Emmitt's stocking on Christmas morning.
Emmitt's G-Daddy and Mimi gave Emmitt a guitar for Christmas. I gave him his first lesson.
Here's a couple photos of Emmitt opening presents.
Overall, it was a pretty spectacular Christmas Day.
On the day after Christmas we traveled down to Cary and Winston-Salem, NC to visit family, especially Emmitt's great-grandparents. Krista joined us for the car rides to and from NC, and during the trip Emmitt became very fond of his new travel-buddy (i.e., Auntie Krista). By the end of the trip he began to expect her to be sitting next to him every time we put him in his car seat. Emmitt also got along really well with his cousin, Skylar, which is evident in this photo.
On a rainy day in February, we took Emmitt to the Children's Museum of Richmond for the first time. He loved it. Here are a couple of the things that he enjoyed.
Here are some other Emmitt-related developments that have occurred in the past several months:
1) He has become more and more adept at walking, running, climbing, kicking (soccer balls, beach balls, etc.), and most recently, dancing. In the past few weeks he has really gotten into dancing to music (usually bluegrass or 60s/70s soul/R&B). If he hears a song that he likes he starts stomping his feet and moving forward and back in time with the music. He also likes to put his hands behind his back while he dances in a position that is not unlike the "Funky Chicken." He has also started spinning around in circles while he dances, which is funny to watch until he gets too dizzy and falls over into some furniture.
2) He has learned several sign language signs. He knows signs for "ball," "more," "eat," "milk," "fan," and "light." He loves to tell us every time he sees a fan or a light, and he loves going to my parents' house where each room contains at least one ceiling fan and so many lamps.
3) He loves to hug and kiss both his stuffed animal friends and his human friends.
4) He has developed a passion for sweeping, putting clothes in the dirty clothes basket, watering plants, filling the birdbath, and other household/yard chores. We're trying to take advantage of this as much as we can.
5) He says "mama" and "dada" sometimes, but for the most part he is still babbling. Lately, his babbling sounds like "Aaah-dicca-dicca-dicca-tooka-tooka-tooka." Just yesterday he started saying, "Bong!" a whole lot and grinning at us. We haven't figured out what this means. Maybe he just likes the way it sounds.
6) He is starting to get interested in flushing the toilet, sitting on his training toilet, and disposing of dirty diapers, so potty training may be on the horizon.
7) After many months of not being a huge fan of baths, Emmitt has started to enjoy bath time. Here he is being silly with a bath toy.
Okay, I guess that's enough of an update for now. Here's one more photo of Emmitt enjoying one of his Christmas presents (a winter hat from his Grandmommy and Papa Bear).
Oh yes, and Emmitt has started waving goodbye now. Goodbye!
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