Cheeser

Our friend Jen snapped a couple of pictures of Emme when we were hanging out at Cambree's house a few weeks ago during her photo shoot. She's got such a cheeser grin these days!

$20 CSN Giveaway Winner

The $20 CSN Stores giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered!. There were 89 comments, and the winner is #26:

Rachel (hoggandeals@)

Our Eating Break Through

Everything I've read about food & babies/toddlers says to make it a pleasant experience for them - never force something into their mouth or cause them to create negative associations with food. Check. I can do that.

So everytime I would get Emme in the high chair and she would turn away from something I offered, I would simply offer something else or do anything I could to avoid a "meltdown." I tried to be pleasantly firm. I tried letting her sit on my lap. I tried letting her sit at the table in a booster. I tried letting her sit on the floor with me picnic style. I tried everything the doctor suggested.

Apparently, the meltdown was exactly what she needed. We've had a serious break through in eating at our house! Here's how it happened...

One night about two weeks ago I was making dinner while Chris tried to feed Emme in her high chair. She was upset and turning down everything he offered her. Chris decided she was going to eat what he'd made her (a bowl of chicken & pasta soup). Emme fought it and screamed and completely melted down in her high chair, all the while looking at me and reaching out for help. I avoided eye contact and quietly finished making dinner. Chris stayed right there in her face, sitting on a stool by the high chair. After about thirty minutes of screaming & wailing, she ran out of energy and got quiet.

Chris scooped a spoonful of soup and she opened her mouth for it. She swallowed and opened again. Chris kept scooping spoonful after spoonful into her mouth, until the bowl was empty. (This has never happened before!)

Then he moved onto a banana, and she ate the whole thing.

Then he moved on to a piece of toast, and she ate the whole thing.

She just kept eating and eating and eating. And never fought it! I was in shock. It's like all of a sudden Emme realized that we mean business. That we are the parents & she's the child. I never could have been the one to sit there and force her to eat, force her into a meltdown. I don't have it in me. I'm the mom, the snuggler, the hugger, the nurturer. I just couldn't do it. It had to be Chris. Man, am I grateful for that man. He has good instincts.

{The proof: feeding herself yogurt.}

Ever since that day, Emme has eaten every shred of food I've put on her tray. And I'm not joking. She even takes the spoon and feeds herself, especially when it's yogurt. (It's glorious! I can do dishes while she eats! I get so much more done in a day!) She also comes up to me and asks for a "snack" during the day, only she says it without the s or the ck sounds -- so it's a "na." Hilariously cute.

When we went to my parents house on Sunday, my dad tossed Emme in the air and announced that he's pretty sure she's put on ten pounds in like two weeks. I can see it in her face, even. Yipee!

Mark my words, friends -- we WILL hit that 20 pound mark by our 18 month appointment!

Bananas

I have to share a funny moment we had this morning at our house. Emme's been talking (using real live words) a lot more lately. When we go to the store, she identifies shoes, balls, bananas, duckies, Dora, etc. But every once in a while she'll identify something with the wrong word which almost makes me lose my faith in her ability to actually know what she is saying.

Lately every time I walk out the garage door with her to get in the car, she keeps saying "nana! nana!" which means banana. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was saying, because it also sounds a lot like her cousin Hannah that she identifies in pictures. But neither word fit the situation. What the heck, I kept thinking. She doesn't know what she's saying!

Well, this morning I figured it out. As we walked out the door and Emme once again exclaimed "nana," I looked over to my left and spied a pair of Chris's yellow work gloves sitting on top of our water barrel, fingers facing us:

{As I'm typing this, Emme is sitting on my lap, pointing at this picture and saying "nana!"}
{Oh, and don't ask me why there are cups & plates randomly hanging out in the garage. Kthx.}

You judge for yourself, but they do look a lot like a bunch of bananas sitting there in the garage! I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing when I realized that's what she was pointing at. As usual, the child is smarter than the mama!

Every day for the last two weeks, Emme's been asking for one of those bananas as we leave the house and I, the mean mom, have ignored her.

Emme: 1
Mama: 0

$20 CSN Stores Giveaway

I frequently do giveaways on my other blog, but CSN keeps contacting me lately to do one on this blog. A different audience, I suppose? So I finally gave in.

If you've never heard of CSN Stores, they have just about everything you could imagine. From books to cookware, from shoes to swing sets -- they have it all. What have I ordered from them in the past? Bibs, children's dishes, a white noise machine, a Microplane and sticky notes. Plus they have reviews on their site, which are super helpful.

{Next on my list -- this Muro Notepad.}

So if you'd like to win $20 to CSN, just fill out the form below and submit!

Fine print: Giveaway ends 3/23/11, open to US and Canada. Code does not cover shipping charges. Winner will be contacted via email and has 24 hours to respond. I received no compensation for this post.

Modesty

{Being in Young Womens right now means I have modesty on the brain like all the time, so bear with me.}

I have to say, I love this poster. It was put up around campus at BYU recently. I think it's a good reminder for us all, that our skirts & dresses really should be at our knees, no matter what we've got on underneath.

I have a hard time finding long enough skirts and dresses sometimes, because I'm a little bit on the tall side. I can order dresses from "modest retailers" like Shade & Shabby Apple still have them fall short of my knee. For me it's a good reminder that someone else's opinion of modesty is not necessarily my own. It's a personal thing. It's also a reminder that our bodies are all individual and different.

I get great satisfaction and joy when I've worked hard to find a modest dress that fits my standards. It's like I'm reaffirming my own testimony of how strongly I believe that our bodies are temples.

Emme At 15 Months

We had Emme's 15 month checkup a few weeks ago. She is 70% for height, back down to 10% for weight, and a whopping 97% for her head (bigger than ever). This girl is a string bean with a huge noggin. Maybe someday she'll be a genius and take care of her parents so they never have to work again. :)

On another note, if anyone has suggestions on how to get this girl to eat, let me know. We're open to pretty much anything. Lately we've been adding full-fat whipping cream into her food (yogurt, bowls of cereal, etc). I've also been mixing in whole wheat flour with wheat germ, soy flour & brewer's yeast into everything I bake (as directed in this book, which I love).

Emme's got 8 teeth and 8 molars now. When she smiles at me, I can't believe how many teeth there are in there! It's crazy. She's active and chatty and a lot of fun. She even snuggles with us once in a while these days. She's got a healthy obsession with shoes, and she brings them to me all day long to put on her feet.

Our favorite thing Emme does lately is playing with cars. She is the only girl at her daycare right now, and apparently she sees the boys play with cars a lot. Now when she finds her car toys at home, she gets all excited and immediately drops to the ground, "drives" it around and even makes the "vroom-vroom" noises with her mouth. It's hilarious! She even did it during sacrament meeting last week when she found a toy car in the diaper bag. And she does it when we drive in the car. (I'm thinking we need to take a giant supply of barbies over to Emme's daycare. Who's with me?)

Emme's Vocabulary:

• Mama
• Dada
• Blankie
• Ducky
• Doggie
• What's-that?
• Hi (also uses this for "bye")
• Banana
• Hannah (her favorite girl cousin on the Spencer side)
• Nose
• Eyes
• No-no
• Mye (mine)
• Stuck
• Shhhhs (shoes)
• Psz (please)
• Psz Psz (pretty please - we think? must have learned this one at daycare.)

(She can also do the signs for "more," "all done" and "please," which are so helpful.)

We can't wait for spring at our house. I'm just itching to take Emme to the zoo and to the park, because she's so much more aware and interactive than before. I think this is the most fun age, yet!

{Couldn't be bothered to sit in her chair for any more pictures because she had to go play in her bow drawer.}