Here is the best shot I got of all the kiddos!
I love how Emma carries her Easter basket up on her arm :-)
At Emma's 15month check-up, I talked to her pediatrician about when she should be giving up her bottle (which she loves) and her paci (which she also really loves). He didn't seem to think there was an urgency to giving up the bottle, but he thought it was time to give up the paci, especially since it can have a negative impact on a baby's mouth. He thought it was starting to cause her problems. I was initially thinking he he was going to tell us we could wait til she was 2. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have asked. I dreaded Emma giving up her paci. I know she likes it and I was also afraid she would develop other bad habits (sucking her fingers, which I'm thinking would be a harder habit to break). So once we decided to give get rid of it, the question was how. I always assumed I would talk to her about it when she got older and the time came. But I wasn't sure that was the best idea given her age. She understands a lot of what we say, but would she understand what I was trying to tell her? I wasn't sure. So we just made it disappear. She had no difficulty going to sleep and didn't wake up in the middle of the night. I was more concerned about the next day. But she really did great. She did put her hands in her mouth a few times, but overall wasn't too upset. I know she's smart enough to remember the paci and the bunnies attached to them, but she doesn't know how to ask for them. My biggest concern is that I don't want her thinking that things just disappear. I would have rather talked to her about it. I guess in the end, she seems to be doing well without it and it seemed to be an easy transition. It's been a couple of weeks so I think we're in the clear.
Her sleeping is all over the place. A couple weeks back, she was sleeping better than usual. Or at least she was doing a better job of sleeping mostly through the night. I think it lasted about a week (around the time that we dropped the paci, surprisingly). I thought we had made a break-through but recently she's been waking up in the middle of the night wanting me to sleep with her and/or fighting bedtime. I don't mind getting up with her or going to sleep with her in the middle of the night, so it works out pretty well. I'm hoping she'll be fully sleeping through the night by the time we get to NC. Otherwise Steve is going to have to start doing some nights with her as well once I start my new job. I guess that's one of the negatives of having both parents working. Even having Steve help with nights will be an adjustment for Emma since she's used to me at night. Last night, Steve tried to calm her down in the middle of the night but she kept crying. As soon as I went into the bedroom and picked her up, she calmed down and felt right asleep when I got in bed with her. I think babies just like consistency.
When Emma gets up in the morning (if she's not in bed with me), she'll usually cry to get our attention so we can get her out of her crib. A few days ago, instead of crying, I found her talking in her crib first thing in the morning. She's such a big girl!! I couldn't believe it. It's like she has her own language. You can't understand much of what she says, but she's talking up a storm! It's excessively cute! She still doesn't say mama or dada though. Her main words are up, hot, and uh oh.
I feel like we might have hit the terrible twos. Is that possible considering she's not even 16 months yet? She throws big time temper tantrums. She's very strong willed. If she doesn't want to get in the car seat (which is at least 50% of the time), she can fight. I don't know how I actually get her in the car seat, considering how strong she is. She also falls to the ground, screaming if you tell her no or take something away from her. Lately the biggest issue is taking her off furniture that she's climbed. She wants to climb and she will have a meltdown if you don't let her. At MDO, she climbed up in the cubbies which are several feet off the ground and then tried to reach her arm to an even higher cubbie to get the goldfish crackers. Ha! I'm quite amazed how well she can climb. It's starting to concern me because I feel like I have to keep an even closer eye on her. I'm afraid once she gets to daycare and the ratios of teachers to kids is larger, that she'll climb on something and fall. I'm surprised she hasn't had a bad fall off furniture yet.
Don't worry though, it's not all temper tantrums. Emma gets more loveable and sweet by the day. Look at this sweet face. I love her more than I could ever explain!
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