Love-Laced Letters: October

Emma and I spent the first week of October in Ohio with family and had a wonderful time. Mommy was able to enjoy a (kid-free!) girls lunch out, Emma spent nearly every day playing with her cousins and was doted on by all her grandparents. We were even able to attend a family birthday party and fall outing to a local farm, events we normally have to miss out on. It was a blessing to be home while daddy was away!

Daddy's boat pulled in on October 9th, and we waited at the pier anxiously for him to disembark. Many plans and helicopters were flying over the base while we waited and Emma kept pointing to each one saying, "plane!" or "airplane noise!" or "copter!" Planes are her newest obsession these days. She also would yell "Daddy!" at every man who walked past us wearing a flight suit. I had to keep telling her, "No no honey. That's not daddy." But finally, daddy arrived and our reunion was sweet, as usual.

On October 11th, Emma attended the 3rd birthday party of a little girl named Regina, daugher of some friends we knew in Anacortes. The party was held at a place called Kangaroo Jac's, a kid mecca full of inflatable bouncy toys, slides, tunnels, etc. Emma stunned Chris and I as well as many bystanders with her fearlessness. She wanted to play and was not afraid to try even the tallest slides. She's so little that she looked like a missle being launched out of a cannon, but would shriek with glee after flying down each slide. At this same party last year, she had just gotten out of the hospital, was still catching every little bug and sickness, and had lost a great deal of weight. She also was still 100% tube-fed and I marveled at how much has changed in a year as I watched her sit at the table and eat pizza with all the other kids. She's happiest being around big groups of people and thrives when around other kids.

Just yesterday (the 22nd), Emma and I waited for an hour and a half at the dealer while having our car worked on. She ran all over the waiting room, approaching each person (she particularly loves old men - "grandpas" as she calls them) and saying, "up! up!" She wanted everyone in the room to hold her, read her the books I'd brought, watch her dance, etc. I'm not sure when to start instiling stranger anxiety into her, but she charmed and entertained the entire room.

What is Emma like these days? She's amazing. She speaks in 2-3 word sentences and is quite easy to understand. She loves airplanes, books, and going to the park. She's always loved to swing, but the slides are slowly becoming her favorite...both climbing UP and going down. She loves our dog and cat and has even started calling the kitty "stinky rat" like we do. Every day when Chris gets home from work, she runs to the front door yelling, "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She is discovering the joy of climbing and crawled up onto our higher-than-average couch unassisted for the first time yesterday. She is also DONE with crawling on the steps and is DETERMINED to walk up and down like a big girl (although still needs to hold onto something). She's full of life, loves people, and just this morning finally weighed in at over 20 pounds (20 lbs, 4.5 oz, to be exact). She is the joy of our lives.