I blinked and sweet Emi Girl is 18 months old. Well, 18 months and a few weeks. I have been meaning to take photos and do 1-and-a-half-year update since July 29th, but between pregnancy exhaustion/nausea, being behind on work editing and emails, and lots of house meetings and decisions, it never happened! Yesterday, our amazing cleaning ladies came to the house (I’m always so much saner on Tuesdays!), both girls napped for over two hours at the same time, and thanks to a very late night last night doing work catch-up, I was… well, caught up! So after my mom picked up Isla for a sleepover, Emi and I ran to the empty lot across from our house and snapped a few photos. Rapid fire photos, because #18months requires just that.
This is the funniest age so far. Gosh, she loves to wind me up. Whenever I ask her what her name is, she replies, “ISLA!” despite knowing very well and being able to communicate that her name is Emi. She loves to run around the house yelling, “POOPY POOPY!” – which her big sis taught her, despite the whole “potty words stay in the potty” thing I’ve been teaching them for years. If I walk into the room and she’s made a mess, she puts both hands over her face and says, “Hide! Hide! Hide!”
Miss Emilia – or more recently – Emilia Bedilia – is a total parrot. In fact, people have been saying that to me about her in her earshot and she will reply, “Parrot!” She knows all of the animal names and sounds, and thanks to the book Chucking Ducklings, many of the names for the baby animals (i.e. cub, piglet, lamb, colt, filly, puppy). She loves to tell me “NO!” and wag her finger at the same time. She knows all of our family member’s names and most of our friends. Most importantly, she knows what she wants and will direct me to where to get it with a “GO, GO, GO!” She loves taking naps, but has had serious FOMO (fear of missing out) at bedtime lately. Whenever she has a trick she wants someone to see, she will demand that they “WATCH!” (loudly). Like I said, “No” is a favorite. Ha.
She naps with about ten blankets, a Moana character, her Lulla doll, and a little pillow. She goes to sleep easily but is the world’s lightest sleeper. Once she’s asleep, I don’t even crack open her bedroom door because she will wake up. It’s nuts. She is just like Sasha! She’s on a 7am wakeup and 7pm bedtime (or 7:30pm, depending on dinner time) routine with a 12/12:30-2:30/3pm nap.
Her favorite thing to do is read. And I promise I’m not saying this in an obnoxious “My worst trait is that I’m always very early” kind of way. During the day, she will bring me book after book after book, knowing the name of each one. “MAMA! PEEK-A-BOO BABY!” or “MAMA! CHUCKING DUCKINGS!” or “MAMA! NIGHT NIGHT BOOK!” At night, it may just happen to be a stall tactic, but she genuinely giggles, points, repeats and predicts words as we go and I love it. She may just be a book lover like her mom! I’m going to bring a ton of books for our 9 hour drive to Destin next month and hopefully that can entertain her for… an hour.
Emi is showing off her Scottish heritage with skin very resistant to the skin, which is totally opposite from her olive-toned sister. Everyone comments on her hair being red – it definitely has a reddish tint, but if you have Emi and Isla’s roots side-by-side, they have the exact same hair color, just missing all the blond at the bottom!
She watched Moana for the first time last weekend and is absolutely 100% obsessed. Big mistake on my part! She walks around yelling for MOANA! MAUI! MORE MAUI! We’ve got the Moana soundtrack on repeat in the car lately. She also loves MICKEY! MINNIE! DONALD! DAISY! and Paw Patrol.
Her favorite foods are her Baba’s soup, pasta, cucumber with hummus, crackers, cheese of any variation, yogurt, broccoli, apples, mango, raspberries (one for each finger), waffles, quesadillas, cheesy quinoa balls, and lots and lots of cereal. She likes to drink from a big kids cup like her sister, which is almost always a disaster but she’s getting better with each failed attempt, ha. Water dries after all!
Emi is a shoe addict. She wears all of her sister’s shoes, my shoes, Sasha’s shoes. She will walk around the house in my size 10 high heels. It’s crazy! She is very particular about what shoes she wears, i.e. the pink cowboy boots she’s got on in these photos. She insisted on them. ME BOOTS, MAMA. BOOTS!
She loves wearing bows in her hair, unlike her big sister. She doesn’t mind at all about being covered in water/dirt/food/paint. Emilia is outgoing once she’s familiar with the group of people, but still clings to me when we’re with new faces. She loves going to the gym daycare when her sister is by her side and enjoys the church daycare too. She is going back to school in less than two weeks, and I’m going to miss that cheeky little face on the two mornings that she’s gone.
Don’t let all of these updates fool you: she’s still a toddler who gets grumpy – throwing things off her high chair, pulls my hair (or Isla’s!) when she’s mad, shrieks when I take something away she wants, and disobeys me when I tell her to do something she doesn’t like. 18 month olds have their ups and downs too.
I am so excited about baby girl #3, but also so glad I still have 5+ months to savor my sweet Emi Girl being my baby! She’s the cuddly babe I prayed she would be. We love her so much!
