I meant to write an update when we hit Emily's 2nd birthday, but time has just flown by again!
Emily is now a little past 2, and her developments continue to astound me!
Talking: Emily is such a little chatterbox! At our 2 year doctors appointment, I asked my usual question of what milestones should we be on the lookout for. And our doctor asked if Emily was speaking with sentences with 2 or 3 words yet. And I was proud to say that Emily uses sentences with 4 to 5 words! He was happy to hear of her speech development and I'm glad that she's a little ahead of the curve! What shocks me is how Emily's storytelling is getting so good. She not only remembers memories from weeks ago, but she recounts these stories in pretty good detail! Here's an example:
About a month ago, Sy was pulling out a tupperware from the fridge and he accidentally dropped it, causing it to shatter and we had to clean it up. This is Emily's version of this story:
Us: what happened this morning?
E: appa dropped mama!
Us: then what happened?
E: umm, glass was everywhere!
Us: what did appa say?
E: appa said stay on pink mat! don't come to kitchen!
Us: why did you stay on the pink mat?
E: appa have to vacuum!
She loves retelling this story all the time. It's cute (and sometimes tiring. haha)! It's also funny how she's learned to say "umm" and sometimes she'll go "hmm" if she's thinking. She also loves to ask "what's this?" Sometimes it's genuine bc she wants to know what it is, other times it's just her way to get us to ask her what it is so SHE can tell us what it is. Haha. I guess she's proud to flaunt her knowledge of stuff. What cracks me up is when she mimics the sounds of things she hears. She'll say things like "blowdryer goes woooooooooo" or "humidifer goes waeeeeee." Her imitations of things are so funny and accurate. She's even learned how to imitate her cousin trying to poo on the potty. She clenches her fists, and pretends to push imaginary poo out. Her face gets a little flushed from the physical exertion, and she grits her teeth and bares them as she pushes. Haha, cracks us up so much!
Games: It's crazy how Emily's interests have changed more into toddlerland. She recently has learned how to play with a princess magnetic dress up kit. She enjoys putting the shoes on the princess. She also constantly wants to show her bunny stuff. She'll read books to her bunny, or she'll have bunny touch stuff, she'll have bunny watch her brush her teeth. It's super cute. Emily is enjoying her Peppa Pig playhouse a lot more now. She has them pretend to take baths, or eat food, or watch tv, or go to bed. When we go to other people's houses who have play kitchens, she puts ingredients in pots and pretends to make soup and drink from soup spoons. Even her doctor play kit, she knows how to extend her pretend play - and she'll just use random spoons to feed me medicine, put imaginary lotion and bandaids on me, etc. I'm so proud that she is developing such an imagination! Emily also has learned how to hide - well, so she thinks. When she hears us coming, she'll say "Hide!" and then she'll just bury her head in a pillow or something. We can fully see her, and she's pretty much unhidden, but to her, she's hiding. She's a terrible hide-er. She also gives herself away by giggling uncontrollably, and also by answering questions we might say. For example, if she's hiding, I'll say, "Appa - Emily is gone!" And he'll say, "Is Emily in the kitchen?" and she'll say, "noooo." Hahaha. She really doesn't get that she's a terrible hide-er but it's fun to watch. When she plays with her cousins, they do a better job to help hide her, but she still always gives herself away. It's hilarious.
Food: Emily's love for sweets continues to grow. Now that her cousin Carol is potty trained, she gets a lollipop everytime she successfully poos in the toilet. The problem is that now, Emily also gets one whenever she gets one. So Emily is always wanting lollipops. Hence, she also likes to tell the story of how she got a lollipop when she went to the doctors office. Haha! Emily also really loves chocolate. For some reason, she now must have some kind of chocolate after every bath. So we have to give her bites of candy bars now. SMH. Perhaps it's bc her cousin gets to eat more sweets than she does, but she loves chocolate pocky sticks, those coffee chocolate sticks (pirourettes), chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream. We have a lot of leftover ice cream cake from my birthday, and every few days, she'll ask for cake. Haha! She also loves donuts (particularly those from Doughnuttery), and she loves ice cream. Even though she is a big salty-snack lover, I do believe she has my love of sweets as well. Thank God she is a skinny baby. I don't know how I'd be able to say no to her cute face if she were on the overweight side. On an interesting note, I recently made her a pea pesto pasta, and she absolutely LOVES IT. She constantly asks to eat the green pasta, and while she often gets sick of eating the same food for multiple days, when it comes to her green pasta, she can eat it forever. It's really great that she loves this super healthy food! Emily's been really big on grapes these days, and going to the supermarket is always tough bc we can't pass by the grapes section without her wanting a bag, and for me to feed her grapes the entire supermarket session. She's also recently learned to like chicken fingers - which makes going out to restaurants easier bc that's almost always available for kids menus. Similarly - she loves juice so much. Haha. And the sad thing is, she loves full-sugar juice more than kid-friendly juices that are healthier. She loves orange juice, and she loves drinking from mini juice boxes and pouches. But flavor-wise, she does not prefer the HonestAdes of the world bc they're simply not as sweet as a Tropicana. I have created a monster. Emily's fickleness when it comes to snacks can be frustrating. She is a snack machine, and yet, she is so picky about her snacks. She'll stand in the kitchen and reject every snack until we get to one she's in the mood for. For me, that means I try to stock up her snack pantry with all kinds of snacks, but then Sy disagrees and that she should just not get a snack if she doesn't like what I give her. I see his point, but it's so hard for me to say no to her!
Sleep: Emily's sleep is normal for the most part. The interesting thing is that i've noticed that emily occasionally sleep talks! There was one night when she was "crying" in her sleep and she shouted, "nooo! emmy-kkuh!" which translates to "that's mine!" and sy and i just laughed as we realized that she must be dreaming about her cousins taking stuff from her! Hahaha! The stressful dreams of a toddler... so funny. Overall, she's become a bit more whiny in her sleep. I think she really must be dreaming. On a side note, Emily is a very fearful child. As she gets older and older, she becomes more scared of things. She gets scared of scary looking animals on tv - wolves, dinosaurs, bad guys, etc. She also gets scared by unknown sounds - a lawn mower in the distance, etc. She even gets scared of scary events she sees on tv - like a fire scene in her cartoons. So my guess is that she must have anxious dreams too in her sleep. Maybe they haunt her in her dreams too. I wish that she wasn't such a scared child, but what else can we do? We do our best to tell her that things aren't scary, but I understand that you can't help what you're scared of. On the flipside, it's incredibly sweet when she cuddles up close and clings to your arm when she's scared. She trusts so much that she's in good hands if we hold her.
I have lots of other updates to write about, but I think I'll save them for my next entry, which will cover a different topic. But for now, here's what's been going on!
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Speech! Speech! 1 Year 11 months
Emily's 2nd birthday is almost upon us, and I've been so amazed at how much she's developed recently. Her sentences have really grown, and she's really learn to express herself a lot more. What's surprising is how much she remembers of her daily life. In the past, something that happened a week prior would just be gone from her head. But now, she remembers everything and talks about them all the time.
Every morning during the week, she remembers our usual drop-off routine. She'll say in the car, "appa drive train station. umma drive hammee house. umma go work." She knows her routines so well. Even things like her rascal-y ways of doing teeth brushing, she stands at the end of the hallway and says, "umma catch emmy!" and i have to chase her down the hallway as she runs to our bathroom. Then she throws herself on the floor of our bathroom and yells, "emmy fall down! appa pick up emmy!" and then when he picks her up, she says, "so high!" meaning that's when sy is supposed to lift her up to the ceiling so she can touch it. This happens twice a day every day. Haha. She remembers that once she accidentally spit water in sy's face during teeth brushing, and always recites that story of "emmy did bleh appa's glasses." Her memory expands so far. She still tells us the story of how she cried with Santa Clause. And even though it's been weeks since we went to the doctor, she retells the story of how she cried at the doctors office, how they gave her a lollipop and how it was "not bad" in hindsight. Haha.
She's such a creature of habit. It's crazy to see how she has to always do everything just so - exactly like she's done it previously. Her memory is awesome. She must do her night time routine of testing the humidifier, throwing her puppy and lovey out of the crib, laughing hysterically, and then going to bed. She cracks herself up so much. I love how happy she is. These routines make her laugh so much and fills herself with so much joy.
I also think it's funny how she knows how to ask for things she wants now. She'll say, "Alexa - play moana." and when the song ends, she'll say "Alexa - play again." Haha. She's also recently been saying, "alexa - play yeah yeah yeah song" - which is the Maroon 5 song called Girls Like You. She knows what she likes, and she tells us. If a song she doesn't like comes on youtube with her favorite shows, she'll say, "not this one! new one!" She even once yelled "still watching!" when Sy tried to turn off the tv. Haha. She talks so much and communicates so much with us. It makes life so much more fun to ask her for her opinions on things to help make decisions. Yes, she's still a baby and sometimes she can't make decisions, but when she does, it's so much more fun.
A couple of weeks ago, the flu hit our household. First, I got sick with the flu. It was a pretty tough time. I was so weak and sick that Sy had to do the majority of caretaking for Emily and also for me. After I was officially diagnosed with the flu, I had to quarantine myself and not touch Emily. That was a sad time for Emily bc we told her she can't touch me. And while she listened and obeyed the rules, she always made a sad face when she wanted to come and touch me, but she had to stop herself. She would frown and look down in sadness. It was really sad for her AND for me. I wanted so much to hug her and kiss her, but I couldn't do any of that. Then a few days later, Emily developed a fever and we took her to the doctor to check for flu - and sure enough, she had the same influenza A as me. So we were able to start touching again since we were the same sick - but it was still tough on Sy to take care of both of us. In the end, Emily's flu was WAY milder than my experience. She only had the 102 fever for that first day (even though I had it for 3 days). She slept fine and played fine and only suffered from a cough and a little bit of a decreased appetite. The only hard part was how much she disliked the taste of the liquid Tamiflu. We had to syringe squeeze medicine into her mouth, give her a piece of chocolate, then squeeze more medicine, then more chocolate. Repeat until all of the medicine was ingested. I was super proud of her bc despite the fact that she hated the meds and would scrunch up her face and turn away - she always came back and ate more bc she knew she had to. What a good girl. Although, by the end of the 5 days, she really was enjoying all the chocolate she was eating. Hahaha. Crazily enough, Sy didn't end up getting the flu. He felt somewhat sick for days and like he was fighting off a cold for more than a week. But he never got as sick as I did. Thank God. If we both were dead in bed, I don't know how we would've survived.
Food-wise - Emily is starting to come around on rice dishes. So that's a relief! She also recently ate yellow dak-kwang at a jjajangmyun restaurant and enjoyed it! We were surprised to see how much she enjoyed it. So interesting to see how tastes really do change over time. Emily had her first bite of a pickle recently. It was SO funny to see her reaction. We put a small amount of pickle in her mouth, and she immediately froze and looked up at us with a furrowed face of what the heck is this?? She did not want any more pickles. When it was time for dessert, we gave her her first m&m. She had a similar reaction where she froze and looked at us. But then after a second, she broke into a big smile and did a little happy dance as she asked for more candy. Hahaha. She was so excited to eat more candy. Good news is she understands restraint. When we tell her, all done - she obeys and doesn't ask for more. She's such a good girl!
We recently bought Emily a doctor play kit. She absolutely loves it so much. She likes to check her bears and us all the time. She checks our heart, our temperatures, our ears, etc. After each check, she yells, "bear okay! umma okay! appa okay!" It's SOOO cute. We bought it in the hopes that it would help her to cry less at the doctor's office - so she would know what to expect and be less scared. It kind of worked. She did slightly better at the doctor's when we went for the flu. She knew what would happen but she still cried. At least she didn't cry as hard. Just cried at half loud - and just waited for the exam to be over.
It was my birthday this weekend, and Emily had so much celebrating with me. We took her to restaurants and family parities. She loves blowing out birthday candles and she was so happy to yell "happy birthday umma!" And also gomoboo. Hahaha (who is her best friend apparently!). And now that she knows her birthday is next week, she has been waking up daily yelling, "emmy birthday next week!" We've been training her to learn that she's turning 2 and to say she's 2 years old. It's so fun. She likes to look at the birthday banner we have hanging in our house to remember it was my birthday and that her birthday is coming. I can't believe she's almost 2. It's going to be so fun to celebrate her.
We've been trying to train Emily to stop lying about her dirty diapers. Lately, she hasn't been telling us when she poops, and then it ends up sitting in her diaper for too long, and then she gets a diaper rash and then cries hard bc it hurts to clean her butt. Whenever we ask her if she pooped, she tells us no, and then fights us when we try to sniff her butt. But because this just keeps happening, we are trying to really buckle down on the importance of not lying to us. (Side note - it's been very interesting to learn how Emily knows to speak to us in english more and korean with her grandparents more. When they ask her if she pooped in korean, she replies in korean "ahn-haessuhyo." We were stunned to know she could do that!).
I wish I could keep track of all the funny things she says. She makes us laugh all the time. It's crazy how a less than 2 year old can make such funny comments. Having Emily in our lives is truly the best thing we ever did.
Every morning during the week, she remembers our usual drop-off routine. She'll say in the car, "appa drive train station. umma drive hammee house. umma go work." She knows her routines so well. Even things like her rascal-y ways of doing teeth brushing, she stands at the end of the hallway and says, "umma catch emmy!" and i have to chase her down the hallway as she runs to our bathroom. Then she throws herself on the floor of our bathroom and yells, "emmy fall down! appa pick up emmy!" and then when he picks her up, she says, "so high!" meaning that's when sy is supposed to lift her up to the ceiling so she can touch it. This happens twice a day every day. Haha. She remembers that once she accidentally spit water in sy's face during teeth brushing, and always recites that story of "emmy did bleh appa's glasses." Her memory expands so far. She still tells us the story of how she cried with Santa Clause. And even though it's been weeks since we went to the doctor, she retells the story of how she cried at the doctors office, how they gave her a lollipop and how it was "not bad" in hindsight. Haha.
She's such a creature of habit. It's crazy to see how she has to always do everything just so - exactly like she's done it previously. Her memory is awesome. She must do her night time routine of testing the humidifier, throwing her puppy and lovey out of the crib, laughing hysterically, and then going to bed. She cracks herself up so much. I love how happy she is. These routines make her laugh so much and fills herself with so much joy.
I also think it's funny how she knows how to ask for things she wants now. She'll say, "Alexa - play moana." and when the song ends, she'll say "Alexa - play again." Haha. She's also recently been saying, "alexa - play yeah yeah yeah song" - which is the Maroon 5 song called Girls Like You. She knows what she likes, and she tells us. If a song she doesn't like comes on youtube with her favorite shows, she'll say, "not this one! new one!" She even once yelled "still watching!" when Sy tried to turn off the tv. Haha. She talks so much and communicates so much with us. It makes life so much more fun to ask her for her opinions on things to help make decisions. Yes, she's still a baby and sometimes she can't make decisions, but when she does, it's so much more fun.
A couple of weeks ago, the flu hit our household. First, I got sick with the flu. It was a pretty tough time. I was so weak and sick that Sy had to do the majority of caretaking for Emily and also for me. After I was officially diagnosed with the flu, I had to quarantine myself and not touch Emily. That was a sad time for Emily bc we told her she can't touch me. And while she listened and obeyed the rules, she always made a sad face when she wanted to come and touch me, but she had to stop herself. She would frown and look down in sadness. It was really sad for her AND for me. I wanted so much to hug her and kiss her, but I couldn't do any of that. Then a few days later, Emily developed a fever and we took her to the doctor to check for flu - and sure enough, she had the same influenza A as me. So we were able to start touching again since we were the same sick - but it was still tough on Sy to take care of both of us. In the end, Emily's flu was WAY milder than my experience. She only had the 102 fever for that first day (even though I had it for 3 days). She slept fine and played fine and only suffered from a cough and a little bit of a decreased appetite. The only hard part was how much she disliked the taste of the liquid Tamiflu. We had to syringe squeeze medicine into her mouth, give her a piece of chocolate, then squeeze more medicine, then more chocolate. Repeat until all of the medicine was ingested. I was super proud of her bc despite the fact that she hated the meds and would scrunch up her face and turn away - she always came back and ate more bc she knew she had to. What a good girl. Although, by the end of the 5 days, she really was enjoying all the chocolate she was eating. Hahaha. Crazily enough, Sy didn't end up getting the flu. He felt somewhat sick for days and like he was fighting off a cold for more than a week. But he never got as sick as I did. Thank God. If we both were dead in bed, I don't know how we would've survived.
Food-wise - Emily is starting to come around on rice dishes. So that's a relief! She also recently ate yellow dak-kwang at a jjajangmyun restaurant and enjoyed it! We were surprised to see how much she enjoyed it. So interesting to see how tastes really do change over time. Emily had her first bite of a pickle recently. It was SO funny to see her reaction. We put a small amount of pickle in her mouth, and she immediately froze and looked up at us with a furrowed face of what the heck is this?? She did not want any more pickles. When it was time for dessert, we gave her her first m&m. She had a similar reaction where she froze and looked at us. But then after a second, she broke into a big smile and did a little happy dance as she asked for more candy. Hahaha. She was so excited to eat more candy. Good news is she understands restraint. When we tell her, all done - she obeys and doesn't ask for more. She's such a good girl!
We recently bought Emily a doctor play kit. She absolutely loves it so much. She likes to check her bears and us all the time. She checks our heart, our temperatures, our ears, etc. After each check, she yells, "bear okay! umma okay! appa okay!" It's SOOO cute. We bought it in the hopes that it would help her to cry less at the doctor's office - so she would know what to expect and be less scared. It kind of worked. She did slightly better at the doctor's when we went for the flu. She knew what would happen but she still cried. At least she didn't cry as hard. Just cried at half loud - and just waited for the exam to be over.
It was my birthday this weekend, and Emily had so much celebrating with me. We took her to restaurants and family parities. She loves blowing out birthday candles and she was so happy to yell "happy birthday umma!" And also gomoboo. Hahaha (who is her best friend apparently!). And now that she knows her birthday is next week, she has been waking up daily yelling, "emmy birthday next week!" We've been training her to learn that she's turning 2 and to say she's 2 years old. It's so fun. She likes to look at the birthday banner we have hanging in our house to remember it was my birthday and that her birthday is coming. I can't believe she's almost 2. It's going to be so fun to celebrate her.
We've been trying to train Emily to stop lying about her dirty diapers. Lately, she hasn't been telling us when she poops, and then it ends up sitting in her diaper for too long, and then she gets a diaper rash and then cries hard bc it hurts to clean her butt. Whenever we ask her if she pooped, she tells us no, and then fights us when we try to sniff her butt. But because this just keeps happening, we are trying to really buckle down on the importance of not lying to us. (Side note - it's been very interesting to learn how Emily knows to speak to us in english more and korean with her grandparents more. When they ask her if she pooped in korean, she replies in korean "ahn-haessuhyo." We were stunned to know she could do that!).
I wish I could keep track of all the funny things she says. She makes us laugh all the time. It's crazy how a less than 2 year old can make such funny comments. Having Emily in our lives is truly the best thing we ever did.
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