September 10, 2006
(46 Weeks 1 Day Old)
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Has it been that long? |
I'm still here! |
Emma would like to start off by wishing Aunt Jennifer and Cousin Jessie a very Happy Birthday. Aunt Jennifer turned 29 and Cousin Jessie turned 19 on the ninth and tenth of September respectively.
I have lots of developmental changes to report this update. Emma still refuses to crawl in the traditional sense (i.e. on all fours). She still thinks that it is not befitting of a Princess to crawl around like a bug. Instead she has developed and mastered her own style of transportation which Elena and I call "The Spider Crawl". This technique that Emma has developed allows her to move around the house while sitting on her rump. She accomplishes this by throwing alternating legs out and pushing off the hind leg. It is the strangest of sights to behold but Emma is quite proficient with it and can travel from room to room in this fashion. The picture in the upper left of this paragraph is Emma playing "Peek-a-boo". She's working on her fine motor skills so cut her some slack.
Emma has also mastered sitting-up on her own from a prone position and can pull herself up to her feet and walk while supporting herself with whatever is within grasp (be it table or couch). Typically she grabs the couch and will run back and forth holding on to the cushion. Elena chases her with Winks the Elephant and Emma shrieks and runs away in a playful manner and then returns to Elena when the coast is clear. Then the cycle is repeated over and over. They have a lot of fun together.
Earlier in the month, Emma was suffering from a severe case of separation anxiety and only wanted to be with her Mommy. It made me a bit sad because she would reject me at times, but Elena and I have made adjustments to our schedule so that I could spend some more quality one-on-one time with her. The situation has vastly improved now but given the choice between Mommy and Daddy she prefers Mommy. That is normal given the amount of time they spend together. I suppose she is testing my unconditional love. Well guess what? It aint going nowhere. I love her no matter what!
Yet another cool development is that Emma's little snaggle teeth are starting to come in. We noticed the first one cut through the gum line about a month ago. Now she has two coming in! Good news for Emma. Bad news for Mommy who is still nursing our little Piranha.
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| August 6, 2006 - First tooth cuts through gum line. |
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August 24, 2006 - A second tooth cuts through gum line. |
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| September 4, 2006 - Emma's sharp little snaggle teeth are coming in strong. Do not try this at home. I am a trained professional. |
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Elena has started taking Emma to Gymboree after a few week hiatus. Emma was getting sick too frequently for a while there, so we pulled her from the program. Now that she is a little bigger and stronger they are back. There are a lot of great activities they do there that aid in a child's development. Gymboree exposes Emma to other children as well, which allows her to see little ones like her with varying abilities. Princess Emma typically likes to sit and watch the other kids scramble around after a ball, or walk around the padded surfaces. Physically, she is probably the least developed from the rest of the kids her age. I blame her parents for that as we nurture her too much. If she wants to get from point A to point B she cries and we move her. If she is laying on her back and can't sit herself up she cries, and we lift her. If we put her in her bed at night and she cries, we take her out and carry her until she falls asleep in our arms. Emma has trained us well at the expense of her physical, and to some degree, her emotional development. We have realized this and have begun making a conscious effort to not continue to spoil her in this way. We will now let her struggle when she is trying to lift herself up and offer verbal encouragement instead of physical aid. The same is true for sleep time. Typically at around 9:30 PM, after Emma has nursed, I carry her in my arms for 30 - 45 minutes until Emma falls asleep. Once she is in a deep slumber, I carry her to her crib and deposit her there for the night. If she wakes up and begins to cry, I pick her up and carry her some more. A few weeks back, on a Friday I decided it was time to break her of the habit and help her to learn how to put herself to sleep. I chose Friday to begin this exercise because I am on duty during the weekend and that would give me at least three nights to work the new "tough-love" system in. On Friday I walked with her for about thirty minutes until she was sound asleep, kissed her on the top of her head as I always do, and placed her in her bed. As soon as I did however, she woke up and began wailing. I left the room and sat downstairs with Elena while Emma cried hysterically. It's difficult to hear your child cry like that, but both Elena and I knew it had to be done for Emma's own good. She needed to figure out how to put herself to sleep. Elena sat with me and after 45 minutes Emma's unrelenting cry finally subsided and she was asleep. The next night we repeated the experiment and Emma went to sleep after twenty minutes of drama. On the third night Emma cried for five minutes, and thereafter goes right to bed when placed in her crib. The moral of this story is that as parents we are learning how to accommodate Emma's needs in the way that is best for her. Sometimes the solution calls for love, sometimes moral support, and other times the best solution is to stand back and let them find the answer within themselves. The third is probably the most difficult to apply as no parent wants to see their child struggle or fail, but truth be told, failure is an important part of development. It lets us know what our limitations are and that we are not perfect. Knowledge of our own weaknesses helps us to be more compassionate to others who have a deficiency in an area that we do not. It allows us to set our expectations in life appropriately, by not feeling entitled to anything other than what we can achieve on our own. The sooner we learn this, the sooner we understand that we need each other. That two is better than one, and three is better than two. Compassion, humility, love, and respect are all virtues that develop both directly and indirectly from the experience of failure.
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Let the sun shine in! |
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That's a lot of maracas |
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I really hate this part. |
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Please don't make me crawl! |
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Bubbles? |
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I like parachutes |
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Mommy's fun! |
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Gymbo the clown says "Goodbye" |
Emma has had lots of visitors over the last few weeks. First my sister Jennifer stopped by. Then her grandparents from both sides, her Great-grandmother Mima, her Cousin Jessie, her Aunt Anamarie and Uncle Sam. It's been a busy month!
Emma, Elena and I also got to meet Emma's new cousin Anthony who was born August 16th. He is a handsome little baby with ecstatic parents (Albert and Ebby) who were both beaming with joy.
After meeting Anthony we stopped by to see our Godson Matthew and family. Emma's Godfather, Rob, made us a wonderful lunch.
Emma Standing
Emma's first time in the pool
