Reproached

So a couple of days ago I was pretty tired after a rough night and running short on patience. Liliana has become aware that when I'm nursing Emmett, it's pretty hard for me to reinforce whatever I ask her to do and often won't do anything I tell her to do until I am able to get up and fulfill the consequences (like putting her in time out). Well, I had asked her to pick up her blocks and books while I was feeding Emmett and she would pick up a block or some other toy and then find something else to do with it, rather than cleaning up. I counted to three and told her to go to time out and she just said, "No." I told her to go to her room and shut the door and she walked down the hall to her room and then came back out and said, "No, I don't wanna go to the big girl room!" I began raising my voice and got a bit sharp with her. Finally, Emmett was done eating and I got up and picked Liliana up around the waist and held her over her blocks and books to get her to pick them up. She was laughing and thought this was a great game. I was still feeling rather annoyed that she had not listened and didn't do what I asked until I "made" her do it. Then she started singing a part of the song, "I am a Child of God", but not just any part...she sang, "Kind and dear. Kind and dear." Boy did I feel like a shmuck! I gave her a guilty hug and decided that unless it's an emergency or really necessary, I'll just wait until I'm not feeding or changing Emmett to ask her to do things until she's a little older and better able to follow directions without getting so easily distracted.

Laughter,

Emmett has been giving us radiant little smiles since just before he turned 6 weeks old. He's also been giving us some cute little chuckles for a few weeks now, but his first real laugh was on Sunday, January 24th. David and I were sitting in Sunday School at church and Emmett was in his car seat on the floor by daddy's feet. David looked down and said something to Emmett with a smile on his face and Emmett let out his first real laugh. That evening he laughed quite a bit at one of our home teachers who came to visit us. He's been such a happy, smiley kid. We love having him around.

Liliana is becoming ever more fluent in her speech. On Saturday morning we went for a walk and she stopped to point in someone's yard and said, "That's a big rock right there." She can debate in full sentences now as well, such as, "No. I want mommy do it." Or, "Liliana not want eat that. I want Apple Jacks!" Sometimes when she ends up in time out she says, through her streaming tears, "Liliana be a good girl now. No time out!"

Liliana's singing is coming along too. Before I could only recognize the Happy Birthday song, but she surprised us with "I am a Child of God" on Saturday. It sounds more like, "I na na chial a God. [some gibberish here] kind a dear." During sacrament meeting yesterday, every time the organ began a hymn with prelude music, she'd start singing her rendition of that primary song - loud enough for half the congregation to turn and look at her :)

She has also been working on saying prayers. She has, "Heny Fawder" down really well and will usually repeat that a few times until someone steps in to help her. Occasionally she'll add in a, "Thank dee fer dis day" or something to that effect, on her own. It's so precious to hear her say prayers.

At Liliana's 2 year appointment and Emmett's 2 month appt. on January 19th, Liliana weighed in at just over 30 pounds and 34.5 inches tall. Emmett just about broke the scale at 17 lbs 4 oz and 25 inches. Needless to say, Emmett was off the growth chart!