Gibber-talkie

Emmett has begun combining words into short phrases recently. A couple weeks back we dropped David off to catch his Microsoft Connector bus to work. As he got on the bus, Emmett cried a little and I tried to talk to him to calm him down. I told him daddy would be back later after he went to work. As we drove out of the parking lot, Emmett said, "No Daddy. [a bunch of gibberish here] Go wer." He accurately expressed that daddy was not there and that he had gone to work! I'm not sure what his other unintelligible comments were on the matter, but he had successfully put together a complete thought in words. A few mornings ago Emmett came into our room and picked up a cup off the nightstand while saying, "Drink water." I can't think of the other examples I wanted to share now, but it is fun hearing my little guy express himself more and more with words. Each time he does it, he seems less and less like a baby, though. Bittersweet!

Crazy Day

Today began as most Sundays, with a nice family breakfast, some play time with the kids, showers and dressing for church, and then putting the kids down for an early nap before church. We had to go in a little early today to meet with the bishop of our new ward, so we had to cut the kids' naps a little short and bring some lunch for them. After our interviews, David stepped outside to make a phone call. Liliana and Emmett were trying to find ways to entertain themselves while we waited for church to start (which wouldn't happen for about 20 more minutes). Emmett began turning the hall lights off and on - which I didn't particularly approve of, since many other people were using the hallway at that time. I grabbed his hand and started walking away from the light switch, but he decided he wanted to continue playing with them and became a dead weight as he dropped to the floor and tried to twist away from me. As soon as he hit the floor, he started screaming and I knew immediately he had pulled his elbow ligament out of place. How did I know, you ask - because I used to pull my elbow very frequently as a little girl, as did my brother and one of my nephews, and I could see Emmett instantly hold his arm to his side and stop moving it. To test my theory, I pulled out a granola bar and held it out to my little crying boy, while holding his right hand. He wouldn't even attempt to reach for it with his left hand. At this point Liliana decided to start flipping her dress over her head and asking for her own granola bar very loudly. I was worried about Emmett, who was still bawling and I hadn't seen David in awhile and I was feeling a little less than patient with Liliana's shenanigans. After several more minutes, Emmett had only slightly calmed and I was certain he had nursemaid's elbow. I went outside in search of David, with a sad sad boy in my arms and dragging Liliana behind me. Emmett began to calm down, but was still very clingy and refused to move his arm. He would whimper and cry if anyone bumped or moved it. Once I spotted David in the parking lot, I frantically flailed at him to come over. I explained what had happened and asked him to help me locate some medical professionals that we knew were in our new ward. The only problem was, neither of us knew what they looked like. After some time and several attempts by various ward members to help us track down someone who could help Emmett, we began looking up urgent care and walk-in clinics in the area on David's phone. Of course his battery was low, so we didn't get very far with that. We started asking around and received a few suggestions for clinics to try that might be open on Sunday. We were standing in the nursery watching Emmett eat snacks one-handed and trying desperately to figure out what to do. I was supposed to be speaking in sacrament meeting in about 45 minutes, so I wasn't going to be able to take him. David plugged his phone in to the car charger and got enough "juice" to try calling a couple of the suggested clinics. One was closed, another one said they couldn't help and we'd have to go to the ER. Finally a chiropractor in the ward who had experience with nursemaid elbow was tracked down and he attempted several times to "pop" Emmett's elbow back into place, but it didn't work. David was about to try driving to some other clinic when we got stopped by a member of the bishopric in the hall and were asked if we had a few minutes. We explained the situation and he said he'd keep it short. I was asked to be the compassionate service leader for the relief society. I accepted the assignment, although I felt overwhelmed at trying to help meet the needs of people in the ward while knowing very few individuals or resources in the area. It was now minutes before sacrament meeting and I had to run grab Liliana from her class, grab my scriptures and notes for my talk, and get on the stand. As I walked into the chapel, the same brother from the bishopric who had extended my calling came down from the stand and asked if I needed someone to sit with Liliana while I spoke since David was taking care of Emmett and possibly leaving any minute. I gratefully accepted and he quickly arranged for Liliana to sit with a nice little family while I took my place on the stand. Needless to say, I was more than a little distracted by the time it was my turn to speak, but several people told me that my talk went well. Church was over and I collected Liliana and found David and Emmett - still there - waiting for us. A few people stopped to chat with me about my new assignment and then I was invited to be set apart. By the time we were headed out, church had been over for about 45 minutes. I felt so bad for Emmett. We stopped at the first walk in clinic we saw, but they said they don't see kids under 10. They told us to go to the ER. Having suffered with frequent pulled elbows as a kid, I knew that it was a quick fix if we could find someone with experience doing it and I hated to make Emmett wait for hours more in the ER. Emmet fell asleep on the ride home and once there I ran in and called a nurse line. They recommended a few more clinics in the area, but one of them was closed and the other was the third clinic to tell us to go to the ER. A sister from the ward had tried to call twice while I was making these other calls, so I quickly listened to the messages she had left. In the first she said she had heard about our son and wanted to know if she could bring us dinner. In the second message she said she was making a double batch of dinner and wanted to know when she could bring it over. I was so surprised and grateful. It was getting late and I was still dealing with Emmett's crisis and hadn't even thought about food for my family yet. I quickly called her back and thanked her and gave her our address. I told her about our dilemma with the clinics and she told me of one not too far that she knew was open late and that took young children. I called them immediately and they said to come right down. David hurried over with Emmett. They hadn't been out the door more than a moment when my phone rang again. This time it was the Relief Society President and she was putting me to work in my calling already. A sister in the ward needed a ride to Seattle for a doctor's appointment the next day. I hung up with the president and called the sister to get the details on the time and location of the appointment and while I was talking to her my doorbell rang. I asked her to hold a moment while I answered the door. It was the other sister delivering dinner. I thanked her profusely and then returned to my phone, to find the call had dropped. After several attempts to call the sister back who needed a ride, I gave up and sent her a text message, which she eventually responded to. I fed Liliana the delicious dinner we had been given and got her ready for bed. Emmett and David came back from the clinic and Emmett was back to his old self. In fact, it seemed as if he was trying to make up for a full day's missed playtime in the 10 minutes we let him run around between eating his dinner and putting him to bed! Now it is late and I'm exhausted from this overwhelmingly crazy day. I am so thankful to the members of our new ward who tried so hard to help us with our trials today, and especially for that special sister who reached out to a total stranger in our unexpected time of need and provided us with a meal and the solution to our problem. God really does answer our prayers - even before we have time to utter them - but it usually happens through someone else. Whose prayer can I help answer tomorrow?

Double Rainbow Moment

We were at Great-Grandma Thompson's house for dinner on Sunday and Liliana needed to go potty. I sent her down the hall to the bathroom, but she popped her head back out just a few moments later and said, "Mommy can you come help me?" I went down the hall and followed Liliana into the bathroom. She pointed at the toilet - which had a large elevated seat on it with handles because Grandma had surgery on her heel recently and this made it so she didn't have to get down too low or get back up from the low toilet seat. Liliana stood staring at the toilet seat and as she pointed to it, asked, "What does it mean?" I laughed heartily before explaining that it was just a temporary potty seat to make it easier for Grandma to go potty while she was healing from her foot surgery. I told Liliana that it was kind of like the little potty seat she used (and occasionally still uses) to make it easier for her to use the grown up potty. She wanted to try it, rather than have me remove it, so I let her. I thought her little bum was going to sink clear down inside it and she'd be stuck up to her armpits, but she managed to balance and make it work. She came running out of the bathroom ready to tell everyone else about the big funny seat and I chuckled as I shared her "double-rainbow" reaction. What a funny girl!

New House

Well, we closed on our new house on March 31st and moved in on April 9th. We're still slowly unpacking boxes, but the things we use on a regular basis are unpacked and organized. I still need to decide on how/what I will decorate with - and then wait until we have the time and money to decorate. Liliana and Emmett love having a playroom and more space to run around. Emmett's first nap in the new house started out well, but when he woke up he was NOT happy. I think everything was just too unfamiliar for him. Also, Liliana was still napping, so she wasn't around to lighten the mood for him. After about 30 minutes of melting down, David suggested we give him a bath. When I started singing his little bath time song, he began to calm down. But when he saw my big triangle tub instead of what he was expecting, he became upset all over again. Once we got him in the water and added bubbles, he was doing pretty well and when Liliana woke up from her nap and joined him, all his worries seemed to vanish. After a couple days in the new place, Emmett was doing just fine. I was worried that he wasn't going to understand about the move and that it might upset him, but it was short lived. Liliana had understood all our discussions about buying a new house and getting a new bedroom and she was really excited, so we weren't surprised when she stepped through the door and acted like she owned the place.
I took the kids on a walk around our new neighborhood and they were excited to see the horses and mini-ponies in some of the yards. We're definitely more country than city out here! David is happy with his new commute and our new ward is full of kids around my kids' ages. I hear good things about the local school from the parents I have talked to, so that is yet another thing to be happy about. We also have a fully fenced back yard that is easily viewed through the kitchen window and slider, so I'm loving being able to let the kids go out and play while I work in the kitchen and still keep an eye on them.
Liliana is surprising me every day with how much she remembers. Just yesterday she was singing a song to herself about how she was going to make purple paint for Bess to put in her art studio. Bess is a character from one of Liliana's Tinker Bell stories but I hadn't read that particular story to her for at least a few weeks and it was never one that she regularly had me read.
Emmett keeps trying to speak and is such a sweet little guy. Today he tried to say pineapple - which sounded more like "paw po". He has also gotten into the habit of saying, "no no no" and shaking his finger at me whenever I tell him he's stinky and needs a diaper change. Silly boy!

More Words

Emmett is adding to his verbal arsenal. He is saying monkey, What's that (sounds like, "sssah?" as he points to different objects), no no, yeah, yay, and a few others that I can't remember at the moment. The flood of words is beginning! Emmett definitely seems more and more boy, rather than baby, with each word he says. My oh my, time sure goes by quickly when you're having fun.

Protective Instincts

For those who haven't heard, we are in the process of buying a house and are hoping to close by the end of the week. I went to pick up some boxes to use for our move at a Wizards of the Coast store (a gaming company) with Liliana and Emmett in tow. When we got off the elevator and walked into the office's lobby, we were greeted by a giant dragon (at least 9 feet tall) hanging from the ceiling. Emmett was so excited that he wriggled out of my arms and started running toward the dragon. Liliana let out a yelp and ran after him. She yelled, "No!" and grabbed the back of Emmett's shirt and started pulling him back. "I don't want it to eat you!" she cried out. I laughed and explained to Liliana that it wasn't real, but she still didn't trust Emmett anywhere near it. It was quite adorable.

Emmett is saying more words now - though they often require parental interpretation. He says Hi, bye, ball, outside, cracker, dirty, and - my personal fav - no touch. That last one is usually repeated over and over as Emmett removes the little plastic covers from our electrical outlets. It is also occasionally stated when he starts playing with the handle on the diaper pail or pulling on my shoe rack, knocking all my shoes to the ground. He attempts to say Liliana and banana - which both sound the same coming from him - but needs a bit more practice before we can really claim that he says either. He still uses a lot of sign language and does rather well with communicating his wants/needs that way. What a big boy he's getting to be!

Tutus and Tiaras

Liliana and Emmett don't want to be held down by was is considered "normal" behavior for their sex.
Example 1: Liliana comes out of her room in a princess dress and runs down the hall yelling, "Peeeew Peew - I got you!" When I asked her what she was doing she said, "I'm dying the bad guys so they don't die me."
Example 2: Emmett finds one of Liliana's tutu's in the toy box and brings it over to me to put on him. Once he's wearing it, he happily returns to playing with the other toys.
Example 3: Emmett brings me Liliana's princess tiara and holds it up to me. Thinking he wanted me to wear it, I put it on my head. He reaches for it so I lean over and let him pull it off of me. He holds it up to his head and I realize he wants to wear it himself. I put it on his head and he smiles happily and starts playing with other things. He returns to me for help in putting the tiara back on several times as it slips down during play.
Example 4: Liliana borrowed Emmett's Lightning McQueen Pajamas that he received for his birthday (they were a little big for him). When I asked her why she took her brother's pj's, she responded with, "They are for boys, but that's Ok. I like Lightning McQueen."
Example 5: The other day Emmett found his nice Sunday shoes in his closet and brought them to me to put on him. He proudly wore them around the house for over an hour.
Liliana has only boys as 1st cousins and only one girl second cousin who lives in the area, but is much younger than her. There is only one little girl at church close(ish) to her age (about 9 or 10 months older) and all the other kids in her age group are boys. It amazes me the kinds of things she picks up from all those boys.
I find it fairly interesting to think about society's role that tells us what is or isn't acceptable for girls or boys to do. I wonder how things would be if my first born was a boy and my second was a girl. Emmett is more than happy to mimic his big sister's behavior and unless someone told him so, he'd never know that there was anything different about when he wears his sister's tutus and tiaras than when she does. If a little sister copies her big brother's behavior, she's a tom-boy. Tough girls are much more readily accepted around here than boys who copy their big sisters. I wonder why "acting boyish" -whether you are a boy or a girl - is alright, but doing girly things is looked upon in a more negative or weak light. Well, someone else is going to have to break the news to my son that he's not supposed to wear tutus and tiaras because I think it's cute and he's having too much fun for me to rain on his parade.