18-month antics

Emilia turned 18 months old yesterday! I waited until today to post so I could include the official report from her 18-month check-up today.

• Weight: 26 pounds 7 ounces
• Height: 32 inches

Sounds like she is growing and developing on track!

Before we went to the doctor, she kept saying, "doctor, doctor" and was really excited. That wore off very quickly and she turned really shy when the doctor came in to examine her. I'm sure he thought we were exaggerating when we told him about all of Emilia's vocabulary because she barely said a word! The visit did not end well, as she got one shot and had blood drawn from her finger. This was the most hysterical she has been after a shot. Even milk and a sticker couldn't console her. Can't wait until next time!

Here's what Emilia is up to at 18 months:

• She is all about pictures, or "pitures." She had a complete meltdown this morning because we didn't have time to let her go into our office and look at photos on the computer. Now I have to fight for time on the computer with Emilia, too?!?
• The good news: Emilia can and does respond to questions now with something other than “no!” The bad news: the response is almost always “yeah” instead of “yes.” I guess our terrible habits are rubbing off on her!
• Even though she hardly watches TV (I promise!), she now hands us the remote control and says "Elmo!" Apparently Elmo is the only thing on TV.
• I see beauty school in her future. She is obsessed with brushing her hair and everyone else's hair, not to mention the hairdryer. The only thing she doesn't seem to love are these new barrettes daddy bought her. We're still working on those.
• Am I creating a germaphobe? Emilia loves, loves, loves to Purell her hands. If she sees me reach for it, she runs over and says "hans, hans." I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing during flu season.
• She has started to carry a tune. She roughly knows the start of the ABCs and chimes in “e-i-e-i-o" during "Old MacDonald. Her best singing arrangement is "Jesus Loves Me," which goes something like “Jeshush Jeshush Jeshush Jeshush Jeshush…” throughout the entire song. Click on Our Videos to watch.
• Favorite foods: eggs, rice, cous cous, chicken ("bawk, bawk!"), "patta" (pasta), yogurt ("gogurt") and most fruits and vegetables. But really, there's not much she won't eat.
• Favorite pastimes: roughhousing with daddy, eating, sliding ("weee!"), bouncing ("buntz!")dancing on command, reading books, (finally, she can say "book" instead of "gook"), going to "chuch," and playing with her stuffed animals and baby doll ("here ya go, sissy" she says to her baby doll as she puts a hat on her, of course).
• Things to look out for: She's starting to run, attempt to open doors and climb onto things more (like a chair, which she used to climb onto the kitchen counter. Great.).
• Her growing vocabulary: open, outside, go, church, friends' names, body parts, clothing and accessories, food, dinner, stuck, animal crackers... new words every day!
  

Here was Emilia at 2 weeks old:

And on the same chair and with the same lamb at 18 months:

Crazy how fast time flies!

As a side note, we woke up to snow this morning! It wasn't a ton, but it was the most we have had all season. Emilia spent a long time staring out the window saying, "no!" (that meant "snow"). And, she also learned the color white.

She's electric

After church on Sunday, we went to meet up with our friend, Steph, at Coastal Flats in Tysons Corner for lunch. Right in front of the restaurant was a furniture display from Crate and Barrel or something. I’m sure Crate and Barrel intended for it to be an advertisement and not a jungle gym, but nonetheless, Emilia had a great time rolling around on the couch. She generated so much static that her hair looked like a porcupine! See below from my phone:

Free and fabulous

The play area at Dulles Town Center mall is a great, free place to spend a morning in the winter. Even though it was super crowded when we went on Saturday morning, Emilia burned some energy climbing and sliding around in the airplane-themed playground. After that wore her out, we took a ride on the mall’s train. We bought a 10-ride pass for $10. I guess I know what we'll be doing the next several weekends! Here's our fearless girl sliding head first!

She's an animal

Couldn't pass up posting Emilia stylin' in leopard print...

With gratitude

Last week at small group, Wendy planned for the girls to spend some time making gratitude journals. These books are intended to record all of our many blessings -- or else we quickly forget them! Here is the Korsvall family gratitude journal. First item: thanks for our great small group!

Get this girl into gymnastics

Recently Emilia has been doing this move where she puts her head down on the ground and basically makes a triangle with her body and the floor. It looks like she wants to do a somersault, so finally, Eric just helped her do one. That was a big hit (“gen! gen!”). We’re looking into little gymnastics classes for her, where I think she has that natural, fearless instinct to do great!

Sweet tooth

Emilia takes after her daddy in almost every respect, but I finally found something she can thank (or blame) me for: my sweet tooth. She has had very limited exposure to chocolate, but it sure has left an impression on her. We’ve had some dishes with candy in them since the holidays, and even though she hasn’t had any of it, she constantly points to them and says “teat” (treat). I am pretty sure I heard her say “chocolate” a couple of times. And, well, this photo says it. I made Megan’s phenomenal banana chocolate chip bread over the weekend and let’s just say Emilia was a big fan.

Mommy's little helper

I'm already seeing signs of OCD in Emilia... she cannot walk by an open door or drawer without closing it! Whenever she sees the trash can pulled out of the cabinet, she pushes it back in and shuts the door. We did some cleaning over the weekend and we caught her dusting the coffee table with a dryer sheet. Here she is mopping the floor with a mop three times her size.

Bouncing around

Since Monday was a holiday, we were excited to spend some extra time with Emilia. It was freezing and lightly snowing, so our options were limited. We decided to venture to Sport Bounce of Loudoun.


She’s starting to really understand and look forward to things, so when we told her we were going to go bounce, all she kept saying was “buntz, buntz” and “Nay Nay,” since the last time she was there, Nathan was with her.

Hidden inside a business park in Ashburn is this large, indoor play area filled with bounce houses and slides. This is a great winter activity for kids as young as 18 months. Even though Emilia is on the young end, there's still a lot she can enjoy for $6. Here she is just getting warmed up:

There is a huge slide that we went down several times. Emilia is obviously too young to get herself up to the top, so one of us had to carry her. The first time I took her I held up the entire line and was winded even after I came down.

The rules are that you have to slide down one at a time, so here’s Emilia flying down all by herself! Click on Our Videos to see her in action. 45 minutes of bouncing the heck out of that place and we were all wiped. Emilia crashed in the car. $6 well spent!

Snaps for Megan

Check out the updated photos in our blog header… thanks, Megan!