The Zoo!

On August 2nd we took our first trip to the Blank Park Zoo. We had a surprisingly fantastic time there. Emmett had just started giving up his morning naps so we went straight from 9:30am church to the zoo. He took a brief nap on our way there.

We saw the...

Birds..

 

 Kangaroos..

 

Giraffes..

Monkeys.. 

Carousel..

Fish!

We had a great day at the zoo! We also rode the train and saw several other animals like the seals, penguins, lion, camels, etc. Emmett got a duck pillow pet from the gift shop and is really enjoying it. Duck was his first word so he has a special affection towards them and he also loves to hug and lay his head down on really soft pillows so it was a win-win! It may not be a huge zoo but it was just big enough for us to spend a few very enjoyable hours there before coming home to take a long nap.

15 months.. and 17 weeks

Emmett turned 15 months old on August 16th 2012.

• He has changed so much since he turned 12 months. It is hard to remember the days where he still wasn't crawling! He is extremely mobile now. Not walking yet - but very close! He will take 3 or 4 steps at times but no more than that. We continue to try to encourage him and expect he will be walking shortly.
• Emmett can say many words now including duck, dog, book, mama, dada, no, yeah, ni-night, uh-oh, more, go, good, etc.
• He points to different objects in books and although he doesn't always get it right he tries! We are continually surprised by how many objects he does recognize. He still loves books and chooses what book he would like us to read to him.
• Emmett enjoys pushing around his wagon, musical piano walker, or his haul 'n ride truck. He also likes to crawl around holding on to his Little People. He still likes to play with his activity cube and musical table. Emmett also enjoys crawling under things like the kitchen table, chairs, his height chair and his activity mat.
• We are currently in the process of dropping his morning nap. He has been fighting a cold this week so he did have two naps today. However, it took him until 9pm to go to sleep - even though we put him down at 8. He babbled to himself for about an hour.
• Emmett is still going to daycare at the inhome that we have been at since April. He seems to really do well there and has (for the most part) been staying healthy. No ear infections, YAY! He plays with his friends, eats good food, takes good naps, gets to go outside and generally has a great time there from what we can tell.
• He eats any and all foods. In particular I would say he still really loves vegetables, especially peas and carrots. We are working on using a spoon and fork with much practice time needed. We have switched him to a bigger sippy cup without handles to try to keep him from throwing it on the floor. After much searching, we have landed on a more advanced version of the sippy cup he was using previously.
• Some cute things Emmett is now doing that we enjoy include laying down on the floor with his head on a pillow pretending he is going "ni-night", taking a big drink of milk and then saying "AH!" while smiling at us and waiting for our reaction, and leaning in for kisses! In particular one morning last week Emmett snuggled into bed with Mama and Dada after waking up and leaned in for a kiss from Mama, then Dada.. Mama, then Dada etc. He's a little sweetie.
• Emmett has a pretty full mouth of teeth now. He has just recently gotten all 4 of his first molars. Also all four front teeth on the top and bottom are now in. So, he has a total of 12 teeth!

In other news..

We are busy with one other thing lately.. getting ready for Emmett to become a big brother!! He doesn't quite understand the concept yet but can point to Mama's belly when we ask him where the Baby is. We have been looking for childcare for the baby since Becky currently does not have room for the baby but we are hopeful something might open up after the birth. I am currently 17 weeks along and find out the baby's gender in 3 weeks. We're really looking forward to this exciting event and to getting ready for our second child!