Emmett Turns 2

Two years ago May 16th my little man was born at 9:31pm after a long labor and after what seemed like an even longer wait for labor to begin... I remember it all like it was yesterday and hope I always will. :)

Emmett,
You have changed so much from that little 8 lb 11 oz baby. You have grown and are now 26 lbs 6 oz (29%) and 35 1/2 (79%) inches tall. You are wearing size 2t clothing with adjustable waist pants that we have to tighten. Your shoe size is 7T. :) You love being at daycare although most mornings you hang onto our legs until we leave and you always run to greet us at the end of the day with your arms up yelling "Mommy Daddy, Mommy Daddy!" :) Your best friend is Jack who is only two weeks older than you.. and you guys say the same things all day long and he also calls me Mommy when I come to pick you up! :) Your favorite activities are going outside ("side"), taking walks in your little red car, bath nights, and watching George, Elmo or more recently Mickey Mouse. You are also starting to enjoy coloring and you are enjoying learning about your new tricycle. You love most foods and will try anything. When I ask you what you want for a snack you respond by saying "Um... cheese. And crackers. Yeah!" You are also obsessed with Goldfish and would eat then for every meal and snack if I allowed it. "Noodles" are a favorite as well and that includes macaroni, spaghetti, lasagna, rice, lo mein, etc. You also still prefer vegetables to fruit but we have found that you will eat canned fruit as well as grapes and bananas.. sometimes blueberries. You currently go to bed around 7:30/8, wake up around 6:30 and take a 2 hour nap from 1-3 every day. You typically will nap 3 hours on the weekends but you have started to try to fight napping all together at times. There have only been a handful of days where you went without a nap and you ended up in bed very early those evenings. You sing and talk all the time! Favorite songs to sing include Happy Birthday, twinkle twinkle, BINGO, Ring around the Rosy (Ring Around), Clean up song, Bear Bear Bear Bear (how do you do) - which we had never heard! and many more. You repeat EVERYTHING. You sometimes yell for daddy up the stairs saying "Rustin!" Some of the other things you have been saying lately include "I don't know where it is", "I'm the man!", "Ouchie!" (which we then have to kiss for you), "It's ok Hattie" and "I did it!!".
When Daddy left to go watch the races tonight he told you "Bye Bud." You responded by saying "Bye Daddy, I'll miss you! I love you, mmmuah!" He then gave Mommy a hug good-bye and you ran and hugged his leg and said "Me too! Me too!" The other day we asked you - "Do you love Mommy?" "Um hmm.. " "Do you love Daddy?" "Yep!".. Then silence until you said "And Love Hattie too!" So sweet.
Tonight when putting you to bed I told you "I love you Emmett." You responded with "I know, I know I know!". That is the best response I could have ever asked for.. because I am so glad that you know! :)
You normally do not get into too much trouble.. but there have been times recently where you have done some things you shouldn't have where we needed to let you know that it wasn't ok.. Such as the few times you have hit your sister. We try to watch to keep you separated when she is on the floor or we just have to put her somewhere out of your reach but occassionally you get to her before we can. To our surprise you were already pretty familiar with time out. Thankfully Dragon Tots also uses time outs when dealing with children misbehaving. You easily sat for your two minutes and then told Hattie sorry. You are a little fascinated by time outs lately and will put your Curious George or Elmo in one occassionally. You can count to 10 correctly and go past 10 skipping a few numbers here and there to eventually get to 20. You know almost all of your colors but occassionally get them mixed up.. We are starting to work on your letters and so far you know the letter "A". :) It's a good start for a 2 year old! You do know some shapes as well. You are just starting to be shy but after you warm up you are a big talker/singer. At times when you are being shy you make a face where you bring your lips in tight.. it is sweet. I can tell you think the world of your Daddy and are constantly saying "Play Daddy, play!" But when something scares you or you get hurt you yell for Mommy.

I hope you always know how much we love you little Emmett Robert. Both Daddy and I will always promise to accept you for who you are.. no matter what. Right now you are 2.. you are sweet as can be.. and you will go through so many changes in life. We are here to love and support you always. We will protect you from dangers in life to the best of our ability and guide you on a path towards independence offering you guidance so that you can eventually make your own decisions. We know that you will be great and are excited for the rest of what life holds for you. But, we are truly enjoying the moments with you now because they are sweet and they are fleeting.. I hope we remember all of this.. every day..  because we are going to miss this time with you when you are older! I have always wanted to be a Mommy someday and you (and your sister) have made that job as wonderful as I always wanted it to be.

All of our love,
Mommy & Daddy