Dear Girls,
Another month goes flying by, and this time we celebrated Emily's first birthday. School will be starting soon, summer is coming to an end, and before you know it, we'll be back in our routine for the school year.
We'll start with the birthday girl again this month. Emily, you turned 1 year old this past month. I can't believe it's been an entire year since the first time I held you in my arms. Watching you grow over the past year (and my, how you've grown!) has been an incredible thing. Everyone always says that no two kids are alike, and you and your sister couldn't be more different. You have taken your sweet time with everything, from crawling, to getting teeth, and it looks like it's going to be like that for standing and walking, too.
Just today, while you were sitting on my lap, you grabbed my shoulders and pulled yourself up to a standing position. That's about as close as we've gotten to you standing on your own in the past month. You will crawl up to things, like the window sill, and pull yourself onto your knees and just sit there, on your knees. You look like you really want to stand, but we just haven't been able to teach you how to do it yet, and you're perfectly happy on your knees.
One more thing that sets you apart from your sister (and I'm just thinking of this now because I'm looking at pictures of Rachel when she was 1) is that you voluntarily gave up your pacifier months ago! It seemed like one night you went to sleep with it, and the next night, you were pushing it away when we tried to give it to you. We had to take it away from Rachel, and it was a week of agony when we did it.
We had your birthday party in the middle of the month, and kept it small. Just a few family and friends came over. You had your first ever taste of chocolate cake, and the verdict is in: you are a chocolate lover. In fact, after just one taste, you were all over it. You even cried when I took your tray away to try to clean up the mess.
You went for your second trip on a plane this past week, and for you it didn't go so well. You were sort of all over the place, and crabby as could be until I finally got you to fall asleep. You slept on each flight we were on, but it took you at least half the flight to fall asleep. The worst was when we got stuck on the plane in Dallas for well over 2 hours. You were not a happy camper.
You have gotten really good about wearing your hearing aide when we put it on you. I think it's a combination of the new ear mold we got you a couple of months ago, and the fact that you've worn it enough now that you're used to it. The only times you'll take it off are when it starts to get in the way while you're eating or playing.
Rachel, this has been a really fun month for you. You've been playing soccer and getting better every day. You still have your moments, though, where you don't really want to be out there on the field and will start crying at the little things. But you're getting much better about having fun, and going after the ball.
You were very excited about going to see Grandma Connie and Grandpa Rick this past week. So excited, that I don't even think you notice that your mother and I were gone the majority of the first two days we were there.
Even when we were there, a lot of the time, you weren't. It seemed like you were always over at the neighbor's house playing with the girls next door. You also discovered the other neighbor had a visitor who was the same age as you, so there was an entire morning that you were over at the other neighbor's house, too.
By the time the end of next month rolls around, you'll be back at school with a bunch of new classmates and new teachers. There are some of your classmates from last year that are coming back, so you won't be starting completely over, but it's going to be a big change for you. You'll also going to be big man on campus, as this will be your last year in preschool before you start Kindergarten.
While the two of you still get along pretty well, there have been times where we're had to separate you, especially now that Emily can crawl and get into things. We're getting a small preview of what the next 14 years or so are going to be like, and I can only hope that the two of you mellow with age.
We love you both very much. We can't wait to see what next month brings for our family.
Love,
Daddy
Posted via email from Laleblog
