Andrea and I are both falling behind on taking pictures. Looking at our collection, it appears that the last pictures we took were when he was about 10 months old. I exaggerate, but it seems this way as Emmett has grown so much in the last months. He is getting taller and taller (don't know where he stands against national averages---we will learn this at his next appointment in a few weeks), and he hasn't quite outgrown his belly. This belly seems extra large after he eats and he is still at the stage of life where he loves to show it off to any interested party.
Anyway, I thought I would add a couple of pictures that I took in the last week or so. They are not very good as they are from my phone, but they are better than the grand sum of pictures we have taken recently with the real camera which is zero. I will give a little explanation with each.
This first one is from our exploratorium trip last week. Emmett got in this smoke room and was spinning around to make a tornado. There were a lot of teenage girls around who were egging him on, which he loved, so it was very difficult to get him out of the smoke room. Emmett recently figured out the pockets in his jacket. A month or so ago Emmett learned about his pockets in his pants and was very excited about it. The other day we were walking to the park and I heard him behind me saying something and doing something I couldn't figure out. I turned and realized that he saw that I was walking with my hands in my pockets and was trying to copy me. However, his jacket was long and covering his pants pockets so he was trying to figure out how to work his jacket pockets. The noise I heard was a combination of him saying "pocket" and the shuffle of his feet while he turned circles trying to get his hand into his pocket. For some reason rather than twisting his arm at an angle to get into the pocket he was turning circles with his whole body trying to make it in. It was pretty funny to watch, and the picture shows the final result (achieved on his own). The last picture is from today. For the last few weeks, Malcolm has taken to sleeping on Emmett's changing table. At first we would move Malcolm to lay Emmett down, but started laying Emmett with his head resting on Malcolm. Malcolm doesn't really care (he actually purrs the whole time) and it actually keeps Emmett from rolling around.
I just finished my second week of school and what was about the third week of full days for Emmett at day care. It was a week of huge break-throughs, though. On Tuesday we went out by bike again, and as before the trip was great. When we got to the day care building Emmett got a little whiny and started saying "daddy, daddy", which is what he has been doing recently when I am around and he is upset. I reminded him that we had gotten a balloon out of the lobby on the previous day we were there, which started him on the road to recovery, and then reminded him that we would get to play with trains inside his room which cured things. He stopped whining, we went inside, and everything seemed OK...our first arrival since the first day without him in tears. I stayed for a bit, started talking about leaving, explained that I would be back after a while like always, and then he walked me to the door---my first exit without tears since the first day. Everything went well and he talked excitedly about the day on the bike ride home. On Thursday (yesterday) we took the bus because of rain and when we got off of the bus he started talking about the trains and other kids in the class, and when the building was within sight he actually ran to the door and ran into his room. There were no tears upon leaving and everything went pretty darn well. It is good to feel that we may be over a hump with the day care. He still doesn't nap very long there (about an hour vs. 2-3 hours at home), but his naps there are longer than many other kids'.
It feels like both Andrea and I are communicating with Emmett in a much different way recently. His language is improving, but it is not that as much as we are getting the sense that he is actually trying to convey concepts rather than just pointing at something and identifying it. I can't remember if I mentioned this, but a few weeks ago he banged his head in the kitchen which brought tears, and after recovering he kept re-enacting it and explaining that it hurt his head.
Emmett and I rode to the Exploratorium on Wednesday. It was the free day and there were a lot of kids, so it was a little crazy. It was fun, but there wasn't a lot that he could really do too much with.
Andrea downloaded a few apps for the iPhone for Emmett during times where he is trapped and a little occupying of the time is in order. The apps are actually pretty neat: there is one that shows a few shapes and names one which he is to pick and a similar one that has various household objects that he is to pick by name. These actually have taught him quite a lot and he often surprises me with the things he knows (pointing out the O's on the the word "stop" on the road when we are riding the bike, macaws, and lemurs---the latter two which I wouldn't have known by name when seeing one before this). However, what is surprising is how well he can operate the iPhone and has been able to operate it for some time. The following is a video from a month-or-so ago where my phone was sitting around and he picks it up, unlocks it, and searches for the game to play. I know many adults that would have trouble with this task.
Sleep is getting better and better. On Wednesday he slept in nearly to seven, and most days we are able to get him to stay in the bed until 6. He is still on our floor in a travel crib, so we are thinking about doing some rearranging so that we sleep in the same room and he is in his real crib. We have taken to laying in the room with him as he goes down for his nap and goes to bed. Andrea is a little concerned that we could pay for this later (and I see her point), but I have to say it has been nice to have him lay down for every nap and bedtime without a single complaint and be asleep in minutes. Today was actually the first time in a long time that I had trouble with him with sleep. He fell asleep in the stroller on the way back from the academy of science (which can cause trouble) and was in bed tossing, turning, and fiddling with stuff like crazy for almost an hour. I finally put my hand on him and sang him to sleep. It was dark in his room and I was on the floor, but looking up I could see his eyelashes, and while I was singing I could see his eyes getting heavy and he was asleep within minutes. There is something kind of comforting to know that even a bad singing voice can soothe one's child.
