21 Months Old Today!

Oh this boy.  How is it possible that he turned 21 months old today?  I know that I say this every month, but I just cannot believe how fast these past 21 months have gone and that he will be turning two years old in only three months!  On the other hand, I can believe that his is almost two years old due to how he behaves a large portion of the day.  Emmett is just a brute of a baby boy in so many ways.  He is big, he is tough, he is into everything, and he tries to keep up with his siblings all the time.  I love him to pieces, but he sure is a handful these days!  I know that a lot of his wild and crazy behavior is due to the fact that he is being ignored so much of his waking hours every morning (before lunch and his afternoon nap) due to the fact that I am busy homeschool his three older siblings.  It still makes me sad every day that Emmett and I are in this awful predicament instead of just enjoying each other's company when I am not getting something done or running errands with him every day, but there is nothing we can do about it since homeschooling was forced upon us this fall.  Regardless, Emmett enjoys the extra sibling time in between their zoom meetings or during their study breaks which is a definite help to me.  

This past month, Emmett has really grown up in several ways.  He has started to do many new things and say many new words.  Emmett has started coming up to Ron or me wanting a kiss on the "injured spot" (like his hand or foot) any time he hurts himself.  The second he gets his desired kiss, he is totally fine and runs off to the next activity.  In addition, Emmett has learned how to shush you with his finger and can be found doing this from time to time.  On the other hand, Emmett has really found his voice and screams bloody murder whenever his siblings do something that he does not like or whenever something happens that he does not agree with.  It is pretty painful to the ears and definitely not my favorite thing.  One of the funniest things Emmett started doing this month is telling Ella to "Eat!" whenever he notices her not sitting in her chair and eating her meal (which happens several times a day during all three meals).  It is so funny to hear a 1 1/2 year old bossing his 6-year old sister around, but it also doesn't surprise me since Emmett is so focused when it comes to eating and Ella is so not! Speaking of Ella, she has taught Emmett how to gallop (thanks to her PreK ballet teacher's instructions) and so he can now be found running and galloping all around the house.  It is quite cute!  Emmett also has developed an awareness of what his older siblings are doing and is constantly trying to keep up with them and do whatever they are doing throughout the day.  He definitely wants to be "part of the group" which just shows how much he is growing up.  

Emmett has also become totally proficient walking up and down stairs by himself now.  I totally do not worry about him walking down stairs anymore which is such a relief.  As a result, I just took off the baby gate at the bottom of our stairs last week after Emmett figured out how to take off one of the Velcro straps that holds it to the railing.  So, after almost a year, we now can walk on or off of our stairs without having to climb over a gate.  Hallelujah!  Emmett has also started acting like his older brother and can be found dragging ALL four of his special, soft blankets with him around the house.  It is rather hilarious as this bundle of blankets is almost as big as him!  One other funny thing that he has started doing this month is helping to clean up messes on the kitchen floor like spilled water or food.  Any time he notices a mess, he will run over to the kitchen drawer that holds his baby bibs.  He then will grab one and bring it back to try to clean up the spill on the floor.  This is rather cute, especially when he is the one who made the mess in the first place.  Emmett has also learned how to fist bump and will obediently bump anyone's fist when asked to do so.  Lastly, his vocabulary really took off this month as he learned the most amount of words yet in a month's time.  I tried to keep a running list, but I know that I forgot some of the words.  Here is what I was able to remember to write down:  go, hello, bird sound, elephant sound, monkey sound, moo, beep beep, choo choo, owie, Emmett, bee, oh, abc, cookie, apple, duck, one, and scratch.  Quite an impressive list, eh?

Overall, Emmett is still a very happy, energetic boy!  He still loves eating three meals a day with multiple snacks in between.  He officially takes one nap every day after lunch for 2 to 3 hours which is so helpful to me--especially when we are done with homeschool for the day.  Emmett normally sleeps from 8:30/9 p.m. at night until 7 a.m. with a few wake ups in the night--some of which require a pacifier plug in and others require a rocking back to sleep in the recliner chair.  The latter has been going on since April and Ron and I are both not fans of this, so it looks like I am going to start the crying out process AGAIN at night this week which I am dreading.  Emmett will officially be the first baby that has required me to do this two separate times which I hate, but it is time that I practice some tough love and help him outgrow this bad habit of his.  Until next month!

I just had to include this second picture of Emmett as it really shows his true colors. Watch out, Terrible Twos!  Here comes Emmett!