22 Months Old Today!

This busy boy just turned 22 months old today.  He's just two months away from his second birthday and I just can't believe it.  I have never had a child reach his or her second birthday so fast.  It's just killing me!  Emmett continues to just grow and progress every month.  He is so busy and active during his waking hours of the day and really just wants to be doing what his older siblings are doing most of the time.  He has totally fallen in love with choo choos, trucks, and cars and can be found pushing them around the house on his own every day.  He also has started bringing one of us over to the area where he is playing, patting the ground next to him, and saying the word, "play," which is just the cutest thing.  Emmett also makes a really great truck noise (much better than me) and started making this noise whenever he sees a big semitruck while we are driving in the car.  He also has discovered Elmo and has totally fallen in love with him which is exactly what Logan did at this age.  He now points out Elmo wherever he sees him (on plates or on a toy, etc.) and enjoys watching short video clips of him on YouTube before losing interest and wandering off to somewhere else in the house.  Emmett has also started copying his older brother and now insists on bringing all four blankets from his crib with him whenever we take him out in the morning.  He tries to carry all of them with him which is almost impossible as this blanket bundle is practically as big as him.  Normally, they end up scattered all over the house and I have the good fortune of picking them up and returning them to his crib on a daily basis with the exception of his favorite blanket which gets carried around with him throughout the day.

Emmett has also started folding his arms (on his own) during meal and family prayers which just melts my heart and he also has totally figured out how to play the game of hide-and-go-seek.  He will now play it with his siblings and is really good at staying still and quiet in a hiding spot for a long time.  Whenever he is finally found, he always has this sneaky smile on his face--especially when he doesn't respond to his older brother or sisters calling his name after they have given up looking for him.  It's rather impressive.  Although the cold and wet Autumn weather has totally arrived, Emmett still loves going outside at any chance that he is given as he misses the long, outdoor play sessions that he had on a daily basis this past Spring and Summer.  To help make outside play time a little more pleasant this Fall, I purchased a pair of adorable, dinosaur-themed rain boots for him which he loves wearing both inside and outside of the house.  Emmett also continues to eat like a champ and faithfully take a 2 to 3 hour afternoon nap each day after lunch.  Although I decided not to have him "cry it out" again last month after some really bad nights' sleep, he is basically hit or miss with his nighttime sleeping.  Most nights, he still wakes up 1 to 4 times a night and requires either a pacifier plug in or a rocking in his recliner chair.  We have never had a child struggle with sleep like this at almost two years old, but it is what it is, and I am just trying to deal with it and be grateful for the nights when I only have to plug him back in one time.  I don't know what is causing this, but I hope that one day, sooner than later, Emmett will grow out of it.  

His vocabulary development has also really taken off this month as he learned the most amount of words in one month so far in his life.  Here is a running list that the kids and I kept throughout the month:  play, crash, me, push, back, off, walk, box, more, off, snack, rock, shoes, boots, spider, cheese, gosh, the truck sound, choo choo, more, Elmo, walk, pumpkin (pronounced pumpkee), block, up, trash, fish, wash, brown bear (from the children's book),"hut toop" (he says this when marching like a soldier), and the most exciting one of all--LOGAN (actually pronounced Wo-gee).  After months and months of waiting, Logan finally got to hear his little brother say his name.  I don't know why learning Logan was so much more difficult than learning Lia or Ella, but poor Logan had to wait many months longer than his sisters did to hear Emmett say his name.  So, we are all glad to say that the wait is finally over!  Overall, we just continue to love and adore our Emmy Bemms and just think he is the cutest thing around.  We are so grateful for him in our lives and are looking forward to watching him experience his second Christmas season in a few weeks.  Oh, how he is going to freak out when we pull out the lights and decorate the tree!

This was the common scene that occurred multiple times while trying to get Emmett to sit still on the brown chair and smile for me today.  He is nonstop on-the-go these days!