Emilia's Journal

Emi,

Just because you are so cute with little ears!

Even if you aren’t happy about it.

Love, Mom

Dear Emi-

Since you have started some finger foods, we decided to give you a few bites of our pancakes. Here was your response . . .

While we were at it, we thought we would try some chopstick
cuisine . . .

Looks like you aren’t afraid of new foods, now if you just liked your peas!

Love, Mom

Emilia-

Wow, 9 months already. What did we do to celebrate? Well, you had your check-up with Dr. Reid and got a flu shot (you didn’t even cry). We did one of your favorite acitivities- a bath, where I gave you a mohawk. It is much longer than the last time we tried that!

Only a few months and you will be a year already.

Love, Mom

Dear Emi-

Wow how time does fly. You have been changing this past month faster than your dad and I can keep up with. For starters your mode of transportation has evolved rapidly. You started the month getting around by laying on your belly and pushing yourself backwards. The more you tried to get something in front of you, the further backwards you would go. You often got stuck with your legs on either side of a corner or under furniture and we had to rescue you. Soon you were up on all fours and bouncing. You then would get a few inches forward, and by August 11- you had put it all together. Here you are showing off your stuff.

From crawling you moved onto pulling yourself up to a stand and even taking a couple steps holding onto things.

Another thing that has been changing daily is all the new sounds you make. Your dad taught you how to breathe in and out of your nose to try to get boogers out. You then started doing it all the time by scrunching up your nose, giving a big gummy smile and breathing as fast as you could in and out of your nose. The next noise that became your favorite was sucking in your breath like you were surprised or shocked by something. By the end of the month, you learned to clap your lips together to make a funny noise . . .

You also developed quite the babbling vocabulary as seen here after getting excited by a box.

Another thing that we could barely keep up with this month was your changing appetite. You went from happily eating your pureed foods to spitting them out and wanted to use the spoon yourself. We then knew we had to start some foods that you could feed yourself. Here is one of your first few attempts at finger foods, and while you did not get much of it in your mouth- you clearly loved the new foods. We also decided to take your shirt off for those early feeds because it was soooo messy!

Each day you continue to surprise us, make us laugh, and remind us how you won’t be a baby for much longer. It is so fun to see the little person you are becoming and while you are quick to let us know when you are unhappy about something, (mostly when you are hungry, thirsty or do not want to take a nap) you are generally very smiley, curious and busy exploring everything. You still get very quiet and observant in new situations, but venture out once you feel comfortable. You also have gotten a bit shy with new people, but eventually let them hold you (especially if they have something that interests you like shiny buttons or a pretty necklace). You say all sorts of things like mamama, dadada, bababa, ooooohh and occasionally say things that sound like words (even once saying oh-ba-ma: which I tell people you already know who the president is). If I am out of your site- you will yell MA!, and then give me a big smile when you see me. You also love pointing at people’s noses and have even tried to pick a few. I can’t wait to see what the next month brings.

Love, Mom

Dear Emilia,

We bought a bike trailer from a friend last week, and you are seeing the city in a whole new way! We have used it almost every day since we bought it, and you love riding around looking at all the sights.

Today though, we were caught in a big downpour as we biked over to Tangletown to visit a bike shop.

Luckily, your new trailer has a plastic rain cover. You stayed dry and happy. (I got a little wet.)

It’s fun to have a passenger along for the ride!

Love, Dad

Dear Emilia,

We took you to the Minnesota Zoo today! There was so much for you to see!

You laughed at these guys. . .

. . . helped mom feed a giraffe. . .

. . . and watched the gibbon walk around like a trapeze artist . . .

You also thought the tropical fish aquarium was pretty amazing, you pressed your hands and face up to the glass and watched the fish and sharks swim silently past.

We’ll go back again soon!

Love, Dad

Dear Emilia,

For your first Independence day we headed up to the cabin like we often do. This brought all sorts of new experiences and lots of time with family. First of all, compliments to Gert, one of the clinic assistants at my work- you were outfitted in red, white and blue.We didn’t go to fireworks because they would be too loud and your bedtime is 7:30pm, but you did get your first experiences of swimming in the lake. The water was a bit cold, so we sat on the beach for a bit where you tried to eat seaweed and sand. We then filled a tupperware bin with water and let it warm up on the dock. You had your own personal and solar heated pool!

After a while you got tired, so we laid you down on the bench of the boat. It was cool and dark under the boat lift, and you seemed quite comfy.

After a week at the cabin, the water warmed up a bit and we were able to swim in the lake at Aunt Gail’s and uncle Dale’s beach. Dad would sit you on the edge of the dock and count “one-two-three,” at which point you would tip yourself forward into his hands and he would dip you into the water. This was always followed by an erruption of giggles from you. We are so happy that you enjoy the lake so much already.

One thing you clearly did not like was your life jacket. Whenever we put you in it to take a boat ride, you would either cry, or go completely silent and then fall asleep. Hopefully you will enjoy boat rides a little more when you get bigger. The best part of the week was just relaxing, and hanging out with family. Here we are with Great Grandma Colianni by the Bocce court.

It was a wonderful week and of course we found time to take lots of pictures of you. The cabin was surrounded by tons of wild daisies, so we did a little photo session of you in the flowers. We look forward to lots more memories up at the lake, and don’t worry- we’ll go to fireworks when you get a little older.

Love, Mom

Dear Emilia,

We are going to open a frequent flyer membership for you soon, since you have now taken four plane rides in your first seven months of life!

We hadn’t been to Chicago to visit your Uncle Kris and Aunt Andrea for a while, and it happened that the Minnesota Twins were in town to play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Would this be your first Twins game, and first Cubs game, rolled in to one? Your mom and I tried to go to Wrigley Field once before, but the game was rained out!

After a completely uneventful trip down to Chicago in which you mostly smiled at everyone sitting around us, Aunt Andrea and Uncle Kris picked us up at the airport, and we headed straight to Portillos. You are much too young for sandwiches, let alone portillos, but you were happy to sleep in the back of the car while we got our food.

The next morning, it looked like rain, and instead of dragging you to the field and risk getting rained on, we decided instead to go to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the new modern wing.

So, we hopped on the L on the brown line for your first train ride. You had a great time looking out the windows.

We went straight to the museum, and checked out the new area. You loved looking at all of the paintings with the crazy shapes and colors (we were in the Modern Wing, after all…)

We couldn’t help but notice a beautiful blue sky, (in contrast to the rain when we left in the morning) and the park was calling. We looked at all of the big buildings…

And all of the small flowers…

Inexplicably, a horde of zombies showed up and you weren’t amused…

We hopped back on the train and went home. You were very impressed with all of the sites and sounds of the big city!

The next day we had a great breakfast at the Southport Grocery. (As you will learn when you are older, the main focus of trips to chicago is food.)

When I think of you on this trip, I will remember how you were so observant! You love to examine things. We’re having so much fun offering you new things to look at and play with.

We can’t wait to take you on trips to show you more of the world!

Love, Dad

Dear Emi-

It seems that we blinked and already you are 6 months. This has brought all sorts of new adventures as you learn to do new things. First off, you have started solid foods (though I am not sure why they call it “solid” when it is basically mush- but it is much more solid than your previous liquid diet). You started out a bit slow at first, spitting more back than you swallowed. With time, however, you became a pro and have showed a preference for orange foods such as sweet potato, squash and carrots. You also love avocado. Here are some pictures of you in your dining finest:Besides trying new foods, you are also trying all sorts of other new things. While you rolled from your front to your back at 11 weeks, you have just begun to roll the other way. This will be helpful when you are ready to crawl!

You are sitting very steady now are are happy to sit and play with toys. You especially like reaching for Yeti whenever she is near you. You also have a very happy scream that you let out whenever you are excited. When you get talkative, you also yell something that sounds like “Hey!” People think you are saying hello to them which makes you seem very advanced for your age.

We have also discovered how much you love swinging. At first you were a little tentative and we only pushed you a little bit, but now you giggle uncontrollably when we give you a hearty push.

You have also started to enjoy bouncing in the jump-up, when before you would just use it to spin.

We just love making you smile and laugh which you do readily with tickles, funny noises, zerbert kisses on your tummy and many other things. The only thing you don’t seem to like is napping. Everyone comments on what a happy baby you are and we can’t agree more. We are having so much fun watching you learn how things work and seeing more of your personality.

Love, Mom

Dear Emilia,

You went to your first wedding on May 24th, for your cousin Angela. You wore this beautiful dress that Grandma and Grandpa C. bought for you in Italy.

Recently, you’ve learned to sit for a little while on the ground, (if we prop you up first), and I knew that there would be a nice place to take a few pictures of you. This one is my favorite picture of you.

It’s hard to understand how quickly you’re growing. These last couple months have been a flurry of activity and new discoveries for you. Before we know it you’ll be walking around and telling us what you think of this world…

Love,
Dad