(17 months) After I looked at this photo I was shocked to see how big Emily has gotten. She is becoming our big girl with each passing day. We love our big girl, but we also miss our little girl!

We spent two afternoons playing in our backyard pool. Yesterday I introduced it to Emily and while she enjoyed playing she was very careful. She splashed, poured water on herself, moved toys around and had a good time. Today when we went out to play she was so much more bold. She was willing to get in by herself, move around, stand up, get in and out. She hasn’t discovered the fun game of pouring water on Mommy yet, but it will come soon.

(17 months) Emily is such a happy girl! She loves to play and swing. Emily has started imitating kissing. She will make kissing noises and she will try to place them on your cheek. Sometimes she hits, but other times she misses and gives kisses on your nose or just in the air. Emily will also put her head on your shoulder and pat your back as a hug. Nothing melts my heart faster than a hug!

She will also imitate a ‘shh’ with her finger over her mouth. One day I was shopping with Emily and she decided that she wanted to squeal loud enough that the three isles on either side of us could hear her. I tried to ‘shh’ her and she decided that it would be a fun game to imitate me. The first time she put her finger in her mouth, but after a couple of times she was getting it right. I was so glad that the squealing had stopped and that this funny little girl was ‘shh’-ing her Mommy.

(17 months) Today Emily and I made a short visit to the park. It was a hot day and a little swinging seemed to be the best plan for the day. I had Emily walk from the car to the park by herself. It isn’t too far and she loves to swing so there wasn’t anything to get her distracted from our destination. As I was walking beside her I asked her if she wanted me to hold her hand. She said “yeah” and turned to me while putting her hand up for me to hold. My heart melted! While it was very sweet, it also reminded me of how fast she is developing and learning. Some days it is really easy to miss how much she understands because she chooses not to respond to my instruction. But today it was very plain to see!

(17 months) We are happy to announce the introduction of two new teeth in Emily’s mouth. We think that they are the two top molars, but there isn’t very much of it to see at this point. It has been so long since we have seen any new teeth and she has so few we have been hoping that she would get some new ones soon! She was a little fussy this afternoon which is what made me look to see if there had been any changes. One step closer to eating like a big girl!