future musician?

Emma Jane LOVES music. She listens to classical music all night while she sleeps. She recognizes certain songs that I play in the car and grins ear to ear when she hears a familiar tune. My family is filled with musical talent (unfortunately excluding myself) so it is quite possible that Emma Jane will become a talented musician as well. She had plenty of opportunities to try out the piano during our visit home. She played the keyboard with her cousin Allison, had fun banging on the baby piano at Aunt Scott's, was thrilled to plink plink on the toy xylophone her Aunt Susan and Uncle Brad gave her, and happily sat at the piano with her cousin Hannah. Move over Mozart, here comes Emma Jane Street!

first steps

Emma Jane has been on her feet since she was a week old! She loved to "stand" up with all her weight on her legs at an early age. When she learned to stand up on her own, there was no stopping her. She would "practice" on our bed over and over again. A few weeks ago, she began to take tiny steps and she is now well on her way to taking full strolls! Her record is 6-8 steps in the nursery. I've yet to capture her walks on video, but here's a picture of her taking a few steps.

boy crazy?

Emma Jane had playdates with a couple of boys while we were home. She is quite a flirt when it comes to grown men like daddy who can throw her up in the air, but she wasn't sure what to think about little boys close to her age. When she met Peyton, she was only concerned with eating the grass around them. She had fun playing with Jacob's toys, but then he tried to kiss her, and she squirmed away! Good girl!

tunnel vision

Emma Jane tried her first tunnel crawl in her cousin Izzy's take-along tunnel. We put one of her books and a toy inside and she crawled right through without any hestitation! This girl isn't scared of anything! uh oh.....

family fun

We were fortunate enough to visit our family and friends these past few weeks. We went home for Emma Jane's great grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. She got to see ALL of her cousins on my side (7 total) during our trip. It's easy to see that Emma Jane is loved by all!

wacky for walker

Emma Jane is crazy about our dog, Walker. When he walks into the room, she squeals in delight. When we all go on walks together, she giggles and laughs to see him trotting beside her. Unfortunately, he seemed to care less about the new addition to our family until just recently. Walker has always been very tolerant of Emma Jane's ear pulling and nose poking, but he generally just ignores her or leaves the room when we bring her in. Suddenly things have changed a bit since Emma Jane discovered that Walker will gladly eat food off her tray. He hovers just beneath her during meals. This may be a lasting love affair afterall!

hating the hat

Today we went to the zoo again. Since I knew it was going to be a bright, sunny day, I decided to have Emma Jane "practice" wearing a hat before we left. For the past few months she gets very annoyed if you put anything on her head. She used to wear hats and headbands with a smile, but as soon as she learned how to take them off, they were history. This morning I put her hat on MY head and walked around happily showing her how cool it was to wear it (of course, it was barely staying on my much bigger head). She laughed and giggled at her silly mama (probably thinking I'm a big nerd) and I thought my trick just might work. After a few minutes of prancing around in her hat, I slowly placed it on her head. She smiled sweetly and swiped it off in a matter of seconds. After a few tries, I finally discovered that if I quickly distract her with something else soon after placing the hat on her head, she will forget it's there momentarily. Before we left the house, I shot some quick pictures of her just in case she suddenly realized there was a foreign object on her head. We made it all the way to the zoo without any hat swiping and I was thrilled! After all, this fair-skinned girl is going to have to get used to wearing hats. As I proudly strolled my Emma Jane through the zoo, several people stopped to say, "What a cute baby!" and "Adorable hat!" and I was tickled with myself for finally teaching my baby girl to keep her hat on. Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me say, "Ma'am, did you just drop this?" and sure enough Emma Jane's darling hat was lying on the filthy sidewalk a few yards behind us. I replied, "No, but SHE did, and she's very pleased with herself" as I looked down at my smiling child. We tried the hat again a few more times, but it wound up on the sidewalk each time and I finally had to admit that I was defeated. Enjoy the pics because you won't see many more of this little girl in a hat!

new friends

Emma Jane has made new friends (and so has her mama!). Her baby buds are slightly younger so she will be able to teach them all kinds of naughty things! There's nothing like watching three baby girls trying to figure life out. Unfortunately, Emma Jane seems to be so intrigued with life in general that she's not paying them much attention just yet. How rude!

out of control safety patrol

Emma Jane is obviously not very concerned for her own safety. As a ridiculous worry-wart mom, I have tried baby-proofing many things in her room where we spend the most time. I put adhesive soft corners on her dresser top, large foam pads on the edges of the dresser, and baby socks over the crystal knobs of the dresser. In a matter of days, all of those things were carefully taken off by our curious little munchkin. The "baby-proofing" objects were more like "baby magnets" and she just couldn't control herself. What a waste of money! At least I got a little entertainment out of it.

mmmm...grass tastes yummy!

The days of smiley baby photo shoots are over. Today we went to the botanical gardens for an afternoon stroll. I like to take Emma Jane there when she wakes up from her nap if the weather is nice. We find a cool shady place to sit and I give her a snack. She loves to listen to the water splashing in the fountains. When I put her down on a blanket in the grass, she is off and crawling before I can turn the camera on! Today she was obsessed with picking the grass and eating it! To my horror, she would grab handfuls and stuff them in her mouth. Needless to say, our photo shoot didn't last long, but I did get a few candids!