We went to a furniture store and Emery did a really nice pose for us on this leather lounge bed.
Boston Pride
Ashley just took these photos of Emery at the Chinatown Square in Atlanta. We come here often enough you can always measure Emery’s growth by height he compares to the little bridge.
Here she is today in her Boston Red Sox shirt and pig tails. Ashley somehow always gets the best Em B pics.
Emery Learns To Write Letters
Last week we started to teach Emery to write letters. She has been able to recognize letters but still not quickly recalling them quickly. So, we felt that learning to write them would give her the “up close and personal” experience with each nitty gritty detail.
Ashley made the word templates and we have been spending ~30 minutes a day aside from Friday and Saturday to write letters. She has started to not enjoy it as much as before but it seems to resonate well with her and despite some groaning and distractions/stalling she has put her mind to it. We give a her check or a X based on whether she performed the right stroke and followed the trace correctly and smoothly. Surprisingly Emery immediately gravitated to wanted to get more “checks” and getting down and upset when we gave her X’s. in general she definitely responds well to encouragement rather than critical or threats.
Teach her to write each letter as truly helped me realize how much we take for granted. When teaching Emery, everything needs to be called out. From how she sits, posture of her back, how her hand holds the pen, while the other hand holds the paper, and that’s not even mentioning all the subtleties of each stroke and sequence of forming a letter. All I can say is Wow, I really feel like a parent now! But, as frustrating and challenging as it can be, it is rewarding to see her make progress and learn her letters!
Here’s a video of me teaching her to write letters. More to come!
Hilton Head Island
We decided to take a family vacation for a few days and experience Hilton head. This is technically day one. The weather is nice, just a few clouds in the sky. It’s a warm low 70s and the water is pretty warm as well. A cool ocean breeze is blowing on my face. I am sitting on a beach chair, watching as Ash and Emery wade in the calm sea bank looking for sea shells.
A year and a half ago, Emery was scared of the water and now she confidently struts over with cup and takes filling after filling of wet sand to build her sand castles. “I am making a doggy” Emery says. Her cute toddler voice is like sweet bells to our ears. To see her hunched over and playing in the sand only reminds me of how fast she is growing. Our little Em B.
Ash and Emery have walked off now, mixed into the crowd of beach goers walking, splashing, basking in the Carolina season. Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend. “It’s going to be busy”, the publix worker said to me last night. A sense of pride but also sigh marking the extra work shed probably have to do.
I am really excited about this trip. We rented a vacation condo right next to the beach. It’s literally a 5 min walk across the street and we’re there! I picked it and booked the trip, Ashley didn’t have to plan. So I was a bit worried it would not live up tithe hype…but…the apartment is great. Just the right size if not a bit bigger for us. It’s so relaxing to get away from home, but s enjoy the comforts of a real home and not a sterile hotel room.
We took the dogs with us this time. A rare thing these days, due to the logistics and hassle of wrangling a toddler and 2 dogs just never seems to be worth it. But this time, it’s a family trip so canines included! Of course our senior dogs are house trained but as Ashley joked, “they’re house trained for our house”. In less than 12 hours Pok’e, our little princess, has peed in about 6 to 8 spots in the house. I guess she has to make sure her new kingdom is adequately settled in to smell like her place. Poor Wappa is so blind he keeps bumping into furniture. But remarkably she catches on pretty quick and is back to his laid back self in no time.
I see Ashley and Emery coming back now. We’ll see how many shells she has collected. She is so cute with her little Paul frank bathing suit
Family Snapshot
It’s just been too long since I last posted. We keep taking all of these pictures of Emery and share them through email to the extended family from New York, LA, Hawaii and China! But, I need to do this more often. Here’s some recent Photos.
We went strawberry picking in Macdonough. Fun but lots of strawberry cleaning afterwards!
We went with Emery’s BFF, or so I joke. Emery and Amelia seem to have a great bond. They walk around holding each others hand.
This spring has been birthday party crazy. Each weekend there has been a birthday party of a child in Emery’s class. Here’s a snap of the kids, who go to the birthday parties. This was Tyler’s birthday party.