Three Years!!!!

Wow!!! Three years have gone by since Tiny entered this world, on her due date, against my orders (you remember - I told her to a wait a week past her due date so we could be married 10 years before having a kid). She has proven to be an independent, strong-willed, and very fun Tiny! So it's about time I write in this blog and update everyone!

I will try to add pictures at some point but (it's been requested that I update the blog) I just don't have time to find my card reader, pull the pix off my phone, add them to my computer, then download them to the blog. So, just words for now! :) And a smiley emoticon or two, haha!

Let's start with the stats! Today, well as of her 3rd year doc appointment, Emer is:

36 inches tall - 38th percentile (really?! She seems so tall!!)

29.4 lbs - 36th percentile (that seems accurate)

Above average in some things and therefore just developing "perfectly" according to the doc! :)

Things that she knows now:

* Emer can sing the alphabet song, saying each letter perfectly.

* She can tell us the first letter of all of our names.

* She can count to 20!

* She loves going to the library and picking out books. Then she memorizes them and reads them to herself or her 'friends'.

Things she does:

-> Over the past year we have continued swimming when we get the chance and Emer has kept up her skills. This summer I am teaching swim lessons through the Y and I'm also teaching Ems the same things I'm teaching the kids in the classes. She can swim by herself, using a noodle, by kicking, stroking with her arms, and blowing bubbles! It's so fun to swim with her!

-> For Christmas Gigee got Emer a tumbling mat. We've been working on somersaults, back bends, etc. So, in April I enrolled Emer in tumbling. She has loved it ever since! We even got her a new leotard for her birthday! On tumbling days I have no trouble getting her dressed b/c she is soooooo excited! She can now do front somersaults, back somersaults with a spot; she can hang from the bar on her hips and from her knees, and kick off the bar; she can do a back bend and kick out of it with a spot; she can walk on the balance beam by herself (except when I ask her to!); and she can jump off of a spring board onto a "vault" then jump onto the ground. I'm always amazed at what she has learned and love that she loves tumbling!

-> Ems loves to sing! She learned songs by listening to them and repeating them back. She has always loved music but this last year she has really improved her language skills and pronounces things very clearly in song. She is even better at making up songs - it's too funny!

-> Speaking of making up things, sometime last fall, maybe in the winter (I can't remember!) she started really putting stories together. She'll set up dolls or other toys and make up stories with them. I love just watching her play - so creative!

All in all, Emerson Rachel Cripe, my Tiny 3 year old, is amazing. Yes, she gets crabby and whiny when she's tired or hungry (I know someone else like that!) but she's just so much fun when she's happy. I Love My Daughter!