The Emmons Kids

It’s a busy weekend in the Emmons’ household, with Halloween, and Ian hitting 14 months and us having an early Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. The beauty is that the house smells wonderful!

So another month has passed and Ian is unstoppable. In addition to the usual toddler high jinx of pulling toilet paper off the roll and fishing around in the toilet, he loves to dance, and generally “run” around the house yelling. He’s also quite the climber and has even tackled the tall slide in the play room, which he loves to slide down on his belly. When playing in his room, his favorite toys are his ball popper and pushing himself along on his Radio Flyer Rocket.

I’d forgotten how quickly toddlers pick up on things, and Ian is happy to remind me, by helping to put on his jacket, pointing out where the food is that he wants and attempting to buckle his car seat. We’re even turning him into another little helper around the house, giving him small items to carry to the kitchen and give to Eric as we clear the dinner table. The problem was showing him to throw things away in the trash can – now we have to watch out as anything and everything can end up in there.

Ian is finally getting another tooth – this one on the top left – which will bring the total count to three! And while he only says a few “real” words, he chatters up a storm, verbalizing constantly.

Ally is turning into quite the big girl. She asked me the other day to paint her nails for her and then returned the favor by painting mine. Imagine how silly I looked sporting glitter/sparkle nail polish to the office – luckily I have a sense of humor and it was the day before Halloween!

Her head is looking better, but she still has a lump and blood pooled around the inside of her eyes, which is a nasty shade of blue-red and went nicely with her elegant Cinderella costume. Eric and I jokingly referred to her as our zombie Cinderella. And always one to know exactly what she wants, or doesn’t want in this case, she’s taken to refusing to wear any tops or dresses with buttons on the front of it.

Now we’re off to enjoy leftover pumpkin pie from our Thanksgiving feast and there’s no shortage of things for me to be thankful for this year – my life, my health, my family and the Phillies “phinally” going from cursed to first!

Tuesday was Eric and my eight year wedding anniversary, and we did not spend the evening as we had planned. Instead I spent several hours at the emergency room with Ally.

When I arrived at the kids’ school that evening, I picked up Ian and then went to the playground to pick up my girl. As soon as I opened the door, I could hear Ally crying hysterically. My heart dropped as I knew it was a something-is-very-wrong cry. Sure enough, her teacher said she had just run head first into a metal flagpole. She didn’t know how bad it was as it had just happened and Ally would not let go of her.

When we finally got to see her face, I was relieved as I didn’t see any marks at all. But what I saw once we lifted her bangs made me sick to my stomach – a huge black lump the size of a golf ball was protruding from her forehead. We took her inside to get ice and when I called Eric to tell him to come home to get Ian so I could get Ally to the hospital, I learned he was already there making me a surprise dinner.

At this point Ally had calmed down and was able to tell us exactly what had happened (she’d been chasing a ball and not watching where she was going) and to tell us how she felt. I was still very worried, but her ability to carry on a normal conversation and even ask if she could have a piece of chocolate from the principal’s office made me feel a bit better.

I got home as fast as I could, dropped off Ian and then took Ally to the hospital, where she was everyone’s sweetheart. By the time we left, she’d managed to score two teddy bears and a Halloween pencil, so to her, the trip wasn’t bad at all.

We were just relieved to learn our girl was okay. The doctor said some kids handle head injuries better than others and that Ally was clearly one of those that handled them better, but we should still keep a close eye on her for the next day or two.

I think all of our family members could be described as hard-headed at times and it just goes to prove that sometimes inheriting a “hard head” isn’t such a bad thing.

It’s been a busy month since Ian turned one.

After celebrating his birthday at home, we headed to the country to celebrate Ian’s big day with family and friends that we rarely get to see. It was a fun time and hats off to Cindy’s Sweets for yet another phenomenal cake!

The following weekend we flew off for Disney World, which I’ve already posted about. Then it was back home for a visit from Matt and Beth, which is always nice! The only bad part was they brought Bailey home from Eric’s parents house for us, and I think Bailey is still pouting about it.

Weighing only 18 lbs. at his one-year appointment, Ian is just shy of the 5th percentile in height and weight. He’s such a peanut, which makes him even cuter as he walks around, because he looks too little to be walking.

That’s right, our boy finally made the move about a week ago and started walking! He’d been taking five steps here and there, but that was it until last week. I guess he got tired of me harassing him, because he took his usual few steps, looked at me and smiled and then kept right on going! He still likes to crawl around as well, but he’s mostly using his feet to get around these days. I was excited because I finally got the chance to go out and buy him a pair of those adorable boy’s shoes I’d been seeing, but we didn’t have a need for yet.

Ally has been doing well too and started Spanish and sports lessons at school. I’ve been trying to brush off the cobwebs to remember Spanish and help her practice, but once we pass the basics I think I’m done for. She and Eric talk about our Disney trip daily, which is probably why we are already planning our return trip for this December. I joke that the magic will wear off if we go too frequently, but I don’t think I’ll be changing their minds.

Outnumbered, I’m off to help plan that trip!

We managed to make it to the fireworks display at Epcot on our last night at Disney and we were so glad we did – the show was simply spectacular.

This morning we woke early and took the long way to the Magic Kingdom by taking the monorail that Ally had been so eager to ride. We were sure to take in all the sites one last time before heading back to the lodge and our bus to the airport (where I was able to get my first real cup of coffee in days!).

Despite the fact that our plane was delayed an hour, the time passed quickly as Ally and Ian made friends with another little boy and his parents. The flight home went well, as Ally then made friends with the Drexel students who sat behind us, who were all too eager to play with her and Ian, as well as two girls in front of us, who she ended up sitting with for a while. We didn’t get home until 10:30 p.m. and were all thoroughly exhausted.

Most importantly, Ally had a fabulous time, remembers the trip well and talks about it on a daily basis. Every time a Disney video starts, she’ll say, “Hey! I went there!” Whenever she sees one of the Disney princesses, she’ll say, “I got to meet her. She gave me a kiss!”

Eric is already planning our return trip, either for this December or next September; we haven’t decided which yet. But either way, it’s quite clear that we’ve been bitten by the Disney bug!