Riding into 2007

Yes...this is Emma "riding" Papa on Christmas Day. After spending a few days with her, it's a miracle he can even move!

As promised (several weeks ago)....a 2006 Year in Review...

• 2006 saw Emma make HUGE - and we do mean HUGE - strides in her speech. At the start of '06, Emma had about 10 signs and only a few understandable words - mainly "more", "mama" & "dada". Now, Emma has over 100 signs, will attempt to repeat just about anything, and has an understandable 20 or so words. She can say "I want more...." and "May I be excused" and if she tells you that she wants "juice" and you give her "milk" she will hand it back to you and say "juice"! Her speech progress has only confirmed what we already knew - Emma is a very opinionated little girl!
• 2006 also was the beginning of Emma's "formal" education. She started preschool in February and continues to do great. We've been very blessed to keep the same teacher (Ms. Jan) & same classroom (at CDS) for this school year. We couldn't be happier with her progress.
• 2006 was another relatively healthy year for Emma. We had the usual sinus infections and colds of course. We continue to deal with the Eosinophilic Esophagitis and have recently had to make some drastic changes to Emma's diet. 2007 will consist of endoscopies every 6-8 weeks as we check on the condition of her esophagus and pray that the dietary changes will be sufficient.
• 2006 brought about an increasingly confident Emma - her gross & fine motor skills continue to improve and with them, her ability to climb (lots of climbing), run and most recently - jump, has made life really interesting around here! Emma thinks that climbing "up" the slide is far more fun that sliding down it and attempts in regularly.
• 2006 was also a huge year when it comes to what Emma understands about the world around her. The best way to describe it is that she just so much more "with it" than before. She's aware of what's going on, of what is being said, and she can and does react appropriately to general comments. An example...if I tell her something is wet, she'll bring me a towel to dry it...that kind of thing. This has been so exciting to see!
• 2006 was the year of the alphabet! Emma recognizes (in print and sign) all of her letters and will attempt to say them all. She is very visual and LOVES to point out letters in signs, on her socks, in books, on flashcards, etc.

I could go on and on and on....but I won't...I'm sure I'll think of 20 more things as soon as I post this!

So, what are we working on in 2007? Well, speech as always, continues to be at the top of the list because so many other things hinge on it. Beyond that, we will continue to work on things that are bit more "abstract" - conceptual things like "big/little" and understanding verbs and adjectives. And we'll continue to work on increasing her fine & gross motor skills - balance, riding a trike, drawing, manipulating objects with her hands, etc. And, we'll be dealing with a diet that is really, really limited!

That's about it...if anyone cares, Brian & I had a pretty good 2006, too! I know, I know...you don't read this for info about us! :-)