Emily's Favorites

Em rolling when she was 3, August 2007 Rolling when she was 4-September 2008.

Swimming with Dad. July 2008 age 4

Dad roaring and whistling at Emily.

More rolling, January 2008 3 1/2.

Tomorrow will be 2 years from when Emily passed away. I'll repost Robby's poem probably tomorrow, but instead of dwelling on sad stuff I thought I'd post Emily's favorite's. I went through her box of "stuff" today which made me remember some fun things. Like her potty charts of when she would go potty. And her hearing aid, her Redland Raccoon, the fuzzy blanket she slept with, etc. So here's some of Em's favorites. We'll start with food, because food was a big part of her life, even after she got a feeding tube, and a lot of my life was spent feeding her!

Favorite Breakfast Food: Eggs-she LOVED eggs for breakfast, and for a bit I think was getting so she could even sign eggs. She would eat them with ketchup, and then when we put her on a low-carb diet for her seizures she ate them with salsa. This is what she had pretty much every morning.

Favorite Snack: bananas and peanut butter. She got this one a lot,too. We were always trying to find ways to put more weight on her. She would make a huge mess when she would sign finished and wipe peanut butter all over her face.

Favorite Dinner: Sweet and sour meatballs. I'd grind it up in the baby food grinder and she quite Favorite Dessert: It's a tossup between cupcakes and snickerdoodles. At my brother John's wedding when she was 3 she ate 2 cupcakes and would sign more. She LOVED snickerdoodles.

Favorite Drink: Milk. She didn't drink much else. Juice was almost too thin for her-she'd choke on it. She wasn't a huge fan of Daddy's Dr. Pepper, either.

Favorite Person: Her daddy. She loved Robby. She loved me, too, and Lily, but not in the same way. She was a big time Daddy's Girl. She would sign for him or say Da if I was giving her a bath or making her do therapy. In the middle of the night if she woke up crying she'd want him. She'd cry and cry until Robby came and rocked her. He could rock her back to sleep when I couldn't. From when she was a few months old Robby would do this thing where he'd roar and whistle at her when he'd get home and say, "Emily, it's Dad." He started doing it because we didn't know how much she could hear, but her eyes would get all big when he'd do it, even at 3 months old. She loved it! Before she passed away she got so she would laugh when he'd do it. And a few times over the course of her life she'd roar back it him.

She did like eating for me :) I was always the person who could get her to drink her bottle when she was a baby, and then to eat regular food later.

Favorite Activity: Rolling! Emily LOVED to move and roll. She would roll from side to side and kick her legs super fast. When she was eighteen months she learned to roll over and would roll across the room until she hit something and got herself turned around. And then she'd roll back. When she was 3 1/2 she got so she would roll and get up on her knees and rock back and forth. Her head control was always the best if she was walking (with help) or bouncing on a ball or something. She just loved movement.

Favorite Toy: This was tricky-she didn't respond to too many toys. She did have switch button though that had Robby roaring and me talking to her, and she would hit it over and over again.

Favorite Animal: Dogs. She always responded to dogs. And had no fear, just like her little sister. I remember when she was in vision school a seeing eye dog coming and she would just hold still and touch it. One of her favorite babysitters, Cindy, has a dog and Emily would roll around on the floor while he'd play with her. We always talked about someday getting her a dog or a cat. She liked cats, too.

Favorite Texas Place: Six Flags: Fiesta Texas. The summer she turned 3 she and I had season passes there, and it was great-we could get her a disability bracelet every time we went, and with the bracelet she was able to go on all the rides that kids her size who could walk could go on. She went on the carousel, swings, ferris wheel, scooby doo ride, tea cups, train, cars. It was so fun for me to have her participating in such "normal" activities. Sometimes she was pretty sleepy through them-she didn't really like the bright lights outside. But she did pretty well.

Favorite Texas Activity: Swimming. We swam a lot. That's about all you can do in Texas in the summer. It always seemed to relax her, and she always had a great tan! (Her mom DOES NOT tan)

Favorite Song: Called To Serve. She liked other songs, too, like I am a Child of God, but if I played Called to Serve, or if we sang it in church, she would get super excited and kick her legs and move her arms. It was always fun to see! She loved music in general, and would roll around while I played the piano and taught piano lessons. I'll add more to this list as I think of things.

Favorite Sign: Finished. She learned how to sign lots of words, especially since she was blind and partially deaf (she heard pretty well with her hearing aid-the white band in all the pictures). She learned food, milk, more, finished, hearing aid, mom, dad, eggs. But the one she did the most consistantly was Finished. She'd sign it by swiping by her eye with her right hand. But it was definitly Finished. She'd do it if she didn't want to eat something, if she was done eating, if she didn't want to be in the car, if she wanted out of her stander or was done with therapy, or after surgery when she was not happy and just done!