Pictures & small update

I have been sick since Thursday, so nothing witty today. I have also had to reformat my computer not once, but twice since then, so possibly lots of swearing.
A few cute tidebits courtesy of Emmy:
"Look at my boobies!" (then she dissolves into giggles)
"Look at my tail" (she puts both legs in one pant leg, which of course ends badly with her falling) See below for why...
She is absolutely OBSESSED with all things Mermaid. She asks to watch the three movies constantly, pretends to be a mermaid in the bath, and constantly talks about them.

Otherwise, we are still chugging along with potty training - and all seems normal on that front. I cannot believe in less than a month, my baby is going to be 3!!

Here are some cute pics I took last night of Emmy and her Daddy

Emerson versus the crayon

Not sure if she was trying to use the crayon as a lipstick, or whether she was channeling her inner Joker. Either way, the end result was a trip to the bath.

Who is this child???

My disclaimer: I am in no way complaining.

Today, Emmy asked to use the potty every time she needed to go, and was successful with both peeing and pooping on the potty. She wore a diaper only for her nap and bedtime - she went diaper less at all other times of the day. Huge, HUGE step forward for Emmy!

She is possibly in the midst of a growth spurt as my normally picky and slight eater was an eating machine today! She had Rice Krispies for breakfast (and asked for seconds - which I nearly fainted at as she has NEVER asked for seconds of anything except freezies!) She had Dora 'soup' for lunch and ate a healthy amount of brown rice and veggies for dinner. Add in her snacks and her actually asking for food several times today, and you have a very surprised Mom!

It's all good - just Em keeping me on my toes as usual.

Because I know this is important to you,,,

After my previous post about potty training, I have backed off considerably with Em. Basically, if she asked to go, we would absolutely encourage it - but we left it in her court. Since then, she has peed successfully on the potty after asking several times.

Today Emmy went poop on the potty (which she has been avoiding like the plague) unprompted, and unassisted. She nonchalantly pulled down her pull up, went potty, and (thankfully) yelled to me, "Mommy, I went peepee in the potty!" I went over to inspect and it was full of poop! I then thanked the heavens that she hadn't chosen to sit on anything before yelling to me *gag*

So, it was celebration time in this house today as she absolutely refused to go before...she would wait to poop when her diaper was put on at nap time or bedtime.

Huge step forward for Emmy! Yahooo!

Recent favorite things

• Whenever I say to Emmy, "Aww you are my little baby girl," Emmy says,

"No, Mommy I am not a baby, my name is Emerson". It just makes me giggle.

• When Emmy asks to watch Madagascar, it sounds like "Magic-car-car"

Happy New Years....

Just like that, the eagerly anticipated holiday season comes to a close. It was a good year, with a few resolutions for 2009.

• Lose weight.
• Potty train Emmy (sooner rather than later please!)
• Continue to work hard at work and do the best job I can do.
• Be a good friend, a good partner, and a great Mom.

Potty training is not going well - Em refuses to go on the potty - will hold pee/poop until we put a diaper on her for nap or bed. When awake, we constantly ask her if she wants to use the 'big one' (bathroom) and she has access to the regular potty whenever she is in the living room (most of the time). I just don't know where to go from here. I want to leave it for her to do and be ready for but it seems like we've gone backwards here.

Ugh

More Christmas video

Merry Christmas from our house to yours...

I started this week on a low note as I received a call Monday morning from my Dad that my Grandma passed away late Sunday night. That weighed heavily on my mind since as I couldn't make the trip south to pay my respects to the woman I dearly loved. Between work, Christmas and bad weather all across the province, there is just not much I could do to get down there. But I did send flowers, and a letter sending my love.

I was worried that this would impact Christmas, but thankfully, watching Emmy in her glory opening gifts made my sadness disappear. This was the first year she really 'got' Christmas. She was so excited opening gifts this morning...it made my week.

This morning we spent as a family, then we went to Keith's brother's for Christmas dinner. It was a great day. We all got spoiled rotten gift-wise.











Video
Emmy unwrapping her Dora doll

Ahhh...men

Keith and I had our very first outing together today without Emmy. Grandma offered to babysit, so off we went to eat and shop for a couple hours without Em. It felt so weird to not have her there. We either have Emmy with us or she is at home with the other parent.

So, Keith and I decide to go for lunch. Our first childless lunch date in 34 months. Where does Keith suggest to go?

Arby's. Because they have roast beef, you know.

I told him in no uncertain terms that 1. I did not want to go somewhere with a drive-thru, and 2. I would be blogging about this later.

For the record, we went to Boston Pizza...and it was yummy.

Birthday Party

Emmy was invited to a birthday party for one of her daycare friends this past week. It was held at Bubba Baloos, which is a cool indoor activity centre in Prince George. Emmy had never been, so I was excited to see how she would enjoy it.(For the record, she loved it)


Here are some pics and video from the afternoon.

Dear Santa,

I know Emmy wasn't on her best behavior when she came to visit you at Santa's Workshop (Prince George Division). When we arrived and there was no one ahead of us in the lineup, her Dad and I figured this would be an easy-breezy picture. Then Keith attempted to place Emmy on your lap - which - if you recall - was when the screaming and kicking started. Emmy managed to get away from Keith, and came running for me.

I apologized to your elf-folk and we took Emmy to the food fair to get an Orange Julius knock-off. You know, 'cause sugar helps these situations.

Emmy calmed down and we began to weigh the options. Childhood trauma just to get the picture? Or have "The year with no Santa Claus pic". These are precious years, you know Santa, which is why we chose to try again, trauma or no trauma.

We got back in line and waited for our turn. Emmy, seemingly in good spirits, fresh with bribes from Daddy and I to go to McDonald's after the picture, was smiling and happy. Keith informed me I would be taking her up this time and before I had the chance to force a 'rock,paper, scissors match to determine who in fact, would be escorting the princess, it was our turn.

I took a deep breath, took Emmy by the hand, and up we went to see you, dear Santa.

I should have known when she pulled my arm and said, "Let's go that way, Mommy, THAT WAY!" which was NOT the way to your workshop...

I should have known when she threw herself to the ground and curled up into the famous 'If I hide like this, Mommy can't see me' pose...

I should have known from the screaming like she was being beaten, the foot dragging the "No! No! NOOOOOOOO", and the fighting that I would end up having to sit with her to make her even sit THAT close to you, dear Santa.

So, even though she is smiling in the picture (which I think was a split-second reaction to your Elf jumping around like a lunatic) I feel I have to apologize for the Time Out she gave you when we stood up. It was uncalled for.

Maybe next year she'll be better. Is it wrong to be fearing her teenage years NOW?

For your amusement...

It might be just mine, but this video of Emmy and Keith dancing just makes me smile. The warm fuzzies that this is my family, and being goofy together is just what we do.



Another "Awww" moment occured when Emmy fell asleep on Grandma's lap...c'mon...just say it with me....awwwww

Again, like Mother, like daughter...

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am a klutz. Since Sept 2007, I have had 2 broken bones and had a number of other falls that should have resulted in broken bones.

So, if Emmy turns out to be a klutz like her Mom, she would have come by it naturally.

Currently, we are dealing with a push car incident. Yesterday, Em was playing on her push car and managed to flip it backwards. She ended up with a nasty goose egg on her noggin. We iced it, and did the typical first aid - however the poor kiddo woke up crying at 3 am as her 'neck hurt'. Now, I knew in my head that it was due to the fall, however I worried about everything from the fall to Meningitis, because I am the paranoid mom.

She finally fell asleep with the help of some painkillers around 6 am. Good thing I had today off anyhow. She has been inconsolable at times and just fine other times today. I will see how tonight goes and if we have another bad night - I will have to take a sick day tommorow. My main worry is she is still on meds every 4-6 hours, alternating Tylenol and Advil which I don't want her daycare to have to deal with. So we will see. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Like Mother, like daughter...

Emmy's favorite Christmas cartoon so far?



This is the only one that seems to hold her attention, and she will sit in front of the TV, absolutely engrossed by this show.

It also happens to be my favorite - and I have been known to sing the songs as it plays. Okay, okay - sometimes when it's July and not even on my mind.

Being the fact I love it so much - maybe I 'forced' her to like it. I don't think I did as she has been watching different Christmas cartoons nightly, and none hold her interest like this one does. She actually asks for it now.

Ahhh...such sacrifice.

Pictures of Emmy

Sorry for any visuals this post causes...

This morning, I came downstairs in my bra, looking for a particular shirt I wanted to wear. I found the shirt and sat on the couch to put it on. Emmy came over to investigate my actions.

"Is that your shirt, Mommy?"

"Yes, Emmy."

"Are you putting on that shirt, Mommy?"

"Yes, Emmy,"

(referring to my bra) "Is that your nipple shirt, Mommy?" (When Em says nipple, it comes out as "Neeeepole".

I couldn't answer her because I was laughing too hard.

Have I told you how much I am enjoying this age??
However I am sure that I will now get a misdirected swarm of people who googled the word 'Nipple" only to come across this post. Sorry -- no porn here. LOL

Snarky Emmy

This morning as we were doing our usual morning hell rush, I was trying to convince Emmy that yes, the banana I gave her was tasty AND edible. (This child does not eat breakfast without a fight). She wanted to watch TV, and I wanted her to eat the banana. I made an offer to her. If she ate some of her banana, she would get to watch TV.
Emmy takes a few unenthusiastic bites of her banana, looks at me and says, "What's that sound, Mommy?"

Confused as there was no sound and the TV was still off, I asked, "What sound, Emmy?"

"Oh, it's the TV, Mommy."
I will state again that the TV was still off. Emmy was calling me on my promise to turn on the TV should she eat her banana. Spoken like a true smart-ass. She comes by it naturally so I guess I better get used to it.

This age? It is the BEST!!!

The other day, Emmy was eating a strawberry, and all of a sudden her strawberry turned into an egg and she began to tell me a story about it. She went on for about 5 minutes with this story about the egg, speaking in sentences and making total sense with her story. Just floored me with her imagination and speech.

She tells jokes and laughs at them. She said to me yesterday, "Oh Mommy, I am funny."

She calls her Sunkist fruit snacks "Doobies". This causes Keith and I to laugh like immature school kids, and must impress Denise, Em's daycare lady when she asks for them at daycare.

She wants to help with everything from laundry to sweeping.I could get used to this. LOL

Happy Halloween

Emmy went trick-or-treating for the first time last night. She had fun, and got a full bucket of treats from the 4 houses we visited. Keith took her up to each house and I took pics/video from the road. Upon the people opening the door for her, Emmy would go inside, or at least try to, which was hilarious. Overall she was a hit, said the required "trick or treat" and even said thank you to the neighbors.

Here is a video of her very first house. Sorry for the camera movement, I was laughing too hard.

Excuses, excuses

I have been bad these past few weeks about posting. I have some good excuses, though.

• Two weeks ago, my car died, so we have been a 'happy' carpooling family in Keith's truck (which is a pig on gas)
• After Em was sick, I got it and her 4 hour illness took me 2 weeks to recover from.
• It was my 35th birthday yesterday. Oh that still looks wrong. I am officially closer to 40 than 30. Oh. and Keith bought me a bathroom scale. 'Cause I didn't know how fat I was. Good choice, buddy, good choice.
  

Genius Emmy

Picking Emmy up from daycare today...there are leaves all around as it has been blustery fall days this week. Emmy bends down and picks up a maple leaf, turns to me and says, "Canada!"

I have no idea where it came from, but she associates a maple leaf with Canada. May not make her a genuine genius, but it is pretty damn brilliant in my books.

This is the house where puke lives

At 5 am this morning I awoke to the sound of Emmy puking. Keith was downstairs with her, and he answered me that he had it under control.

When I heard her puke again within 15 minutes - I got up and went downstairs. My poor little baby girl kept telling me she was sorry for making a mess on the floor. I hugged her and told her it was okay (after all, Keith was cleaning it up ha ha) Emmy puked at least 10 times this morning - including the crackers and freezie she ate (as I was trying to get fluids into her- although I had good intentions, Keith assures me now it was a bad idea LOL)

She begged at 8 to go upstairs to her room, but as she was still actively puking - we wanted to contain the carnage to just one area. She fell asleep at 9 am and is still sleeping as I write this 3 hours later (as is Keith). Originally I thought she was puking because she was coughing from her cold - but that doesn't seem to be the case with the sheer volume of puking going on.

It's a good thing we own a steam cleaner, I tell you.

More Emmy-isms

Mom: I love you, Emmy
Emmy: I love me too, Mommy

"Scccaaaaaarryyy Eyes"

"Uncle Poppy" (when referring to my friend's husband.

" More Soup please, Mommy." (Soup is Alpha-ghetti - she will eat a whole can by herself)
"Get Up!" (when I am at my computer desk and she wants something. Bossy little kid.

"Tummy Hurts - Nummy Treat"

And the begging begins....

Can you just hear her saying, "Pleeeeaaaaasssseee?"

On another note...

I went grocery shopping last night after Keith got home from work, and boy, that was an experience. I had plenty of complaints from people blocking entire aisles with their buggies and then abandoning them to walk down the aisle, and the aisle blocker chit-chatters. However, the man I encountered at the check-out made the other complaints seem like minor irritations.

He was behind me in the checkout - and as I found out, behind him was his mom. I was bagging my groceries. I could not help but notice the adorable child in the cart. I asked him how old she was, and after a long pause (like he was thinking about it) he said "two."
I replied that I had a daughter that age, and continued to bag my groceries.

As I was bagging, I noticed the child kept standing in the cart (they don't have belts), I waited for the Dad to notice and stop it, but when the child made a motion that she was going to climb out, I said,, "Hey kiddo, stay in the cart, sweetie," which made the Dad pay attention to what was going on (exactly what my intent was). Problem solved, I figured.

Wrong.

Child stands up again, Dad is not paying attention, and again makes it seem like she is going to climb out of the cart. This time the cashier, who was only maybe 17, brought it to his attention. (Hello, what has Dad's attention anyhow? His groceries are being rung through, his daughter is right in front of him , but it takes two strangers to bring it to his attention?)

The father replies....wait for it, this is good.... "Well she would only do it once" (meaning climb out of the cart and fall as it would hurt and she would "learn her lesson") I just stared at him in disbelief. My mouth, quite possibly, was gaping open. The cashier brought to his attention that it was a concrete floor and she could get hurt, and the father just looked at him with a look that said to me, "So?"

Unable to hold my thoughts in any longer, I muttered, "Unbelievable" which was loud enough for him to hear given our close proximity. The father picked up the kid, and handed her to Grandma, who was right behind him in line, and would have been able to see everything that occurred and did not nor bring it to the father's attention. I finished bagging my groceries and thankfully got out of the store.

Now, I KNOW how hard it is to keep 2 year olds in the carts. I have been by myself, in that exact store, and Em has pulled the same stunt. The difference being is I am always watching her and the second she goes to stand up I grab something to amuse her or I take her out of the cart and let her stand where I bag groceries (where you would hang your bags) Watch my groceries be rung through, or watch my kid - tough decision (I can't say for sure that's what the father was doing - he was just staring off) Now. maybe this guy had a lot on his mind, but come on...we are talking your daughter's safety here.

Maybe I am overprotective, but I would have hated myself if that child fell needlessly.

Shameless Picture time

It was a beautiful day outside today, so we took advantage of what is sure to be a dwindling amout of them. We do live in Northern BC after all...winter will be showing up shortly. (If we make it to Halloween with no snow - we'll be counting our blessings) Here are pics from today...Can I just say how adorable my kid is? I put her hair in pigtails for the first time and now I may do it everyday due to the cuteness!



"A leaf, a leaf, Mom!" she then tried to throw it back up to the tree.


Pretending to be asleep on the slide, complete with fake snoring.

This pic below is Emmy after dressing herself. She picked the shirt, pants and hat, and put them on by herself. Not too bad of a job, if I do say so, although I have to question the hat. LOL

Out of the mouths of babes...

Me:I love you Emmy.
Emmy: I love ME too, Mommy.

Ohhh, the imagination!

Emmy, when playing, will use the gate blocking the way down to the foyer as a 'cooking/serving area' to make pretend food and beverages. She will go over there, make like she is cooking and then give her nummy pretend food/drink to either Keith or I, and telling us what we are eating.
It's very cute, and she will watch you to make sure you eat it.

Anyhow, Keith must have pissed her off the other day as she went and made him some food and brought it to him. Once he started 'eating' the pretend food, Emmy says, "Ewwwwww, yucky garbage. PeeeeeYouuuuuuuuuuuuu" and then runs away, giggling.

Yup, that's my kid. She hasn't tried to feed me pretend garbage yet. LOL

Emmy-isms

I keep meaning to record these phrases and things Emmy does, but I always seem to forget.

Recent Emmy-ism's:

• Whenever she is eating/drinking the same thing as you, she always wants to say "Cheers" and clink the food together as if it were glasses. She does it all the time, and is so funny. Keith takes credit for teaching this to her.
  
• Her 'little people' are called "Puppet Show" Doesn't matter which one she is holding, they all have the same name.
• She sings the Diego theme song, and will shout "Diego, Go Go!" when she sees it or a commercial for it on. She is more excited to watch Diego than Dora these days, although she loves Boots and telling Swiper to stop swiping even when the show is not on.
• Everything and everyone gets a 'time out' from her toys, 'puppet show' to her Daddy and I. N0 one is safe from the time out.
  
• She pretends to be various animals, from cats and dogs to lions and elephants.
• Everything is, "What's that, Mom? What's that?"
  

"What's That?"

We have officially entered the 'questions' portion of toddlerhood. This past week, Emmy has asked "What's that?" to things she knows, things she doesn't and things she shouldn't! She asked what the stain on the floor was, what the blanket on the couch was, and so much more. If it's an object in her view, she asked about it.

Although a little tiresome at times - it again shows how my baby is growing up.

Are we still worried about percentiles?

Emmy at 30 months is 29 lbs and 34 1/2" tall. This puts her in the 53 percentile for weight and the 17 th for height. My lil girl is a shorty so far! Part of me hopes she gets my height. but not at Grade 4 like I did! LOL I remember feeling SO out of place, and my hope is Emmy doesn't have the obvious reasons for kids to pick on her as I did being tall and fat.

Parrot Emmy

Keith and I do not say curse words often, and I can count on one hand how many times one has slipped out within Emmy's earshot.

Tonight, Keith and I were chatting about some drivel from my day at work.

Keith says, "Holy shit"

Up pipes Emmy from the corner, in this sweet lil voice, "Hoooooollly Shhhhhiiiittttt, Mom. Holy Shit," in this sweet, sing-songy voice of hers.

I was laughing so hard I almost snorted blueberry muffin out my nose.

And tonight marks the "Swear Jar" so Keith and I are fined if we swear in front of Em again. LOL

Family

This weekend, my brother, sister-in-law niece and nephews came for a short visit. Last time they visited was 2 years ago - so it was great to 'reintroduce' Emmy to my side of the family.
Emmy and her cousins, Malcolm, Melissa and Micah.

30 months

I am totally going to be one of 'those mom's' that refers to her 17 year old as being 204 MONTHS old...I know I am.

Emmy is officially 30 months old today. For all you non-month counters - she is 2 1/2...in6 months - she will be 3, 3!!

This is definitely a challenging as well as fun time with her. She is becoming her own little person, and I am so thankful that I am her Mom and get to experience this with her.

For fun I thought I would share a list I made when she was 18 months old (one year ago) to see how much she has changed..

18 Months old
Favorite food: Spaghetti
Favorite TV show: Farzzle
Favorite Parent: Mommy's girl
Favorite Toy: No specific toy
Favorite Book: Love you Forever, Goodnight Moon
Word useage: Emmy talks a lot, but we only 'get' about 30% of what she says.
Plays shy with strangers.

30 Months old
Favorite food: Whatever Mommy doesn't want her having! Freezies I would say are her favorite
Favorite TV show: Diego, Dora, Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba
Favorite Parent: Daddy's girl
Favorite Toy: Her babies (dolls)
Favorite Book: Any books with Dora/Diego
Word useage: Emmy counts to 5 on her own, 10 if helped. She has a vocab of 300+ words & phrases. I definitely am not worried about her language skills. She also is a 'Parrot' these days. She still plays shy when in a group or with people she doesn't know. (Just like Mommy)

Sesame Street LIVE!

I can officially say that Em and I are hereby fans of the Sesame Street LIVE show. We all went (even Keith!) and had a great time! We had awesome seats in the front row and Emmy high-fived Bert, hugged Big Bird, got to shake Ernie's hand, and so much more. It was so worth the money as my girl danced, sang, and followed along to the entire program. She even scored the Elmo balloon ($10!!!!!)
After the show, when it was time to go, Em cried, "See Grover, want to stay with Grover!" It was so cute (in the my-kid-is-screaming-kind-of-way)

Please find a ton of pics and videos will follow in seperate posts.

Visit to the PGX! Prince George Exhibition)

As a child, growing up in Surrey, we looked forward to the opening of the PNE each year. Then, I moved up north. Don't get me wrong, Prince George has been good to me but the PGX is no PNE. It is an agricultural fair with a travelling midway for rides. Nevertheless, it's worth the admission price to walk around and see the animals. This year was Em's first visit which was sadly marred by low temps and some annoying rain. So due to the weather, we cut it short, but Em did have her first taste of cotton candy.

Here are some pics...
Looking at weaner pigs


Looking at an active beehive

Looking at roosters

Meeting the 'love bug'