Emmalog: November 2008

Ethier Family May - October 2008

Emma

Emma turned 3 years old on October 3rd – can’t believe it! She is 37 ½ inches tall, weighs 31 pounds, and wears 3T size clothes and 6 ½ size toddler shoes. She just received her first all over trim. Just a LITTLE trim (smiles)…she loves her hair being long and it is easy to take care of. She is also just about 100% potty trained – yippee! She wears panties during the day and a pull-up at night. Most mornings she wakes up dry.

So much to tell! Let’s start with how band-aids have become a fashion accessory for her and, yes, I do indulge her by purchasing cute kid band-aids. When she first started with the band-aids early this year, she’d go through three a day, more if we had let her. We’ve gotten to the point where she can only have one when she decides to accessorize, which isn’t every day like it was before.

Emma loves snap peas with ranch...a favorite snack or side dish. 5-11-08

The Dinosaur Park in Ogden, UT wore Emma and my niece Alicia (17 years old) out. LOVE this picture! 6-01-08

Lots of fun at Discovery Gateway during our visit to Salt Lake City to visit my sister Lisa and her family. 6-02-08

Emma really enjoyed kayaking with Daddy. 7-06-08

Emma has been wanting a guitar forever, so one weekend while in Sonora, we bought her a ukulele. She plays it aaalllll the time. 7-6-08

Emma loves, loves, looooves, her vaccum. When she fist got it, she wanted to sleep with it! She also LOVES being a "naked baby" these days...bottoms only. 7-24-08

Emma LOVES having her toes painted, of course. She does an excellent job of staying still while being painted and long enough for them to dry. NOT an easy thing for any 3 year old to do, especially our little dynamo. In contrast to painted toes, Emma also LOVES to play in the mud, which, again, we indulge. Our front planter is empty, so we bring the garden hose around, load her up with toys and let her do whatever she wants. She has been known to play in the mud for at least 2 hours.

Emma still enjoys painting, coloring, drawing, playing dress-up, reading and helping Jared and I with anything we’ll let her help with. She helps make her cheese and avocado sandwiches (she puts on the cheese), she helps feed Sadie, she gets things out of the refrigerator like her juice or yogurt and she likes to help pull clothes out of the dryer and fold washcloths. Emma also still really loves music and dancing. One of her favorite songs is Groove is in the Heart by Dee Lite. She also likes Jack Johnson and the Dixie Chicks. I’m going to begin looking for a dance class for her after the 1st of the year. Based on the kind of music she likes and her current “style” of dancing, it will be either jazz or tap.

Flying the kite she picked out on her own, for it was the kite with the most pink. 8-18-08

Playing in the mud. 08-02-08

When I was giving birth to Lily, Emma was riding on a dump truck at the zoo. 08-13-08

First cotton candy and face painting. 9-27-08

Emma has invented a pretend friend named Why Because. Yes, Why Because. When I was pregnant, Why Because was her sister (no, we did not check the sex of the baby when I was pregnant). Now that Lily is here, Why Because is now her cousin. Why Because gets credit for a lot of things we do for her, which is so funny. She also can be naughty. She has been know to take something of Emma’s, calls her a name or hit her (this is Emma telling us these things, of course). Our response is that if Why Because cannot play nice, she needs to go home. Emma always agrees with that response and adds that maybe Why Because needs to go on time-out.

We have done our best to teach Emma to be polite and good manners. Even when she couldn’t talk and we were using sign language with her, she would say “please” and “thank you.” She has become quite the Little Ms. Manners, which we are so thankful for! She is very appreciative of the things we do or buy for her. For example, I got her some new crayons for her old ones had had it. I left the box of crayons on her art table for her to discover on her own and when she did, she very excitedly told me, “thank you for the cool crayons, Mommy! They’re perfect.” She thanks us for things like cooking her food, giving her a bath and taking her to the zoo. She also thanks us when we don’t get upset about something she’s done. On one occasion, she spilled her cup of water all over the table and floor. She apologized for it and we told her it was ok and that accidents happen. She said, “thank you for telling me it was ok and an accident.” The mind of a 3 year old!!

Happy Birthday Emma!! 10-03-08

Emma and Daddy flying a helicopter at the Children's Museum in Stockton, CA. 10-03-08

Searching for the perfect pumpkin while on a school field trip to the local pumpkin patch. 10-08-08

Climbing the pyramid of hay bales. 10-08-08

Emma and her best friend Nia at the pumkin patch. 10-08-08

10-12-08

Emma continues to do really well at her school/daycare. She is able to recognize both letters and numbers, is learning to write her name and she can verbally spell her name. She has learned the days of the week and months of the year through songs they have taught her and they are now teaching them to her in Spanish. I’ve GOT to get out the Spanish book I got her so we can keep up…I took French is high school, not that I remember that much anyway! They have also begun teaching her math. We ask about what she does each day so we know what to do at home and that helps us keep track of what she needs to work on.

Emma was a ballerina for Halloween. We did not take her trick-or-treating for we went to the Pumpkin Path at the Sacramento Waldorf School again this year. She really enjoys all the skits they put on and the treasures she receives at each stop. It was rainy this year, bur we managed to get almost all the way through before it started to sprinkle.

Funny things Emma says: “Get me some privacy” when going potty; “It’s BORING” when she doesn’t want to do something, like clean up her toys; “Being patient isn’t working anymore” when she’s sooo done trying to be patient at ANY time; “I want to hold you” when she wants to be held; “Is there a chicken coming?” for she is terribly afraid of the chickens that run around at Fairy Tale Town and asks all the time if there is one around – this is a new fear of hers.

A kazoo and drum...need I type more? 10-19-08

Emma with Leah Sulzberg, 4 years old, in San Ramon, CA having a great time! 10-21-08

As far as Emma is concerned, no ladder is too tall to get to a slide. 10-21-08

Gummy bear on the nose is ALWAYS funny. 10-29-08

Pretty ballerina. 10-31-08

10-31-08

Sisters 10-31-08

Lily

Lily is such a joy and an easygoing baby. She has a very sweet disposition and is cuddly. Lily is wearing 3-6 month size clothes and shoes. She sprouted right out of her 0-3 month clothes pretty quickly. When she was born, she was 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and 20 inches long. She didn’t loose any of her birth weight and is now 14 pounds, 3 ounces and 23 inches long.

Lily is a great eater and sleeper. She has chunked up quiet nicely and has some serious baby rolls of fat – love it! During the day she eats every two hours and at night will sleep as long as 5 hours before eating. Some mornings she sleeps in until 9am. I still get up early, for I never know how much time I have to do things. Emma DOES NOT sleep in and gets up sometimes as early as 5:30am (ALWAYS on the weekends, of course). So, Jared and Lily get to sleep in together.

side shot...2 hours old. 8-13-08

8-15-08

08-18-08

Napping with Daddy. 09-05-08

9-06-08

Lily finding her hands, which are covered with socks so she doesn't scratch herself. 9-23-08

A big yawn for such a little girl. 9-30-08

Early September, Lily began to track objects like the musical mobile above her changing table. She began tracking its shadow on the wall first, then the mobile above her. Now, she watches our EVERY move! Sometimes she reminds me of an owl the way she’ll twist her head from side-to-side watching all that is going on around her. Mid-September, she began to coo and smile and suck on her hands. In late October (the 27th) she made several discoveries; she discovered her tongue and began to coo and talk while moving it around, which makes for some fun “conversations.” Lily now enjoys blowing raspberries and lots of bubbles. She giggled for the first time on the 29th and then discovered her feet on the 31st. Watching her try and control her legs to try and get to her feet is very entertaining. She will stare at them for the longest time, then lift them up one at a time. Once she has one or both up in the air, she will try to pull them closer while just staring at her feet. You can just feel her willing her feet towards her hands, but she’s not gotten there yet. Soon, very soon. Lily has also begun to grasp receiving blankets, hold onto them, or chew/suck on them and really smiles big when she gets a hold of my hand/fingers as if to say, “I got it!” Lily kicks her left leg when excited more than she kicks with her right – Jared says it looks as though she’s trying to start up a motorcycle, and it really does!