LOVE!

I have told Emma that I love her several times a day even dating back to when she was still in the womb. After 20 months, she finally said it back! We were sitting on the floor of the kitchen playing with the fridge magnets last night (I know this makes you jealous of what we do at night!). I said, "Emma, I love you." It was music to my ears when she turned to me and said it back. I was alone in the room with her but Josh was a few rooms away and he yelled, "I heard that!!" I was excited that somebody had heard it and was able to corroborate this. She gave me a ton of hugs afterward too. Such a sweet baby girl!

She's not only sweet to me and Josh, but to Nala too. They absolutely adore each other! Here is a picture from tonight - she is giving her Nala a sweet kiss. Please notice how puckered up those lips are.

A Little Advice...

...Do NOT underestimate your toddler's desire or ability to open your mascara. Here is how I learned the hard way:

I was running late this morning (shocking, I know) and I scooped Emma up in my arms. I noticed that Emma had my mascara but I in the midst of my mad dash I told myself that she couldn't open it. It had to have been less than 10 seconds when I looked down and saw black ALL over her hands, face, and clothes. How did she get it open and all over her so quickly? She gets that destructive side from her father. After a lot of scrubbing, we both required clothes changes. And apparently I missed several spots on myself because her daycare teacher told me I had a few "battle scars" left on my neck. After cleaning that off, I had to deliver some returns to a client. Thankfully he also has a toddler so it was no surprise to him when he saw I had mascara all over the back of my arm. Embarrassing!

It was one of those mornings that makes you feel like you should crawl back into bed and try again the next day. I think tomorrow I will get Josh to drop her off. In the meantime, I decided to swing by and get a pick-me-up on my way to work:

Going Greek

This weekend we went to the Greek Festival downtown. They had authentic Greek food and live Greek music and dancing. We decided to try it out...

Since we waited until the last day to go, all the gyros and baklava were sold out! We decided to try something new, so we got some loukoumathes which are fried doughnuts dipped in honey. Tasty!!

Then the music and dancing started. Emma is never this still. She sat like this for at least 10 minutes and watched.

Then, as she felt more comfortable, she got down and got as close to the stage as possible:

Now she was really into it and she was trying to move her feet like the women on the stage.

Once the women were done with their set, Emma took it upon herself to climb up on stage and take a go at the dancing:

Then some other children also got up and she quickly left me and ran towards them:

All she saw were friends. At first the girls were a little unsure of Emma because she was so much smaller...

But within minutes, the girls were literally fighting over who would get to hold her hands during the songs:

At the end of the day, she made friends, had some new interesting food, worked off all the doughnuts, and had a great time. Sounds like a good afternoon to me! Next year though, I plan to go in time to get a gyro and some baklava! And we'll also have to take John (the Godfather) with us because he is actually Greek...so maybe he can show Emma a few new moves.

The Celebration

As an update to my earlier post, Josh's doctor visit went well. He isn't contagious and he should be better in a day or two. His sickness is due to all the dust at the job site in Dubai along with the extreme temperatures there. He is already feeling better and by tomorrow he should even be back on our time zone.

Here are some pictures from our night:


Emma helped Daddy blow out the candles:


The Happy Birthday plate that we use each year:


The cake:


I think Emma enjoyed it more than anybody else!


Here she is saying "more" with her words and her sign language. She REALLY wanted to get her point across.



Of course you can't have cookie cake without washing it down with some milk:


Happy Birthday, Josh. I hope you had a great 30th birthday! LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Josh's birthday and he's turning the Big 3-0! Happy Birthday!!

He has been working in Dubai for over a week and we were overjoyed to see him last night when he finally got home. It's so great to have him back in the United States.

Since Emma got the refrigerator magnets, she and I decided to put them to good use. Isn't Emma advanced in her spelling skills? :)

Unfortunately, he caught a pretty bad cold while he was overseas. Therefore, he is currently at the doctor's office. This is probably only the third time that I have ever known him to go to a doctor in the nearly 11 years that we've been together...so I KNOW he must not feel well. He was starting to feel a little better by this morning but he wanted to go to the doctor to make sure he didn't catch something really contagious that he could spread to Emma. Please pray that his symptoms clear up in time to celebrate his birthday a little bit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH! EMMA AND I LOVE YOU!

Potty Update

Emma has been doing great with the potty! She goes nearly every day now at least once. It may not sound exciting to you, but it is extremely encouraging for us! She understands the whole concept now. She has begun to realize the feeling that she has when she has to go and she tells us. She gets this deep thought look on her face and then points to her diaper...that is Emma code for "potty time!"

She is also talking up a storm. She picks up several words a day now. Her favorite thing right now is to make an elephant sound where she does the noise and raises her arm up and down like the trunk of an elephant. So cute!

My nephew, Jay, called this weekend and when Emma heard my mom say, "Bye, Jay" she mimicked her right away. She started waiving bye-bye and said "Bye Jay, Bye Jay." I love that she's talking in sentences now instead of just a word here and there.

Jaime came over last night to visit and when she left, Emma said, "Bye Jaime." Of course when the door closed behind Jaime, Emma started whimpering and crying. She loves her! I had to distract her with allowing her to push the buttons on the thermostat...the girl loves buttons!

Take Time

Sometimes it takes seeing the world through the eyes of a toddler to make you remember to take time out to stop and smell the flowers...

So Much

This week...

Emma really warmed up to the idea of guacamole:



Daddy gave Emma a haircut while Mommy was working one night! It is really short but at least it looks cute. It wasn't Josh's intention for it to be so short, but she moved so he had to even it out. I tell myself that it will grow back out quickly.


Our friend Emily had a birthday. It was great to celebrate it with Jaime, Rachel and Emily all coming to my house for dinner (delicious ziti bake made by Jaime) and brownies (Emily's favorite dessert that I make - brownies with symphony candy bars in the middle). Happy Birthday, Emily!



A box was decided to be the new favorite toy of the week:




Emma's craft for the day at school was an Indian hat which she wore for hours after we got home:


Mimi and Papa came to visit! Mimi bought Emma some alphabet and number magnets for the fridge which are a huge hit:



To top it all off, our friend Melissa had her baby! How sweet and precious is little Whitten? I went to visit them at the hospital and he is even cuter in person! I can't believe Emma was ever this small...time flies.

Pool Party!

Emma's friend Parker turned two and we went to his birthday bash at the pool on Saturday. We had a great time and it was SO fun seeing all of Emma's friends and their mom's again!

We headed straight for the water:



Happy Birthday, Parker!


Emma LOVED this cake:


After all the swimming and her cake, she sucked down this juice in a matter of seconds.


The party favors were huge lollipops and a pinwheel.


On our way home, Emma tried her hardest to stay awake and keep eating her lollipop, but she crashed. This is the sign of a very good party:


These are some pictures that I keep meaning to post from Labor Day weekend:

After church we went to eat and Emma thought it was hilarious to put her goldfish in her ear.


Sunday night we cooked out and ate outside at the picnic table that Josh built. Emma and Nala are waiting patiently for food:


Then on Monday we went to the park, played on the playground and cooked some hamburgers.



As we were about to leave, Emma found the most fun game ever! Throw the ice out of the cooler onto the ground. This thrilled her.


Today is grandparents day, so Emma wants to tell all of her grandparents that she loves and misses them!

Teaching Mom & Dad a Few Things

The tables have turned and now Emma is teaching me and Josh a few things! None of us knew any sign language before but now we're forced to figure some of it out so we can understand what she's trying to say. For the last few weeks she has been doing all these new signs. This morning when I dropped her off in class, I asked her teacher what one of the signs meant. She said that in the Toddler class they no longer use sign language because they encourage speaking more, so she didn't know either. On my way out I saw her previous teachers in the Wobbler classroom and I asked them. Turns out that this sign she has been doing means "flower." Who knew? All this time I was wondering if it meant she was thirsty or didn't feel good. Apparently she just likes the word flower.

Her favorite one to do is the "shoe" sign. We always say, "Emma are you ready to put your shoes on and go?" And she kept doing this sign. After a few times, I put together that it MUST mean shoes. Sure enough, I asked her Wobbler teachers this morning and it does. It's so funny what they pick up.

Emma now knows these signs: more, please, thank you, milk, hungry, shoes, and flower. I'm sure she knows more but for now that is all I know of! She is actually saying the words "thank you" now which is really cute. I don't even have to prompt her. She just automatically does it when I hand her something she asks for.

Milestone!

Mark it on the calendar - Saturday, September 4, 2010 approximately 7:45 at night:

I was getting the bath ready for Emma. I took her clothes off and her diaper. I just put her new potty in the bathroom earlier today. She saw it and was excited about it. She sat on it. As the water filled in the bathtub, I sat on the real toilet and showed her how to tinkle (they say you're supposed to show them an example!). I finished, flushed and got up to turn the bath water off. I went over to pick her up and she was clapping. She had pee-peed in the potty!!! I can't tell you how proud I was of her. I screamed down to Josh about what she had done. I took pictures of her on it while she was clapping and smiling huge but I can't post them because as mentioned previously, she was totally naked! Sorry...but take my word for it: It was adorable!

I had my doubts about trying to potty train a 20 month old, but I am so glad I was proven wrong. I realize this will be a long process but tonight showed me that it was all possible. And what more can a mom really ask for?

We finished off the night with another fun event. Mississippi State won their game against Memphis. Go Dawgs! Here is our little cheerleader with her cowbell cheering them on:

Every Day

Every day can be exciting and fun if you look at it through the eyes of a toddler. The other day we went to the grocery store and Emma had a great time!

For the first time, we branched out and let her ride in the "car" shopping cart. Why did we not do this before? She entertained herself for at least 20 minutes just with the steering wheel!


It didn't hurt that we got her a free cookie! At this point she has already devoured over half of it and the remains are in my hand. Look how happy she is!


Eventually though, the inevitable happened. It was the very end of the shopping trip and she wanted to get down. Josh got the last few items on the list while I chased Emma around the store. She found the ONE aisle of the grocery store with actual toys on it. She really took to these two dinosaurs:


She handed each dinosaur to no less than 30 random shoppers (and then they handed it back to her). She had everybody laughing and she made quite a few new friends along the way.



Then we circled back to Josh and she proceeded to fill the buggy up with all the cups that were right next to us (I put them all back afterward - I did NOT buy her all of these!).





Who knew that a trip to the grocery store could bring so many smiles to so many people!