2 Years and 9 Months

Today marks 2 years and 9 months of FULL LIFE LIVING for our little Emma.

Whew. Makes me tired just thinking about it. She is a little firecracker. And is so independent, I often wonder which one of us is parenting. If I weren't so fiercely independent myself (often clearly understanding where she is coming from), I would have probably enrolled her in toddler boot camp by now. My patience runs VERY low some days.

She is so darn stubborn, she and I will OFTEN have arguments over what day of the week it is, or what time of day it is, or what type of utensil she is using. (i.e. she will INSIST it is Saturday almost every day, which I will gently try to correct, which she will BOLDLY retort that it is indeed Saturday, which I will again try to correct, which she will refute. It goes in circles until I finally say "whatever Emma" and end the cycle.) Happens a lot. Emma is SURE that she is correct 100% of the time. And there is no arguing with her. Need I remind you that she is TWO???? UGH. Why do I keep writing qualities about myself in Emma's blog post?

Emma is starting to get a little sense of humor as well, and makes us laugh all the time. The scary thing is she knows when she is funny and will do things just to watch Greg and I chuckle. Another (fill in the blank) trait that she acquired from her Mother.

Last week she took her first trip to the dentist (see pic below) and did a FANTASTIC job. We've been reading Dr. Seuss's "Tooth Book" which has a dentist at the end. I think it helped in the preparation. She let them take x-rays and everything. I hate x-rays. Those horrible tabs they shove into your gums that surely must leave marks for days. I didn't tell Emma that and she handled them like a champ. She never got nervous around the dentist and let him check her teeth, no problem. The dentist was shocked. I was just grateful. Emma doesn't do things she doesn't want to do, so thankfully she had determined this "dentist thing" was suitable to her tastes.

It is FINALLY cooling down here in Arizona and so children can FINALLY start playing outside again (sans water) without fear of burns or scalding on metal objects (i.e. bikes, slides, swings).

Emma has LOVED this new found freedom and has literally "taken off" on her tricycle. So nice to enjoy the outdoors again.

I bought a "pre-school" activity book from Costco a few months ago, and Emma has really enjoyed her newest skill of tracing (see pic below). She does a pretty good job, so maybe she'll actually start writing letters soon. We'll see.

Her potty training skills ebb and flow. Emma was doing great, then we went on two huge trips and she back peddled a bit. I still put her in underwear when she is awake, but I often hear her say, "Mom I need to go pee pee" - only to look down and see a wet mark on her pants. She does fairly well, but it is definitely a work in progress.

Thanks to starfall.com, Emma had a peeked interest in signing the alphabet. I followed it up with a book from the library on the alphabet signs, and she can now sign the whole alphabet, with their name and sound they make. I think it has really helped her solidify the letters in her brain, to also have a sign that goes along with them. She responded really well to baby signs, when she could not talk, so I figured that this little skill would work the same. She can amuse herself for a long time, singing the alphabet song with her sign language.

Of course, her other new skill, involves begging and pleading with Greg and/or I to let her watch Disneyland rides on "you tube". It is a daily occurrence. She LOVES watching the Matterhorn over and over and over and over and over and over.... you get my point. Greg encourages her obsession so that she does not forget that she enjoys roller coasters, which Emma lovingly refers to as "holler coasters".

Just when we think that she is SO smart, she say something that makes us re-consider. :) Yesterday she proudly said, "M, mmmmmmmmmmm, M is for holler coaster". WHA??? Greg and I just giggled, while we tried to teach her that the actual word was rollercoaster, which starts with "R", or her version of hollercoaster that starts with "H". Guess those kind of comments keep us humble parents. haha.

Oh and the horrible bug bites. Where to begin? Emma must be the sweetest human alive, because our little princess can not walk outside without getting eaten alive. Then she'll walk back inside and say to me, "Mom, look, I got another horrible bug bite". Her legs are literally black, blue and red from all of the scars and current bites. Any suggestions on this? Do I seriously need to apply bug repellent EVERY SINGLE TIME she goes outside?

Here are some additional stories that I just had to document somewhere:

• Greg was playing with her hair a few nights ago, when she scornfully turned around and said, "Daddy, don't do my hair again, Mommy already dood it." She has been getting her past and present tenses confused lately and although Greg and I try to correct her speech, we also giggle a little, which probably doesn't help.
• Last week in a VERY sour mood before bedtime, she (begrudgingly) knelt down for family prayer. When she arrived at the "thankful" portion of her prayer, she went silent. I kindly asked her what she was grateful for. Her reply was, "Nuffing. I not thankful for nuffing." I tried to keep my composure so as not to laugh, but quickly finished her prayer, knowing that little miss sassy pants was not going to cooperate anyway.
• Emma LOVES to make "deals" with us. If we ask her to do something, she almost always has an activity that she would prefer to do "first" and then she will do our requested activity. Most of the time it works OK, but sometimes I just can not allow her to eat her ice cream FIRST and then dinner.
• At almost 3-years-old, sweet Emma is still a CHAMPION sleeper. She consistently sleeps 12 hours at night and takes a 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap every day. It is a really beautiful thing. I am PETRIFIED that our new baby will not follow suit, and I will have to jump off the house. Once you have been spoiled by a great sleeper, how do you digress? Let's just hope that I don't ever have to find out.
• Emma LOVES to repeat things that I say on the phone, and I have realized that she catches every single word out of my mouth. YIKES. This morning I asked Greg, "So, how has your day been?" to which Emma started loudly laughing and replied, "Mom, his name is not Ben, it is Daddy". I tried to explain to her that I was using "been" and not "Ben", but she would not have it. She just explained to me that his name was Daddy or Greg. "Silly Mommy" she often retorts.
• Oh and church yesterday. So many stories. So little time. Here are a few. It was our testimony meeting and there was a long pause between testimonies, making our chapel especially quiet. Emma started reading a book to herself, and was talking quite loudly. I leaned over and whispered for her to please use her quiet voice. Emma stood up on the bench, looked me straight in the eyes and said VERY VERY loudly, "I don't want to use my quiet voice, I don't want to use my quiet voice, I don't want to use my quiet voice!". All I could do was laugh, evidently with the rest of the congregation, as I got at least 15 comments during church about how "cute" Emma's screaming comment was. Yeah, cute indeed.
• At least she somewhat redeemed herself, when the closing hymn was "Teach Me To Walk" which happens to be an Emma favorite. She was SO excited that she knew the hymn. She proudly stood up on the bench and sang quite loudly the entire song, all three verses, totally on pitch. Her nursery leaders that were sitting in front of us, turned around to smile at her, and when she saw them, she exuberantly gave them a thumbs up and loudly said, "I'm singing SO good, aren't I?". Greg and I could not stop laughing, after which Greg said, well, at least she has a healthy self-esteem.

My darling little Emma. Some days she is so sweet and perfect that I can hardly believe she is mine. And some days she makes me SO incredibly frustrated that I want to pull out all of my hair (which is a lot of hair)! She can be so moody that I swear she already has teenage hormones pumping through her little body. I think I need a parenting class ASAP, because she can sure get me flustered. I pray for patience every night. Some days I need it, and some days I don't.

In any case, I'm sure this is the road called parenting, and I'm happy to be driving along.