Emma and her dolly

CIMG4287
Originally uploaded by Emma's Daddy.

Emma and her dolly -- they match!

Christmas Photos 2006

Emma and Santa 12-9-2006

Today we stopped by The Country Place, a small gift shop in Howell, and Santa was there! We took Emma into the store where he was, and she immediately climbed onto his lap, asked him for a hug (or more accurately, just said "Hug" and put her arms around him), and then sat perfectly still for photos and carried on a 10-minute conversation with him about presents, Rudolph, the snowmen on the wall of the store, and the candy cane ("it has stripes on it!") that he gave to her.

The girls who were in charge of taking photos said they hadn't seen a child do what Emma had done... most of them were either shy or scared, and definitely didn't ask Santa for a hug or carry on a long conversation with him. Emma just took it all in stride, as if she had known Santa for years.

Then, we left and she opened her candy cane. She ate a little bit of it in the car as we were leaving... but then she fell asleep with it still gripped in her hand, and slept all the way home. I bet she had dreams about Santa and snowmen and Rudolph.

Emma as Cinderella

CIMG4260
Originally uploaded by Emma's Daddy.

Emma went trick-or-treating tonight in her fancy new Cinderella costume, with the matching tiara and faux-fur cape. We made it to about 20 houses (driving around in the car and getting out when we saw several houses in a row with their lights on) in our neighborhood before she seemed to get tired.

Emma and Abbi at the pumpkin patch

CIMG4191
Originally uploaded by Emma's Daddy.

Today we went to the nearby farm and picked out pumpkins to carve. The girls had a great time, and mugged for the camera every chance they got. It was a bit cold and wet, but we had fun anyway! (And besides, Emma was obviously quite toasty in her homemade hat.)

Spaghetti can be fun

Normally, Emma won't touch spaghetti or macaroni and cheese (or vegetables for that matter), but tonight for some reason she decided to try a little spaghetti... once I showed her that you could eat it in a fun way!

9/21

Playing the piano

Chocolate milky -- "it's candy, daddy, it's candy!"

Emma had never tried chocolate milk before, as far as we know. But boy, once she tried it, she wouldn't put it down! She kept saying "It's candy, Daddy!"

Emma's 2-Year Photos

Emma had her two-year photos taken the other day, here at our home. She is advancing so fast, and getting so big. She speaks in nearly full sentences (and is a true chatterbox, like both her parents), and comes up with something new almost every day. She has surprised us in the last few weeks by:

Counting to fourteen, all by herself.

Singing the Alphabet Song, all the way through.

Pointing out letters everywhere she sees them.

Calling her Mama in the morning by saying ''Mama, come Emma's room, knock onna door.''

Actually saying ''Come in!'' when Mama knocked on her door.

Telling us that her Mama's name was "Hichole".

Singing to herself, in the car and the bathtub.

Feeding me a tortilla chip and then saying ''don't talk mouth full.''

The weekend after her birthday, we are throwing a birthday party for her with a Cinderella theme. Cinderella is one of her very favorite characters, and so the plan is to have birthday cakes and cookies shaped like Cinderella and her castle, rent an inflatable ''moon-bouncer'' that looks like Cinderella's castle, and of course send out themed invitations to Princess Emma's gala ball.


It's hard to believe she's almost TWO!

On a carousel

Shopping in the living room

Trip to the zoo

Emma cuddling with a tortoise statue at the zoo.

Feeding the piggy bank

Cherry Festival

Feasting on black cherries at the Cherry Festival air show.

Resting after a full morning of swimming

Emma, taking a juice-box break after a full morning of swimming at Great Wolf Lodge.

New dress and sandals

Flowers in her hair

Silly Sunglasses

Sleeping on the couch

Emma, sleeping on the living room couch.

Emma at the Zoo

Last weekend, we all went to the Detroit Zoo. We had a great time, although Emma didn't take a nap the entire time... which meant she fell asleep almost instantly when we put her into the car to leave! Emma's favorites seemed to be the penguins ("penguin funny," she said) and the polar bears. She also really enjoyed the train ride. It was a perfect day, both in terms of weather and fun.

Happy Girl

Emma at breakfast. She loves sausage and pancakes, and was excited when she saw the waitress bringing them to her!

Emma likes hummus!

Emma likes Hummus! (But as we discovered later on, hummus and diapers don't mix.)

To the doctor... again.

Tonight we took Emma to the doctor, after picking her up early from daycare with a 102-degree fever. She has a double ear infection -- the third time she's had it in both ears this Spring. Which would explain why she hasn't entirely been herself the last few days. She's still generally happy, but has seemed more clingy, more easily tired, and has been going to bed earlier than normal. Looks like I will be taking a sick day tomorrow to stay home with her.

Emma and Teddy, May 22, 2006

First full sentence?

Today we think Emma said her first "full" sentence. She was sitting on our bed this morning, and wanting us to turn Sesame Street on... and she said "I want to watch Elmo." We were all amazed, and tried to get her to say it again, but of course that was the only time she said it. She has been stringing 2, 3, and sometimes even 4 words together at a time ("airplane up high", etc.).

Right now, she can also name almost all the main colors. She knows Yellow ("lello"), Red, Blue, Pink, Orange (!), and even White. But she doesn't know Brown yet, and often gets Green mixed up with Orange for some reason, even when there is both an orange item and a green item right next to each other. Our favorite color has to be yellow... she will spot things that are yellow that we don't even notice: Yellow truck, yellow bus, yellow sign, yellow building, and so on.

My favorite illustration of how quickly she has been learning things happened a couple of weeks ago. She was walking around upstairs, looking for Jordan. I told her that Jordan had gone to school. She stopped, looked at me, and asked "Bus?" I said "Yes, Jordan went on a bus to school." She nodded very knowingly and said "Yellow bus."

Emma has also learned that the word "Please" works miracles. When she wants something and we say no, she immediately says "please?" and smiles. It's hard to say no when she does that. Yesterday she wanted a bottle of water, and said (completely unprompted), "Please, Dada?"

Owned!

Distracted Driver

Emma in her red "all terrain" wagon

Today it was a nice enough day to go outside for a bit, and take Emma for a ride in her new All-Terrain Wagon. Emma had a great time, and didn't want to come in, even when it clouded up and started to rain. I have a feeling we'll be going for a lot more wagon rides in the near future.

Too cool for words