A Night

We were getting Emma read for bed last night and she wanted to say the prayer for family prayers. Usually she gives me a reminder on rote prayers by saying, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Amen." (Pretty sure I am responsible for this one.) But last night she actually said a real prayer without being prompted. She thanksed Heavenly Father for her stroller and the park. Aaron and I were shocked. We have had more park and walk time this week because of nicer weather, Aaron's lighter work week and a guilty mom. Apparently she really appreciated it.

Then, a few hours after she went down we heard a thud and thought maybe she fell out of bed. So we went up to check on her and she hadn't moved from where we left her when we tucked her in that night. She had Puppies under one arm and another stuffed animal under the other and the rest of her stuffed animals all around her. She was so adorable. If I thought I could take a picture without waking her up I would have. She was just so adorable.

At about 5:30 am we heard a deathly scream. It sounded like Emma was dying or something. Aaron and I ran up stairs and opened her door. Emma was standing at the door and said, "Mommy, brush teeth" in about the saddest, most tragic voice ever. We were super confused because Emma hates to have her teeth brushed. So we checked for vomit for anything that would cause her to 1) scream like that and 2) want to have her teeth brushed. Nothing. So we gave her a drink of water and put her back in bed. I have no clue if she went back to sleep or not. Aaron and I went back to sleep though. Upon reflection, we think that she was sleep walking and confused. Awesome... a sleep walker. Makes me even more grateful for the locks on her door.

Oh, and for family prayers this morning, Emma thanked Heavenly Father for her milk and for the stroller and park again. After that we had to take her to the park today - hard to ignore that one :)

Prison Break

We decided to move Emma to a big girl bed in preparation for the baby coming. I thought she would love her new freedom outside of her crib. It turns out her aversion to change is stronger than her need for freedom.

Sunday: Her first night in a big girl bed. It took her two minutes to get out of bed and come down and find us. We had naively believed that our telling her to stay in bed would work. Aaron took her up to her room, had a talk and she didn't come down again. I thought that for sure it would be smooth sailing from here on out because obviously she understood that she was supposed to stay in bed.

Monday: I was exhausted and needed a nap myself. I decided to close the gate upstairs and hope that she would stay in her bed and I could nap. About 40 minutes into her nap I hear her shaking the gate. At least that is when it woke me up from my nap - who knows how long she had been out of bed. I put her back in bed a couple of times and fell back asleep myself. When I got up from my nap she wasn't in her room. She was in her crib. I have no idea how she got in there. She wasn't napping, just playing with all of her toys. I was shocked. I thought for sure she would be playing with toys in the game room, water in the sink, anything but in her crib. She also solved a mystery for me. One time I got her up from naps and her underwear was underneath her pull ups. (She likes to put her underwear on over her pull ups at nap and bed time.) I was tired that day so I just figured that I did it. When I got her in her crib this day however, she was busy putting her panties on underneath her pull ups. At least I could check one mystery off my list.

Tuesday: I had put one of those child proof things on Emma's door knob so she couldn't get out in the morning. I also shut the gate just in case. This morning Emma greeted me at the gate with the door knob cover in two pieces in her hand. This time during nap time she played with the night light and shocked herself. We had a discussion about how lights hurt. I thought she learned her lesson.... there is a theme her in case it wasn't obvious. I think she has learned a concept.... and she hasn't.

Wednesday: Emma found the bar in her closet that you hang cloths on. She got it out and was wielding it around like a ninja. I took it away. She was jumping off her bed, getting out of her room, playing with the night light that shocked her yesterday. You name it. I was exhausted by the time nap time was over. As soon as I got her up from "naps" we took a trip to Home Depot. I bought a new bedroom door lock for her door. Aaron installed it that night with the lock on the outside. It felt like Christmas had come early. I giggled all the way down the stairs after putting her to bed. The other thing Emma figured out was that she could climb up on the window seal next to the front door and undo the deadbolts of the front door. I didn't like it but wasn't worried until she was doing it while I was blow drying my hair. When I found her she was talking about going to find her friend Adi. She never had a plan before to go with undoing the deadbolt. So we got a top lock for the front and back door.

Thursday: There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when Emma figured out that she was now locked in her bedroom. Two hours worth to be exact. So no naps as of day four.

Friday: Emma kept jumping off the bed so I told her that I would take away a toy if she jumped off the bed again. I took away Thing One. You would have thought I had beaten her by the way she was crying. She wasn't really all that attached to Thing One until that point but since this incident she has guarded Thing One pretty closely. She finally napped after I gave her Thing One back.

So far, out of 8 days, she has napped once. This big girl bed seems to be not helping her sleep schedule. Hopefully she adapts soon. Occasionally she still asks to go in her crib. Hopefully that wears off too before this baby needs to go in there.

Why not...

Emma was playing upstairs while I was down stairs. She came down dressed like this:

She found a pair of pink tights for a 6 month old. Why not.....

On another note, we were in Kohl's today and a Justin Beiber song came on. Emma kept saying that a lady was singing. I kept correcting her that a boy was singing. We went back and forth on the issue until she said, "Lady boy singing." I stopped correcting her at that point.

Genetics

Emma is 99.9% Russell. And actually, it may be more than that because I had a discussion with Aaron's mom about the 0.1% Anderson and each item she identified with. All I know is that I gave birth to this child. That appears to be my contribution thus far. However, the past few days there have been a couple of incidents that make me think that I can reclaim that 0.1%.

1. Literalism. It might be said that I could be a literalist. I showed Emma a hand towel with Christmas trees on it and pointed out the Christmas trees to her. Her response was, "No triangles." We went through it a couple of times but she insisted that the weren't Christmas trees but in fact triangles.

 I have a Winnie the Pooh bear that is dressed up as Santa. Emma found it and I told her that it was Santa. Emma's response was "No Winnie the Pooh." Same thing - wouldn't believe that it was Winnie the Pooh dressed up as Santa.

2. Tape. When I was little I believed all gifts could in fact be made with tape. There may or may not have been a Christmas where I made everyone slippers out of tape and cardboard. So with Emma, I hung a sweater on the door by the string in the sweater that keeps the sweater on the hanger. Emma pulled on it and broke the sweater. When I told her that she broke it she thought that I meant the door knob. She said, "Be right back." She ran off and came back with tape. She proceeded to "fix" the door knob with tape. She was quite proud of herself.

Time

If I ask Emma, "Do you know what time it is?" I get the response, "It's 6:01." I was thinking more along the lines of nap time, lunch time, bed time.... However, apparently it is always 6:01 all the time.

Actually

Me: Would you like a sandwich or quesadilla for lunch?
Emma: Sandwich.... actually gumbo.

Emma: Markers is at her house.
Me: Markers is at her house. But her name is Susan not Markers.
Emma: Actually, Markers.

Halloween

We took Emma trick or treating this year. We told her we were going for a walk and that she needed to wear her peacock costume. Fortunately, she agreed to wear the costume because she hasn't always been so willing this season to don a fleece costume in 80+ degree weather. Weird, I know.

The first few houses Emma just looked confused as to what we were asking her to do - open her bag, say trick or treat, etc. She got the hang of it and when it was time to go in, she just said, "Walk!! Walk!!" as in "Let's keep going!" When we got home she wanted to glory in all of her treats. She would take them in and out of her bag. She did this for the next several days. She did not, however, ask to eat any of it. She has never really had candy so to her, candy was a toy. She would pat the candy, carry it around the house, and take it in and out of her purse. To this day, she hasn't actually had any Halloween candy and has lost interest in her toys. I love it. I am that mean of a mom. I didn't actually offer her any. I am just not ready to fight that battle yet. Next year...

Baking

Apparently I get the urge to bake about once every 18 months. It hit me last night. I made pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies. It seemed festive and the right thing to do. I learned that about 18 months is how long it takes me to forget that I can't bake worth beans. The bread was burnt on the outside and fine on the inside but a little funny shaped. Immediately when I took it out of the oven, I tried to get it out of the pan and on to the cooling rack. Apparently that only works for wheat bread. The loaf ripped in two.

The cookies didn't fair much better. They were undercooked (probably out of fear of watching my overcooked bread). And in general were just ehhh..... I put the glaze on while the were hot and the glaze ended up on my counter more than the cookies.

I told Aaron that he needs to save me from myself when I come to him a year and a half from now and announce that I am going to bake. I also told my sister that she was no longer aloud to give me recipes. I have to build in multiple defenses to save me from myself.

Hopefully Emma is ok with Happy Birthday guacamole for a while. At least Aaron hasn't complained about Happy Birthday pineapples and the sort. It is either that he is merciful or is highly motivated to keep me from attempting another baking fiasco.

Motorcycles and Rainbows

Emma has a balance bike that looks like a motorcycle. I know, not very 2 year old girl like but it was $20 verses $70.... so we have a motorcycle. She hasn't picked up on all things pink yet, so she doesn't care. Anyway, when she rides it I feel inspired to sing the chorus to "Born to be Wild," or at least what I thought was the chorus. I sang it yesterday morning and Aaron started to sing the real version of the song. I asked him how he knew the words to Born to be Wild. His response: "The same way you know songs about rainbows and cotton balls." For the record, I don't know any songs about cotton balls.

Potty Training... The Start

I decided to potty train Emma this week. She is pretty young, but the if I was going to do it before the baby comes, I had to do it this week. The awesome part is that late last week, Aaron's work told him he had to go out of town for training for the entire week. Aaron never has to go out of town for an entire week - we are spoiled like that. I decided that if Emma could wear big girl panties, so could I and do it while Aaron was out of town.

I decided to do this method where you stay in the house for 3 days and don't leave or do anything but focus on your kid and take them to the bathroom while they pee on your floor. Eventually they are supposed to get it and learn to tell you when they need to go potty. Emma did great the first day and I thought that we were in the clear. The next two days were just accidents for the most part. After not leaving the house for 3 days, and totally solo, I was getting a bit crazy. In fact, I can neither confirm nor deny that I had reached a cracking point.

The problem is, I am used to being in control. But I had to come to the conclusion that I don't have control over Emma, her bladder, or her understanding of the potty training concept. As near as I can tell, Heavenly Father blesses those who are about to crack because we had a break though the next day and I can't account for it. All I know is that she wanted to go potty, if I went. Since I am pregnant, that happens a lot. So that kept her from having accidents. She did however tell me if she had to go other than those times.

We have been accident free for 3 days now. The most shocking was today. We went to reunion of friends from our singles ward days. We show up to the park, and there is no bathroom. I had brought pull-ups just in case. So I put one on her. That was at 3pm. At 8:30pm we got home and she had never asked to use the potty. I figured that she was just so excited to have a diaper on and figured out that she could just pee at her  hearts content. When we got her home, we sat her on the toilet, and she went. I know, probably some more details, than desired. However, I checked her pull-up and the little kid held it all afternoon! She has a superior bladder to a pregnant person.

So, in the end, I got to play a lot with Emma this week. We played with play dough, which she loves. We built stairs out of Lego's and the Lego's-animals would go up the stairs and jump off and crash on the carpet. We also danced a lot, we made pretend soup with her kitchen, we wrestled, built forts, read books, colored and skyped with Grandpa Rich. Emma did surprisingly well for being couped up in the house for 5 days. She did ask to go on a walk, to the store, to church and to home depot. And, I went from stickers as a reward to fruit snacks. She loves fruit snacks.... just wait until she figures out candy. I have seen her language development grow this week. She has taken an interest in letters and can recognize the letters S,W,D, E, X. She can also recognize the numbers 2, 7, and 0. So, there have been some positive things. And, I didn't really have a carpet accident - just blankets and tile. There have been a lot of tender mercies this week. Aaron coming home was high on that list.

Wildflower Festival

We went to The Woodlands Wildflower festival. There were jumping castles, a petting zoo, and pony rides. I thought Emma would love the jumping castles because she loves jumping/active things but the concept was kind of lost on her. Toward the end, she kinda caught on, but we had to move on. Emma loved the pony rides, and in fact she has asked multiple times to ride a horse. Too bad it isn't like playing with play dough.... Emma also loved the petting zoo, but she mostly just laughed when the animals they would run around her.

 For this slide, Emma didn't slide so much as more crawl down.... go figure.

Old McDonald Had a Farm

I went with some friends to a place called Old McDonalds Farm. We had a great time seeing, petting and feeding geese, an emu, ducks, goats, pigs, sheep, cows, horses, rabbits, and deer. There was a train, cool slide, a huge pile of sand, swings, and horse rides. Emma was mesmerized by the whole thing. It was like I didn't even exists - she was taking everything in and didn't hear a word I said. That is why she has such a serious face on - she was intensely staring at everything the whole time.

Well Actually, Grandma

I have a nephew whose biggest trial as a 2 year old was having to deal with unintelligent adults.... which in his mind, that was all adults. He would sometimes say in a rather put out voice, "Well actually, Grandma..." And then go on to explain to Grandma whatever she was wrong about. We have giggled out that for years.

Yesterday morning Emma and I were reading a book and she pointed to Grover and said, "Actually, its Grover." It appears that Emma and Ben have something in common.

Rules

It appears that Emma feels compelled to follow rules. This one she got from me. It is one of the few things that she gets from me. Emma likes to buckle her stuffed dog, "Puppy," into our infant car seat or infant swing. When it comes to getting Puppy out of the seat, she will not just pull him out. He MUST be unbuckled and if I yank puppy out then she insists that I go back and unbuckle the car seat.

Emma was coloring and colored on a book cover. I explained that we don't color on books. She asked about pants, shirts, herself, desks, and a variety of objects. I explained that we don't color any of those objects. The next day Aaron participated in a United Way Day of Caring where he did some painting. He came home with some blue paint on his arm. Emma was quite bothered by the fact that Aaron broke the rules and colored on himself. She pointed it out and said, "No color blue!" She just kept saying it. Over and over and over. It was like the orange crayon incident all over again. Aaron tried to apologize for breaking the rules about coloring on himself. I just wonder how she will do when Aaron paints her new room. That may just make her brains explode.

Trying to Decorate Emma's Room Pottery Barn Style But Not

The Orange Crayon

Emma has 8 crayons. She typically uses the orange or purple crayon. They seem to be her favorite crayons. One Saturday Aaron was coloring with Emma and accidentally broke about a half inch of the orange crayon off. Emma looked at it and kept saying over and over "Daddy broke it! Daddy broke it!" Periodically she would interject, "Why break it Daddy?" She would also come show me the broken crayon and tell me all about how Daddy broke it. This went on for about 20 minutes. We have never seen Emma go on and on about anything like this. Aaron felt so bad for breaking her crayon and that it obviously bothered her a significant amount.

I kept telling Emma it was OK and that she could still color with the crayon and she kept telling me that Daddy broke her crayon. So two weeks later, she still is talking about how Daddy broke her crayon every time she pulls out her crayons to color. This past weekend we had a break through. She said, "Daddy sorry so much!" and then later she pulled out the crayon again and said, "Its OK." It appears she made it through the seven stages of grief and has reached acceptance.

Birthday Part II

Emma was sick on her birthday so we waited to give her her present until she felt better. And by waited, I mean that really, I procrastinated wrapping it so it was quite a while after her birthday that she got it. We got her a zoo Lego set.

She has loved playing with her Lego's. It is hard to say what she likes more - playing with the normally, or taking them out of the bag and then cleaning them back up.

Emma-isms

Now that Emma is talking more, she is saying some funny things:

1. She was climbing on a box to jump off of it and fell backwards on accident. She laughed and said, "It's good one!" So when she does something on accident (that usually involves falling) she laughs and says that.

2. Apparently Emma really listens to my phone conversations. She insists I talk on the phone on speaker phone so she can hear the conversation and participate. My sister Mary will sometimes say "Peace out" but usually in the context of "I am all done with this situation and am leaving now." Usually it is related to her work. One morning Emma was walking by one of her blocks that had a ladybug on it and I heard, "Peace out ladybug!" I was cracking up so hard. So now she says it randomly.

3. Emma loves to play chase. (What kid doesn't?) One day she was sitting in her high chair and eating a strawberry. She said, "I'm going to get you strawberry!" and the proceeded to eat the strawberry.

4. Whenever we are in the grocery store or where ever, and Emma sees an older gentleman, she points and calls him "grandpa." She knows that he isn't her grandpa, but it is more of her labeling the guy as an old man. We were at a friend's house (who is our age) and she was pointing to one of our friends and calling her "lady." Later that evening she pointed to out host and called him "grandpa." He doesn't have gray hair, or any of the typical identifying grandpa features so I have no clue but she wouldn't change her mind about it.

5. I was making her oatmeal in the morning and she looked at it and said, "Oatmeal stinking hot." It was quite matter of fact. I think that she got that one from me. We have had an extremely hot summer and I think I use the phrase "stinking hot" to describe our weather.

Sunday Naps

I grew up in a family where we all happily took 3 hour Sunday naps. It was really a continuation of church. Aaron grew up in a family where naps where under appreciated. I don't get it. Emma has adopted the Russell attitude. This next kid is hopefully an Anderson.

Here, Emma played for a while instead of napping so it was hard to get her up when we normally get her up because she hadn't been asleep for too long. We brought her down to our room and she didn't want to snuggle with us in our bed so she made herself comfortable on a pillow on the floor and continued her nap there. Aaron and I didn't stop her cause we may or may not have fallen asleep ourselves.

A couple of Sunday's ago Emma's jammies were dirty but we didn't discover it until it was time to put her down for a nap. This was a crisis. I tell you why. Emma is still a nudist. But it has progressed to taking off the diaper. I have found her sleeping, diaper off, in a puddle. The puddle wasn't drool. So we have a single pair of footy jammies that we turn inside out and zip up. It is the only piece of clothing we have found that is strip proof. This is also the only pair of footy jammies that are not fleece and this is key in Houston in the summer. Hence the crisis of the dirty jammies. So we decided to play Russian Roulette and put Emma in normal jammies - pants and a shirt. We ran up there 3 times to either stop her mid strip or full strip and put a diaper back on her. At this point, we were desperate so we did this:

What you can't see is that we also taped her diaper on underneath her jammies. This was really in case she figured out how to get the tape off. But in actuality it just was a sign of desperation because she shimmies out of her diaper so the tape wouldn't have confounded her if it really came to it. Once she figured out that she couldn't free herself from the prison of her jammies, there was much weeping and wailing. That is when she tried to escape a couple of times from her crib. That meant more running up to stop her. This was not a restful nap time for anyone. She never napped.

This is just a cute picture. Emma loves her puppies. In fact, Puppy (the big one) has become her favorite toy. It goes where Emma goes, unless I can stop her of course. I am terrified I will loose it and it will break her heart. So we try to keep Puppy at home.