All Big and Stuff

Emma turned 2. We flew in from Arizona and Thursday night and Emma turned 2 the next day, but there was no way I was prepared to celebrate so we planned to do it Saturday and celebrate Emma turning 2 and Aaron turning 33. We had great plans: swimming, opening presents, cafe rio for dinner (i.e. Mexican), and homemade ice cream for dessert. Emma got a cold Friday. No problem. Saturday, however, she woke up with a fever, so we took swimming off the table, but no worries, because there was still plenty of festivities left. By the time dinner came around, Emma had tossed her cookies. And then tossed them again in the night, so we pretty much had to scrape all of the festivities, except dinner, because that was already done when the puking began. We did put a candle in her guacamole and sing to her. She loved it and wanted to do it over and over again. She gets her love of fire from Aaron. My sister Emily asked if I had made her a cake. It seemed like such an odd idea until I remembered that the rest of the country celebrates birthdays with cake and ice cream. Nope. Didn't make her a cake. Never occurred to me. Lest I seem like a horrible mom, Emma isn't a cake or ice cream fan. The planned ice cream was really for Aaron. The guacamole was for Emma. Emma loves guacamole more than cake and ice cream hands down. 

Grandma Lindy and Grandpa Rich got her a balance bike which Emma has loved to ride around the house. Emily got her a doll high chair and crib and Emma has tried to commandeer it from the dolls for herself. Unfortunately, she is a bit outside of the weight range for the items. Aaron and I got her Lego's, which we haven't as of yet, actually given to her yet. We were going to wait until she felt better, and then things got busy and I just plain old haven't wrapped it yet to give it to her. Good thing she has no clue about when and what birthday's are.

Emma is convinced that she is all big and stuff now. She sometimes calls me Jamie. I don't know if I should respond to it or not. She directed me to the park all by herself on one of our walks. She attempts to jump off fairly tall things, including the stairs.

Her likes:

• stairs
• buttons
• walks
• swimming
• blowing bubbles
• dogs
• playing chase
• dancing
• mangoes
• grapes
• strawberries
• avocado
• guacamole
• bread
• singing "Give Said the Little Stream"
• singing the ABC song all by herself - she gets some of it right - while washing her hands
• sitting on the potty (but doesn't actually use it) and even more so, closing the lid and flushing the potty
• babies
• talking on the phone to Grandma and Grandpa
• playing around in the car

She doesn't like:

• stopping playing to eat
• diaper changes
• playing by herself
• being in the house
• pizza (I totally don't get this one)

Emma is also forming opinions. It is weird to me. I think I was expecting these days to come later on. Like today, I got dressed in a skirt to go to the temple. As soon as Emma saw that, she wanted to wear a dress. I understand that kids like to do what their parents are doing, but surely there are limits. I only wear a dress when it is absolutely necessary. I hate dresses/skirts. It is outside of my comprehension that being like mom would trump wearing a dress. Emma could not be persuaded to keep her shorts on so she stripped herself and found a dress to put on. But her is the funny thing, after I left, Aaron took her to the children's museum. She wanted to change her clothes and wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt. It is over 100 degrees outside here. Aaron gave into the jeans but found an acceptable short sleeved shirt. Really she wanted to wear a pink shirt. If I give her the choice of a non pink shirt or a shirt with pink on it - pink every time. I struggle with the idea that I might need to consult her when I purchase her wardrobe in the future. I thought that came at a much later age.