More Firsts

Emma placed her first 911 call this morning. Apparently Aaron's cell phone has a feature where if you press the touch pad enough it will ask you if you would like to place an emergency call. Emma selected the 'yes' option. Aaron heard someone on the other line, figured out who it was and told them there was no emergency. Now we just need to work on fire alarms in crowded places.

Nursery!

Emma is officially 18 months old and that means that Aaron and I get to participate in a 1 hour wrestling match rather than a 3 hour wrestling match. The extra 2 hours of our lives now allow us to listen in church.

I went to drop Emma off and before I could get too far into the room, Emma was wiggling her way down my leg and off and running. She loved nursery and didn't even notice me leaving the room. Aaron would look through the window a couple of times. He saw Emma and another little girl trying to fit inside the oven of the play kitchen. When it looked like the other girl was going to fit, Emma would attempt to close the oven door on her. I went to pick Emma up an she just looked at me like, "Oh yeah, I have a mom... OK fine, I will go with you." One of the nursery leaders made the comment, "She was so good. You wouldn't even know she was the same child that you chase around Relief Society!" That about sums it up.

Tomato, Tamato Lets Call the Whole Thing Off

Recently Emma has noticed the monkey stickers that we put on her wall as a border at the top, the monkey lamp, and the monkeys on her bedding. She points to them and says, "Dad."

Baby It's Cold Outside, The Children's Museum, And Bread

We have had the world's coldest weather (OK, for Houston) and as a result, Emma has been couped up inside. It isn't by choice for Emma. I don't go outside when it is cold outside. Poor Emma has tried to talk me into going outside. She has brought my shoes and hers and her coat to the door and pulled on the door knob in an attempt to get me to take her outside. I actually hide her shoes and mine to head off such requests. I am that mean of a mom. Aaron was filled with mercy. So on the coldest day of the week, he took her to the park where the park was covered in ice. It was so cold that Houston was one big skate rink on the overpasses and bridges and trees. Aaron actually got to work from home because he couldn't get to work due to the plethora of car accidents and traffic.

We took Emma to the Children's museum this weekend. Emma loves this place. It is like nursery on steroids. There's a bunch of cool toys and she goes from one thing to the next and could stay there all day. 

Emma loves Bernoulli's principle. A tube of air blows a scarf up in the air. She roars with laughter at this one.

Emma and the fish tank.

Aaron reading to Emma.

Emma in the kitchen.

I made bread today and Emma helped. The bread had finished rising and was ready to go in the oven. It was at this point in the process when Emma made her contribution (while my back was turned).

Zumba

I tried out a Zumba class last night at the gym. Upon reflection, I think I had visions of grandeur. At least that is the only explanation I have for having hope that this could be my exercise routine. Probably more than 50% of the class was some sort of Latino and had the hip movement to prove it. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of myself in the floor to ceiling mirrors and one of the many images that came to mind was a toddler trying to copy what there parent is doing. It is a very crude imitation of what the parent is doing. Probably only the parent would recognize what the toddler was doing. And if the parent saw the action again out of context, they would probably have no idea what the toddler was doing. That was me. My movement (calling it dancing would be laughable) was a very crude imitation of zumba.

The instructor was moving so fast and so many different body parts all at once, it took every ounce of concentration I had to move any body part of mine in the same general direction of the instructor. I didn't even hear the music due to my high levels of concentration. When I did hear the music I was nowhere close to being in sync with it. I walked away from the experience with renewed determination to try yoga.

Woof! Woof!

1. Lately whenever we are talking with Aaron on the phone and I have Emma say hi, she always barks at Aaron saying, "Woof!" Whenever Aaron comes home from work she immediately says, "Woof! Woof!" We don't know why she always barks at him but it is without fail that is the first thing out of her mouth.

2. Emma has recently learned how to open band aids. This morning she opened one up and put the band aid on her dog pull toy's paw.

3. I was playing with a dog puppet with Emma this morning and she looked around and grabbed a doll with a dress on. She stuck her hand up the dress and started barking, "Woof! woof!"

Genetics Persist

This morning it was 3 coats.