Compromise

Christmas Morning

We spent Christmas at our house because my doctor told me that I shouldn't be traveling for at this point in my pregnancy. So we spent our second Christmas here. The first one was when I was pregnant with Emma. We didn't attempt to explain Santa to Emma - I just didn't have the energy and knew it wouldn't quite sink in. Emma can however pick Santa out in a line-up, that is unless a snowman is also in the lineup and then it is a bit of a gamble as to whether or not she will get it right.

Aaron and I learned that Christmas with little kids is a lot of fun. Emma as way more into it this year than last. Last year she didn't care so much about what was going on. I think the wrapping paper was cooler than her presents and she got some cool presents. This year she got a fitness trampoline which has become an addiction for her at this point. Emma also received a mailbox gymnastics mat. It is a large mailbox shaped mat (read twice as large as we expected from the description online - i.e. not sure where this thing will live in our house). She can jump off of it, tumble over it, etc. She is also enjoying this one as well. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas

We went to Provo for Thanksgiving this year to spend it with the Russell side of the family. We had a great time visiting with family. Here are some of the pictures:

Emma decided to go explore a pine tree. She lasted longer than I would have guessed inside the prickly needles.

We went to the BYU gymnastics room which is just about my favorite place on earth with small children. At one point I decided to show Emma the foam pit so I fell backwards into the pit. It wasn't until I landed that it occurred to me that I would then have to get my pregnant self out of the pit. Fortunately Aaron pulled me out with the rope. Probably a good sign that he didn't just walk away because he could have and I would still be there today otherwise.

Emma loved to play with cousins and Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Keith. At one point she would kick me out of the room because she was concerned I might stop her fun with Grandma and Grandpa. Emma got her first taste of soda (Martinelli's) at Thanksgiving dinner.

Aaron got to play football on Thanksgiving morning and nobody got hurt. We also went to the Provo Beach Resort. It is a funny name for a business that caters to people who want to do stuff in the middle of the winter. They have a inside surf thing where you can pseudo-surf, play croquette, arcade stuff, golf stuff and other stuff that you could do outside if you lived in California. We played croquette with all of the adults. Aaron's finer moment was when he won the croquette game - this is after his club went flying out of his hands while attempting to hit his ball.

Then we flew to California for a pre-Christmas trip since we couldn't travel for actual Christmas. We took Emma to the beach. It was a bit of a novelty for her. I love Coronado island. It is my favorite beach mostly because they groom it and so there isn't seaweed to stink up the beach.

We also went to the park to feed the ducks and play on the playground. The ducks weren't all that interested in our food. Apparently these ducks live in the lap of luxury.

 We were able to see Nanny Great. Emma got confused and called her Annie Great and then got confused again because she has a cousin Annie who is not quite one years old and so she kept thinking Nanny should be a baby.

We went to December Nights in Balboa Park. They had some performers and ethnic food vendors to explore. Mostly they had all of the museums open for free but the lines were 2 years long so we skipped the museums. It was a bit sad since that is what we were really hoping for. Oh well....

Emma had a great time playing with cousins and aunts and Grandma Lindy and Grandpa Rich. She loved that Aunt Mary would feed her cookies, let her put on her makeup and jump with her on the trampoline. Aunt Emily's house was a hit because she has toys, kids, a dog and a huge trampoline. What more could you want in life? She also loved pushing a toy car around my parent's pool with Grandpa. Again she was afraid that I would interfere with her fun with Grandma and Grandpa and would want me to leave the room while playing with them.

So how good was our trips? Good enough that when we got home to our house, Emma took one look and asked to go home. I am not sure which grandparent's house she was referring to, but it was clear that home was not our house.

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.