Spring has Sprung

Spring has sprung, and Emily is turning out to be quite the flower child. She loves them... flowers that is. Our yard is happily sprouting daffodils, periwinkle, other small bulbs whose name escape me, and now... magnolia flowers. Every day we pick a few, so we've assembled quite a bouquet at this point.

One of my favorite little things is how she loves to smell any flower... even if it isn't particularly fragrant... she knows flowers are a thing to be smelled, but instead of sniffing, she blows out through her nose. We'll be 10 ft away from a flower bed and she'll be puffing away. It's all I can do not to laugh. I just sniff while she blows hoping she'll catch on that there's a "different" way to smell flowers.

Yay spring!

Emily's New Friend

She has made a new friend... she calls it "friend". This friend is Mama's right hand... literally. I started talking to her with my hand (think puppet w/ no clothes on), while driving to daycare in the mornings... Now she actively seeks it out. "Friend? Where are you friend?" It's very cute. And of course I drive a stick shift so "friend" can't talk when it's helping me drive... If I ask her to put on her coat when she's in a mood, she just won't... if "friend" asks her, she can't do it soon enough. At least for the time being, "friend" is a handy ally :)

I am so very sad that I made a mistake uploading the last large batch of photos, and somehow managed to delete the "originals", so all i have are versions too small to print... I guess that's still better than losing them altogether, but still... As I look for photos to post I'm reminded of my error & it bums me out...

In any case, sorry I've been delinquent in keeping the blog current. I don't know why I feel like there has to be something big to report... the day to day events are generally somewhat entertaining. :)

We enjoyed & survived our Christmas vacation. Had a great time w/ Dad & Jane & all the family in ND, and we all filled up on baked goods & candy as is required by the holiday. ;) Emily was a great flyer, and adjusted well to meeting new people and having her schedule dumped upside- down.

She's been a little clingy w/ me both during and since the vacation, and now tuck-in time has become ridiculous. I end up rocking her for well over an hour before she'll "let" me put her in the crib... I think we've procrastinated long enough on "ferberizing" her. In the next couple weeks we'll be going through the torturous exercise of teaching her to go to bed awake & fall asleep on her own. I am both looking forward to and dreading this. I feel like she will catch on quickly enough, but it will be tough listening to her pleas. I think the reason they tell you to do it when they are young is they can't verbalize... Now, if I try to put her down in the crib, I hear "I need my mama!" "Mama Danielle?" first in nice voice that implies a "please", soon to be followed in a scream that implies more of a "how dare you?!". Oh yes... this will be interesting. Here's hoping we are strong enough to follow through, since I know this is what we all need.

Ho'd ma sho'ders (written 11/25)

Emily is a good little monkey and always very entertaining. She has more joy & energy than she knows what to do with. Yesterday she merrily strolled the circular path through the house - pushing piglet in the stroller. She'd yell good bye & have a nice day as she left our sight, then a hearty hello seconds later.

One of my favorite things is when she's strolling her dolls & wants company so she'll wiggle the cutest little wiggle & say "hold my shoulders".

She had her 2 yr checkup last week. Her beautiful head is in the 97% percentile for size... it's got a big brain to support after all! She's 3' tall & 30 lbs... big girl!

She's gotten so big that I find myself telling her as much while my bicep quivers trying to balance her, a diaper bag, a dolly, a grocery bag, etc.

Mismatch Day

She's just the cutest little monkey. This photo is dim, but it's still pretty darn cute, so I had to share. Today is mismatch day at daycare. The memo said wear whatever you like as long as it doesn't match. We went all out. One turquoise sock w/ yellow ducks, one purple sock w/ spiders & pumpkins. Chicken romper over bright blue flowered shirt & autumn striped pants... all topped off w/ a lime green hat.... a work of art, really.

We arrive at school to discover all other kids are dressed... normally?! Well, technically one of the boys was mis-matched, but just barely... he had horizontal stripes mixed w/ vertical stripes... yawn. It's too bad Em's too young to realize that she's mismatched! ;)

In other news... last night she pulled a funny I'd like to share, totally unrelated.
She was eating yogurt, and took a full scoop, lifted it high and watched it slowly fralump off the spoon and onto the chair.... There was no mischief involved - just innocent curiousity... nonetheless, I sighed an "EmilyDavis", and proceeded to wipe the primary splooch of yogurt from her chair. As I wiped it, she pointed to a spot of yogurt on her pants and said "EmilyDavis" with a sigh similar to my own! Priceless.

Little Miss Em... what shall I write about today. She has discovered her CT cousins, and boy oh boy are they fun! Last weekend we stayed w/ the fam in CT. The little girl cousins (7 & 9 now) think she is a living doll, and she thinks they are the coolest. They have more "bling" than she can fit on one arm, they have a swimming pool, and they like to play all the time, unlike the boring old folks she lives with... what could be better! We had another surprise playdate with them mid-week for Grampy's 75th birthday party. And again this weekend we head to CT for further home improvements. We are all looking forward to the trip!

She loves to swim. She's only done it a few times really - at the cape, then in the pool in CT. Now in the bathtub, she shimmies onto her belly, kicks her legs & says "I swim!" She loves to scare Mommy by putting her face right up to the water, but I've taught her to blow if she's going to do that. Teaching her to swim and respect water and the dangers that go along with its pleasures will be an important next step.


She's getting so big. She's about 30 lbs now. Unbelievable. My biceps quiver after about 10 minutes of holder her. This always happens right after a growth spurt, as my muscles struggle to keep up. She's so smart & so nice. She now counts 1,2,3 and 8,9,10. She knows the following letters as...
A is for Amy
D is for Dada
E is for Emily
F is for Frog
H is for Happy
J is for Judy
M is for Mama
N is for Nate
O is O
Q is for Quack
R is for Rich (& she knows this one goes w/ J for Judy :)

She's just so nice... I love that she wakes up happy. She sits up, shakes off the sleep and as sweetly as one can imagine she smiles & says "hi". While she sleeps, I keep a few select stuffed animals wedged between the crib bars, so we go through the process of identifying them - "do you have a frog?"... "glog- aaahh you?", then she finds frog & we move on. (aaaah you == where are you?)

She has 13 teeth now & she'll smile & say "TEEEEEEEETH".

She loves to say "Monkey, JumpOnTheBed!", and of course she loves to be the monkey jumping on the bed. She'll hold two hands and jump with reckless abandon.

She has learned to identify a few letters. We have an entire alphabet of letters that we play with in the bath tub. She can tell us that A is for Amy, D is for Dada, J is for DooDoo (judy :), M is for Mama, F is for frog, E is for Emily, and she recognizes the number 2.

She is just sooo nice. :)