emma loves to read

last night she went through all her books. She was very focused. I hope she is that way tomorrow on the plane.

I wish I could quit you!

sharing her book with him

he really always is two steps away from her.

why must he be such a bastard?! He has now bitten emma two times on her upper thigh and both times she has been caught off guard and burst into tears. He is known for his cobra attacks on naked legs and Anthony and I decided that it would be best to send him back to the shelter and see if we could exchange him for another one. He is so unpredictable. Emma still loves him, she still kisses him first thing in the morning and hugs him. I fear she would miss him if he were gone. The funny thing is that the whole weekend he was an angel. As if he understood our disgust at him and he wanted to make amends. He was so quiet and giving you Puss in Boots eyes. so for now we are on the fence. We shall see ow long this love affair can last.

emma over the weekend.

strike a pose

and stretch!


romper, Liberty of London for Target
socks, dollar bin at Target
hair clip, Gymboree
mesmerized look, all Yo Gabba Gabba


so i feel like Emma did a lot of amazing, small things this weekend and now my mind is going blank. she had her 18 month check up this morning and all went well. she remembers that place quite well, so there is no pulling a fast one on her when trying to trick her into enjoying her doctor's visits. The minute she went into the examine room she turned into a rabbit caught in a snare. she kept trying to find ways out of that room and was very clingy. The paper liner that she so loved as a baby, now frightened her and she knew quiet well what was to go down in just a few moments. Emma is now in the 'above the 97%' for height and at 34 inches is quite the supermodel toddler. her weight is in the 90% and all is else is well. she was shy but eventually was climbing all over the place.




Small gestures Emma did this weekend were, Emma loves to imitate us now and as you all know she loves her step stool. She will push it up next to me when I "cook" and as I was chopping some vegetable, she placed her banana down and grabbed the garlic press and tried "chopping" it. It was too cute. she also sweeps up dust and knows to wipe up liquids with a paper towel and she knows how to use a napkin on her hands.




She loves throwing everything away in the 'brua' and we are constantly rummaging through the garbage to make sure no phone, gem or jump drive has ended up there. She will make the long journey to the kitchen, no matter where she is to throw away her trash.




She really loves to scold the cat and she does so with such determination.




We took her to Trader Joes on Friday and she was the hit of the store. Everyone literally stopped to say hi to her and tell me how pretty she was and Emma of course was a ham , waving at everyone and telling them bye bye. I let her push the little "customer in training" cart and she was in complete control of it. the first time she used one she was all over the place, ramming into peoples heels. but now she was a true shopper and even put a loaf of bread in her cart and knew to hand it to the check out girl when it was time to pay. She made the required pit stop at the sample area and three samplings of the garlic bread with pastrami.




She is a delight, she loves music and to dance and her Reese's pieces. I do not give Emma candy but she has found one or two stray Reese's on the floor. I try and tell her that what is on the floor is trash and not to eat it. On Sat she found a Reese and I could tell she was thinking about. Her little conscious was trying to guide her but alas her tummy won. She had a cookie in one hand and Emma gently put the Reese behind the cookie and slowly started to bring them to her mouth. She avoided all contact with us and thought she was being really sly. she thought she could sneak the Reese in with the cookie but alas we stopped her and gave her a clean one.




On Sunday, Anthony was playing ball with her, he had the soccer ball and she had the dainty pink ball. When both balls ended up in the kitchen , Emma ran up to get hers as Anthony asked her "where is my ball?" I honesty didn't think Emma would understand his question but much to my amazement, she put her ball down and brought daddy over his ball. So today I'm getting all nervous as she and Antony are flying to Tampa tomorrow, just the two of them. I will be without them for 4 days and i already miss her. I try not to think on whether or not it will be hard on Emma to not see me and I am really trying to not think about the flight and how Emma cannot sit still for more than 3 minutes. I will def be praying for them both to have safe flight and my heart will be sad for a few days. but we will be together for a whirlwind weekend of beach, Easter egg hunts and Disney!!!




so here are some pics of Emma in her Liberty of London romper i found for her this weekend.

emma doing more grown up things

Emma is doing more and more things that you and I do. She understands so many concepts now. On Monday I told her it was time for supper and we were in the living, so she ran ahead of me to the kitchen and pulled her step stool to the table. She loves her nasty, beat up, cheap ikea step stool so much. She refuses to use the highchair anymore as she is a big girl and likes to eat at the table with us. She also only like to use adult utensils. So that night we had asparagus and she loves to eat them like carrots, but the time she got to the end, it was all chewed up and she didn't want it any more. She held it in her hand and went "braw". Braw is her way of saying basura, which is Spanish for trash. I try and tell her that everything on the floor is basura and we don't put in our mouth or when we see discarded trash on the floor i tell her that is it basura and not to touch it. Well, after she held the chewed up asparagus in her hand, she walked over to the trash and put it in the trash can and applauded to herself. I was so proud that she got the concept that trash goes in the trash can. She was having a ball the rest of the evening as I handed her trash to throw away. She still eats food off the floor, but these are baby steps after all. She also knows that spills on the floor require to be picked up by some sort of cloth. She split her milk on the floor of her sitters and walked over to get her bib and patted the spilt milk. she is too darn cute!

emma mastering the straw

she is like the french, so chic and effortless.

she got it!!

lazy sunday, march 14

top, Target

pants, Gap

fearlessness, all mommy

Today we just wanted to relax and get some shopping done. we went to target and Trader Joes and in the afternoon took Emma to a nice park to get her sillies out. We took her little car with us for her to ride around on it, but she was very happy just pushing it. I dont know why she didnt want to actually ride it, but she there she was. It almost seemed as if she wanted to imitate me and how i was pushing the empty stroller. who knows. She is a very independent and would not allow us to help her steer her car. every time we put our hands on it , she would stop and remove our hands from it. it was really funny. she does not like to be told how to do things. I did have a Homer moment at the park when Emma stopped to look at some squirrels by a tree and three of the squirrels stopped to look back at her and started to approach her. Coming from Florida where "domesticated" squirrels show no shame in coming right up to you and asking for food, i recognized that look in their eye and their unflinching approach towards us. I was so taken with these cute animals wanting to get close to Emma, but then fear set in as I did not want them to bite her and give her rabies. So in true Homer Simpson fashion I was saying out loud "oh cute little squirrels, ah rabies!!! but look how cute they are, No stay away from my baby, aw their eye are so cute. RABIES! RUN!" The rest of the day Emma played and colored and was having a fun time putting my slippers on and running in them.

Aquarium

top, Target

pants, Gap

shoes, See Kai Run
'tude, the fresh spring air

Spring seemed to finally be here and the weather was too good to pass up a day trip to Norwalk , CT. They have a very sweet, small aquarium and we took Emma there this past Saturday. She had a blast. they have a lot of interactive exhibits and floor to ceiling aquariums. Emma was running all over the place pointing at fish and climbing up and down steps. She behaved really well. Afterwards we went to have lunch at this nice looking beer/burger place. Emma actually sat still without the need of Yo Gabba Gabba. I credit this to her new obsession with crayons.When i say they had kid crayons and place mats, I asked the hostess for some. Once seated, the waiter brought over a cup with a straw for her. I was too embarrassed to send it back , saying "my daughter is not able to sip from a straw yet" , so i realize now was the time for her to learn how to drink from a straw. I was so proud that by her second try she had it down. she was so proud of herself and absorbed by her new found ability that we were able to enjoy the first bites of our meal. Of course the service took a while to bring our food out, so we knew after 40mns we were loosing emma quickly. She did finally fall asleep and we were tempted to have a second round of beers since the we were outside and the weather was just ideal. I guess however it was not in the cars as Norwalk suffered a power outage and it seemed we would have to leave soon. On the plus side, we didn't have to pay for parking as the machines were all down. We will def be going back there to see their Children's Museum and have another beer.

emma in a box

emma likes to put herself into tiny spaces, just like a cat. i guess she still has no concept of her size. this is her getting comfy in a diaper box.

emma loves to color

happy St Patrick's day

Emma got started early with the Irish festivities

Exhibit A

exhibit b

exhibit c, restless leaps

dress and pants, Gap

wine stain and tousled hair, the "Irish" in her

Emma is a cutie. I feel she understands more and more each day. I ask her to do something and she does it. Like today, I asked her to please share her treats with Ben and she put her cup out and let him have some. It was so sweet. We went to the park again and had a blast, except at the end when she fell off the bench and landed head first on the concrete . I saw what was happening so went to grab her only to miss by a few inches. I did brush her legs with my hands and I think that with my failed attempt it was still enough to break her fall and not make it as severe as it could have been. She did cry but I feel it was mostly due to my loud " oh my God". She is fine with no visible bumps or bruising and was eating her snacks in less than 20 seconds, but it still breaks your heart when your child gets hurt. She really wants to be a big girl. She sees older kids doing daredevil acts and she thinks she can also do them without getting hurt. She does not like the baby swing at all, which really surprises me, but prefers to ride the big kid swing belly side down of course. She learned that by watching some 5 years old spin on the swings. She is a cutie and I love how she can entertain herself so well. I hope she never looses her happy go luck nature.

emma at the park

Emma loves running around and I love how it wipes her out and give me a solid 2 hour nap afterwards. It is such a beautiful day today that I took her to the park today. Spring seems to be here, so fingers crossed this beautiful weather lasts. Emma has a real thing for older boys. She loves boys ages 5-9. She will stare at them and follow them and try to talk to them. Today there was a group of older boys who were chasing each other and Emma felt like jumping in. She was running behind the slowest one and went up to one boy and started "talking" to him. They completely dismissed her and she didn't mind. She seems to be well adjusted and can play alone or with others just fine. She made me smile as she saw a boy playing with chalk. Since Emma is just learning how to hold and use a pen/crayon I thought the idea of writing on the ground would go past her. She took one look at the boy and walked over, bent down, grabbed a piece of chalk and starting doing her chicken scratch.

emma loves her new work station

emma's gonna be a south paw, I think

so we put Emma's desk and chair together and she LOVES it. She feels so independent and grown up. I spent all Sunday cleaning up her area and arranging her toys that I knew when she woke up on Monday , the order would last about30 seconds. However i was wrong. Emma woke up and notices right away that she had a new area with new furniture. she went over to her desk and starting coloring and playing her her toys on the table. she only removed 2 books off the shelf, which is unheard of. She really likes her desk and i m happy that the money spent seem to be well invested.

my little helper

Emma is really attentive when I am doing something and will quickly jump in to help. And while I adore her initiative and appreciate her help, the reality is she can help me more by not helping me. But it is too cute to get upset. This weekend we went to ikea and got her some mini furniture. A little desk and chair and a toy chest. I have noticed that Emma thinks she is a big girl and likes to use adult sized items. She no longer wants to eat in her high chair, opting instead for her little step stool. whenever I say "lets eat" she pushes her step stool to the table and hops on. She also wants to eat with adult sized utensils. She will not bother with the baby spoons and forks. She is into stabbing her food now and has made major improvements tho she still prefers to eat mostly with her hands. (she is after all my feral baby)so while i was setting up her desk, Emma decided to help me. she grabbed the extra screw driver and started inserting it in the holes. She was very determined to help me, even tho I know she had no clue what the steps were. She was also helpful in helping me put back her foam play mat. I will admit that that time I lost my cool as I was trying to clean each board before placing them back on the floor . She was just throwing the dirty ones on top of the clean ones, thus creating more work for me. But in the end I realize I am proud of her for her attentiveness and generosity. she is one cute baby.