excuse me, your excused

looking like a school girl yet mesmerized by Olivia.

top and jeans, Gap

sweater, chi chi LA boutique

shoes, stride rite

Emma wearing her hipster jeans and doing her favorite past time

jeans, Gap

top, Janie and Jack

Emma is almost 20 months old. she looks like she could be 3. she is now wearing 2t and almost a size 7 in shoes. I was heart broken to find out that I am now a 9.5. When did my foot grow half a size?! Anyway, Emma has started to scream when she wants something or your attention. It is more like a high pitched squeal and I am trying to break her out of that habit. She knows her words and needs to use them. She is mastering her manners tho, the other day this little 4 year old girl came up to her and handed her a dandelion. Emma told her 'gracias' and ran back to us with the dandelion shaking all over the place. the petals were being blown away and when she reached us, she realized that all that was left was a bare stem. She went " oh oh". It was the cutest. Every time she finishes her milk or snack she will hand you the empty dish and say "gracias". We are working on please and excuse me now. Baby steps. Besides loving her bath time, she loves saying animal names and will bring you her animal puzzle pieces to tell you their names. All you hear are little foot steps running back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. She is so proud of herself, yet she still needs affirmation from both her parents. She will not move onto the next piece unless she has my and Ant's approval that she is indeed saying the correct names. Papa is still learning that he needs to jump in on this little ritual.

Saturday

I said that's my turkey meatball!!

emma can say hat now and suddenly will keep them on her head. Anthony got her a really nice hat this saturday and she loves wearing it. she is a true diva! she also likes tackling Gato.

words

emma started saying ribbit for frog. she can say hippo and now car. She really gets excited saying CAR!

this morning

just chillin'

Emma sometimes amazes me. As crazy as she can get, she is turning into a well mannered child. This morning as I dropped her off at her sitters, her playmate saw that Emma had her snack trap and wanted to take it away from her. Emma loves her little snack cup and got upset and ran into the kitchen where i was. I asked her if we could share and then asked her if she would share with ben . She got quiet and then held out her cup and walked towards him. It broke my heart but it also filled me with joy. She did it without putting up a fight and with such ease. My baby. I'm glad she hasn't formed too much of an attachment to things yet.
Some of Emma's new words: cookie, turtle, pez, eheh is elephant. she cant say her f's., hat apple, oso, cabra, basura. some might be repeats since I cant remember what i ve posted and I'm too lazy to look back. She can also say pelo and i swear she said blue today. She says 'night time' in such a sweet tone and when she does she puts her hand up to her ear and tilts her head as if she were to go to sleep.
Emma also loves water, she loves to swim. So we have been filling the tub up and letting her "swim" when its time to take a bath. she is like a fish and doesn't want to come out. In the mornings she likes to just go in the tub and chill. She knows that is the one place she can write on the walls. She is a funny creature.

emma's first bday party as a guest

is this thing on, im ready for my solo

ill take one of those, please

emma gets her first tat

Emma attended her first bday party as a guest this past Sunday and she was a delight. She wore her Easter dress and behaved like a lady. She first sat and had her breakfast pastry and was happy coloring her Yo Gabba Gabba place mat.

She then went to the arcade room and rode the virtual roller coaster and "drove" a car. She liked the roller coaster but the race car game kind of scared her. During play time, they started handing out musical instruments and of course Emma was front and center. She took a maraca and started shaking it. she was so happy. she then played with some balls and even started to learn how to play with others. She has started saying catch when she throws the ball so we wanted her to start throwing the ball to other people and not just the wall. After watching Ant and me pass the ball to each other, Emma quickly caught on and started passing the ball to other people. She really is a good kid. she likes to share and interact well with others. She is the life of the party and I am reminded of my mom and little cousine Ximena, who always seem to be so uninhibited. I know i wasn't one of those kids growing up, I was painfully shy and introverted and always had to have my mom by my side. Emma is the complete opposite, she is fearless and independent and rarely wants to be held. I guess it is mostly nature with her. She had a good day and we were beaming with pride.

saturday

mommy couldnt stop and had to brace for impact

im da ninj'

so i had some money thanks to my mom for mothers day and I actually went into the city to try and find some summer tops. I have tons, I mean tons of pants that don't fit me, but Im hoping to ease my way back into them by next month/July. So I really wanted some nice tops and I found a lot of cute ones at Gap, HM and Macys. Thanks mom! I had the whole morning and early afternoon to myself and it felt really nice to just walk around the city without the added weight of a diaper bag or fighting my way through crowds with a stroller. I can finally see/ feel the results of losing weight and tho it is at a snails pace, I hope that it just keeps happening and before too long I am back in my size 10 pants and M tops. It is clear that having a baby changes your body and it will just never go back. Somehow my back got wider. I have a lot of back fat and my chest area is just a disaster area. My foot, I found out, has grown half a size. This didn't happen during or right after the baby, but instead this is a recent occurrence. Anyway, i had no plans for Saturday except to go into the city and shop and have some me time. I made a promise not to look in the kids section b/c Emma has a wardrobe to die for and I always end up spending my money on her. I do it with pleasure but it was best to keep things out of sight and out of mind. I decided it would be fun to get picked up by my chauffeur Anthony and his assistant Emma in Brooklyn. I told Ant to bring Emma to the playground of our old hood to let her play while we met up there. We ended up having an impromptu rest of the day in Greenpoint and it was a very pleasant evening. The sun was out and the air felt fresh. Because of traffic Anthony ended up getting to Brooklyn at the same time I did. We let Emma play at the playground and she of course had a lot of fun climbing stairs and going down the slide. she just loves the slide. She was so well behaved that when she went to get some kids plastic baseball bat, we told her it was not hers and she needs to leave it and she did so without one whimper. I also experienced the sweetest thing. As I mentioned before Emma is very independent and rarely shows affection. I mean she isn't one of those kids who is attached to their mother's hip or hides under her skirt. she is always leading the way like an explorer and would rather not hold your hand. I never thought Emma of the jealous type but then again I don't think she has ever seen me interact with another kid. At the baby playground there was a little girl who must have been 12 months and was just learning how to walk. she came up to me and was smiling and I reached over to help her walk towards me. As I started to talk to her, Emma made a quick b line to me pressed her face really close to the bar where i was standing. She started talking in her language and wanting me touch her head as well. It was as if she was saying, hey dont forget about me, you are MY mommy. It was beyond sweet and I felt like the queen of the world. my baby had to come up to me as if to make it clear to that other baby that I was her mommy. it was her first time showing some sign of jealousy. i wonder how she will be if we ever decide to have another one.
anyway, the day was nice, we ordered sushi and hamburgers and ate in the park, we even had a beer in the hopes Emma would nap but alas the minute we stepped foot in the bar she perked up. it was such a chill day and i think bc i had no expectations it was even lovelier. so here are some pics of my/our day out.

emma the heart breaker

emma's first stack!

she got out of her pjs again and is making a run for it!

learning more about super foods

fascinating

emma is getting so tall. She officially left her 18-24 month pants last weekend when we realized the crotch was too short and kept popping open. She is now in 2t clothing and taller than most kids who are older than 2. She is great . she cracks me up and she frustrates me but she is my joy and all i want to do is be with her. Yesterday at the supermarket she actually behaved. she didn't mind being in the shopping cart which never happens. emma needs to be running and touching things, climbing shelves and picking out items to put in the cart. As I was making my way to the dairy section emma is rocking side to side and she is smiling and saying something in her own special language. She keeps trying to make eye contact with me and it finally hits me that she is saying "I love you." But not I Love you , instead it was more like "I gobaba boo". If it were not because she said it in the exact same tone as I say I love you to her, i would have just kept on trying to find the cottage cheese. I was elated to hear what I think I heard. Of course she wont repeat it as she is not my helper monkey and rarely works on command. It just amazes me on how she picks up on things. She can also say purple now in response to the actual color purple. Again she picks and chooses when to do so. She has said amarillo in response to Plex the magic robot. I am working on colors with her now. It is a long process but it can be fun. I found a great book that teaches colors with animals and I'm always on the look out for more books. i swear i just need to hit the megamillions and open my kids bookstore. How happy would I be, selling cupcakes and giving recommendations to people.

Emma still loves to read and just the other day she started pulling our cookbooks and reading them. the really cute thing is she will pause and look at the words and it really appears as if she is trying to make out the words. So she flipped threw my Super Foods cookbook and it was quite sweet. She is also getting into drawing and i think the time has come to get her an easel. She really is into modeling now and likes to mimic cleaning and wiping. she washes her own stuff during bath time and even brings me her pretend kitchen bowls to wash when i am washing the dishes.

Today she said cookie, which after grapes is her favorite snack. It has surpassed cheese, who would have thought. And emma has now moved from calling cats gato to cat. It did make me a bit sad as I rather her speak Spanish now, but I'm not afraid that she is moving past spanish as most of her words are still in Spanish. She can say cabra (goat) which was a shock to me. On our walk to work she found a puddle and started saying "agua" and began splashing in it. Then she saw her shadow and bent down to touch it and said "Emma". She can be a bit vain this one. Emma is growing up so fast, she still acts crazy but can be more reserved and more in need of her mommy. She plays coy when she wants to and can let lose among people she trusts. she is a ham and a diva and she is my world.

Oh and i forgot what she did the morning. She LOVES Olivia and we do let her indulge in watching her dvds. There is a short on her dvd where Olivia is stacking objects just to knock them down. Emma all of a sudden began removing things from the shelf and did her first stack ever. I mean she has never been a stacker and the doc always tell me at her check ups that she should be doing it and how I have to practice with her. I never understood why stacking was so important for her to do, I mean she was always ahead of the curve elsewhere. So today she started saying Olivia and began stacking objects and I just had to wonder if she was doing that in response to what she saw Olivia do on tv. I guess I can always say that , yes she was doing that.

this morning

As mornings go they either go smoothly or roughly. Even the smooth ones only last that way right up until the moment I need to leave. That is when Emma decides to poop or throw things, or run around. This morning went smoothly. Since having Emma I havent really had a moment to use the bathroom in peace. She always pushes the door open and sits right next to me. Wel, Emma somehow tripped outside the bathroom door and started doing this fake 'ow' cry. She held out her hand to me and i kissed it . I could tell she liked it. Emma is tough and always just shakes it off when she falls, and this was the first time I have ever kissed her boo boos to make them feel better. I guess she felt she needed to be comforted today. So another thing Emma has started doing is she will wave and say good bye to you as she leaves the room. She says bye in a very singsongy tone and it is just so lovely to hear and watch. Though I must admit the first time she did it I cried because I knew one day she would be waving goodbye and it would be for more than just going to the living room ro read. So back to this morning, after the whole kissing the boo boo thing, Emma came back into the bathroom and was leaning towards me and I was not paying attention or didn't realize what she was doing and then I noticed that she was puckering her lips and wanted to kiss me. So I leaned in to kiss her and she then put up her hand so I could kiss it one more time and then waved and said biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It was so sweet it just melted my heart.

uppercut to the nose

emma's gift to me for mother's day

was an uppercut to the nose with her forehead.

the after shock.

actually besides a bruised nose, Emma did give me a great gift. As most holidays don't jive with me and they always go either unnoticed or under celebrated, Mother's Day was to be no exception. Emma had I a rough time the night before. She was so wound up and so exhausted that she could not or would not sleep. She was just crying for 4 hours straight and finally we brought her to the big bed and made sure there was no stimulation to overwhelm her. This meant no Betty White on SNL for Me. Anyway, Emma actually finally collapsed as I was spooning and her and throughout the night was tossing and turning and ended up making several 180 degree turns. However, early in the morning, Emma crawled up to me and started to climb over me. I thought she was making her way off the bed but she stopped. She just hugged me, and lay on my chest , like a koala bear for at least 10mns. She handed me her pacifier, looked up and kissed me. I wanted those moments to last for hours, but alas, Emma is Emma and had get her move on. I don't know why she paused and just rested with me like that, but it was the best gift ever and it made my day. Thanks Emma!!

Emma at the National Zoo

always following the older kids


Emma went to the DC zoo on Sat and she had fun. She was tired from the car ride down, but she mustered up the courage to see some animals. It was high noon, and hot and it seemed all the animals were napping or hiding, but we did manage to see the Panda bear who was just chillin , eating some bamboo. When Emma laid eyes on the panda, she lit up. I think it was her first time recognizing animals from her book and seeing them in person. It was magical how she just sparkled and was so happy. She kept saying, oso oso. IT was funnier when we found a panda statue and it just scared her. It was only after we petted it, and she was able to see how it was safe that she proceeded to feed it some bamboo. Unfortunately the otter and sea lion section was closed for renovation, but emma enjoyed the elephants and small mammals, and was oddly terrified by the squirrel. go fig.

emma being cute and showing some 'tude

it's coming for me!

just take the picture

just riding in style

sticky fingers finney

metro card, license

no good, i need the credit cards

where is the black amex?

i guess this will do

no off to a little shoppy shop shop

my big girl

i couldn't be more proud of emma. Today at the playground emma dealt with some "rough" behavior from other kids and she behaved like such a little grown up. I don't know if it is because she understands what i tell her, or she just doesn't care. Her playmate has really gotten into pushing her and not sharing. Emma still hasn't reached that phase yet and so far isn't showing signs of being too possessive. I mean she def. has her favorite books and toys, but Ive seen them be snatched from her and yes, she cries, but she always manages to compose herself. Well, Emma loves to push strollers and in return be pushed. She also loves inexpensive umbrella strollers. It amuses me as I have spent a tiny fortune on nice strollers yet she rather ride a smart car than a Benz. Anyway, today at the playground her playmate had his stroller and she was sitting on it and twice she got pushed off. She of course was upset but she managed to brush it off in a nano second and when i told her that it was not her stroller so she had to hand it back to the owner, she seemed to understand . I do not condone pushing but it was all iIcould think of at that moment to make Emma ok. She seems to understand when I tell her that the toys she see at the playground are not hers and she should leave them alone. She will stop and stare at them and then walk away. It really fills me with pride that at her tender age she is so wonderful. She loves running all over the playground and is so fearless. I need to start up with my pictures once more.

strawberry fest

it's hot and im ready

catch me if you can

i want to go in there

what's that i hear? Mr. Snowy?

at my work every year they have a strawberry festival. This was my first year seeing it outdoors and Emma was old enough to attend. It was hot and I had to work but I think she had fun. She was running around and wanting to play with older kids. She also wanted to go in the bouncy house but she was not tall enough. Other than that a pretty uneventful event.

emma still loves to read

Emma loves her books and they and her puzzles seem to be the only thing that calm her down and keep her focused for extended periods of time. I love looking over and seeing her read quietly. She has even started to 'read' aloud to herself. I hear her little gibberish with some understandable words blending in the mix. I can even tell that she is telling the story by memory bc i can pick up key words that relate to the pages she is on. She is really cute and such a talker, i just wish you could understand what she was saying. At times she speaks with such conviction and waits for your response and all you can say is "yes ok". She also started singing last week. It was the sweetest sound. We were coming up the stairs and I asked her if she wanted to watch Olivia. She nodded and then started to sing the theme song to Olivia. It was so sweet. I have tried to record it but to no success. Every time she sees the camera she starts hamming it up. I was able to get some video of her reading. Ill post that later.

emma's new chair

Since Emma loves to bounce off furniture, I decided to buy her a bean bag chair. I was unaware however that she would still manage to bang her head while attempting to do back flips off of it. oh Emma, she does look like a big girl now, I find it harder to see the little baby . She is so tall and thinning out. Little miss independent she is. my girl!