THE BEACH!

We've all been looking forward to getting away for vacation, but Em has been super excited about the beach!  You can only capture a fraction of her excitement in a picture, but I tried.

Bella and Gracie were excited about getting out of the back of the truck, and Em thought it was fun to run down the beach with them.

She's finally getting to build her sand castle!  We got here about 3pm on Saturday, so we only had a few hours before everyone was exhausted from the long day.

More pictures to come!  Sounds like I'll have some inside time with this tropical storm looming over us.

Yummy Stuff!

I don't know how many of you have tried Nutella, but it comes highly recommended from Aunt Julie, so I decided we needed to try it, and it's quite delicious.  Yes, I know it's not a health food, but it was a nice little treat for an afternoon snack with Em's pretzels on Sunday.

 She gave up the pretzels pretty quickly and dove right in with both hands!

Tonight, we had corn on the cob with dinner, and it was Em's first time trying it.  She really liked it, but about halfway through, she asked "Mommy can take the cob off please?"

 We don't have it often, but it was a hit for sure!

Em is usually pretty good about at least trying new foods--she doesn't always like them, but I'm okay with that if she at least gives them a shot.  Last night, Mick had to work late, so I let Em choose what we had for dinner, knowing she would choose grilled cheese sandwiches!  Yummy :).  It was nice for our girls' night!

Art Update

This is one of my all time favorites--the class got to draw whatever they wanted, and then the teacher asked each child what they drew.  Em told her it was a "hamburger and Mommy."  She has a great imagination when she draws...or maybe she was just hungry!

 Here's a ladybug she was particularly excited to show me.

 And here's a lion she made.

This was my Mother's Day gift that Em made at school.  I love anything with her handprints on it.

Piggyback

We've had some fast forwards and some rewinds in the potty training field lately--some days, Em doesn't want anything to do with the potty, and sometimes we can't keep her off of it!  One night when she was doing particularly well with her big girl underpants, I gave her a piggyback ride to reward her potty success.  Well, let's just say she was hooked!  Mick and I had to take turns giving her rides around hte house.

I just thought this was so cute with her tiny little heiny riding on Daddy :).

Words

I know I was just talking about all of Em's growth and progress, but I recently read an article about what a toddler "should" be doing at her age, and I was blown away.  I know there are many variations of normal development for a child, and it seems when one excels at something, he or she might be a little more delayed in another area (maybe Em isn't potty training as quickly as we'd like because her brain is in overdrive!).

This week, some of the cool things she's said are:

• "I no want sauce...I want ketchup instead!" (um, where did you learn the word "instead?")
• "Mommy, it not spicy--it's chicken!" (new Thai recipe that was a little hot)
• "I like ronis--pepperoni and macaroni"
• "We gonna build a sandcastle little for ants." (when we head to the beach on vacation next week)
• "I gonna fly on airplane to see Aunt Julie!" (something we've been talking about)

She loves to count now--I'm not sure if we've just realized it or if she just started, but now she actually counts objects instead of just counting out loud.

A couple of her favorite songs right now are "Three Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree" (teasing Mr. Alligator, can't catch me...) and "Skidamarink." 

Progress

Em is making such quick progress in so many areas.  She's loving her big girl underpants, and is doing a great job with them.  Sunday afternoon, she was wearing her new Minnie Mouse undies and had three successful potty visits!  Only one accident, and it was just because we didn't make it in time.  The funniest time was when we were putting a puzzle together, and she started doing a little potty dance.  I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty, and she didn't.  I had to lure her to it by letting her watch Dora for 5 minurtes while she sat there :).  We haven't completely transitioned yet, but we're going at her pace, which has worked well so far.

The paci is a little bit of a different story.  She's doing well with not having it in the car, and obviously talks to me a lot more without it, which is nice.  It's easier when she's distracted with a snack, a book or a toy--Gateway has a big basket by the door with fruit for the kids to take on their way out in the afternoons, so Em usually grabs an apple or a banana to eat on our drive home.  She still really wants the paci at night, so we're not making a big deal of it yet.  I did tell her recently that her cousin Chase is coming to visit her next month, and we would probably need to give him her pacis since he's a little baby.  She matter-of-factly told me "Baby Chase can have the green paci."  Don't take it personally Baby Chase, but the green one is her least favorite :).

Her language is developing, too.  She's using pronouns now--she'll refer to herself as "I" or "me," and (of course) everything is now "mine."  She also references us as "you" at the appropriate times rather than always saying "Mommy" or "Daddy."  It makes me so proud to hear her forming grammatically correct phrases, but I must admit, I actually loved the way she used to say "I want Mommy to hold you," or "Daddy get Emmy right now!"  Each phase is so bittersweet :).

Silly and Loving It

We went to a shopping area this afternoon looking for a lamp to fit in a specific place, and we ended up staying for a few hours.  We didn't find the right lamp, but we ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant, had some ice cream, and listened to some live music.

Em has a knack for finding clowns making balloon animals, and there was one there tonight!  When she asked Em what she wanted her to make, Em told her "a doggie on a hat" and that she wanted it yellow and blue.  She was pretty proud of her hat.

We were pretty surprised that she kept it on as long as she did, especially while she was dancing to the music!

10 Years!

Mick and I have been married ten years today!  We had both had a long week, so we really didn't feel up to a night out.  Instead, the three of us ate burgers and fries at Five Guys while we reminisced a little about the last decade together--we've come a long way.  It was a good night :).

Ballelina

Aunt Jenn sent this adorable little dress to Em recently, and she had to put it on right away.

 She told me she was a ballelina and twirled around the living room.  So sweet!

Visit from Grandma and Papa

My parents had to be in Charlotte all week for a conference that ended early on Thursday morning, so they were at our house when we got home that afternoon.

I don't know why I'm so bad about taking pictures when anyone is here, but this is literally the only picture I got with either of them in it.  Part of the reason was that Grandma had curlers in her hair Saturday morning and wouldn't let me take any pictures.

Em stayed home from school on Friday with them and had a great day.  When she woke up from her nap on Saturday, she wanted to see them again--I had to remind her that she said bye-bye to them earlier that day.

It was a quick visit, but enough to make Em very happy!

Strawberry Festival 2012

I can't believe it's been a year since we were at the 2011 Strawberry Festival in Fort Mill, but we decided to go again this year.  We went in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day and got pretty worn out--it started to cool off around the time we were ready to leave!

We had to get another picture with the strawberry--Em was a little more shy around it this year until we walked away.  Then she decided she had to go back to give him a high-five.  At least she didn't chase him across the festival like last year--she can really move now, so it would have been tougher to catch her!

We went through the arts and crafts booths and got some dinner--we had brought a thin blanket, and there was a big grassy area in the shade where we sat and ate and relaxed a little before heading to the rides!

The lines were so long at the kids' rides, but Em spotted this little caterpillar train and wanted to try it--it was a 10 and under ride, so she had to go by herself and was so excited.

There was almost no line for this one, and it gave Mick and me a chance to stop for a few minutes, so she must have ridden it six times!

She liked the car in the very back, and I think she would have stayed and kept riding the rest of the night if we'd let her.  It was so sweet to watch how thrilled she was with her independence.

Looks like the Strawberry Festival will need to be an annual tradition for us!

Little Songbird

Emily loves to sing--we sing in the car, while she's sitting on the potty, taking a bath, and pretty much any other time things get quiet.  She sings a lot at school too, so she knows so many songs, there's never a dull moment :).

Dentist Visit

Em had her dentist visit for her 6 month checkup on Thursday.  I'm not sure what has happened recently that has caused her to hate brushing her teeth, but it's literally a battle every morning with her--nights are a little better, but I usually end up holding her arms down and forcing the toothbrush in.  Because of that, I was a little worried that we weren't getting them clean enough, but the dentist said her teeth looked great.

Em didn't cooperate for a cleaning, but did lean back and open her mouth for the little mirror, so the dentist got a good look at them and brushed some flouride on.

On the bright side, we switched dentists to Bird Pediatric Dentistry, primarily because I wanted her to have an in-network dentist for our insurance, but also because I found a lot of outstanding ratings on Angie's List.  Em had a blast in the waiting room, and liked Dr. Bird.  I'm hoping this anxiety about oral hygiene is just a phase, because that's a non-negotiable for Mommy :).

Temper Tantrum

Here's a nice little clip of one of Em's temper tantrums from last weekend.

We'll ask her if she's ready to be a sweet girl, and she'll sometimes say no if she's not quite done with the squealing.

I hope she looks back on this and laughs :).  Or feels bad for putting us through this in public!