Reunion Weekend

 

This weekend, Mick's family was having a reunion down in Jekyll Island, GA.  We took Friday off and left that morning to drive down.  Em was so excited to go to the beach and see Grandma and Papa, her uncles and cousins.

I've just never seen a more beautiful little face than this :).



Em was happy all afternoon and besides a 30-minute power nap on the drive down, she refused to rest all day.  We were a little surprised at how well she did without sleeping.

She got in plenty of hugs and kisses with everyone--we had a dinner and birthday celebration for several people on Friday night, so she was up way past bedtime.

 Here's Grandma with all three grandchildren and their celery/carrot cigars.

On Saturday morning, we decided to take Em to the Georgia Sea Turtle Museum--it wasn't quite what we expected, but she still liked seeing the turtles (sea turtles are her "favorite friends" right now, she says), and the man working there brought a tiny little baby turtle over so she could see it up close.

We had some time for a round of mini golf, where Em took Daddy's club and said "Daddy, let me teach you."  Hilarious!

 

We got back together with everyone that afternoon for some time on the beach.

She started to get wet, so when Grandma pulled up her pants legs, 

 Em pulled up her dress to show off her Dora underpants :).

Sunday came quickly, and we had to head home, but not before Grandma and Papa gave Emily presents!

As always, the books were her favorites.

But she was pretty excited about her princess set too--glittery shoes, jewelry, a tiara and a "magic wand!"

 

 

Monkeying Around

We don't let Em watch much TV, but when she does, it's still usually Dora the Explorer.  One morning, the episode she was watching was all about a special day for Boots the Monkey, and he had a banana crown to wear.  Our silly monkey decided she needed a banana crown too, so we broke out the construction paper and made this one. 

Em loves cutting and gluing, so she was excited to get to do it first thing in the morning! 

Fun Saturday Afternoon

We wanted to get out this afternoon and do something different, and Em said she wanted to paint, so we headed to Dish it Out, a paint your own pottery studio.  She walked through and looked at everything, and then decided on these doggie-shaped salt and pepper shakers.  She had a great time painting them, but seemed to enjoy the project I was working on a little more, since it involved me painting her hands and feet for prints :).

We'll pick up our masterpieces in about a week after they've been glazed and fired.

When we were done, we headed out for cheeseburgers for dinner (another request from Miss Emily), and stayed out long enough to hear some music, dance a little, and throw some pennies in a wishing well.

More Potty Updates

Em has been about a week and a half now with no pee accidents--she has quickly become a potty master in that department!  We haven't gone back to diapers at all except for naps and nighttime, and she's usually dry when she wakes up from naps.
The poop has been a different story--she'll choose to go in her underwear instead of the potty, and although I've heard this is pretty common, I just can't understand it.

Last night, she started acting like she needed to go, and I got her to sit on the potty long enough to go--we made such a big deal out of it, and gave her a new book from the top secret prize closet.  She was really proud of herself, and has kept the trend going today with the exception of one accident.

Hope we don't run out of prizes before she gets this down :).

Summer of Sick

This has been a strange month for us--I took Em back to the doctor on Sunday because she was still coughing, and told me her ear hurt and had goop in it.  She just finished a round of Amoxicillin for an ear infection about a month ago, and we were disappointed to hear that she had another one!  The doctor said her lungs sounded great, but gave her a stronger antibiotic and said she'd show improvement over the coming week.

Speaking of a relentless cough, this was the start of my seventh week of a cough that just wouldn't quit.  I had gotten the bronchitis diagnosis about two weeks ago, and the doctor gave me some stuff to control the coughing, but said it would typically go away on its own.  She said my lungs were fine at the time, but wanted me to go back in for a chest x-ray if I wasn't better in a week.  So over the past couple of weeks, I could tell the cough had moved into my chest and had gotten worse, so I went to the doctor on Monday.

The chest x-ray showed I had clinical pneumonia!  It's so weird, because I haven't felt sick at all--just the cough that's getting really old.  So now Em and I are both on the mend...we hope!

Yummy

We normally cook breakfast at home in the mornings, but Saturday, Mick had found a few garage sales he wanted to check out, so we decided to make a quick stop at Krispy Kreme for doughnuts.  This new KK opened several months ago and is only a couple of miles from us, but I'm proud to say this was the first time we gave in to it!

Em loved watching the doughnuts, but wasn't that crazy about eating them (luckily).  She had a few bites, but didn't finish one.

Day 3 - Potty Power

I guess today was really day 5, but since it was Em's third day away from home with no diapers, I'm counting 3.  She has done such a great job!

Each day since Monday, she's had two accidents (so yes, I'm washing more clothes at night!), and we were prepared--we took five changes of shorts and underwear for her.  She'll pee on the potty when she gets up in the morning usually, but there have been a couple of surprises.  Yesterday, she sat down and peed about a teaspoon and told me she was done.  I knew better, but she got dressed and then wet her pants on our way out the door!  Today, she sat on the potty and did the same thing--I was sure she'd have an accident in the car, but we got to school and she made it to the potty (impressive holding!).

We decided to skip using pull ups--I've heard such mixed reviews by people who have used them, and feel like it might be more confusing than anything for her.  While it would certainly not be as messy as changing her clothes with every accident, it also doesn't make her completely aware of every accident, immediately.  She's a pro at taking a diaper off, so I don't think one that she could pull down would make a difference in helping her go.  She really seems to get excited every time she uses the potty, and we're continuing to celebrate every success (we've gone through a lot of stickers!).

Potty Progress

We haven't really rushed the potty training, but lately, Em has become more aware of when she's going--she'd tell us (wearing a diaper) when she was "going pee pee" or would get in the bathtub at night and want to stand up and pee in the tub (I wasn't a big fan of this).

I've noticed that she's going more and more at school though--some days, she'll use the potty 4 or 5 times in a day!  Friday when I picked her up from school, Ms. Cathy told me that she was catching on so quickly, and she wanted to know if we were ready to try big girl underpants.  That's a little bit what I've been waiting on--she's there for so many hours of the day that I knew it needed to click at school and at home for her.

So on Saturday, we decided to give up the diapers and put on Minnie Mouse panties!  She went all day with only two accidents, and we even went out shopping and to get a haircut.  The biggest thing for us is keeping track of time and telling her when it's time to sit on the potty instead of asking her if she needs to go (because of course she never does).  Whenever we got to a new place, we'd make a pit stop, and then again before we got back in the car.  I made sure one of our stops was to stock up on cool new panties for her--including (of course) some with Dora on them.

She's done a great job all weekend!  We'll still stick to diapers at nap time and bed time for now, but she's definitely more ready now than she was in the past, which is making it much easier.

Monday, we'll be taking several extra changes of clothes to school and keeping our fingers crossed!

Rhymes

I've posted some new videos of Em "reading" some of her favorite nursery rhymes--click on the link in the upper right corner!

So Silly

Em loves to play with stamps--she was playing at the kitchen table tonight while I was cooking dinner, and I could tell by her giggle that she was up to no good.  I went over to check on her, and she had ink everywhere, including her lips!

I went to get the camera, and she thought she was in trouble--she said "no, Mommy!  Don't wipe it off!"  She thought she was really hilarious when I took pictures instead of cleaning her off.