Donut time

Emma and Mama's big day out

All this snow has given us cabin fever and this is Doug's loooonnggg weekend to work, so we took a special trip to the mall for lunch, a Yagoot and a mall walk.  Since Kenwood Towne Center is in Doug's police area, he met us in the food court and was able to introduce Emma to one of his co-workers.  After lunch, we strollered to the Vera Bradley store and on our way back to the other end of the mall, Emma walked and held my hand the whole time, with no hesitation.  She is such a good girl!  I keep waiting for a public tantrum, but so far, so good.  She has become very flirty in public and tried to make smiles at anyone who looks her way.  It is truly amazing how many people she smiles at who do not smile back.  People are odd. 
 
Midway through our walk back, we stopped at Yagoot for a strawberry yogurt, topped with fresh strawberries, then sat in the middle of the mall to eat it.  Emma quietly ate and pointed to everything, wanted me to tell her what it was she was pointing to...chair, man, table, 2nd floor...over and over again.  Afterwards we finished our long walk back to the car, then stopped at the grocery on the way home.  After all the walking, I'm hoping for a very good afternoon nap!  This was a lot of walking for a wee one...this excursion usually wears her Daddy out, so her legs have to be "barking".
 
If you have never had Yagoot, give it a try!  The first time I did not like the tart aftertaste, but now I've warmed up to it and they have nice fresh fruit toppings and of course some not so good ones too.  Their mainstay flavors are vanilla and strawberry, but then they usually have a special, limited time only flavor as well.  This month's is pomegranate...interesting.

January pics

A very good week of victories

Emma has had some very good progress over the last week.  She is really warming up to people more when we have visits and does her "grabby hands" at whoever is leaving, in an effort to keep them with her.  I am sure Nana Karen and Gramma Cheryl are in heaven over this new development!   Then of course she pulls out the kisses to prolong the actual leaving when we pry her from whoever it is we are leaving.  I didn't think I was going to be able to leave for work this morning because Miss Kissy was pouring it on very thickly as I was trying to make a break for it!  Doug finally yelled at me to shut the door because I was letting cold air in the house by falling prey to the kissing tactic.

Over the weekend, I went out with girlfriend's to an art exhibit and dinner, leaving Emma and Doug to fend for themselves in the evening hours.  Doug was able to get Emma to sleep without her howling at the top of her lungs for 45 minutes.  HUGE accomplishment for both Emma and Daddy.  Doug has actually had a few days when I went to work that she took her naps gently, so we hope this trend continues for Doug because it's not pretty when she doesn't go down quietly.

We have been working on 1-2-3 over the last few weeks, counting on our fingers and lining objects up for counting to 3.  Emma likes the word two and likes to show you number 1 with her pointer finger...number 3 she could care less about.  However, when we were at The Little Gym yesterday and jumping off every apparatus Emma could jump off of, she was counting 1-2-3 with me before plunging off.  Adorable.  The Little Gym experience is priceless and I can't get over how much she loves the environment.  Emma is still not too sure about the teacher touching her when we use the parallel bars, but she is all about giving cheesy grins to anyone who will look at her.   Towards the end of class, Emma didn't want to sit and sing the goodbye song, which resulted in me getting popped in the mouth when she decided to arch her back and rise up, so now I have a blood blister on my lip.  Geez that smarted!  I sat there in stunned silence before finally asking the woman next to me if I was bleeding.  My friend Kim said I showed excellent verbal restraint post-impact, lol. 

The Little Gym

Today was our free introductory class at The Little Gym (TLG) with our friends Kimmie and Sophia.  I've had numerous recommendations from other moms on how much fun the classes are and I believe this will give Emma the opportunity to work on her social skills and confidence.  The class is SO much fun and Emma loved running on the mats, playing with balls and climbing on every object she could.  The first 10 minutes she wasn't warming up, partly due to the loud ringing bells as everyone files into class, but once the "free time" portion of the class began, she went nuts running and smiling across the mats to explore all the equipment.  We walked and ran to music, then they brought out a parachute that we twirled and puffed up.  Towards the end of class they bring out balls and bubbles... well, those are two of Emma's favorite things!  She was taking balls away from other children and standing in the middle of the bubbles floating around.  I had numerous people ask if Emma is always this happy...she really is this happy when she's comfortable and today you could see every tooth in her mouth she was so happy.

Doug made the comment that TLG interacts/plays with the children in the same way with do with Emma at home and did we want to sign up for the classes, but the social aspect of the classes are going to be a great stepping block to Pre-school and of course they have all the cool equipment plus more space for Emma to run around in that we don't.  So, along with Kim and Sophia, we signed up for this semester which runs for 20 weeks and we hope to sign-up for swim classes this summer, then go back to TLG in the fall for another 2 semesters until Pre-school begins.  Preschool sign-ups are only a year away and Emma will be attending pre-school in the Fall of 2012....that seems TOO soon!

15 month checkup

Emma passed with flying colors.  She is now 23lbs and 31in tall...her weight is now in the 50th percentile and she was only at 14th in September!  The Dr. is quite impressed that Emma knows the difference between feeling hot and cold, not just knowing the words or associating the words with an object.  This "knowing" shows abstract thinking development that most children don't have until much later. The Dr. suggests we start working on feelings of happy, sad etc. since she is showings signs of advancement and that this may help us through the terrible 2's when frustrations relating to not being able to fully communicate begins.

As I type, Emma is working hard in her kitchen, reorganizing the pots, pans and pantry items...she likes an organized kitchen!

Church mouse

Last night was our third attempt at church service and like the time before, she was as quiet as a church mouse can be.  Our first attempt a few months ago wasn't so great and Doug vowed never again.  We are having her Baptism in March, so I'm trying to get her a lot more comfortable before then.  She is not a child who sits, ever, and I'm really proud of how well she controls herself and listens when I need to hush her.  There may have been an Indian waw waw at one point...thanks Doug for teaching her that!

Mommy brain

In addition to extreme memory loss upon becoming a mother, apparently I have forgotten how to count as well.  We've only been home 5 months, lol.  

6 months

Six months ago we deplaned at the Dayton Airport with our little mouse...6 months ago...
 
The first few weeks are a blur and as we flip through our photos, we can't believe how much we don't remember from the first couple months home, but glad we have the photos to prove the days existed.  We are taken back at the sight of Emma from August and you can literally see through these images, the new life infusing her.  She now has so much color in her skin and the sparkle in her smiling eyes is priceless!  Never in a million years did we think in this short period of time she would love us this much plus be walking, talking, belly laughing and planting our faces with slobbery kisses 20 times a day!  There were weeks we never thought we would sleep again or be able to sit on the couch vs. the floor...the most difficult of days I wondered what we had done to our lives.  
 
Emma now sleeps almost 11 hours a night, consumes every food put in front of her with pure joy, explores every cranny of our home, sometimes dragging us along with her, sometimes flying solo and as her parents, we want her to have the confidence to fly away, just a little bit.  If we had known who she was going to be, I think part of her middle name should have been Joy...she lives everyday with so much joyfulness that makes even strangers in the market smile and comment on what a happy child she is.  I've lost count of how many times we have been told how lucky she is...I think being chosen to be her parents is pretty lucky too.