"I see God!"

Yesterday was Emma's first day at day care in Ames.  She was very nervous about it and woke up early because she wanted to ride with me.  I had her watch videos while I got ready.  While I was making my lunch, she yells, "Hey, I see God!  He is wearing sunglasses!"  I really don't know exactly what was on the video she was watching, but I know it was a VeggieTales video we got from church so it couldn't be too bad.

Fingers

Emma has been biting her fingers.  Sometimes to the point of blood.  Today when she was doing it I asked her why she bit her fingers.  She said it was because she doesn't like her fingers.

Bed

Even though Emma has been in a toddler bed since January, she still calls for me and waits for me to come get her before she gets out.  If I'm still in bed, I'll tell her to come to me.  Lately, she's been opening the door and then going back to bed to wait.  Sometimes she'll turn off the rain.  Then yesterday, she just came out on her own after nap.  I've never told her she can't come out I just think she was used to it from being in the crib.

Misc.

This week, Emma's teacher, Ms. Kristi, said she's going to try to move Emma from Ms. Megan's group to her group because they aren't getting along very well.  Emma laughs and sticks her tongue out when Ms. Megan is trying to discipline her.  Ms. Kristi is another story though.  Emma knows she can't get away with anything when she's there. 

May

These are from today.  She finally let me put piggy tails in.  Then we both took our bikes to the donut/bagel shop for lunch.  It's the first time we've both taken our bikes somewhere.  It didn't turn out too well since she just decides she doesn't want to pedal anymore.  I ended up walking while pushing both bikes with her in the trailer. 

Picture from Sesame Street Live.  She had fun the first half, but was restless and wanted cotton candy too bad to enjoy the second half.

This is the shiner she got at day care.  After talking to three different teachers, I think she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing on the slide, and when Ms. Megan tried to get her down she fell.

This is from the first day of gymnastics at Triad in Ankeny.  She had a blast.

This is called, "The calm before the storm."  She's not very pleasant when I wake her up in the mornings.

Emma wanted me to make a cake while she and daddy were at the Iowa Cubs game.  She basically just wants to pour sprinkles on something.

This is from dance class.  We only lasted two weeks.  The class wasn't very good and Emma didn't like it.

Warm April

Here are some pictures of Emma and the slip 'n slide in April.

Trip to see Stella

In April, we met Stella and Nikki in the Quad Cities for a day.  We ate lunch at Panera, went to Monkey Joe's, went swimming at the hotel, went out for dinner, got Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert, and just played around at the hotel.  It was good to see them.  I didn't get any pictures while we were together, partly because Emma wasn't in the best of moods.  Here are some pictures from the zoo we went to after Nikki and Stella had to go home.

Emma comes home!

I saw Levi and Emma turn into the driveway so I ran outside so I could sneak up to Emma's window.  When I jumped up to surprise her I could tell she had been sleeping because she was a little confused.  Then she mumbled, "Mommy" and grabbed me by the shirt and wouldn't let go. 

I think she missed playing at home because she wanted to play with everything at once.  She demanded we go to the park and after talking out of taking the JEEP, she decided on the trike.  Last year she couldn't quite pedal by herself more than a couple of feet.  Today she just took off down the driveway.  She sometimes has a problem going up hills, over bumps, and just keeping forward motion but definitely an improvement over last year.

It took her about 30 seconds to fall asleep tonight:)

Emma's wall

Look what I painted today!  Just kidding.  Wall decals from Target.

Newspaper

This morning as Emma and I were getting ready to leave the house, Levi came upstairs.  We were standing by the front door so Emma asks Levi if he wants the newspaper.  I'm assuming that she is going to ask if she can get it for him because she likes to do that.  Instead she says, "Well, get it then!" 

Target

Today we were hanging out at Target because she earned a toy with stickers for being good in the mornings.  We had been there over an hour and I was trying to get her to the check out.  I saw something in an aisle so I went to look and left her in the main aisle where I couldn't see her.  Pretty soon she yells, "Mommy, are you poopy?"  I say, "Am I what?"  "Are you poopy?"  Me:  "Um, no."  Then after a few minutes when I come out she's taking a bag off a shelf, calling it her diaper bag, and yelling, "Mommy!  Come here!  Lay down!  I need to change your diaper!"

Also, the other night in the bath I'm trying to wash her undercarriage when she says, "No you can't wash me.  My potty is closed right now."

Underwear

Emma is potty trained, yet she won't wear underwear.  I've tried everything like letting her pick out the ones she wants and running out of pull-ups so she doesn't have a choice.  Nothing has worked.  Then on Thursday, Ms. Kristi from day care was telling me that she thought Emma was potty trained and could wear underwear.  I said I know but she won't wear them.  So she said to bring a pair the next day and she would see what she could do.

Since Emma did not want us to bring any, I hid some in the front seat of Levi's car so he could sneak them in.  I got a call at work mid afternoon from Ms. Kristi.  She started out by saying she thought she'd tell me what she did to Emma today.  Apparently while Emma was going to the bathroom, she tried to convince Emma to put on some panties.  Emma screamed "no" at the top of her lungs every time it was mentioned.  So she tried to force them on but Emma won that fight.  Then Ms. Megan came in and it took two of them to get them on her.  They convinced her to wear them for 5 minutes.  She kept asking to take them off the entire 5 minutes.  Then when the 5 minutes was up, they asked her to try for 15 minutes.  This went on for about 3 hours.  During that time, Emma asked to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes.  Ms. Kristi finally started saying no to her going to the bathroom. 

They somehow got them back on her after nap and she wore them the rest of the day.  We didn't go home before going out for the night so she wore them for the whole night too.  But now it's Saturday and she refuses to wear them again.  This may be a long process.

Emma's 3rd Birthday

All of Emma's presents

Opening cooking supplies from great-grandma Junette

Lots of new toys

Part of my new cooking set

Emma's cake

At the water park

Opening more presents at the hotel

New sleeping bag from Stella, Nikki, and Marcos

Stella and Emma were in charge of placing the candles

Singing happy birthday

I had to help to prevent the cake from starting on fire

Stella trying out Emma's Jeep

We were driving home from the pool today and, with no cars in sight, she says, "That lady is driving like a crazy nut!"

Also today in church while I was standing and she was sitting behind me, she lifted up the back of my dress (far enough for people to see everything) and said, "Are you wearing underwear mommy?"

Stella was over tonight and I gave them a bath together.  This is one of the conversations:

Emma:  I had a rough day.
Me:  What did you say?  You had a rough day?
Emma:  Yes, I had a rough day.
Stella:  I had a rough day too.

The day consisted of riding in a bike trailer, garage sale shopping, going to two different parks, going to the pool, a 3.5 hour nap, then playing with Stella all night.  Sounds pretty rough.

Funny conversation

I met Levi & Emma at the Little Gym on Tuesday after work.  When I pulled up, I noticed she was not wearing the dress I put on her that morning.  She was a long-sleeve green shirt and pink shorts.  I asked why she was wearing the green shirt...

Me:  Why are you wearing that shirt?
Levi:  Tell mom what happened to your dress.
Emma:  blank stare
Levi:  Tell mom what happened.
Me:  What happened to your dress?
Emma:  It's windy out here mommy.

She's very good at avoiding things she doesn't want to discuss.

This is the conversation I had with Emma last night:
Me:  You're silly
Emma:  No, I'm NOT silly.
Me:  Yes, you're silly.
Emma:  No, I'm NOOOT silly.  I'm BIG Momma!

She then proceeds to sing, "I love me, I love me, I love me!"

Play date with Stella

For once she let me put pony tails in her hair.

Emma & Stella playing in wet sand.

And then cooking their wet sand in the kitchen.

I couldn't resist these butt shots.

That's Emma saying, "cheese."

It may look as though this is a calm, friendly drink of water, but I don't have
pictures of the wrestling match that happened right after this.

Some pictures from our trip home

Fun in the sprinkler at Grandma & Grandpa's in Bismarck.

And no, I don't wear clothes when I don't have to.

At the 4th of July parade in Mandan.

The slide to get out of the bounce house in Mandan.

Emma and shaggy Boden.  See pictures below for a groomed Boden.

Here are the kids' new haircuts.

Emma loves the jet tub at Grandma & Grandpa's in Fergus Falls.

Hali & Emma

Boden & Leiton

I have no idea what is going on here.