Snow!

It started snowing this afternoon and was still snowing when I picked Emma up from daycare. I told her as we were putting on her coat and she got really excited. When we walked outside, her face lit up in awe and she held her hands out to catch snowflakes. It was a very magical moment. There are several lights on the walk to the car and we stopped for a few seconds at each one to look at 'all the snow!' When we arrived home, Emma asked if she could walk in the grass. (The ground is still warm and the roads and sidewalks were only wet.) After we went in to change into warmer coats and boots, she took a couple steps in the grass, turned to me and with a look of pure excitement on her face exclaimed, "It's crunchy!" She also enjoyed looking for snowballs. She found a few little clumps of snow where she had walked. (I didn't have gloves and was not about to make her one!) We stayed out for about 10 minutes while we waited for Kurt to get home and Emma showed him how she walked in the snow.

Turtle the Polar Bear

Emma asked for her new stuffed polar bear tonight at bed time. When we got him for her, we asked what his name was. She first said BoBo. Kurt told her that she names everything BoBo and that he needed a unique name and suggested Fred. She said, "No, his name is Turtle." Turtle the Polar Bear.

The Next Radio Star

After her shower tonight (more on that later), Emma told us that Aurora was on the radio. At first we were confused and didn't know where she got that from. After talking with her some more, she told us, that the fairies made Aurora sing pretty and that she was very pretty so one day she would be on the radio.

The week before Thanksgiving, Emma took an interest in showering instead of bathing. Her bathroom has a detachable shower head which we routinely use to rinse her hair thoroughly. One evening, she didn't want a full bath but we wanted to rinse her off before bed and used that shower. Afterwards, she decided she liked it and asked for it several times that week. After we returned from our Thanksgiving travels, we started letting her decide if she wants a bath or a shower each night. So far, she's about 2:1 for her shower:bath decisions.

Caretaker

Over the weekend, Emma was sitting on the carpet in front of the sink eating a banana when I (carrie) groaned a bit on my way down to the floor to sit next to her. She looked at me with a very concerned look in her eye and asked if my back hurt. I said, yes a bit. Then she asked if my belly hurt and I assured her that my belly was fine and it was just my back. She thought for a quick minute and said, "Ok Mama, when I finish my 'nana, I'll rub your back." It made my heart melt and I quickly forgot several frustrating situations with her that had happened earlier in the day.

She makes us eat our words

Recently, Emma has started adding -e to many words. (For instance, "I want milky." or "Give me a huggy."or "I'm all done-y") It has been driving us insane, especially since we took great care not to use baby talk with her. I mentioned it to one of her teachers at school when she first started it and she said that Emma hadn't been doing it there. Every time she does it, we attempt to correct her and have her repeat the word correctly.

She did it again as we were cleaning up dinner tonight and making her wait her turn to get cleaned up so she could go play.

The conversation went something like this:

Emma: I'm all done-y.
Carrie: *sigh* Emma quit adding a y to words. 
Kurt: Emma that's not a word. Say I'm all done. You can't just add y to the end of words.
Emma: I'm messy, as she lifts up her hands to show us and has a completely straight face.
Kurt and Carrie's thoughts: Man we can't pull ANYTHING over on this kid.
                                     Followed by some chuckles.
Kurt: Emma are you too smart for your own good?
Emma: No! I don't think so Mister!
                                      ....where did she get that from?!?.....
Carrie: Who says that Emma?
Emma: Miss Brianna says it when she reads the book No, David!

As we laughed, Emma got the biggest smile on her face and laughed SO hard. She was incredibly proud of herself!

Happy Halloween!

We asked Emma back in September what she wanted to be for Halloween. She was adamant that she dress up as Strawberry Shortcake. As luck would have it, we were at a consignment sale and Kurt and Emma actually found a Strawberry Shortcake costume! Emma was very excited! She especially liked the hat. She asked every day for a week if she could wear it.

On Friday evening, we met up with a friend and went to her community center's Halloween Party. Emma and Kate, who dressed up as a bumblebee, had a good time playing together before and after the party, but Emma was very timid the whole time we were at the party. She was very apprehensive about costumes which included masks. 

She was very excited to wear her costume to school on Monday for character day. She had a fun day with a costume parade and various forms of sugar. (I'm not sure I want to know exactly how much she ate, all I know is that her fingers and one eyebrow came home stained orange from a cupcake. She also told me her tummy hurt so I'm thinking she had a fair amount of junk.)

After dinner, she was excited to go out trick or treating. We got ready to head out and opened the front door just as the first group of kids was getting ready to ring the doorbell. There was a little boy dressed as the Incredible Hulk with a full mask which scared Emma. (She is not a fan of masks when she can't see the person's face.) We took her outside and went to our neighbors' who she loves but she was very shy and wouldn't say anything. After another group of kids came through and she saw how the whole process worked, she warmed up a bit and said Trick or Treat to a couple other neighbors that we see regularly.

After watching a couple more groups of kids come up to our house, she was ready to try it herself. "Mommy, I want to go to THAT house." It was super cute. At first I had to coax her but soon she would just say Trick or Treat herself and every once in while tell people she was Strawberry Shortcake. She said Thank you at every house and very carefully chose lollipops whenever they were an option. We probably went to 15 houses give or take before her pumpkin was full. Every few houses she would ask where Daddy was and we'd make our way home so that we could show him her loot.

We were very excited for this Halloween after she was so timid last year and she seemed very excited for it this year. We were so happy that she got over her initial shock of seeing the Incredible Hulk and had a great time! She told me that she can't wait for next year!

Emma's Playlist

In addition to kiddo songs that she sings at school and requests from a CD in Carrie's car, Emma has a few Top 40 songs that she loves to sing along and dance to. In the car, she will sing along and picks up more words every time she hears them. At home, she'll ask if we can play them on the computer so that she can either watch the video or dance or bounce on a ball to them. (She really enjoys dancing in just her t shirt and underwear...what girl doesn't??)

Her favorites, in preferential order are:
Hello, Martin Solveig
Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO
Pumped up Kicks , Foster the People
Superbase Nicki Minaj
I Wanna Go, Brittany Spears

In the more age appropriate genre of music, some of Emma's favorites are:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (sometime she performs this as if she is a pirate: Twinkle Twinkle little stARRR.)
The ABCs (we're currently working on ...Q, R, S, T....instead of Q, R, X, Y and Z)
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Rain Rain Go Away
Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee

From the CD in the car, she is a big fan of
The Firetruck Song
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
and The Chicken Dance
She is also slowly beginning to clap and say the letters to DISCO (the ghetto version of BINGO)