Well, looks like we brought the nice weather back from Florida. The last couple days have been really nice. We took Emma to the park on Sunday and it is amazing the difference in her from the last time we were there in October.
Looking at her in the child swing is like looking at a totally new child! She is so much bigger now! She likes to go “High” now too.
She met another little girl who was there. Her new friend Sarah is 4 years old and a bit shy. Little newly “bossy” Emma talked to her for awhile then gave her a hug. That broke the ice for Sarah. Emma then grabbed her hand and off they went to the slides and ladders. Of course Emma tried to keep up with the 4 year old and did some things that she was afraid to do when with only us–trying to impress the older girl huh? She climbed up the stairs to the slide where we assisted her to slide down the big slide for the first, second, third….times. I hope that we run into Sarah again as Emma and her got along.
On Monday, I took her to the park again and she met a little 4 yr old boy–whats with the 4 yr olds–named josh. This boy was short in size but a real talker. He introduced himself to us and asked what Emma’s name was. When I told him he said, “Hi Emma.” Emma was in the swing when she met Josh and she really liked the swing more than any other time. She was in it at least 1/2 hr before she wanted to get down (Nown). She actually was a little shy with Josh. Maybe because he was the one initiating everything. Anyway, she tried to keep up with him but he was a little speedy gonzalez running all over the place. She chased him and watched him climb all over the place. She liked his big Puppy too!
I recently ordered several DVDs of her favorite show Hi5. I ordered them to take on the plane for our Florida trip but they didn’t arrive in time for us to bring them. The cases included Hi5 stickers. Well, Emma has a thing for brunettes and really liked the stickers of Hi5 members Sean(her favorite–you should see the way she looks at him when she watches on TV. I am in trouble later on), Kimmy and Carla. She really doesn’t care for the stickers of Curtis and Jenn, the blondes. She had me peel the stickers and stick them on her hands and arms. Eventually they all ended up on the tops of her feet where she could look at them while she danced to the Hi5 songs. She even wore them to bed for her nap! The stickiness has worn off so I may need to look into getting more.
A recent task that Emma likes to do is to buckle the straps for her booster(bootah) chair. She gets a sense of accomplishment when she buckles both sides. She wants me to unbuckle them and do over and over. When she gets stuck–not too often anymore–she gets temperamental and throws the buckle down. She does this whenever she can’t do something. We are working on it with her.
Tonight she was walking around the living room tinkering with her toys and stuffed animals(her guys) while chit chatting with herself. I have got to get this on video as it is too funny. She goes on and on saying all the words that she knows and even some that I can’t understand. She had Melissa laughing! This is a very cute age and one where she is really getting more and more independent and wanting to do things herself. She is a chatterbox and is putting words together into sentences.
There are several products out that are relatively new that Emma really loves–as well as me due to their convenience and ease of preparation. Stay at home Dad tip They are mini-waffles, mini-rolls, and mini french toasts. There are four little pieces all connected into one bread slice size that you drop in a toaster then seperate to serve. They also have the flavoring already in them so no syrup or butter is necessary. They are all very tasty too as I end up eating whatever she doesn’t. Emma tells me that she wants “minis” and today ate 4.
Emma also likes Special K breakfast bars. They come in assorted flavors and have different flavored frosting on them. Her favorite frosting is the one with chocolate (Hottin). All of them are nutritious with very little sugar.
Seems like yesterday that I was mixing cereal flakes with milk to feed her. Then it was the cereal mixed with her favorite pear and applesauce. Funny how she wants nothing to do with pear sauce now. My how her tastes change!