A Lovely Summer Day

We had such a nice summer day on Saturday, the kind of day that makes you truly appreciate the season.

We started off with a morning wagon ride in the park, which included a trip around the pond (unfortunately, it's having a full-blown algal bloom, so it's incredibly stinky, gross and toxic) and time for SophieDog to socialize with some of her friends. Then Emmerson and I headed to the farmers market, since we haven't been there yet this year. My main mission was to get strawberries, but unfortunately, it also was the mission of half the city, and alas, there was nary a strawberry to be had by the time we arrived mid-morning. But we did stock up on some other treats, including raspberries, potatoes, zucchini, broccoli and some cranberry rhubarb bread. Emme really enjoyed the crowds, the musicians of various flavors (from accordian to guitar) and the odd Things from what was (hopefully) a Seussical promo. Then it was lunch and a too-short nap for Emme, as I had to wake her so we could gather up some friends and road trip to the zoo.

The girls (both adults and little ones) had such fun together. Because we arrived later in the day, the zoo wasn't crowded, and some of the animals were getting ready for feeding time, so we had a few special up-close encounters:



The zoo has a little "farm" area, so the girls could make friends with the goats, cows, pigs, chickens and other animals straight out of Old MacDonald:



Poor Delaney! One goat was especially fond of nibbling her hair:



We headed to the tropics, which included a gorgeous gibbon area:



The zoo closes at 6 p.m., which seems very early to me, but perhaps they need lots of time to feed the animals and get them into nighttime enclosures? But it was perfect timing to feed our own little bunch.



The girls were all so good the entire time! But after car rides and being in strollers for a few hours, they definitely had energy that needed unleashing, so after dinner we went to a park for an hour or so, where the girls could run amok, and run amok they did.

What a sweet moment:



Uh-oh, could be trouble!



Emme's version of red rover, red rover, send Emme right over!



Delaney turned 18 months and Emme 16 months that day; Sophia is on the brink of 20 months. The girls are at an age now where they enjoy each other's company (though the gap between Sophia and Emme is still a bit wide in some developmental areas.) It's so fun to watch them interact. Several, times, they started "singing" together, or clapping, or yelling.



It won't be long and they'll be having slumber parties!

New & Improved

Miss Emmerson is doing much better! Her blistered mosquito bites are healing with bacitracin and the awful swelling around her left eye has nearly completely gone away thanks to the steroids and benadryl. (BTW, I guess I'm fortunate that the benadryl has the sedating effect on her, and not the hyperactive effect!)

She is having a blast with her grandparents and loves being the center of attention. And of course, she's not being spoiled at all.

Emme's vocabulary has continued to expand like crazy the last several days. I guess she's at the point where, sadly, I'll no longer be keeping track of all her new words. I remember how exciting those first few words were, and while each new word is still fun and exciting, I can't keep up, and she also says new words to others, so I'm not even aware of them all. If she starts speaking Spanish or Russian, though, I'll make a note of it and start looking into early admissions. A few more of her recent words:

Sarah (Cousin Sarah, that's YOU from your pictures!)

Mask (my dad has some African masks in his office that she loves looking at)

Good girl

Pizza (or, pizza pizza pizza!)

Doggie

Meow

Growl (she "growls" at Sophie Dog)

Yes (usually it's "no, no, no," though)

B*tch (yes, that's really what it sounded like, although hopefully not what she meant!)

Emme has also become an escape artist. She knows how to open the (unlockable) screen door to the deck and backyard at my parents house, so off she and Sophie go! Those two are going to be trouble together! I'm hoping that she doesn't become one of those toddlers you read about on CNN who are rescued by a motorist on a highway two miles from home! Uh-oh!

Here are a couple pictures from the neighborhood picnic my parents hosted yesterday:

The Morning After

This is what poor Miss Emmerson woke up to:



Yep, it worsened over night, and her eye was completely swollen shut. And a couple other mosquito bites on her forehead had blistered, apparently in a reaction to the topical antibiotic cream! Since we are out of town, we went to an immediate care clinic near my parents' house. We had efficient, friendly service, and Emmerson got some steroids and benadryl. Hopefully nothing will get infected and she'll now recover quickly.

(P.S. She weighed in at 23 pounds.)

Happy (?) Fourth!

We're usually enjoying a large family reunion every 4th of July, but this year there was no family reunion, so Emme and I just had a quiet celebration with my parents. My mom's birthday is also July 4 (!), so at least we get to share this special day.

But poor Emmerson has been attacked by blood-thirsty mosquitoes, and it's not pretty. I'm a little concerned about the swelling, especially around her eye, which got worse throughout the day today, and the appearance of the bites on her forehead, which seem a little weepy. They are very itchy and bothersome to her, and I don't think that helps the situation. I've been applying antibiotic cream and hydrocortisone cream and am keeping my fingers crossed that the morning brings some relief for my girl. (If you have any experience with this kind of reaction to mosquito bites, please feel free to comment or email.) She's also working on teeth #10 and 11, and perhaps 12, poor thing.

Things started out not looking too terribly bad:


And then the mosquito bites on her forehead started swelling up:


Now we just call her Rocky:


My poor Rocky!

Last June Update

Just call me "Hollywood:"


Nora and Emme. Emme has a love-hate relationship with poor Nora (11 mo):


Emme enjoying a favorite book in her beanbag chair. The book was from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library:


Emme going down the "big kid" slide at the park, nearly giving me a coronary (thankfully friend Jenn was at the bottom to catch her and Shawna at the top to help her down):


Emme at our local nature center, a block away from us:


Wha a cutie (this is the bench she fell off of last night, landing on her forehead on a paver):


Mayhem, trying to get a group shot of a herd of toddlers:


Virtuosos:
The Piano

Emme Update

Emmerson is enjoying a language burst. She is also getting more teeth. And the poor thing has fallen smack onto her forhead three (!!!) times now in the past week or so onto rock and cement. It's helping me get over my head injury paranoia because after a few moments of crying (her, not me), she's fine.

Emme is literally saying new words every day. But usually when I try to prompt her, I get the silent treatment. Here's what she's been saying in the past couple weeks, including as recently as this morning, when she said "wow" several times after I said it.

Wow

Kitty

Emme

Car

Auntie (what the kids call her daycare provider)

Puppy

Poppy (this is when I tried to prompt her to say Pops)

Keys

Bye-bye

Hi

Hot

No (usually said as "NO!!!")

Go

George

Uh-oh

Mama

Mommy

Pool Party

We went to a friend's for a pool party, and the kids all had a great time.



Although Shawna's backyard was loaded with lots of fun toys and pools, Emme and some of the other kids felt some sort of magnetic attraction to the neighbor's yard, and I was constantly having to fetch my errant child! I think as a new walker, she's just enjoying being free range!



Emmerson planted herself at the top of the slip-n-slide.





As if all that wasn't enough, even more stuff was brought out.





Some of the cuties dined al fresco.



George!



Get out the safety gear, kids, Mama's driving!

Happy Father's Day, Pops!

Saturday Roundup

Emme is mainly walking now. She still isn't a fan of grass on her skin, so prefers walking on the cement. Of course, most of the time she's trying to actually run, which about gives me a heart attack. Indeed, she took her first face-first plunge onto the cement driveway the other night, with a sickening little thud as her forehead made contact. But after a few moments of tears (her, not me), she came away with only a small welt, certainly nothing that slowed her down.

I'm thinking about getting her one of these:



Actually, I may get her a toddler bike helmet, like a Giro Me2. Maybe then I'd feel comfortable letting her ride her toys on the cement! Yes, I have a probably abnormal paranoia about her hitting her noggin on the cement and suffering a brain injury.

I did break down and get Emme a pair of Crocs (thanks to Jenna for some advice, too!). I was having the hardest time finding a pair of lightweight, breathable outdoor shoes. I was letting her run around barefoot most of the time, but she had a couple incidents involving bloodied stubbed toes, so that had to change. But as a relatively new walker, she was a little off balance with clunky shoes on. I spent more money than I care to admit trying to find "cheap" but good shoes and finally ended up with the Crocs -- had I just bought them in the first place I'm sure I would have saved money (I don't even own a pair for myself!).

Emmerson is obsessed with the car (SUV) right now. She repeats the word "car" constantly, and usually along with that the word "guk," and I have no idea what she's referring to. When we're outside, she always makes a beeline for the SUV and wants to touch it. She is again saying "geedah" (some relatives will remember that, however it's spelled) when she's happy or likes something. She loves lounging on poor Sophie Dog. She still enjoys eating fish of all kinds and adores meatballs. And she loves her wagon rides in the park, reading books, pretending to feed her baby dolls, pretending to talk on the phone, grabbing whatever electronic gadgets she can get her hands on in the blink of an eye, Dan & Cindy's wedding music/picture DVD that Pops made, getting a reaction out of me, stairs, tot-sized chairs, her bear chair, bear rug and her beanbag chair, and ... George, of course.

Here are some recent pictures of Emme.

We went to the zoo recently with friends.







We've been having playground playdates.













And we've been enjoying quality time at home, both indoors and out.

Wordless Wednesday: Me And My Shadow

"Who Is She Supposed To Be With?"

After dinner this evening, I took Emmerson to a large, popular local playground to meet up with friends for a little playdate. As I held Emmerson's hand and we walked around the playground waiting for our friends, a little boy about 7 or 8 years old came up to us and asked me a question. "Who is she looking for?" he asked. "Pardon me?" I said, because I wasn't sure what he meant or if I had heard him correctly. "Who is she supposed to be with?" he asked.

And then it dawned on me. Here I was, a white lady holding the hand of an African-American baby at a playground with quite a few black families (as well as Asian, Indian, etc.). He just thought she was lost. "She's with me," I told him. "I'm her mom." "Oh," he said and trotted off, completely satisfied with the answer. The little boy was also African-American.

Our exchange is interesting for so many different reasons! What do you think?

15 Months!

My sweet "little" baby Emmerson is 15 months old today!



She had her 15-month checkup a couple days ago and weighed in at 22 pounds, 9 ounces (48%) and measured 31.5 inches long (82%).

The baby who once never put anything in her mouth, including toys, is now putting everything in her mouth (including dirt). The baby who had a rocky start feeding herself is now learning to eat with a spoon and fork (and counts all kinds of fish among her very favorite foods). The baby who rolled over late is figuring out ways to scale furniture (and just this morning tried to climb into her crib to fetch a favorite blankie). The baby who was the queen of the crab crawl is now walking all over (but still avoiding grass on bare skin if possible). The baby who has always talked nonstop is continuing to talk nonstop (and now with many real words).

In other words, Emmerson is perfect as who she is, exactly the way all babies are.

Wordless Wednesday: "Say Cheese!"

Off And Running

Hopefully soon we'll see the end of this:



Yep, holes in one knee, thanks to Emmerson's crab-style crawl. Now that she's outdoors so much, she can wear a hole in the knee of a pair of pants in just one day.

But now that she's serious about learning to walk, maybe we won't be going through so many pants anymore!

Emmerson has been working on her walking for quite a while now, and she could walk but for two things: 1) Lack of confidence, and 2) Mainly she tries to run and not walk! If she'd slow down, she could nail it. This is what's really holding her back -- she's like a horse out of the gate. In the last week, she has finally started walking without being lured in to it by the TV remote (so special to have) or some other highly desirable object waved in front of her. Now she just does it because she knows she can.

As her mom, I find this series of three videos just so funny and cute.

Off And Running

Wordless Wednesday

Favorite Photo Friday: Exploring With Gramma