Goodbye Ostbys!

Last weekend we hosted a goodbye party for the Ostbys.  Julia has been a sweet friend to me over the past (almost!) four years I've been living in Augusta.  I can probably safely say she was my first friend here :)

Due to Hubby's job, they are moving far, far away from us.  But we were glad to have them around us one last time to celebrate their friendship.  Julia's birthday was the day before (perfect timing!), so we got to sing happy birthday to her.

 

Friends!  (and the back of Lois' head)

Thomas -- one of Emma's good buddies.  She calls him:  "mas!"  This little rascal began walking on his own when he was 8 months old.

 

The chaos!

 

More friends!

Our little girl is a great host when people (especially children) are at her home.  Here she is with her trademark facial expression <3 p="">

 

Happy Half, Emma Girl!

Thanks to my MIL, a good Morris is now known for half birthdays :)  A fun excuse to do a little something special for someone.  Emma turned 18 months last Thursday, and Mommy couldn't resist buying her a bunny book at B&N to celebrate her half birthday.  

Emma's recent obsession are fish!  She actually says fish in Spanish:  PEZ!  Most books she loves to read these days have a fish in them.  Her favorite Bible story is the story of Jonah.  I quite sick of it now, but she isn't!

So anyway, all that to say is that on her half birthday I decided to take her to Goodwill to see if we could find a cheap stuffed fish.  SCORE!  We got the softest, most colorful stuffed fish in the world for only $2.  Well worth the big smile it brought my little girl.

And of course, Memma made her traditional half birthday delivery to our doorstep -- half a coffee cake!  So good :) 

 

Popo

My child is very aware of times when she using the bathroom.  It makes me wonder whether she is ready to be potty trained or not.  But no worries, I don't plan on tackling that beast yet... not until little brother/sister arrive.

She doesn't do this always, but many times when she has a dirty diaper, she'll let me know.  Often times she'll grab one of her diapers, come to me and repeatedly say:  "popo, popo."  Then she'll lay on the ground like a dead roach waiting for me to changer her diaper.

Today she did something similar.  Instead of taking a diaper out, she took one of her wipes out and began saying:  "popo, popo."  She had already had a dirty diaper this morning, so I thought she was just being silly, so I ignored her.  Few minutes later, I was in the kitchen and she was in the living room messing around.  Soon I heard her again:  "popo, popo" and there she was -- she had climbed on the sofa-chair waiting to get her diaper changed.  Silly girl***

Of course she did had a dirty diaper!

On a side note, please notice her new shoes.  I got these at a consignment sale two days ago for $3.  I have already made it known in this blog that she is obsessed with shoes.  She used to love her boots, but these krocs are her new favorite shoe, and will now even request to wear them over her PJs. 

Blue crayons

Emma is normally very good about following me around the house while I do some chores.  She really likes hangers, so one of her favorite things to do to "help" me when I am folding laundry is hand me the hangers.  She'll stand right next to me holding about half a dozen hangers at a time and hand them to me one by one:  "mowe, mowe," she'll say.

Earlier this week I was folding laundry in our bedroom, and Emma decided she would play with the bag of crayons instead.  We normally don't give it to her in fear that she'll make a big mess with them (she likes to chew on them, for example), but for the sake of keeping her busy, I let her play with them for a little to keep her occupied.  She was being very quiet behind me, and when I turned around, this is what I found:

My little girl was intentionally taking all the blue crayons out.  This is really the first time I've noticed her making any sort of associations with anything, especially noticing patterns in colors.  I am sure this is a milestone children hit right about now, so I decided to record it.

Sugar and spice...

... and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.

Not sure life gets any sweeter than watching your little girl feed her zebra on the toy high chair.

Cousin McNeill passed a few of her little girl toys down to Emma last week, which included a kitchen set, a high chair, and a cash register, all of which have been enjoyed by our little girl.  

Emma loooooooves her cousin McNeill (let me say that again -- looooooves her cousin McNeill).  Though Mc is nine years older than Emma, she is already proving herself to be quite the friend and role model of our little girl, for which we are thankful.  

Both girls will play together.  Emma likes to sit on her lap a lot, which of course makes me smile.  Emma breaks down crying every time she needs to part away from her, and sometimes I literally need to peel her away from her cousin.

Valentine's Day 2013

We had a great time celebrating Valentine's Day with our little family last week.  I woke up early and ran to Krispy Kreme (in my PJs, must I add) to get us some sweet treats for breakfast.

We enjoyed each others company, opened our cards, and had some yummy heart-shaped doughnuts.  Later that evening, we opened some more cards and gifts that came in the mail that day.  Thanks to all for all the yummy cookies and candy!!!

Emma had more fun taking the sprinkles off the doughnut than actually eating eat.  No worries, though -- mommy ate anything and everything this little girl left behind.

Opening her card from daddy.

Emma LOVES stickers!  She enjoyed peeling the stickers off the envelopes to putting them all over her hands and face.  I have an old stash of stickers from which I take some out of every once in a while.  She loves sticking them on her face, hands and shirt.  After a while she'll realize they are no longer any good and say:  "trash" and walk over to the trash can and throw them away (Emma loves to throw things in the trash).

Videos

Emma has learned to use the spoon this week.  She likes to eat her "soop."  Here she is enjoying her oatmeal.

Emma is just like her daddy in that she looooooves a good neck massage.  She likes to have us use these fake credit cards to scratch her back.  She becomes mesmerized and in trance when she is getting her massage.  It was worth a video shoot.

Boots

Emma loves (I mean, is OBSESSED) with boots.  How does she calls them?  Boo (with heavy emphasis in on the "oo").  She loves to wear her booties her Memma gave her for her birthday, and gets very worked up when Mommy chooses a different pair to put on her for the day (boots are a little more of a hassle to put on than those with Velcro). 

It is safe to say that Emma loves shoes in general.  It is not unusual for her to go through three different pairs of shoes in one day.  I'll be in the kitchen minding my own business, and here comes Emma girl, with a different pair of shoes in hand, asking Mommy to put them on her:  "shwe, shwe."  

She is also very particular about Daddy's feet.  She gets very upset if she sees him barefoot (for some reason she does not feel like that with me).  In the mornings, when Byron comes to the kitchen for breakfast, she will many times go find a pair of shoes for him to wear.

Today she decided she would try on Daddy's boots.  They were not as comfortable to wear as she thought they would.

She says her name

Emma's vocabulary continues to expand.  English is still her language of choice, but Spanish continues to follow closely behind.

A neighbor of ours gave her a little stuffed lamb for Christmas that sings the "Jesus Loves Me" song.  Emma loves that song!  She will sing it:  "Babu so" ( in reference to:  "for the Bible tells me so").  She will also try to say "Jesu" for Jesus.  ** Melt.My.Heart**

But one of my favorite things she has begun saying is her name.  It makes me smile, and almost brings tears to my eyes, how she says Emmee. 

More of her babies

Emma's babies are an important part of her life.  It amazes me how she loves them so dearly.  She loves Bunny the best, but is also very particular about having all three (Monkey and The Other Bunny) with her as well, especially at night time.

She loves to put them in her grocery cart and give them a spin around the house.

She also likes to sit on her rocking chair and read them stories.

 

Emma is also very motherly around other children.  I nanny for a friend's daughter a few times a month, and last Thursday I kept her for the whole day.  As soon as J. walked in the door, Emma entered "mother-mode."  Although J. is five months older than her, Emma decided it was her duty to make sure she ate her entire snack.  She stood next to her high chair the entire time, giving her gold fish and water.  She also chased her around the house, pulling her pants out and "checking" her diaper.  She would then look at me, point at J. and say:  "popo, popo" and run to her changing table, indicating to me I should change her diaper.