Good morning

Actually, come to think of it I can't remember if it was a good morning or a good afternoon. Emma was waking up from a sleeping session- that is apparently all I know. I am getting annoyed with having to repeat myself, but losing my memory is not fun!

Anyway, Emma was waking up the other day. And I feel like I was also waking up and although that does seem like it would argue the case for it being in the morning, that is not necessarily a valid argument. With this cold-thing hanging around my sinuses I have been known to doze during the daylight hours. Anyway (again), there we were slowly coming to our senses, me in my bed and Emma in hers. I was trying very hard not to curse the early hour rays of light that were casting reddish shapes on the insides of my eyelids and was determined to keep my eyes shut tight for a few more minutes at least. And then I heard more than rustling from Emma's room. I heard her little voice. I found myself straining to hear what those happy sounds were really saying. Slowly it became clear. Emma was singing happy birthday! "Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday Seepy Joe (Sleepy Time Joe is her bedtime pal and Emma can't quite get the "L" sound yet), happy birthday to me." It was so cute that I practically jumped out of bed and stormed her room for snuggles and kisses. I tripped on my sleepy feet and went to the bathroom instead. By the time I made it to her room the singing session was over and I had completely forgotten to praise her efforts. Silly sleepy feet anyway.

Fat lip

Poor Emma did not have a good day yesterday. Her cold had her coughing when she tried to nap so she did not nap for more than 45 minutes. That meant that she was running on empty for most of the day. By late afternoon she was pretty tired. Just when I left the room to get her a kleenex for her booggies she fell off the very short chair, richoceted off the wall onto the floor, and jammed her top teeth into her bottom lip. I came running because I could tell that her cries were not "normal" cries- something was obviously wrong. In my haste I almost ran over Susan. I scooped Emma up and instantly became frazzled because of the blood that was pouring out of her mouth. The kleenex in my hand helped keep the blood from saturating us on our way to the kitchen sink. I'll spare you the gory details. Let's leave it that the rug needed to be cleaned, and Emma's shirt, pants, and my jeans all needed to be soaked.

Emma squirmed for the entire 15 minutes that I attempted to hold a cloth-covered ice cube to the inside of her lip. Susan looked online for helpful tips, and then I finally called my mom (who is a nurse). Susan called Steve and told her to get home ASAP, and then we called the doctor's office. The urgent care nurse (or whoever answered the phone) was not very nice. In fact, her greeting was so unintelligible that I asked her to slow down and repeat herself. (Was her 22 month old crying, bleeding, and was she personally having the shakes from the whole experience? If that was all true then she should not be answering the phone to talk to people who were also experiencing all of that and just wanting some advice for how to proceed. Jeez.) Anyway, the bleeding stopped and the gash was not all the way through her lip so we stayed home and had dinner. After about 30 minutes of being coddled, iced and examined Emma was back to being a toddler. We were hardly excited about her returning to the scene of the accident; Steve kept a vigilant watch until dinner was ready. Emma's swollen lip didn't keep her from devouring dinner or dessert, and she was a brave girl when Daddy rinsed her mouth out with warm water after she finished eating.

This morning Emma woke up happy. Aside from the protruding lower lip on the right side, the bruised flesh and the horrid looking wound, Emma seems fine. I think that us adults are more concerned with her injury than she is. Does it look like it's healing? Does that look like puss to you? Is it bleeding again? When will it look better? Just normal paranoid thoughts and questions. We'll monitor the process and as long as Emma doesn't have a fever or signs of an infection it is all good. At least until the next accident. No wonder parents tend to age prematurely! I just may be completely gray by the time I am 40. Yikes!

XOXO

Yesterday (Saturday August 22nd) Emma, Steve and I went to a birthday party for the two daughters of a woman I used to work with. Sophia is turning 2 and Grace is turning 4. The girls have never met each other before, but they all got along very well.

In the bounce house that was rented just for the occasion of celebrating life and birth the kids of various ages had a great time jumping, falling, and laughing. Emma went in right when we got there so that she wasn't crowded or overwhelmed by bigger and older bouncers. She laughed and tumbled and rolled around. Later in the day after cake, presents, and playing on the swing set and slides (yes, there were 3 different slides- pure heaven), Emma went back in the bounce house by herself. She was quickly joined by two boys and Sophia. Emma was having so much fun that her little cheeks glowed pink with exertion. To take a little rest while playing she followed Sophia around with her arms held wide saying "huggies." Sophia didn't seem to understand the request, but that did not deter Emma. When Sophia was bent over to get the soft football for the boys, Emma kissed the top of her head. Awhile later Emma was bouncing over to Jack with the football and he sat cross-legged and waited patiently for her to throw it to him. While Sophia was helping to retrieve Emma's errant throw (it went backwards over her head), Emma leaned over and kissed Jack's knee. Aside from the look of surprise on Jack's face, it was a well-received kissy. Did I mention that Jack is an older boy? Well, older than Emma anyway. Aye aye aye!

Little Miss Parrot

The funny thing is... sometimes it isn't so funny. :) The following is a real-life excerpt from an actual conversation that is very representative of numerous similar conversations. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.



Mommy: Do you want a nectarine or pear?

Emma: Want a nectarine pear.

Mommy: You have to choose one, Emma. Nectarine or pear?

Emma: Choose nectarine pear.

Mommy: Okay, how about a pear?

Emma: Bout a pear?

Northwoods vacation

Our vacation this year was awesome! We all had a really great time and are still talking about it. We camped for one week up at Buckatabon Lodge and Lighthouse Inn on Lower Buckatabon Lake in Vilas County, Wisconsin. If you look on a map, the closest big town is Eagle River and the lakes are almost in the UP of Michigan. Real northwoods action. Eagles aplenty. Fishing in the morn and eve. Marshmallow roasting. Smore eating. Summer Hummer drinking. Shooting guns at the range. Water skiing around the lake. Reminiscing and reconnecting with old friends.

That's great, you say, but what did Emma do? Emma loved swinging, climbing, sliding, and swimming. She got to spend lots of quality time with Nanie and Papa who were very eager to hang out with Emma while we played volleyball or went to the shooting range. Emma surprised us all by attempting and mastering the climb up the stairs to the slide all by herself. Earlier in the summer we had turned down a neighbor's swing set sale because we thought she was too little to handle it. (What a bummer that we didn't spend the cheap, cheap price and buy the same model that Emma scaled a hundred times up north!) She only had a couple of minor slips on the wooden slats that passed for steps/rungs, and those were mostly due to the slippery conditions and not her climbing prowess.

Emma's napping and night time schedule was completely turned upside down, but she did great with the changes! After the first day of no napping and a cranky afternoon we decided to try to get her to nap on the following days. The funny thing is that she pretty much wanted to nap on the other days! So much fresh air, sunshine and exercise! On some days she napped in the bright, warm tent and on other days she slept on Nanie and Papa's bed in the cabin. (Guess where she had "the best" naps.) As for night time sleeping routine, we tried a shower with Mommy for a couple nights but we quickly gave that up as a viable alternative to nightly bath time with Daddy like we do at home. Emma did not like showering! She screamed and cried and just about thrashed around for the duration of the scrubbing and rinsing time. And then she kept it up while I dried her and put on her pre-PJ clothes, except that she added plaintive cries for Daddy with every other breath. So, she went to bed dirty on some nights. What can you do? One morning I tried a morning shower but that was no better so on another morning I stationed Steve right out the door. As soon as we were all clean I bundled Emma up in a towel and passed her off through the door. (It was a one person shower/toilet room with a direct outside door.) That at least kept the screaming portion to a minimum.

Emma had only one person her age to play with- a boy named Christian. Christian is 2 and the son of a longtime friend of the family, Jennifer. Her parents (now both passed away) were friends of my parents long before kids, and both families plus a few more used to spend many weekends a year camping together all over WI and northern IL, including summer trips to Buckatabon. Christian and Emma started off by hugging and kissing each other, which was very cute and of course not captured on film. After an accidental hug-turned-pile-up on the ground, Emma was a bit scared of him and would let him get just within reach and then turn tail and run away saying "no" the whole while. Jennifer and I went to an old time photo place in Minocqua and had their picture taken in which they look like little gangsters. It is very cute aside from the lack of a smile on Emma's part. And both of them did very well through the whole process. Hopefully they will be friends as they grow up. Although not her age, the grandson of one of the original Buck families was really great with Emma. They became very fond of each other. He would make her smile and giggle and she would let him pick her up without hesitation. (She does shy away from unfamiliar people picking her up.) His name was Logan. Still, Emma will say, "See Logan. See Christian."

One tradition of the Buckatabon trips of late was an eating adventure at Paul Bunyan's on their all-you-can-eat ribs night. So on Wednesday night we filled up one long table and a small one and tucked in for some yummy grub! Emma had fun drinking water out of the metal mug and going topless to save her shirt from certain BBQ sauce stains. She seemed to love the ribs as much as her Mommy and Daddy. Afterward, Emma watched Mommy, Daddy and their friends ride go-carts around a few local tracks. Nanie and Papa kept her safe and had fun watching her climb the decorative stone walls in the parking lot.

The first couple of days were sunny and warm, which meant that we were able to enjoy the beach. Emma was suited up in a floatation shirt and was not afraid of getting wet or floating with Mommy and Daddy. What she spent the most time doing, though, was filling up pails of water and then dumping them out- on Mommy's feet, Daddy's legs, the sand or right back in the lake. She couldn't be convinced to participate in the "water fights" that went on with Christian and his family a few feet away, which was fine with us. The water felt a bit chilly when the sun went behind the clouds!

These are just some of the Emma highlights that come to mind. There is a small hope that I cling to that when she is older she will be able to remember this vacation and tell us what her favorite parts were. It never hurts to hope!

(Picture explanations in order from top to bottom: Emma kissing a baby tree after hugging it; half nakey at Paul Bunyan's; hanging on the screen tent; swining on the big swings with Christian; pretend kayaking; playing at the beach; swinging with Nanie.

CA living- for a few days

Steve braved the trials of traveling alone with a young child and headed to CA for the last week I was up at Stevens Point. They left on Saturday the 11th of July and returned on Thursday the 16th. This would obviously be better coming straight from Steve's mouth, but here goes.

Emma had a blast feeding and hugging the goats, checking for eggs (and dropping them), swimming, playing with her cousins Wyatt, Blake and Jackson, and just plain having a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's farm. She also got to pick tomatoes and peaches, which she ate like apples straight off the vine/tree. Steve and Grandpa also took Emma to the beach one day and she got to play in the water. She also went completely under at one point too and did not fancy it at all. On a different day they cruised the breakwater with G-Bugga, G-AA, Leslie and Jackson. Before heading home they had to stop at In-and-Out for lunch. I really missed that part, but Steve and Emma froze a burger for me and brought it home.

Emma helped Grandma make cookies one day (for the cousins). Apparently instead of rolling the balls in the sugar, she just stuck her finger in the bowl and licked it clean- many times!

Perhaps the best part was hanging out with all of the family that stopped by to say hi. Aunt Christie, Wyatt and Blake came down for one afternoon. G-AA, Leslie and Jackson came down for a couple days. G-Bugga stayed for a few days. Aunt Margaret and Uncle Dominic were there on the weekend. Aunt Susan and Uncle Mark stopped by a few times. Uncle Andrew stopped by too with Aunt Theresa. Aunt Karen Anna was of course there most of the time since she was on summer break from school. One night for dinner Great Great Aunt Eva, Great Great Uncle Arve, Great Great Aunt Norma and Great Great Uncle John came over along with Great Aunt Kay and cousin Liz. So, it was a very busy and social atmosphere!