Treacherous Threes

I thought we had it made when Emma sailed through the terrible twos without it being too terrible. I was completely taken unawares by the treacherous threes! Everything is her way- even after she screams and cries for help. "No, I can do it myself." Why ask for help then??

There was a stretch of no naps, which just made the tantrums and whining pretty much constant. When we ask her to please stop whining she replies, "but I like to whine and cry." What can you say to that?? At her conference at the end of March, her preschool teacher said, "Emma never cries or is upset here." Are we talking about the same Emma? According to some other moms and my doctor, this is normal behavior. They save all their frustrations for at home. Lucky me! (But I would rather have to deal with it then her teachers.)

As you can imagine, I was not really inspired to write about the daily battles or have to read them again later. :)

Things have sort of settled down a bit now thankfully. Emma is back to being the sweet little girl that she is. This morning she told me that she was fussing and crying when Daddy left because she loves him so much that she didn't want him to go to work. Too cute.

She has become more fond of playing outside now that the weather is sometimes better than during March. Nanie sent her new clothes and a home-made backpack. We can hardly get the dresses washed fast enough to keep up with her. Today was the first day she remembered to take the back pack to preschool. I can only imagine the tales she will tell anyone who listens!

Confusion

So Emma and I were sitting at the table the other day having lunch. Actually I had finished eating and Emma was still slowly working her way through the meal. I took the opportunity to plan out the cross-stitch words for my latest project. Steve's godson, Zachary Paul, will be one year in August so I hope to have the announcement done before then!
Anyway, I was talking out loud to myself about which name I wanted to pencil in first, Zachary or Paul. Emma hardly misses a thing and this was no exception. "What did you say?" she asked.
"I am putting the names onto my chart so I will be able to stitch them on the fabric."
"Whose name?"
"Zachary."
"Zachary lives with Aunt Darcy, Uncle Steve, Madison and Jared."
"That's right, Emma."
"Why did you say Paul?"
"Paul is Zachary's middle name."
(Blank stare) Then Emma asks, "you mean the Paul that lives with Aunt Lauren?"
"No, Emma." :) I continued to explain that her middle name is Katherine, her first name is Emma and her whole name is Emma Katherine V-. I continued, "Zachary's first name is Zachary, his middle name is Paul and his last name is K-. Zachary Paul K-."
Emma replies, "That is really confusing, but OK."

Keeping it real

This past weekend Emma had a blast entertaining her Aunt Margaret, Uncle Dominic and baby Patrick. She is such a wonderful big cousin! She helped feed Patrick and gave him lots of attention and hugs. Emma also loved having another doting aunt to play games with her. Duck, Duck, Goose and butterfly matching were big hits. On the last night that our family was visiting, Emma told Aunt Susan that she didn't want them to leave in a sweet, dripping with sentiment and not whining kind of way; it was very dear.

A day or two later in the week Steve, Emma and I were eating dinner at the table. Emma started talking about how she got to sit on the big chairs because baby Patrick was sitting in her chair and then she said something about wanting to be like baby Patrick.
Daddy (soothing and trying to make her see that she is special): Emma, as great as baby Patrick is we would never want to switch. We love you and want you to be who you are right here with us. We want Emma to be in that chair.
Emma: why?
Mommy: because you are our little bear cub.
Emma: and because I fall off of the big chairs.
(Laughter abounds)
Daddy: Yes, Emma, we want you to be safe.
Mommy (to Daddy): all that sentimental heart-warming stuff and she says that.
Daddy: Oh, Emma, you are just keeping it real, aren't you?

PS The picture is of Emma trying on a Great Horned Owl mask for the Wonder Bugs program. I added feathers to the "horns" later.

Crunchy Carrots

Aunt Susan got her first acceptance letter into audiology programs so we all went out to celebrate to Audie's Burger Hamm (AKA the Great Dane).

Emma was a champ waiting for over half an hour for a table and she only squawked a couple of times about being hungry while we waited for our food. I read her some of the menu options and asked her to choose. Mac and cheese, burger, meatloaf, dinosaur nuggets, etc. Emma chose dinosaur nuggets without flinching or second guessing. You would have thought that dinosaur nuggets were a known and loved quantity, which they aren't. We also ordered her a side of dipping veggies with ranch dressing.

Once dinner came, I was almost as excited about the dinosaur nuggets as she was! They were actually shaped like dinosaurs. I had fun naming them for her and she had fun making them try to bite my cheeks. Eventually she got around to trying some of the veggies (celery, broccoli and carrots). She didn't peep about not liking her veggies, but when the waitress came by to see if we needed something, Emma tried to pass along her concerns right to the restaurant staff herself.

Emma was politely and rather quietly saying, "Next time....next time," while trying to get the waitresses attention. Just as the waitress was walking away and gave a cursory glance at Emma, Emma finished her statement, "Next time cook the carrots."

We couldn't stop laughing. Until Emma tried drinking the ranch dressing that is.

Pre-ballet

Emma loved dressing up as a ballerina for Halloween as you may remember. So late in the fall I registered her for pre-ballet. The first class was supposed to be last week but it was canceled due to the blizzard. So two days ago we went to the first class.

Emma slept an unusually long time on Tuesday afternoon so at 4:10 I had to wake her up. Little miss cranky proceeded to whine her way through getting dressed in her pink tights, black leotard and pink skirt. The outerwear (coat, hat, boots, etc) situation was a whole other round of fun! :) Then we were off to a local elementary school. We made it into the gym just as class was starting so we quickly put on her ballet slippers and Emma was ready to go. Except that when Miss Mary (a sub as it turns out) invited Emma to join them, Emma buried herself in my coat. Emma refused to join the 5 other girls out on the circle until I asked her if she wanted me to go with her. "Yes." So I walked her out to the circle and started stretching with the class. Emma kept her feet curled up underneath herself, but after a couple of minutes I snuck back to the side of the gym. Emma watched most of what was going on and did not participate much. When they were lining up, I went over to help Emma. That was when she moved away from me and found her own spot. (yay!) Emma seemed to prefer the galloping and skipping portion to the dancing portion. She kept falling down (on purpose) every few steps and then stayed sitting when the girls were learning plie, passe, and releve. I am sure that being woken up did not help her state of mind! Still, she seemed to enjoy herself and I think it will prove great for her balance and coordination!
At home Emma liked having me do plie, releve and passe while saying the words. She absorbs so much through watching first. I can't wait to see her next Tuesday (and the many Tuesdays that follow until the recital in April)!

Redefined

Tonight after dinner for 5 minutes of fun Emma had Daddy go with her to Mommy's school. When asked what the name of her school is (to clarify the Mommy part) she said Toad Hill, which is in fact the name of her preschool. Needless to say she did not really enlighten us at all. :)

She took Steve to a vacant space on the dining room floor and said, "OK. This is where Mommy's school is at. Everybody sit down. Daddy, sit down. No, like this." She showed Steve how to sit, and I helped clarify by calling it criss-cross-applesauce. She kept muttering stuff and reminding Daddy to sit "like this" every time Steve lifted his knees off the floor. She didn't understand what Steve mean when he said, "Old people can't sit like this for too long."

"OK! Now it is time to get up." And then my memory is fuzzy for a minute or so because Emma moves and talks at lightning speed! Steve and Emma started moving and dancing and then running in place. And then...

Emma exclaimed, "OK! Let's run in place. Yeah, everybody run around. Run in place." And then she takes off jogging around the room and swinging her arms while shouting, "Let's run around in place! Run around in place everyone." She didn't notice that Daddy was running in place and therefore not moving. :)

Fun-uary

Emma has been really getting into dramatic play. She has fun dressing up to go to the ball like Cinderella. She also likes to host dinners, go to restaurants (like Audies Burger Hamm, just two twists away on the twisty chair), have parties, and travel to Seaberry Beach (with Strawberry Shortcake and friends). The third picture doesn't show it too well but Emma is stirring walnut stew on her kitchen stove. The funny part is that she is actually stirring almonds in the pot. Emma also enjoys playing with her doll house. She was laughing in the second picture because of something that she put in the refrigerator- the baby doll from the house! (Should we be worried about that?) The final picture shows Emma playing with a doll's towel in her playroom in the basement. Having a mirror to admire herself in is the prefect form of amusement!
The first picture shows a rare moment for this month: Emma outside. Apparently Emma is not as excited about playing in the snow as I am. It is a struggle to get her to go out and play outside. One night Aunt Susan was going to go walk along the street by our house and Emma asked to go with. To encourage her to be outside I was eager to let her go. So we bundled her up and off they went. But oh yeah, Emma got to ride in the wagon. So much for getting exercise! At least she was outside.
And today, on the last day of the month of Fun-uary, we just got some new snow. There is plenty to play with and lots of fun to be had! Emma is asking me right now if she can.... watch a movie. :(