Mommy Memories

Hello Emily Blog Readers, :)

This is Emily's Mommy writing, hijacking my daughter's blog once again because I wanted to report a few events that have been highlights of our little lady's 20 month. Mainly, this post is solely for me to read back on in 18 years and go, "Awww.....I remember that!!" :)

#1 - Recently Emily and I ate at Chick-Fil-A for lunch, a spur of the moment decision. If you have a little one(s) and have not yet discovered the wonderfulness of eating at Chick-fil-A, I recommend you check it out. The man I ordered my food with (at this fast-food joint, mind you) not only delivered our tray to our table, but also fetched Emily a high chair, AND we were given a plastic placemat with the sticky stuff so the placemat sticks to the table. (I firmly believe all restaurants should provide these.) Pretty great service for a fast-food place. After we ate, Emily noticed the play area and gasped and pointed, which is a new thing she does - she's definitely figured out how to display "shock and awe." :) She was soon saying, "Pay! Pay!!" (which is Emily for play). So we headed to the play area to check it out, which we had not done since she was probably 12 or 13 months old, and really didn't "get" playing in those things.

Oh man. She gets it now. There were about five or six 4 and 5 year olds running CRAZY fast through the tunnels and speeding down the slide. This did not phase my little, petite, 20 month daughter. In fact, she leaped out of my arms and headed to the first platform, and to my surprise, was tall enough to keep climbing. And climbing. I just kinda watched in awe as she followed those big kids all the way to the top, simply enjoying the show. It was when she reached a height of roughly 10 feet above my head, following those big kids, that it dawned on me, "Huh. Ummmm....how in the world am I going to get her down??" Yes, probably a thought I should have processed BEFORE I let her climb to such heights, but I was too amazed at her climbing ability to attempt to keep her grounded. And so I followed her intently from the ground, waiting to hear the inevitable "Mommy!! Mommy!!" as she realized I wasn't with her, or screams of terror and pain from a big kid climbing on top of her, or a panicked cry when she realized she didn't know how to get back down.....something. But I didn't. I kept following her from the ground, and I must have had an "I'm a concerned mom" face on, because soon a fellow mom came in and asked her 4 year old daughter to please help my little one find her way down. And we all know how helpful 4 year old girls like to be - they will mother anything. Soon, there was a team of three little girls all talking to Emily, trying to lift her up, etc. to show her the way to the huge, curly-q, tunnel slide. (Like I said, I did not think this through...) Finally, I heard one little girl ask, "Do you want to go down the slide?" and I hear my lady's little voice answer firmly back, "Es." And before I know it, here she comes down the slide, grinning ear to ear, all by herself. I clapped and told her how proud I was of her. And when she raced back to the lowest platform saying, "More! More!" I scooped her up and told her that was it for now. It was all this Mommy took take for the day! :)

#2 - A few days ago, we hit our favorite "Pirate Playground." Again, another spur of the moment decision. We tend to make a lot of those. :) After we got the swings out of the way, as Emily traditionally races towards those first, we headed to the climbing/slide portion of the playground. After a few minutes of playing, another little girl, again - probably about 4 years old - decided to adopt my daughter. For the first time ever, I actually sat on a bench and watched as Emily and "a friend" played on the equipment. They even did the slide together, which was not fully in my line of vision, and I made myself "let go" and let her do it all by herself. (Mind you, I DID watch her very closely twice before I allowed this, to make sure she was independent.) And then came the "Awww..." moment. The little girl asked Emily what her name was, and I called out, "Her name is Emily. Emily, what's your name?" And Emily answered, "Emmy!" Then the girl said, "Emily, do you want to be my friend?" And Emily answered, "Es." Awwwww!!!! Her first friend request. I was so proud!! :) Then they went on to play "Ring Around the Roses," Emily's recent fave, and also sang, "If You're Happy And You Know It." The girl was basically loving being "the teacher." And I loved watching "her student" try to do everything the big girl did. Another proud moment.

I tell you what, this whole "approaching two years old" thing is quite the kick. Motherhood in general is amazing, but, man, this particular age makes me grin every day. And, yes, sometimes I grit my teeth as this beautiful girl glares at me and tells me, "No no!" But then I just say, "Yes yes!" right back and we go about our day. I love her. And I am so thankful to be called "Mommy!" :)

~20 months~

Winter or Spring?? I don't get it.

Hi Everyone!

Mommy and I were chit-chatting tonight about a few of my favorite things.....airplanes, Elmo, swimming, and poop (it comes out of your bottom, you know...sometimes you can put it in the toilet...but I digress.....) and we thought it'd be a good idea to post some of the fun pictures we've taken from the past week. Mommy says this thing called Spring should be here any day now, and we got to see a little of it last week, but it didn't stick around for long, because it snowed nine inches just two days later! I really just think my Mommy doesn't know what she's talking about...

Oh, yes, and before I share the pictures, I need to let everyone know that yes, I filled out a bracket for my THIRD, yes people, THIRD NCAA bracket. (When I did my first one, I chose my teams by kicking Mommy's tummy; this year and last year Mommy wrote the teams on sticky notes and I chose which sticky note I liked the best.) My Final Four teams this year are/were: Georgia Tech, Xavier, West Virginia, and California. I have Xavier and West Virginia playing in the final game, with Xavier taking it all!! AND, the best part is, Mommy says this can still happen! Yay! I'm so smart!! I'm doing better than my parents, who both mostly picked KU in their brackets and the Jayhawks lost this weekend. My parents were very sad. I told them to just play in my Kitchen with me and they'd feel better, and I think it really did help! I'm such a life-saver! Good thing they keep me around!

Anyway, back to the pictures....enjoy!!

Love, Emily

Here's what I did last Thursday....

I LOVE walking outside!!

And here's how we spent Saturday...
Catching snowflakes on our tongues...

...sledding...

...and just having fun!

Mommy had me wear this on Sunday. She said it was "to help Spring come." It's not supposed to have the long-sleeved shirt with it, but there WAS nine inches of snow on the ground....Thank you to my GodMama Kari for the outfit!! I love it and can't wait to wear it when it's warm!! :)

And finally, here's a picture from today, Monday, helping Mommy with the laundry again. And sporting some awesome hair. LOVE it when it comes out of my bow!

How does this thing go on, anyway????? ;)

About a Year Ago...

Here is a video of me at 8 months, which was almost a year ago. Mommy bought me this toy on St. Patrick's Day last year, so this video was taken shortly after, probably the end of March. Isn't it crazy how much I've grown in a year?? (and my hair, too!!) ;)

Laundry and Birthdays!

Hello People,

Mommy has decided that since I'm getting a little brother (Sarge Indiana LaBarge), I gotta learn how to help with the laundry; specifically, folding Daddy's underwear. How do you think I'm doing???

Am I getting it??? How about here??

:)

Aaaand....it was my Grandma Jo's birthday on Saturday. Mommy forgot to take a picture while I still had on my pretty dress, but here are the two of us right before I went to bed! Happy Birthday Grandma Jo! :)

Happy Birthday Danny!

Today is my friend Danny's birthday! I made him a card - look!