Emmett's cutest day ever.

This morning, Emmett woke up and played in his crib for a little while. And when I went in to get him, he was (literally) hiding his face under a book, frozen so I wouldn't find him. I lifted the book off his face (at first a little afraid) and beneath it was his gigantic smile. He jumped up to get out and I put him in his favorite shirt. An orange shirt with a car decal on it.

I got him out of bed and gave him a banana. While I was taking care of somethings, he accidentally broke the top of his banana off and was wailing that he couldn't fix it. I explained that everyone breaks their banana. That that's just how people eat bananas. But he was inconsolable. I took him out of the high chair and told him it would be ok, rocking him. Then I asked him to put the banana on his tray (which he did) and when he wasn't looking, I took the shorter piece of it and hid it so it looked (sort of) like the banana was whole.

We had cerael and Emmett was doing an amazing job of feeding himself. I kept praising him for what a great job he was doing. Then, he wanted to tip the bowl and drink the milk from it. So I just let him do it. He's so good, and I used to do that too.

When I took him out of his high chair, he went over to the wall and spotted a hole in the wood.
He started saying "hole...hole" and I was so happy I hugged him and said "yes! Hole". He pointed at it a few more times and said "Hole, Hole" and I said yes. Then he pointed to my head and said "Hole".

We decided to go out play and of course hide and seek came up first. Emmett hid under the table and as usual, I "accidentally tripped" over him. But this time (and this is something that's been happening a lot lately), he wanted me to come under with him. He tugged on my shirt until I fit under the table too. And we just sat there. Yesterday, we sat in the closet twice. Then I was like "Should we get out now" and he was like "Ta" for yes.

It was then time to read, and the second book he choose was an adult book to teach toddlers how to potty train. We went into the bathroom adn sat on the floor while I showed him pictures and tried to explain "potty' to him, pointing at the toilets and his toilet and showing him the pictures, making sounds etc. All he wanted to do was point out the cars in the book (which believe it or not, there were some). you'd be amazed at how many cars are featured everywhere. I never noticed before Emmett.

We swung for awhile and I again "hid behind the baby tree" and popped out to swing him and then we tried to throw the ball up into a different tree's branches. We decided to go for a walk.

On our walk, we began by stepping in puddles and I showed him our reflection. Then, he wanted to touch the puddle, but I drew the line there. We walked a little further and Emmett quicklly decided I should carry him. As we were walking, we ran into a sculpter that has a studio in an old church down the street,and I made plans to connect with him. The conversation was long, and Emmett put his head on my shoulder several times, pointing at the path of our walk.

We came home, and now he's in his crib, preparing for sleep by kicking the side of his crib.

Emmett gets garage sale presents & loves dancing, soap & talking

GARAGE SALE GIFTS: On Saturday morning, I woke up super early and went with my parents to garage sales. In addition to getting some great house stuff, I also got Emmett several cars, 3 strange books (one of which was a truck book) and a gigantic bagful of cute clothes (Old Navy, Gap etc.) for $3. When I came back, Emmmett was looking through each bag with complete wonder in his eyes. He was absolutely fascinated to see what I had for him. One of the cars was like a Dukes of Hazard kind of car, that lights up and plays this strange country song when you push one of the buttons on the top. (pictured)

WEEKEND: Saturday night, we went to a wedding, and on Sunday Chris was here and we spent the day inside relaxing. Emmett spent most of the day with Mike.

HIDE AND SEEK & DANCING: Yesterday, Emmett and I spent the morning playing. Mostly hide-and-seek, where Emmett hides in one of his "spots" and I "accidentally" trip over him while looking. His current spots are 1. In the closets 2. Under the table 3. Behind the rocking chair (his favorite). I also asked him if he wanted to dance, and we went in the kitchen and danced for about 20 minutes to an old Ani DiFranco album (Plastic Castles) that's kind of danceable. He loves to spin. Ana came over and played with him for a little beore she went to work.

ANA & KYLE PREFORMANCE: When he woke up from his nap, he was greeted by Ana and Kyle who were full of energy and excitement, doing full songs and dances for him. He was so excited. We went over to my parents and Emmett literally found this gigantic firetruck they have in the garage and wanted to play with it. The best thing that happened was that I wanted him to stay in the living room, and he obeyed me. I said "Emmett, stop. Come back in here with Mommy". And he did. He also put away all of his toys when I asked him to. We played inside for awhile and then played in the yard on his swing (which turned into another "Hide-and-seek game", where I would hide and then bolt out to push his swing.

SORTING & SOAP:Mike came home and Emmett ran over to him and then followed me back inside so I could make dinner. He is very into "sorting". He went through the tuperware cabinet and stacked all the plastic cups -- and then found more in the pantry which he added to his pile. Then he put them all away.
After dinner, he was washing his hands with foam soap and then decided to rub it all into his hair. We put him to bed and he went obediantly.

NEW OBSERVATIONS:
•How much he loves to talk. He chatters away constantly.
• His unwavering interst in cars. It's incredible just how interested in cars he is.
• How meticulous he is with sorting or examining something.
• When watching TV, he cannot hear you if you ask him a question -- he's so absorbed.
• His favorite thing (even more than cars) is books. He can't get enough and drags them throughout the house asking us to read them.
• His reaction to Asriel. Part love and part fear. He'll kind of whine when he sees her but wants to headbutt her.
• That he enjoys dancing as much as he does.
• How he can recognize drawings and other things as objects. (ie. He sees fish-shaped soap and says "Fish" or a drawing of a car and says "Car". From what I read, this is a sign of intelligence.

Emmett and I were swinging

So, today, Emmett woke up and played in his crib for awhile. Then we got up and I dressed him in this adorable red and grey outfit. He looked incredibly cute. He wanted to go outside, so we went to my mom's house for a little bit and Ana came down and offered to take him to Wawa to get a banana. I got him into his carseat and when they drove away, Emmett was crying which made me sad and happy at the same time. Sad that he was crying, but happy that he cared that I wasn't coming. It's a weird thing as a mom. To realize your child actually prefers you and wants your attention and wants you to hold him.

They came back and we had breakfast and I cut his hair while he was eating. Ana told me when to stop...that I was heading for the bowl cut I seem to accidentally give him. So I was very conserative.

I wish Emmett could shake this cold. He's had it for about a week -- ever since Audrey came to visit. He is always kind of mucassy.

After that, I took him out on the swing and swung him up and down and side to side. he was tired (from not napping yesterday) so I took him in and read him Rudulph the Red Nose Reindeer (he loves that book) and put him to sleep.

New things he's learned:
• He was playing with these action figures (that are like warlords or something) and he was pointing at each of them and saying something. I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I realized he was saying "hat" "hat". I hugged him and told him Yes! Hat!

• Today I taught him "Peek-a-boo" and he thought it was kind of funny.

• He likes to play alone in his crib in the morning. We got into this routine where he plays (and I guess wakes up) for about an hour.

• He seems to make this very strange face for the camera now. A squinty smile. (see pictures below).

• Emmett is just an incredibly easy child. He listens...he does what he's told...he doesn't have many demands. I think he just wants everyone to be happy.

Emmett, his cousins, Ana & Fleas

Emmett spent Thursday with Ana so I could do some work.
She came over early and woke up with him, fed him breakfast, and then took him out with Mason and Cooper Fink (his cousins). They went out to lunch with Jenny and came back home. He missed his nap and was so energetic. How this happens, I don't know.
Later, we went over to my mom's and Ana made dinner. Then, we had to do this flea thing, so Emmett slept on my mom's floor with her in the air conditioning while Mike and I vaccummed and sprayed.

I picked him up and brought him home and don't even think he woke up.
I missed him on Thursday.

Emmett got his first shower.

So, yeah.
And it was not easy or fun.

My cousin suggested that I bring Emmett into the shower with me. I felt a little weird about it, but my sink (emmett's usual bathtub) is dirty and I decided I should try it. So in we went and it was hellish.

In the beginning, I was actually trying to take a shower myself and leave the water on. This didn't work becuase the soap would drip off me and go right into Emmett's eyes. So then, I used the spray hose and shut it off to wash myself and then used it for him. By the end, I hurredily washed off and then sat Emmett on the floor of the shower to wash him. He thought it was a tiny bit fun when I brought in his foam soap, but I would say that overall, he hated it. If I try it again, here's what I will do.

1. I will not get my own shower with him. I think that's weird anyway, but did it becuase my cousin suggested it. It is totally impossible.

2. I will stand outside the shower and just wash him.

3. I will have a bowl to use in addition to the shower hose.

4. I will try to make it more fun (put waterproof things in the shower etc.) for him.

Last note. This photos was almost impossible to get. I had to try everything to make him look at the camera. I have several shots where he is busily trying to figure out what adult soap is...and not looking at the camera.

Emmett's Says Mommy, Audrey's Visit & BBQ

Unfortunately, this is one of the few pictures I have of them. But Emmett loves
Audrey so much. She came in every morning and greeted him and gave him special attention. We did several photo shoots, but I realize they are all from my camera.

Somehow, Audrey also taught Emmett how to say Mommy. Now he calls everything Mommy. (i.e. - he'll point at something he wants and say "Mommy!" as if it means "Give me that".) When I ask him to say my name, he says Poppie.

Here's how the weekend went.

Thursday night: Audrey came in. We all just hung out.

Friday: I was tired all day, due to being up late since we're flea infested right now. I was up until 5AM. We hung out around the house and helped Audrey pick out cards for her new store.

Saturday: We drove downtown to look at buildings. My parents watched Emmett.

Saturday Night: We all went to Carabas -- my parents treated.

Here are a few photos from the restaurant. Notice the one with Emmett's finger. He smudged the camera, so the rest of our pictures are kind of smudgy.





Sunday, we had a gigantic BBQ in honor of Audrey. Yaya, Aunt Betty, Jenny, Frank, Mason, Cooper, Audrey, my parents, Ana, Drew and Diane all came. Emmett was loving that his cousins were there and was "showing them" all his toys.

Sunday night we all hung out and Audrey said a special goodbye to Emmett before she left.

Emmett Eats with Fork & Says More Words.

Emmett_Buying_Toys-7/05
Originally uploaded by sabbeth.

Yesterday and the day before, I was very out of it, and somehow, Emmett was still amazing. Both days I was extremely tired.

On Monday night, Mike and I got into a really stupid fight and were up really late. Emmett woke up at one point (of course this made me feel awful) and I went in and rocked him back to sleep and turned on the light in his fake fish tank and gave him water. I felt like a true mom.

Tuesday, I was tired becuase of it, and was just sort of sluggish. BUT, I took him to Boomers and we had a great time. He didn't want to give up his peeled banana (which was gross becuase at this point, he demands to eat everything whole and not cut up. So we walked into Boomers with Emmett holding this squishy, warm banana. He's so cute, the no food/drink rule didn't apply to him.

I brought him home, put him down for a nap, and later he woke up and we went in his new pool (that Nona Diane gave him). Then we ran around outside and visitted my parents who were dining with Father Anastasios.

Wednesday was totally uneventful and Emmett spent a lot of the day playing wiht his toys with me half playing. At one point, J.M. my client called, and Emmett accepted that I would be busy. Later, I played with him and roughhoused him and read him like 50 books.

Here are some new observations.

• Emmett is massively ready for potty training. He holds his diaper and "lets us know" when he pooped. Sometimes it even wakes us up.

• Emmett has started using forks to eat. I need to get him a fork that's the right size.

• Emmett can now say "Balloon", "Bike", "Ball", "I don't want it" and a few other things that I can't remember right now.

• He is still in love with cars. He points out every one, no matter how crudely drawn. He usually is holding at least 3.

• "Attack of the Kid" is back. I'll say "Aaaahhh...it's attack of the kid" and he'll come over and jump on me. He is also really into Hide and Seek right now. He'll hide in a place I can see him and I'll look around for him for a little while...then I'll accidentally "trip" over him, and he thinks that is so funny.

Emmett and I are bonding in a new way lately. I feel like he likes me and likes being around me. I adore him with everything I have and wish I could be the kind of mom that does nothing but their kids. Everything those mom's think is about their children. Dealing with the fact that I'm still maintaining my own independant life is dealing with a deviation from tradition.

Emmett said Book, Ball, Ana and Clock

Olivia, Emmett's cousin 7/05,
originally uploaded by elisabethie.

And many other words today. Or at least he tried.

This morning Ana played with him while I started packing all the books in the living room. He didn't really seem to notice. Then, he refused to go down for a nap. At about 2, Nona Diane came over and she gave him this ADORABLE pool.

Becuase his nap is so late (he's sleeping now) we are going to miss his swim class. I am going to put him in his pool when he wakes up.

On this side of this entry is a picture of Olivia Lyric Nangle, Emmett's cousin in Florida.

Emmett went bikeriding in Lancaster

Emmett_Talks_To_Mommy-7/31/05
Originally uploaded by elisabethie.

On Saturday, I left for a bachleorette party while Emmett was still napping and Sunday morning, Mike got up early and took him to Lancaster to go to Dave's church and to go bike riding. I missed him all day -- terribly.

Apparently, they went to Mike Ronan's house (featured) and Emmett had a great time. I called several times, but Emmett was too "busy" to talk. Finally, on their way into Lancaster (with their bikes) I got ahold of the little guy. Dave took a picture of him talking to me so I could see how happy he was.

When they got home, I rammed into him and he started squealing with laughter and delight. I knew he'd missed me and I'd really missed him.