Emmett, Old Navy, McDonalds and his quirks

This week has been slow for us, since we got back from the cruise. But yesterday, we went out.

I took Emmett to Rite Aid to get invitations for his second birthday party and promised him a truck when we got there. He examined the trucks for quite awhile, and went through many choices, putting them back and changing his mind. He started with a tiny copper matchbox car, then moved on to this "car transporter" (ugly) with a matchbox car, and ended up with a blue truck. We went up to the counter to pay and he was happily clapping his hands in anticipation of receiving the truck. But then, the truck was broken when we opened it. So we went back and got a different one.

We went to Old Navy and I bought him a ton of stuff on sale for Emmett. He was getting kind of irritated and bored but I gave him a lolipop and that made him feel better. The cutest thing was that I picked this one monster t-shirt from Halloween, and I asked Emmett if he liked it. He had a very strong opinion that he didn't like the shirt. In fact, he said "I don't like it".

I got him a cat flashlight, tons of truck t-shirts, socks and a pair of jeans. When we got out, I took him to McDonalds for his first happy meal ever. It was kind of unexciting and uneventful and all I could think was how unhealthy it was. The fries tasted terrible, and I ended up getting new ones (which also tasted very badly freezer burned).

I brought him home and put him down for Nonnie (which means nap in our house). Before I did, I put him into my bed and pretended to go to sleep with him. He was cracking up, grabbing my nose and pushing my arm etc. etc.

During his nap, I sent out his invitations and tried to get our lives back in order (not done). And when he woke up, he was in a terrible mood. I rocked him for about 1/2 hour and he just laid on me. I gave him peanut butter and jelly and we played a little and he watched some TV while I made dinner.

As usual, dinner was a problem. He doesn't like fish and only ate potatos. But I read something somewhere about not forcing kids to eat what they don't want, so I let it go. He had potatos and bread.

Emmett Observations:

• Falling: Emmett is REALLY into "falling" on the ground dramatically.
• Shows: Emmett does spinning and falling shows when people are around.
• Words: Last night Emmett said "Bye Nana" for good bye Ana, and he never really put a name after the adjective. He also says a ton of other words and walks around saying "momma" a lot of the day. That word describes everything.
• Games: Sometimes we play a game where I'll say "Where's mommy?" and he'll point to "wrong" items and I'll tickle him.
• Toys: He continues to be obsessed with cars and trucks. He also greatly enjoys cleaning up and sweeping the floor.
• People: He LOVES Craig. It's so odd. He just loves him and always wants him to play.
• Food: This is becoming a problem. He doesn't want to eat dinner...ever.
• Sleeping: He still loves sleeping.
• Talking: It's the cutest thing. He says words thta don't mean anything but says them with inflection, shaking his head as he describes things he doesn't like and explains things that we don't understand. He kind of sounds like he's speaking Italian. For "more" he says "mas".
• Sensitive: He is very very sensitive and gets his feelings hurt.

The Haircut Story
I took him to get his hair cut the other day, and he was very gentle and quiet. I thought I saw a tear in his eye, as he was sitting there and Anthony and I were chatting away, but I didn't think anything of it. Then all of the sudden, I noticed it again, and I knelt down and said "Emmett, are you ok?" and he put his head into my shoulder and started crying so hard, strange little noises were coming out. He was totally scared. I hugged him and explained that I know it's scary to get your hair cut when you're little, but that it doesn't hurt and that everyone has to do it. That some people think it's fun. He felt better and I promised him a big pile of M&M's at the end of the haircut (this is bad. You're not supposed to use food as a reward). Anthony finished and I let Emmett go over to the big bowl and take a gigantic handful.