Where did Emma go?

Our child has learned a new trick that makes her look oh-so-smart. She loves to put various buckets/bowls/containers on her head and walk around asking "Where did Emma go?" Look at this and tell me you don't see a genius:
So far she hasn't run into anything while doing it, but we're just waiting for that first crash into a wall or a piece of furniture. If she's as clumsy as her mommy, it's only a matter of time!

Emma continues to pick up on new words and phrases. I guess I've been using the word "awesome" lately. Yesterday, while going down the stairs all by herself, she told me, "Mom, I'm awesome at this."
She's also a little confused about something. She'll say "that sounds like..." when she really means "that looks like..." I've gotten some strange looks out in public when she blurts out something like, "Mom, that sounds like a circle!" and I nod and say, "Yes, it does."

She is doing great with the big girl bed. She still hasn't figured out that she can hop out whenever she wants. She will lay in bed and yell, "MOM, I'M DONE WITH MY NAP!" But she stays there until you open the door, and then she hops out by herself. I know it won't last forever, but it sure is nice that we can count on her staying in her room for the time being, even if she's not asleep.

The letter of the week at Miss Sarah's house was O last week, but Emma wasn't there on the day they made their octopus projects, so we got to take ours home. We put him together this morning:
This week was letter P, so they made penguins. Here is Emma's:
While we had the camera out, Emma wanted me to take some pictures of her making funny faces. Here are a few of the sillier ones:

Not a baby anymore

Looks like we are on about a weekly update schedule lately. Life has been too busy to post more often!Last Friday, our little girl took a huge step -- she gave up her crib and started sleeping in a toddler bed. (Or, as we call it around here, the "big girl bed.")She loved it from the first time she climbed in. Now every night, we have to do a good 10-15 minutes of climbing in and out and in and out before she goes to bed. Thankfully, once we put her down for real, she has been staying put all night and only climbs out once we walk into the room. Hopefully it will take her awhile to figure out exactly how much freedom she has acquired with these new sleeping arrangements!

On Saturday, Grandma & Grandpa K came over and brought some Valentine's Day presents for Emma -- stickers and a whole ream of paper to draw and color on. Perfect gifts for our little artist!
Ok, I'll admit, I didn't include the picture above so much for the gifts as I did because her hair looks so long here! Now that she's finally stopped tugging on it all the time, it really is starting to grow out. Maybe one day she'll actually let me keep barrettes or piggy tails in it, but for now, they don't usually last more than 2 minutes!

On Tuesday, we went over to Emma's buddy Audrey's house to visit and play. The girls had lots of fun playing with all of Audrey's toys, and Emma loved seeing the kitties when they would get brave enough to come by. As she was petting Wingnut, she turned to me and said, "Mommy, the kitty is so sweet!" Emma also got to show Audrey how to use the big girl potty -- which was quite interesting to watch!

And as of this morning, Audrey is now a big sister! Baby Bridget made her debut this morning with a grand entrance! Emma is so very excited to meet the new baby. After we left their house on Tuesday, I told her that the next time we went over to Audrey's house, the new baby would probably be there. She said, "No, Mom. I want to play with the new baby right now!" Congrats to Audrey and her mommy & daddy on the newest addition to the family!

Mmm mmm good

Emma made her very own heart-shaped cupcake at Miss Sarah's house yesterday. As soon as she woke up from her nap, she said, "Uh oh! I need my cupcake heart!" so I let her eat it for her afternoon snack. Daddy was kind enough to help her finish it when he got home from work. He's especially helpful when it comes to chocolate!

We were in an art mood this morning, so we gave Emma's special Color Wonder finger paints a try. They work great! They only turn colors on the special paper, so no mess on the table or her fingers/clothes/etc. She was cranking out masterpieces like a madwoman today!

Name that veggie!

We've had some beautiful weather for the past few days, so Emma and I took the opportunity to head up to the neighborhood playground this morning. I think she had forgotten that it even existed, so when I asked her if she wanted to go to the park, her head almost exploded she was so excited!She wanted me to take a video of her going down the slide by herself. The first take wasn't exactly a graceful landing:

So we decided to try it again. This one ended much better:

Emma continues to entertain and impress us with the knowledge she aquires on a daily basis. One of her favorite things to do recently is to name all of the vegetables in her little grocery basket. I couldn't resist recording it:

You can tell we've worked with her on the difference between tomato and potato! "Pa-tay-toe!"

She is very good at using complete sentences, but occasionally she has her own words she will throw in for some variety. One of her favorites is "forskipped." It's actually sort of ingenius. It's like "aloha" -- you can use it in a variety of ways. Anytime you need to use either the word "forgot" or "skipped" (or both), you can throw in a "forskipped" and consider it covered. For example, "Oh no! Mommy forskipped to get me a cookie!" Or "Hey, Daddy! You forskipped your jacket!"

Ms. Smarty Pants has also found a new use for her baby doll stroller, which never really got much use as an actual baby doll stroller. It's now a handy dandy bowling pin and ball caddy!
You can push it around easily, and when you find a desirable location to roll a few frames, just reach in, pull out the pins, set em up, and knock em down!

To finish up today's blog, we've got a picture of Emma's most recent parental manipulation. We like to think that we don't let her con us into buying extra unneccessary crap very often, but she got us both at Discover Mills the other day. She was smart enough to start off whining for a ride on the merry-go-round while we were eating lunch in the food court, so when she changed her plea to ask for just a $1 balloon, we agreed and coughed up the cash for a ridiculously large balloon that she has probably played with a total of 5 minutes since Saturday. But at least it was only a dollar, and it did provide a few minutes of peace on the way home -- something increasingly rare with Emma in the car!

Look, kids! Big Ben...Parliament!

While Emma was busy wearing out Grandma & Grandpa K, Mommy & Daddy were having a fantastic time on our London holiday. We knew things were starting off well when we were upgraded to Business Elite class on our buddy passes on the way over. If you have to fly overseas, that is definitely the way to go! (Got it on the way back, too -- score!)We tried to hit all of the major tourist stops during our 5 days, but there is so much left that we didn't get to see...we plan to go back again someday. Traveling in January was chilly, but not unbearable as long as you had on a coat and scarf, and it sure beats standing in the long lines some of the larger tourist attractions experience during the summer months. The pictures basically tell the story of our trip, so click here and enjoy! (If the comments get cut off, roll your mouse arrow over the comment line, and you will be able to read the rest. Not sure I like Kodak's new slideshow format, but that's the way it is, apparently.)

Tonight we went to a Superbowl party at our next-door neighbor's house. We figured Emma would be fairly clingy with all kinds of kids running around. Surprisingly, she asked to go hang out in the play room with the other kids after about an hour. The older girls kept an eye on her, and she hung in the room with the door closed for a good 30 minutes with no view of Mommy & Daddy. Wouldn't have guessed that would happen! She really seems to look up to Big Emma, who lives next door, and Big Emma likes to kind of watch out for our Little Emma. When Big Emma gets a little bit older, we've already called dibs on her babysitting schedule!