Thanks, Emma!

I took Emma to the doctor this week for her 5-year-old check-up. Poor gal had to have three shots in her legs (her little arms are still too thin to get shots.) Anyway, pre-shots, we were chatting with the pediatrician during the examination about Emma's progress in various areas. Out of the blue, the doctor asked Emma "So what is your favorite food, Emma?"

Oh crap! I braced myself...what was it going to be? Chicken nuggets? Skittles? Potato chips? Cotton candy? This was not going to turn out well.

So imagine my total shock when Emma smiled sweetly and told the doctor "Broccoli."

BROCCOLI!!!! Well, yes, broccoli is among the limited palate of vegetables that Emma likes (along with corn, green beans, peas and carrots.) But her favorite food?! Who cares...I was beaming like a proud mama. "Yes indeed, Emma does love her broccoli," I said.

So anyway, it looks like I owe Emma big-time for making me look like mommy-of-the-year in front of the pediatrician. Maybe she'll get some extra candy in her Easter basket (or some broccoli!)

The first signs of spring

You know spring is getting nearer when...


you get to ride the new bike you got for Christmas outside for the first time...


and you get to play all afternoon in the park with your friend Jia...


and your mommy takes you to the zoo for the first time since last fall!

On ice

There are so many things that I've done over the past five years that I could never imagine doing when I was a carefree, single, childless person. Among them...eating fish sticks for dinner, sitting through entire episodes of Barney and the Teletubbies, and changing poopy diapers without even wrinkling my nose.

Close to the top of this list would be attending any theatrical production that ends with the words "...On Ice." But that's exactly what we did last night. Yes, Disney on Ice hit our city last night and we were among the 12,000 people witnessing this spectacle. We went with our friends Mary and Helen. Here are Emma and Helen just a few moments before the extravaganza began...


I'm joking about it, but it really wasn't that bad...I have sat through worse family events (Sesame Street Live comes to mind.) For one thing, our seats were on the floor in the second row! Now, had these been seats for Green Day, I would have been out of my mind. But even for Disney on Ice, it was pretty cool. Here's a picture I took...without even using the zoom on the camera. It kind of shows how close we were...


And of course, here was the highlight for Emma...


Nice shot of Prince Charming's bum, isn't it?

Don't ask me how we got these fantastic seats. I mean it, don't ask me. Okay, okay, I admit it...I subscribe to the Disney on Ice newsletter and was able to buy tickets a month before they went on sale. Can you believe what a total mom geek I am? Wait, it gets worse. I just bought advance tickets for HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL ON ICE!!!! Good lord, can you imagine what that will be like? But Emma adores that movie (she has a poster of Troy on her wall.) It will be here in December, so this will be an early Christmas present for her.

But it still kind of amazes me...I was someone who was going to punk rock and techno concerts pre-Emma...it is astounding how much your life can change when you have a kid. I'm not complaining, although sometimes I miss some of things I used to be majorly into. But my life is so much more interesting now...even if I do have to sit through the occasional "On Ice" production.

The shoe wars

Emma has always been about the shoes. Whenever we go to Target, she wants to head straight to the shoe department, not the toys. I bet she easily has 20 pairs of shoes.

She has always been pretty compliant about what clothes I lay out for her...she's not gone through one of those stages where she would only wear one thing (unlike a friend of mine whose 6-year-old daughter has refused to wear anything but a dress for 3.5 years!) But Emma can be totally demanding when it comes to her footwear. She always seems to want to wear the most inappropriate shoes.

Last week, we had a couple of days where it actually hit 80 and I let Emma wear sandals to school. Of course, the weather reverted back to normal and it's back in the 40s now, but Emma cannot understand why she can't continue to wear her sandals or flip flops outside. It's a source of major bickering between the two of us every morning now. And before you give me the old "why don't you give her a choice" idea...believe me, I've tried that. It doesn't work with Emma on this particular subject. Of course, I always win (because I'm the mom) and she ends up wearing weather-appropriate shoes outside. But I'm a little weary of the arguments every morning.

Anyway, I haven't taken many pictures in the past week...this morning Emma insisted on making breakfast for us, so I snapped a shot of her whipping up her famous cinnamon toast. My little Rachael Ray!

Am I losing my mind?

Let me just start out by admitting...I am an addict. For the past five years, I'm been totally in the thralls of an addiction that just won't let go, no matter how hard I try to escape from its clutches. I know it's a demon that many of my fellow bloggers suffer from as well, so hopefully no one will be too judgemental. My addiction is...buying clothing for my daughter.

I think I can say without exaggeration that I am a brilliant children's clothes shopper. I don't know that I've ever paid full price for anything in five years. I scour the sale racks, go to consignment shops, look for special promotions, use coupons and spend hours on Ebay looking for adorable clothes for Emma. For what I spend, she always looks good. Emma's teacher once told me that Emma was the best-dressed child in her school. Yikes...what pressure!

Anyway, one thing I do is pick up a lot of stuff at end-of-the-season sales. For example, I started buying things for this summer at the end of last summer, when summer clothes are at bargain basement prices. So I have been buying Emma clothes for this summer essentially since last August. I just throw them into a big storage bin under her bed. Which leads to the "am I losing my mind" part of of this account...

It's starting to get warmer here (FINALLY!) so yesterday I decided to get out all her new summer clothes and start washing them. As I unpacked the clothes, I began to see that there is a slight chance I may have sort of lost track of what I have bought over the past nine months. Maybe I should let the pictures tell the story...

Here is a photo of two adorable French Toast polo shirts I bought Emma at an end-of-summer sale last fall for like $3 each. I love lime green and pink together (as you will soon see.)


After going through more of the clothes, I also found two really cute Children's Place polos I had bought on sale and with a coupon for an additional 30% off. I had no idea how much I really dug the whole the lime green/pink look...


Okay, it's always good to have a back-up, in case one of them gets stained...I can see that. Then I came across a purchase I made a month or so ago at a blow-out sale at the local Carter's outlet. I think I see a pattern developing here...


Okay, either I'm totally going senile, or I need to get more organized about my shopping. I mean, how many lime green and pink polos does a five-year-old girl need - even if she is the best-dressed kid in her class? Maybe I should start some kind of Excel spreadsheet for Emma's clothes, sorted by color, size or line. Or maybe...I NEED TO QUIT BUYING HER SO MANY FRIGGIN' CLOTHES!!!

But as I said before...it's an addiction and it's too darn much fun! One thing I do know...it's definitely going to be a pink and lime green summer for Emma.

Anyway, I did more yesterday than just marvel over my stupidity when it comes to apparel purchases. It was a lovely day, so Emma and I went to the park with our friends Kay and Jenna. Here's a cute pic of Emma and Jenna having fun together...


And here's a photo of Emma in a contemplative mood...


She's such a deep thinker, my girl!

Emma is currently mad about...

...the Berenstain Bears. I'd sort of heard of them before...I think my sister had given us one Berenstain Bear book a long time ago. But one day while we were stuck at home, Emma watched the BB show on PBS and was totally hooked. Now every day I record the BB show and we watch it when we get home. And we've checked several BB books out from the library.

I guess what I like about the BB books and programs so much is that there is always, in a fun way, a positive lesson to be learned and reinforced. The stories talk about not being greedy or eating too much junk food or watching too much TV.

Over my lunch hour today, I ran over to the local used book store and picked up about six BB books for like $10. I love this bookstore because they have a huge kids' section and I can indulge in Emma's latest book obsession without spending much money.

Who knows how long she'll be digging the Berenstain Bears...like most kids, Emma kind of flits from one thing to another (except for the princess thing, which seems to have no end!) But I'm thrilled to encourage her infatuation with little kid stuff like this as long as I can. The longer I can stave off the dreaded Bratz phase, the happier I'll be.

Goooo Emma!

My parents got Emma a generous gift certificate from Build-a-Bear for her birthday. So this weekend, we headed to the mall to pick out some bears. Emma quickly chose the two bears she wanted and then it came time to select outfits for them. I naturally assumed she would want something princessy for her little bears, so I steered her to the Disney Princess outfits. Much to my surprise, she didn't want to get her bears princess outfits. Much to my dismay, this is what she wanted instead...


Excuse me...cheerleaders?! My daughter wants to be a cheerleader now? I had no idea she even knew what a cheerleader was. Has she been watching "Bring It On" while I take a shower or something? Last night, she actually wanted to demonstrate a cheer she made up. She essentially waved her arms around shouting "Give me a "E", give me a "M", give me a "M", give me an "A"...what's it spell...EMMA!" Of course, I clapped and said it was fantastic.

But cheerleading? Growing up, I was always the athlete, not the person cheering the athletes on. I was talking yesterday to a friend of mine and she says her 6-year-old daughter is suddenly fascinated by cheerleading too. She's approaching it with the attitude that it's a phase and her daughter will outgrow it. I guess that's the way to view it. Of course, if Emma ended up really wanting to be a cheerleader someday, I would totally support her. She's a girly-girl and that's part of what makes her so special. I have to keep reminding myself that...

A girl and her kitty

I swear, I have never seen anything like the love Emma has for our new cat. Every morning when we leave for school, she has to run and say goodbye to her. When we get home, she tears around the house until she finds Sami. The cat sleeps at the foot of Emma's bed at night, which thrills Emma to no end. Emma says "Don't worry if the kitty likes me better, Mommy, because I am her REAL owner." They are quite the cute couple...