Checking in...

...mainly because I haven't blogged in week now. I guess I shouldn't feel obligated to post something, even when nothing of interest happens to us. But I do feel kind of neglectful if I go too long.

Anyway, an insanely busy week at work had left me pretty depleted by the weekend. So other than the usual laundry and grocery store chores, I was extremely lazy the past two days.

Yesterday, it was a lovely spring day so we met up with some friends at the local farmstead. The girls could ride horses, look at the animals, pan for "gold" and do a lot of other fun things. Emma wanted to go to the fishing hole, but UNFORTUNATELY, they ran out of worms just as we got there (WHEW!) It's funny...I used to fish all the time with my dad as a girl. But for some reason, at this age, I'm not keen on threading a wiggly worm onto a sharp hook.

Anyway, here's a picture I took of Emma and her friends Jia and Laura while we were taking a nature hike out at the farmstead...


And here's my little glamour gal vamping for the camera (and anyone else who happened by)


Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend...I'm hoping for a less frantic work week ahead!

Emma of Arabia

We headed to the zoo today with our friends Mary and Helen. Much to our surprise, the girls begged to ride the camels...a first for both of them. They rode together and absolutely LOVED it!

Emma's got SKILLS!

So in the past 24 hours, I've discovered that Emma has developed two new skills...one minor and one major.

After school yesterday, it was so nice out that I took Emma to the park for a little while. Of course, she headed straight for the swings. So I'm pushing her on the swing when I notice she is pumping herself! I have been trying to teach her how to pump on a swing since last summer, with no success. It seems so intuitive, but just try explaining to a child how to do it...it's HARD! I was so excited to see her pumping back and forth. Believe me, I've practically developed carpel tunnel from pushing that child for hours on the swings. She can finally help out a little!

Now for the major skill. Last night, I was reading a bedtime story to Emma when she stopped me and said "I know that word." I said "what is it?" and she answered "in" (which it was.) I asked her if she knew any other words in the book and she pointed out several other short words like "the", "I", and "get."

This morning at school, I asked her teacher if Emma had been working on reading and she said "Oh yeah, Emma's been reading for several weeks now!" I couldn't believe it! The teacher had Emma go pick out one of her school books and Emma sat down and read me the entire book without missing a word. I actually teared up a little...your child taking her first steps toward reading is so wonderful, especially when you love reading as much as I do.

One kind of funny thing...when Emma was reading to me, everytime she got to the word "you", she would say "not me, but YOU." Her teacher said Emma had been having some trouble with that word and the teacher would give her the hint "not me, but..." Her teacher assured me that eventually she would drop the "not me, but..." part! Funny!

Anyway, no photos of Emma's new skills...but I do have a picture of Emma when she was one...already into reading! It's always been one of my favorite pictures of her...

A day at the park

After a couple of weeks of truly wretched spring weather (cloudy, cold, rainy and even snowy), things took a turn for the better today, with sunny skies and temps in the 60s. When you have a five-year-old who's been cooped up inside for two weeks, it's mandatory that you head to the park on a day like today.

As any child can tell you, the park is full of fun. You can swing...


You can hang on the monkey bars...


You can play in the sand box...


You can ride your soon-to-be-too-small scooter...


And after all this fun, you can still be whiny when mommy tells you that you have to go home to eat dinner!

Belated happy Easter!

I'm sure everyone has moved on from Easter, but I've been away from the computer and haven't had a chance to post anything from the weekend. So bear with me if you're already over "Happy Easter" posts...

We spent the Easter holiday with my parents and had a fabulous time, despite winter-like weather. We went to an Easter egg hunt at my aunt's church and it was 25 degrees out with a wind chill of 10! But frigid weather is no deterrent when a five-year-old is searching for eggs filled with treats!




Here's a nice picture of Emma with my Aunt Hazel and my mom (or Biggie, as Emma calls her!) They are both so crazy about Emma and had fun helping her look for eggs.


Back at my parents' house, we colored Easter eggs, despite the fact that none of us likes hard-boiled eggs. I think we admired them for like 10 minutes and then threw them in the trash!

Easter morning, the Easter bunny was very kind to Emma...she got all kinds of fun little toys (and a little bit of candy.) The big prize were these Disney Princess eggs...


Each egg was filled with some kind of activity. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a bunch of crappy activities that didn't work. Oh well...

And here is MY little princess in all her Easter finery...


All in all, a wonderful Easter that I was thrilled to spend with my girl and my parents. Hope you all had a great holiday as well!

Emma's nap...RIP

Well, it's all but official now...my daughter no longer needs to take a nap. I knew this day would come eventually. I remember when Emma was about 16 months old and she started to no longer need a morning and an afternoon nap. Man, was that hard to let go of! I needed those couple of hours just to get things done. But we got used to just napping in the afternoon and that's pretty much the way it's been for the past four years.

But a few months ago, I began having difficulty getting Emma to lay down and sleep in the afternoons. She would play quietly in bed for 30 minutes or so, and then start hollering that she wanted to get up. On occasion, she would fall asleep for an hour or two. But that became increasingly rare.

At this point, she hasn't taken a nap on the weekend for probably six weeks. She really doesn't need it anymore. The bigger question, though, was how I would adjust to having a non-napping child. That hour or two she slept was a gift in a way...I got so much done! I really thought it would be horrible when she stopped napping. But surprisingly, it's no big deal. If I need a break, I'll ask her to play in her bed for a little while. In a way, it's almost liberating...we no longer have to build our schedule around nap time.

If we've had a particularly hectic day, Emma will still nod off in the car from time to time. I can't tell you how many times I'll sit in a parking lot, letting her sleep for a bit. HINT TO FUTURE MOMS: Always have an unread book or magazine stashed in the car for these occasions. I have caught up on a lot of reading while Emma was snoozing away in her car seat.

Anyway, it's another developmental milestone we've reached...so I leave you with a photo from last year, when my little girl was still a member of the nap brigade...

Just when you think your baby is gone forever...

...she wants to spend her afternoon at the park swinging back and forth in the baby swing.


I have no problem with that!