A Little Bit of Everything

I know, I know.


My last post was at the end of November, and here it is, the first day of March. I could come up with a million and one excuses as to why I haven't posted in what seems like an eternity, but I'll just stop right there. Sign me up for Slackers Anonymous if you want, but I'm not afraid to admit it right here that I'm a slacker. I'm reminded quite frequently (Mom) that I haven't added anything to my blog in awhile. That I know.

I ALSO know that our almost (in two weeks)two-year old Emmerson has done so many new and hilarious things. That girl never ceases to amaze us at how intelligent she is. It could be just a biased mom opinion, but who cares? Her teachers at school constantly tell us that she is advanced. Well, yeah. It must be in the genes. (I refuse to label WHOSE genes they are, for fear of what either set of grandparents might do or say.)

Em is SO full of personality, and sometimes she gets a little carried away. Running around in circles screaming is one of her favorite pasttimes. Oh, and jumping. Whether it's on the floor or counting to three before jumping down on the bed, she can definitely keep herself entertained for awhile.

She knows when we are talking about her, retelling something she did to another person, because her head turns toward us, her eyes sparkle, and a huge grin slowly creeps upon her dimpled cheeks as she begins to giggle softly. That just cracks us all up and she laughs hysterically all over again.

I don't know if Emmerson listened intently to my English lessons while she was in my belly, but she can definitely spit out a good sentence using the correct grammar. Some of the newest ones have been the following:

"I can't reach it."

"I don't want it." (Tonight was the first time I heard that).

"Not nice." (Do you think she hears that often?)

"I show daddy/mommy?"

"I go potty!"

And her most often used, "What's that name?"


Emmerson loves to sing. Loves.it. Especially in the car. The other day, Em and I were driving home after I picked her up from school, and we were singing some songs together.

"How 'bout (pause) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?" I asked her.

"No," she quickly responded.

"How 'booooout, um, (pause) Jesus Loves Me?"

"No."

Obviously I couldn't please her and gave up. We sat in silence for about thirty seconds until I heard a little voice pipe up behind me.

"How 'booooout, ummmm, ABCD?"

I couldn't help but laugh and somehow got out, "Okay, (laugh), we'll sing ABCD, you silly girl."

That soaking up like a sponge saying really IS true.


I'm always excited to hear what she's going to say next. It's like life's "To Be Continued" episode and you never know when it's going to come on. I treasure these moments because, sadly, time goes by so quickly. I still can't believe she'll be two.


I know I'm going all over creation in this post. Are you going to complain or just read it? Remember, people, I haven't written anything in months. MONTHS!


Insert subject change here.)


Another exciting breakthrough we've had is The Potty.

I wanted to wait introducing the potty to her because sometimes it's not good to do it too early. A million questions ran through my mind. Seriously. I've reads lots and lot of articles, yet I still don't seem to have it all put together. How do I know if she's ready? What should she be doing to let me know? Should she wear pull ups? Training underwear? Does she need a doll that wets?

Yeah. It just goes on and on.

I do know that a girl her age at school has already moved up to the next class because she's potty training. Right. No pressure here. I found out last week that two of the kids in Emmerson's class are working on it now. Granted, they are boys, but Emmerson gets jealous when they get to use the potty and she doesn't. Also, a girl in her class at church has gone too. I know you aren't supposed to compare your child to others, but how could I not? It seemed like everyone I knew close to her age was using the potty. I knew it was time to get serious. Her teachers have told me a few times that she'd probably pick it up very easily. We will see.

We've done lots to prepare. We've bought the pullups, the party horns, the thin girls underwear, the thick training underwear (once I found out that I'm not supposed to start out using the thin ones yet. What? Like I knew?), the potty chair, the doll that wets, stickers, treats. You name it. We've bought it.

What I hadn't prepared for was the insanity I'd go through trying to get that child to STAY on the potty. She'd say she wanted to try and then I'd put her on and she'd start crying to get off. "Okay, then we'll just put your diaper on, " I told her. "Nooooooooo, doh pootttty!" she'd wail.

Sigh. We'd go back and forth and tears would flow. Not mine, but I bet that's what you were thinking.

She's not ready. Fine. I GET it.

Then on Friday night, the day that I found out she had fellow potty-ers in her class, I thought I'd give it another whirl. After her bath, I put Emmerson on the big toilet. I had to hold her up or she would've fallen in. "Try to potty like a big girl" I encouraged her. Then lo and behold, she did it! Steve jumped up and down like a wild buffoon and we screamed and clapped our hands (well I couldn't or she would've gone right in) while praising her. I did feel my eyes well up with tears as I watched her smile with pride. It only took about a minute's time when I realized right then and there that my little girl's not a baby anymore. Such a bittersweet moment that I'll remember forever.

(Wiping away tears). Okay. (Sniff.) Where was I?

So I tried to sit her again on the potty about half an hour later. Was it just a coincidence or did she really "get" the potty thing? Nope, she was not having any part of it again.

Tonight we had another breakthrough. I thought I'd try it again after her bath. She chose her smaller potty this time and I bribed her by saying that she could put another sticker on her chart that we made for her if she went potty again. She fell right for it because she really tried hard and it worked!! This time we made sure to snap some pictures.

This is her reaction when we told her we were proud of her. Just to clear it up for you, she's laughing, not crying, in this picture.

This is her pointing to the proof that she went potty like a big girl.

This is the chart I made. I think I'm going to reduce the size some and after she fills up the chart, she can get a small reward. The stickers seem to please her just fine though.

We had a HUGE snowstorm come through and we're out tomorrow (just one of the perks about being a teacher), so we'll try the whole potty thing again tomorrow and she how she deals with it. Pray for me. No, make that pray for US.