It feels like its been a busy month, I guess with all the excitement of sharing our good news with everyone, and Rod's sister, Sharon (Sha Sha - what Em called Sharon) visiting. It's been fun.
We met up with Sharon in Boston and it took a day or two for Emma to warm up to her. Em traveled really well. Kind of crazy to think that after this trip Em has flown over 12 times!! Think thats more than I ever travelled by the time I was 21!
Boston is a great city, nice and compact, and relatively easy to get around. Lots of history and lots to see. We tried walking the first day, but then decided to make use of the trolley tours. We at least got to see all the main sights and our feet got to rest a lot more. You know a city is relatively small when you can see the State House from almost anywhere you go, even crossing the Charles River. Em adapted well, taking her naps in her stroller. Somehow she's gone back to 2 naps a day, quick 30-45 min morning nap, then a later afternoon nap. She'll only take her morning nap if she's in the car, or if we're out and about in a stroller. If we're at home, there is no way she'll nap in the morning.
We all shared one room, so I was a little anxious about this, as Emma always sleeps in her own room. But again she adapted well, first night everyone cleared the room, except for me, then the second night we tried with all of us in the room. We were all so tired, we all actually fell alseep while waiting for Emma to fall asleep! During this trip Emma was super clingy to mommy, so left mommy having to carry her a lot, even during some naptimes. Because we were hopping on and off the trolley we didn't want to put Em in the stroller, which left me carrying this heavy lump for almost 2 hours while she napped (how I wished I remembered our ergo carrier). We knew if we tried to pass her over to Rod she'd either wake, or she'd still want me to carry her (half asleep and reaching out her hands - bou bou). The things we'll do for sleep!! My arms were so sore the next day!
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| naptime in the arms |
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| super clingy emma |
I've always been wondering when Em will call me from her crib. Well it started in Boston. So the great thing about hotels are the heavy curtains which really makes the room dark. I've always wondered about getting darkening shades for Emma's room, wondering if it'd help Emma sleep in later. Turns out, it doesn't make a difference. Em still chose to wake up at 6am! First morning she was really quiet in the crib, just waiting for us to wake. Second morning, she's still quiet, but probably half an hour into it, starts calling, Ma, Ma, Ma! Da, Da, Da! ( I will say it was cute hearing her call us, we just laid still hoping she might go back to sleep, no such luck) Our last night, Em took a late afternoon nap, think she fell asleep close to 6 and woke at around 8, in time for dinner, this was nice as we got to see the night lights and enjoy our last evening. Em slept at 10/11pm, I thought great, we all get to sleep in, nope, 6am on the dot, Ma, Ma, Ma! Since Boston, every morning now Em will call me at 7am. Makes me strongly consider keeping Emma in a crib when baby #2 arrives, it's great right now that Emma can stay contained in her crib until I'm ready to get her. All I've got to bear right now are her calls.
After our Boston trip, we came back to NC, spent a week here, then off to Charlotte for the following weekend. Sharon was meeting up with a friend there that lives in Asheville and spending the weekend there. Instead of driving up and down (2 hour drive) Rod and I decided to stay the weekend in Charlotte. So we got to see another city. Not as exciting as Boston. But was nice to still walk around and see what it had to offer. Very quiet city, you almost feel unsafe because it's so quiet. We spent our Saturday at a kids science musuem, Discovery Place. I think Rod and I had our fair share of fun experimenting with all the gadgets there. Lying on a bed of nails, sitting on a chair that elevates by the use of a huge vacuum, taking a science quiz, which clearly is not our strong suite. Em's favourite part was the huge water table. Enjoying filling cups of water and spilling it out. Ending when Em decided to spill water all over herself, instead of back in the water table! Oh no!!!!
Mother's Day, I was spoilt with hugs and kisses. Felt really lazy that morning, so we all had breakfast in bed and took our time to check out, then meet up with Sharon and made out way back home. Amazing to be celebrating my second mothers day. It gets more and more rewarding.
For the rest of Sha-Sha's stay we did a lot of shopping and hardly any site seeing. It was really great watching Em and Sharon spend time together, and Em enjoyed having her aunt there to play with her. I got a few breaks which was welcoming. Sharon got to see Emma at her music class, one of the storytimes at the library, and we decided one day to go strawberry picking. This was fun, the strawberries accumulate really quickly and they look so good you almost want to eat them right there and then, obviously Em wanted to do this, we had to stop her. There were other kids there who's mouths were all red from eating as they picked.
As soon as Sharon left, Rod left for London, so it's been a long week, one more to go. Talking over skype, Rod can't get over how tall she's gotten and how much more she's talking. Her latest word - Avocado - "Avo-ca-ca". It's crazy how her face will change by the week too, this morning I looked at her, and thought there is something different about you today. Looking bigger I guess.
What Emma's been up to this past month - she's changed in her ways that she's stopped her pushing (thankgoodness), and now she's very caring, stroking other kids or babies (this makes my heart melt, esp thinking of baby #2 on the way), or kindly sharing her toy if one kid asks for it or wants it. Not everything is given up easily as you can imagine, but for the most part she'll share. Quite tough when you see other kids not willing to share with Emma after she's been so nice. Em is one of those kids that will stand back and let everyone ahead of her, then be left with the remnants. I see this so often at music class, she'll get all excited to pick an instrument and run toward the box, but when she sees the other kids running too, she'll stop about a foot away from the box and just stand there watching the kids grab their choice of instrument, and she looks as me like, hi mom and just smile with her hands behind her back. I have to go in and tell her to grab an instrument before she's left with the egg shaker AGAIN, poor kid. But she's happy with that.
Oh this month Em got her first official hair cut, she sat on my lap with my iphone and we managed to get quite a straight cut. She was proud of it, and I will say she looks a whole lot neater now.
It was quite funny that day. I was explaining to Emma what I was having done and that after she got to play at the playzone she'd have to be a good girl and sit in her stroller while I had my hair done. Emma kept repeating the word, haircut, haircut, then "back", thinking that I was going to leave her at the playzone while I had my hair cut. After a while she started associating that she was going to have her haircut. Because she seemed quite eager to have her haircut, I asked the stylist if she could cut her hair and she did.
Em has been telling me diaper diaper, basically telling me when to change her diaper. I do wonder if this is the early stages of potty training. It was great in Boston, as she'd always remind me to change her diaper. After a while it became a habit of saying diaper, just so she could get out her highchair and walk.
With the increase in vocab, it's been fun, as now I am able to read stories to Emma and for most books she can end off the sentences as we read. She's also doing this with nursery rhymes and we're slowly learning the alphabet. Amazing seeing Emma's memory increase and how she now remembers things.
We went to the post office the other day and the lady behind the counter gave her stickers. I had to go again about 2 days later and the first thing Em said as we walked in was, "sticker". I said that we'll have to see if the lady has stickers, so as soon as we got to the counter, Emma asked me to carry her, and just as I lifted her, she looks at the lady and says, "sticker, sticker". The lady asked what it is she was asking for, everyone in the post office had a good laugh. So Emma gets one sticker, but of course thats not enough, she asks for "more".
So many funny things happening these days, this post will just carry on and on if I type about every thing. It's definitely a cute age right now, and I know it's only going to get funnier and more interesting.
Emma's latest thing is to have me wrap her blankets around her. It's a warm 30 degrees outside and she'll still insist on being wrapped. Makes for great entertainment - who needs tv when you've got your child??
