Emma can Thread

With it being so cold and not quite sure if Emma is over her cold, I've been trying to find things to do with her.  I got this Lacing Beads in a Box (supposed to be one of those things you find on sale, so you buy in hopes to give it to her as a gift later), nice bright colorful shapes to thread onto a piece of string.  I  guess then I should be calling it stringing??

We started playing with this on Monday, and Emma caught on pretty quick, the only thing that put her off was the tip was too short, so mom had to come up with a solution, and used some tape to make it just a little longer.

Well this helped so much and now Emma can string on her own, so amazing to watch her catch onto things so quickly!

And they say this toy is from 3 up....pft.....haha....maybe by 3 she won't need the additional tape!
Another post from a bragging and proud mom!!  Well done Em!

Sleeping Emma

Just the other day I was saying I've never been able to take a pic of Emma sleeping as she always wakes up or moves with any sound she hears.  However today was the day I finally captured a pic.

We had gone for a walk this morning and Emma fell asleep in the stroller.  Emma has a way of falling asleep with any type of motion.  Em obviously knew I needed the exercise.   So we both benefited from this, Em gets her resting time and mom gets her "exercise".  So her naps were pushed out and she clearly wasn't sleepy even at 2pm.  Too funny, she was kicking her legs and talking away before finally falling asleep.

16 / 17 Month Update

Emma is 17 months!  It's funny that Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh always remind me of her monthly birthdays, and then I'm like shoot what has she been doing to blog about.
When I looked at Emma on the 22nd there was something different about her, despite the crusty nose (due to her first cold she just caught), she seemed to have grown an inch overnight, and by her politely pulling things from our side tables and other tables, comfortably pulling draws open and sifting through the things that are in it, confirms it.

I realise I didn't write a 16 month update, so thought I'd combine the two.  Quite a difference a month makes.

16 months was filled with lots of No, No, No's and Oh No!'s.  The No, No, No's were contagious, Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh were starting to sound like her when we would ask them a question.  And I caught myself saying it too - maybe that is where she learnt it from in the first place?  Along with "Ja".  I wondered where she learnt this from and then heard myself responding with "Ja" when asked a question.  These little things you don't realise.

Now at 17 months, everything is a stern "No!" with running away from me!  Where did she learn this from?  Seems so cheeky, but cute at the same time.
She has this way with her eyes, she'll give you this side stare and almost rolls her eyes, as if to say, you're a little crazy! Hmmm...I'm beginning to wonder if I look at people like that, if so I better change my ways! :)

We went from 9 teeth to now 14, and I learnt not to just stick my fingers in Emma's mouth to feel for teeth.  Both Em and I got a fright!  Those chompers are sharp!!!

At 16 months I was still teaching Emma how to climb down the stairs, now at 17 months, actually as from yesterday (23rd) Emma can make her way down both flights of stairs.  It's something to spectate, yesterday she was a little unsure, getting stuck on the middle platform, then today completely confident coming down saying 'Weeee!!" as she slides down on her belly.  Such a monkey!
Talking of Monkey, I now ask Emma, "Who's a monkey?" and she's respond with "Emma".

Emma's speed up the stairs has improved too - before I was able to quickly run upstairs to grab my shoes and Emma would still be at the bottom of the stairs, today I did this and as I came out the room she was almost at the top of the stairs - guess no more of doing that now!  I know my folks are cringing at the idea that I even do that.

So now Emma has caught her first little cold - little runny nose and slight cough at night.  Mothers instinct, I knew she was going to get sick after a little boy coughed over her.  Not wanting to be the paranoid mom I didn't grab Emma away for the child, instead asked Emma to move over to another piece of equipment, except she decided to stay and stare at this boy.  He coughed again and thats when I had to take her away.  And now she's sick.   I said to my sister that I wasn't given the manual nor trained to manage a sick baby, it's a little scary.  Her symptons aren't even bad, so pray for me when she's really sick.   I just hope she gets over this little cold soon, always feel so sorry for her hearing her cough.  And I think she's feeling a little cooped up, this morning after breakfast and getting dressed she asked to put her boots on and pointed to her jacket.  I asked if she wants to go out and she nodded.  Unfortunately I had to distract her with other things to keep her indoors for now. 

Emma's skills - she's improving with her ball kicking skills, only thing she never looks up, so Rod and I are always having heartattacks trying to catch her fall or just hoping she doesn't run into anything.  So weird that just when you think she's about to hit her head, she somehow manages to swoop right past and not get hurt - shew!
Same thing goes for walking backward, she walks and walks not knowing where she's going, and it's almost like she enjoys the unknown, cos as soon as she walks into the couch or the wall, she's say, "whoops" and fall on her butt.
Drawing and coloring in - subtle changes, I ask her to draw circles and she goes round and round, we're working on up and down and side to side, slowly getting the hang of it all.

I've always wondered when a baby starts to remember things.  Obviously it all starts from when she's born, but in terms of remembering names and/or saying them or times where I've said when you wake up you can play with that toy.  Well Emma seems to forget about that toy she wanted to play with before naptime, but before we went to Hong Kong we had our bathroom painted, the painter's name was John.  Emma would call him John John, well he came back in the New Year to do some other stuff around the house, and when Emma saw him, she said John John!  Now I'm encouraging Emma to learn the family's names and or "titles".

Emma's domestic skills have improved, her household duties now include dusting, sweeping, sometimes wiping the floor on hands and knees, making the bed (she especially enjoys jumping into the pillows and duvet), and cooking saying stir, stir, stir or sizzle, sizzle.

Rod's been away for a week now, two more weeks until he gets back.  So between talking to her grandparents and dad over skype, Emma has become good at giving cyber kisses (blowing kisses) and cyber hugs (wrapping her arms around herself and making hugging sounds).  I actually had to teach her how to hug me properly, when I asked for a hug she hugged me the cyber way, thats when you know you're on the computer too much.

Everyday there is always something new, something improved, this child never seizes to amaze us.  We can never get enough of her, smiles and all.  Gee 1 and a half years next month, before we know it Emma will be speaking sentences and I won't have to ask her over and over again what she's saying.  Emma will gabber away something, I have to ask her to repeat in hopes I'll understand, she'll say it exactly how she said it, but her silly mom still can't make out what she's saying.

Can't get enough of these smiles, and look at all those teeth!

Looks do change

In my mind Emma still looks the same to me as she did a few months ago.

But looking thru photos I came across this one and boy has Emma changed - so chubby and no eyes.

9 months ago.

Emma talking to Daddy on the phone

This is quite a sweet video worth sharing.

Rod is away in London for 3 weeks, so Emma started talking on my phone, saying Da-Da and chatting away (I do wonder if the high pitched voice will stick?).  It was too cute.  In this video you can see her calling her dad and talking, then showing off her skills of how she can use the iphone.  Sadly she knows how to access her favorite apps.

Emma's Words

With Emma speaking a bit more, we're asking her to repeat words we're saying.
They come out more sounding like the word, than actually pronouncing the word, it's really cute.
Goofy is Goof, Donald Duck is DoDuc, Minnie Mouse if MinnieMinnieMinnie, Mickey is Minnie too.

We reached a confusing patch when we asked Em to say the word "Please", because we've been using sign language for so long, whenever we say, "Say Please", she'll sign it.  Now with her speaking we're trying to get her to actually say the word.  Well it's a neverending, "Say Please, Emma" and she'll sign, so the other day we said, "Emma, say the WORD, Please", she signs, "Emma, use your words, say "Please"", sign again.  "Emma can you say the word?"  Emma replies with, "Word".  Almost!! haha.
Well now we have her saying "Psh", with the sign, so we've made some progress.

The other night, Emma thought it would be fun to spill/throw her food on the floor, I told her that was naughty and she must say sorry mommy.  What came out of her mouth after sounded a bit like, "I'm sorry", but saying it with gusto.  Your heart melts and you can't resist giving her hugs and kisses, but then you're wondering if you're encouraging that behaviour?

Most mornings when Em wakes up, I'll open the blinds with Em and say, "Good Morning Rustic Wood Ln" or "Jo Saan".  This morning she asked me if she could pull the blind open, by saying "Pull", then when they opened, she said "Josaan"

I know this is just the start of all the cute things that'll come out of her mouth. 

Settling back in

Just when I caught up with all the laundry, cleaned the floors, made our meals, it’s time to do it all over again!  Vicious vicious cycle!

We’re home two weeks now and pretty much back on track, mainly talking about Emma’s sleep schedule!  I got to live my/our ideal schedule for just one week.  I think it had a lot to do with jetlag, but our little Emma was going to bed at 7/7:30pm, waking at 8am and taking one nap a day for 3 – 4 hours.  I thought it was too good to be true,  just as I was getting used to this, and thinking of all the things I could do while she’s asleep (laundry, cleaning floors, catching up on my blog), she decided to wake again at 5am, resist her naps until 12pm and then only nap for an hour to an hour and a half.  What fun!

Emma got so used to sleeping in our arms, in the stroller, in the car, in our bed, I always had to be in the room for her to fall asleep, so has taken some readjusting to falling asleep on her own, in her crib.  We still have tears before bed, but she’s at least not crying for as long as she used to.  Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only mother that lets her child cry it out so often!?

Thankfully we have had some mornings of sleeping in, which always come as a surprise, and I’ll gladly take those whenever she allows.  I just need to be ready to use the time wisely.

The weather has been freezing, so we’re cooped up indoors most of the time, we do trips out to the mall when we can to play at the kidzone there, go to music class when naps allow, otherwise I have to try think of things to do around the house.  Being home must seem so boring to Em now, after everything she saw in  Hong Kong, the hustle and bustle of people and cars. She got to experience every mode of transport possible, plane, bus, train, plane, boat and taxi.  In Emma’s eyes she probably thinks of  Hong Kong as dirty and disgusting (that’s due to us continuously telling her not to touch things on the bus, wanting to press elevator buttons etc) a place where there are lots of people like mommy and daddy (quite funny when I asked her to go to daddy, she had to stop in her tracks and look at everyone before spotting her dad).  A place where she got to eat so many Cha Sui Bow (steamed roast pork dumplings), yummy mein, chicken drumsticks and egg rolls (the family were amazed at her appetite and how clean she would clean a mini chicken drumstick).  And a place where she got so spoilt with gifts and love from the family.   Thank you to the Fok Family for spoiling Emma and us so! 

Yesterday (actually now a few days ago) I attempted finger painting with Emma.  I didn’t have paint, but I read somewhere to use flour, water and food coloring.  Em kept saying draw, draw, draw so I’m trying to make my concoctions of Red, Yellow, Blue as quickly as possible before the interest dies.  I obviously didn’t play the entire thing out in my mind, as I didn’t think of an apron.  So I quickly had to think and decided to use a big plastic bag, cut a hole for the head and arms, and voila we have an apron.  Well Emma did not take to this lightly, fussing when I tried to put the bag over her head.  After a while I gave up and thought about what I was doing….I’m telling my child it’s okay to put a plastic bag over her head.  Hmm…not such a good idea, so I managed to find a plastic bib, turned up the heat, took off Emma’s layers, rolled up her sleeves, covered her pants with a  towel….goodness, what a paranoid mother.   All this for Emma to say, No, No, No, No, No when I tried to show her how to paint! Ahhh!!!!  Come on Em, it’s fun I say….dipping my finger in the “paint” and stroking the paper with my finger, which left shivers going up and down my spine, like scratching your nails down a chalkboard.  I hide this and just smile and say, “Look it’s so much fun!” , instead of stroking now, I make dots with my fingers….this seems to grab Em’s interest and she sticks her fingers in the paint and starts “painting”.  Special special moments!!!

Emma’s work of art (looks a bit like she used ketchup and mustard to paint!).

This is just one of the things we’re doing to keep busy in this cold weather.

After our two week vacation it has good to be home.  We realise how spoilt we are with living space, how many things we have in our house that probably aren’t needed, or aren’t that important, and also how you’re able to make do with the few things you might have.  We obviously miss the family, that goes without saying.  We were spoilt with being cooked for, for two weeks, that I’ve found it hard to find the energy to make a meal for us – opting for left overs, or the easiest meal to cook.  I blame jetleg, which sadly I’ve gotten over and now have no excuse. 

Red, Yellow, Blue

Emma surprised me this morning.  While eating breakfast, Emma was playing with her stacking cups and out of the blue, she pointed out the colors and identified them!  I was stunned, this was not something I had done with her recently, or made an effort to teach as yet.  I guess without realising I do label the colors when she plays with the cups, and she plays with her toys that name colors too help.

So proud of my little girl.  Growing up way too fast!

Surprisingly when I pulled out the camera to try recapture the moment, Emma was able to somewhat reenact the moment.  It's funny though, most of the time, I'll ask Emma to repeat a word I say and she pronounces it the way it's meant to be said, but when you ask her to say it again, she can't or won't.

Happy New Year

Probably the most emotional time of the year for me, reflecting on what has passed, and anxious about what lies ahead!

Just 15 minutes to the New Year!

Despite our jetlag, we're drinking some bubbly and waiting to see the New Year in, watching Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block performing on Dick Clarks New Year Rockin Eve.  Takes us back in time a bit!!

What a whirlwind year it seems, most of it taken up watching our little Emma grow!  Nonetheless it's been an awesome year and so much to be thankful for!!

Thank you Emma for being in our lives and bringing happiness that we never knew existed.  Thank you Rod for being the wonderful, caring and supportive husband you always are.  I couldn't ask for more!! 

Can't wait for 2011 to see what else is in store for us as a family!

Happy New Year all!  Thinking of all our family and friends afar, we miss you all!

Merry Christmas!!

My first pull case

Merry Christmas everyone!!  Or maybe Merry belated Christmas!
The most wonderful time of the year has come and gone already.
We hope you all have a wonderful day spoiling each other with gifts and just enjoying time with each other.

We're still in Hong Kong and for Christmas we just spent a chilled day at home, later with a bit of shopping and then feasting on some South African meat and Hong Kong Turkey.  One things for sure on this vacation we have really eaten well.  We have had alot of home cooking, which has been superb.  Rod's family are excellent cooks, the variety and effort, definitly better than eating out at restaurants.  We're also eating our fair share of sushi and baked cakes.....not having it so readily available and affordable in NC, we're really pigging out. 



The malls always have some cute christmas displays



family pic - we'll eventually get a pic with everyone in it

 Emma has been so spoilt by all the family as you can all imagine.  For most of the vacation she has been refusing to give certain family members hugs and kisses, and the only time she gave or gives them is when she gets something, so obvisouly today everyone got hugs and kisses.
 

Emma has really gotten to know the family members, it's been great seeing her enjoy her Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh, actually she calls them and asks to be picked up.  Of course they don't refuse, they're loving her so much.  Emma loves her Tai Ma Ma, doesn't enjoy being carried by her, but will give hugs and kisses and play peek a boo with her.

So an update on our Disney visit.  In short, Emma LOVED it!!!  (Rod and I laughed, that we came all the way to Hong Kong to go to Disney, when we have one just an hours flight away.)  The excitement started as we walked in and she saw a bubble machine, Emma saw this and got so excited, running thru the bubbles.  After bubbles, came Mickey and Minnie, somehow Emma calls them Poo...as in Pooh Bear - every disney character is Poo to Em.  Then there were balloons (ball), Emma loves balloons....there  was just so much for her to see and take in, we left her to walk around a bit and just enjoy it.  It was so cute watching her walk with her hands behind her back, or swaying them back and forth, like such a big girl.

Before her afternoon nap we squeezed in as much as we could for Emma to experience.  Her favorite ride was the Cinderella Carousel, after the first ride, she did not want  to get off, wrapped her feet around the horse and didn't want to let go.  We were hoping to get Emma to ride on Dumbo, but the wait was 40 - 50 minutes, couldn't put Emma through waiting that long.  This trip Emma has adjusted so well to napping in our arms and in the stroller, so we were lucky she took an hour and a half nap in the stroller to wake up and enjoy a bit more of Disney, unfortunately though, she missed out on the parade.  

Emma's encounter with Pooh Bear - I wasn't sure about this.  Just before we left for Hong Kong, we thought we could get a picture of Emma with Santa Claus.   Thinking I had gotten her used to the man, talking about him and pointing him out at the mall, I thought we were set.  When we were next to him she went crazy, I have never had Emma cling onto me so tight, even after walking away to the other end of the store, when we walked back in the direction of Santa, Emma started moaning, No, No, No, No, No!  Anyways, we were walking around the character greeting area at Disney and came across Tigger, it just happened that Tigger was leaving and Pooh Bear was arriving in 5 minutes, so we were second in line and waited for him  When he finally arrived, Emma just wanted to run toward Pooh.  I had to hold her back so that the kids in front could have their photo taken, she couldn't wait.  Eventually it was her turn and Emma started to walk/run toward Pooh, very excited, however when he approached her she darted for Mommy and put her head between my legs.  After picking her up she felt more secure and touched Pooh and waved to him.  I was so surprised how much she liked him, except when he tried to hold her.  It was a funfilled day - definitely different to two years when we didn't have a baby in tow.  Travelling with baby in utero was definitely easier, but experiencing all this with Emma has been priceless.  And to think it's only going to get better to see Emma's appreciation for these kind of things - or so I hope.  

I've uploaded a few videos of Emma at Disney.  More photos of our trip will be posted soon, after I've gotten some shut eye and filled up on more yummy goods.

5 more days left of our vacation here, we're going to make the most of it.  Until then, enjoy the rest of your holidays!       

We're in Hong Kong

 

 We're finally in Hong Kong on our first family vacation.  I say first because this time the three of us are travelling to and from our international destination together.  I was dreading the flight to Hong Kong, wondering how we were going manage all the hand luggage, going through security, the huge car seat, installing and uninstalling, not being able to wheel the car seat down the aisles of the plane, and taking the wheeling attachement off and on the car seat.  But it all ended up going very smoothly, as though we were seasoned travellers :p.  Phew!

Then the flying was another dread - how would Emma handle 20 odd hours of airplane travel.  Turned out that Emma napped the entire leg from Raleigh to Newark, this coincided with her midmorning nap.  The 16 hour flight from Newark to Hong Kong wasn't easy, but Emma did really well considering, napping about 8 hours of the 16 hours, being entertained by the handset and tv screen in front of her.  All the books and toys we brought along (even though new) were declined.  Sleep was hard for her with all the noises, lights and people around her, when we finally got her to sleep, we made a little tent for her to keep it nice and dark for her.

I must say I was so happy we took the huge car seat with us, made travelling sooooo much easier and comfortable. 

Now we're spending loads of time with Rod's family and trying to get Emma over the jetlag.  It's been a rough few nights/mornings, but I think we're on track now.  Poor baby.  So many changes, she must wonder why we walk everyone and has not once had to sit in her car seat.  

We've been eating delicious family meals at Debbie Koo-Che's house, everyone taking time out of their busy schedules to all be together.  It's been wonderful family time.  Really special seeing Emma with her Tai Ma Ma (Great Grandmother) - the happiness on her face is priceless.  She did comment that she loves holding Emma, but she does wish she weren't as heavy.

Emma is loving the attention from everyone.  She has her moments of not wanting to go to certain people, still warming up.  The first night we arrived, she was already giving everyone hugs.  When Ma Ma and Yeh Yeh arrived, she just sat and stared at them.  Must have been weird for her to see them in real life, and not on skype.  For us, of course we're enjoying seeing Emma being loved by everyone, making up for the missed out family time.  It's great having free hands too.

Still more to look forward to, will update about the rest of our trip later.  We're off to Disney tomorrow, not too sure that Emma will get as excited about the real Pooh Bear....it's going to be interesting.

Until then.....

Farewell Kiara

Today I had to say Goodbye to my beautiful Kiara. 10 good years of loyalty and companionship.
I do regret that fact that the past 5 years I had not been around to look after her, but my dad did an awesome job, along with mom, Shan, Nix, Charm, actually everyone in the family.

Kiara was a wonderful dog, still a puppy dog in my eyes after 10 yeares. I always wanted a Labrador, and when my gran had a contact of a breeder I quickly went to see the litter and picked out Kiara, the one with the pink nose. Such a sweet pup. I think I did about a year of training and from that she was such a good listener and pretty well behaved.  Taking her on playdates, giving her the best food, my family thought I was nuts!

I missed her already from being far away, and knowing that I'll never seen her again when I visit SA hurts!
I know she's in a better place now and no longer suffering.

Kiara, thank you for being the best dog for me! You'll always be my special pup.

Rest in Peace.

So that is what a tantrum is all about

Today I can say I truely experienced a tantrum!  I was the mom that couldn't control the screams of her baby while shopping at Target.  It's funny how you feel everyone is looking at you and judging you.  You wonder if they're sympathising with you, or just shaking their heads and thinking, poor child, not poor mom, but poor child!

What I've learnt from this, firstly, never buy a christmas gift for your baby while your baby is with you, two, there is nothing you can do to control the tantrum so just carry on doing what you're doing and hold on tight to your baby so she doesn't fall out your arms or cart!!!

Goodness...I never thought Emma was capable of such, horribleness.

It all started when Emma woke up later than normal, 7am!  Which meant that she wouldn't need her 9am nap and would probably just do one nap.  So at 9am I decided to quickly run out to Target, get the few things that I needed, we also just received the holiday catalogue and saw a toy that I've been eyeing for Emma and thought I'd go check it out again and possibly buy it for her.

Emma started getting a little antsy in the shopping cart, but I gave her a few distractions which seemed to work.  We then got to the toy section and I picked up the item that I wanted to buy for her, Zany Zoo activity block.  She saw it and wanted to play with it, now this is quite a big item, so I let her touch it a bit and wanted to put it in the cart.  She didn't like this idea.  The moaning started.  Trying to explain that we had to pay for the item first, and I would let her play with it later didn't go down too well.  Moans turned into kicking and screaming in the cart, which forced me to carry her, in hopes she'll get distracted with pushing the cart, which she normally likes.  This did not work!

Get to the check out counter, unload everything except the toy.Still kicks and screams, eventually I let her stand in the cart so she could play with the toy, then it was a big smile and laughing and shrieking!
But now we had to scan the item and the barcode is right at the bottom which meant I had to take the toy out the cart.  Obviously Emma did not approve of it and held onto the toy not wanting me to take it out.
I picked Emma up kicking and screaming and tried to lift the toy, and very politely asked the cashier to please help me lift the toy so she could scan the barcode, instead I got this blank stare and the cashier just stood there.  So I pushed the cart around to the lady, but she still stood there! Ugh, really!
This did not help in anyway, after much deliberation she eventually caught on and scanned the item!

I could not put Emma in the cart to stand by the toy and play as my other shopping items were in there too, and who knows in America if you'd be fined for not sercurely strapping your child in the shopping cart if I let her stand.  So there I was walking out of Target with one hand pushing the cart, and the other hand holding my tantruming child like a Rugby Ball!
Despite all that I could't help but smile, as there was really nothing I could do.

Thats not all.....I packed everything into the car and tried to put Emma in her car seat, she wanted nothing to do with this, pushing herself out the chair, sliding down so I couldn't secure the straps, after several attempts and still not losing my cool (which I'm pretty proud about), I decided to give up and just let Emma play with the darn toy for a few minutes.   I placed the toy next to the car and let her stand there and play.  All smiles again, as tho none of the above just happened, I cannot believe the change in mood!  But as you can imagine it didn't take the normal few minutes of play for her to be happy and move on.  She just did not want to let go of this item.
Well I couldn't just stand in the parking lot and let my child play, so embraced myself and just fought with poor Emma to get back into her seat.  The crying carried on and on, all the way home!

We get home, and the screams have died down, I take Emma out her chair, get her all excited that she can now play with her new toy for as long as she likes.  She stands buy it, plays for a minute, runs away and moves onto something else and does not touch the darn toy again that day!  Seriously!!!???

Do I take it back now?

Leaf Raking

Overnight all the leaves had fallen and left our garden covered, so Rod thought he'd tackle the raking this morning.  Gave Em the opportunity to play amongst the leaves, I actually didn't realise that Emma has not yet played nor walked on grass (we're either indoors, or else walking on mulch at playgrounds). She was not too fond of it, almost shivering when she first stepped on it.  However seeing daddy raking gave her incentive to cross the garden and see what he was doing, no sooner she was asking for the rake so she could lend a helping hand, still a little wary of the grass and leaves.  Got a few cute shots of her, I always find it so hard to select just a few!

about to help dad

this is fun

whoops, don't let me fall on the grass

trying to compress the leaves

my job is done!

15 Months

15 Months brings with it our baby, our baby that is hardly a baby anymore...I guess she's officially a toddler...I went to the mall and looked for some cute christmas outfits, and when I looked at the baby items everything was too small/babyish for her, had to look in the toddler/girl section, really? 

At 15 months you definitely see more of her personality shining through.

Emma is confident - walking into the play area at the mall, she shrieks as if to say, I'm here, now lets get the party started!  Almost everything she does, she'll give this grin as if to say look at what I did, then clap for herself.
With confidence comes a side of a dare devil, now attempting to climb on things in the playzone area at the mall, or climbing up the stairs at home, then taking a seat on the first step, two days later on the second step and another two days later on the third step and standing up to show mommy what she can now do, almost giving me a heartattack, with her still not so stable balance.

Emma is particular - she'll select 2 books from her bookshelf for you to read to her before bed or nap time, she'll hand them to you, and the order that she hands them to you, you must read them.  Also when putting her crayons back into the box, she'll ensure they all go in tip up.
Emma is assertive - very good with her "yes" and "no's", nods and shakes her head appropriately, and when she says No, she really means No! and she'll say yes, until her head falls off, we have to say, "Ok, we'll get it for you".
Emma knows her actions - she loves music and reading.  When her favorite songs come on she'll start dancing and making the appropriate sounds, she now knows how to turn on the DVD player to get her music to start and just tonight she discovered the volume, so we had fun with that.  When it comes to reading, Emma will preempt the page, or nursery rhyme or story before it's read to her, quite sweet watching her do all this.

Her latest song right now is the Ostrich song off the Beautiful Creatures CD (South African music CD), this song is about an ostrich and the chorus says, "we're turning, we're turning, we're turning", whenever this comes on I'll jump around in circles or hold Emma and turn her around, the other day when the song came on and I told her to turn, she managed to make a neat little circle on her own, she was so proud.  Now whenever this song comes on, she'll stop what she's doing and turn in circles.  She gets dizzy quickly, so funny to watch.

Emma just understands so much more than we realise, I always wonder what is going on in her mind and how she puts everything together! 
This age also brings a horrible teething period.  Her teeth are really bothering her, for the last month she's been working on the molars, her gums are so swollen, just wish they'd pop out now.  Her appetite has decreased, and lately all she wants is her nai nai (milk).  Not sure if it's the teeth, but the past three mornings her wake time has been at 4am! brutal...thankfully she's content to lay in her crib until 7am, I do this in hopes she'll fall right back to sleep (unfortunately her stubborness kicks in and will not go back to sleep) and I am no ways ready to entertain her at that time in the morning.  So she has to wait for us.  When we do eventually go in to get her, she gets so excited, she doesn't know what to do, she'll run a lap in her crib, point out the flowers on her bumper and say flower, shove her wet, stinky lamb in our face, or give us 'Ba" to say morning too.  Trying to teach her that the first thing she should do, is say Josaan (good morning) and give us kisses - that obviously doesn't go down too well, because by then she's calling for Nai Nai, Nai Nai - can't even change her diaper before.

Her little lamb blanket has become her constant companion, before Emma would only have this lamb at sleep time, however this past week it's made it's way out of her crib and accompanies Emma wherever she goes around the house.  She now asks for it, Nam, Nam.
Actually since I started this post, her one molar has touched the surface, so now hoping the rest will follow soon. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday.  We had Annie and Emile over for lunch, and it really turned out well.  Turkey, Ham, stuffing, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, Pecan pie for dessert along with Pound cake and custard, we had a real feast.  Emma was super excited to have visitors, when it came to bed time, it took her a long time to wind down, chatting away in her crib.  I never used to worry about the amount of sleep she got, but lately, with her early wake ups and transitioning between one and two naps (yip we're still battling this battle), I do.  Just hope as with everything else that happens with Emma it's a phase and will eventually work itself out.

Our baby is becoming a real little girl, seeing her transition from exclusive breastfeeding to cows milk without a hassle, not needing a milk feed before bedtime, watching her walk around the house with a bag over her shoulder, holding a phone to her ear, pouring tea with her new tea set, trying to say more words, her latest word is crocodile, pronounced as 'croc'.  Such a sweetheart that makes us such proud parents.  Oh Emma, our world would be so dull without you in it! 

Oh Dear!

There is nothing I'd rather be doing than watching Emma going about her day and all the new things she does.  Being a stay at home mom has been so rewarding, I absolutely love it.  There are definitely times where you wish you could take a bit of a break or earn your share of $$, but then you see your little baby, who isn't so little anymore, walk up to you and just cuddle into you, or have her little hand resting on your shoulder, you don't want to be anywhere but right there.

The latest on our little munchkin...Oh Dear!! or more like Ooooo Daaaaaa, also sounding like Oh Gees and Oh No! at times.  Emma will say this whenever she does something wrong, like drop something or spill something.

So on Tuesday I'm in the kitchen and Emma is pushing her stroller around the house.
Next thing I hear, "Ooooooo Daaaa!!"  So I go investigate what happened and she had spilt her water from her sippy cup all over the stroller and baby doll.  We wipe up the mess, let her baby doll dry and tell Emma not to spill her water again.  Later in the day I hear  "Ooooo Daaaa" again, and of course Em is with her stroller and baby and there is water all over again.  It dawned on me that this little one has been trying to feed her baby doll.  You can't help but smile at something like this, and don't mind it happening again,  but I have swapped out her sippy cup and given her a pretend bottle to feed her baby with instead.  It is so sweet watching her start her pretend play.  I do wonder if she's too young to understand pretend play, but when I told her to take baby to the park, off she went walking and shouts out, "Bye!".

Love it!

This is why mommy should NEVER be a hairdresser

So we had the tv on, distractions all sorts, but Emma started flinching when the scissors came near her face.
The final result, a badly chopped fringe!  Mommy will not venture any further and leave it to the professionals!!
"Please hair, grow back quickly!"

Happy Halloween



Halloween has come and gone already. I organised a mini get together with parents and Emma's buddies, Ella, Rohan and Naomi.  I don't think I've mentioned Rohan or Naomi before in my blog, but we met Rohan and his mom Claire, at a preview class at Gymboree, Rohan and Emma had an instant attraction.  Naomi, we met her parents, Rich and Andrea through our church just before the girls were born.  We had a fun afternoon together. As you can see from the photos, Emma was a cow, Ella - Minnie Mouse, Rohan - Tiny Ninja, and Naomi - Bumblebee.  They didn't seem too phased about being dressed up.  Seeing our babies dressed up was super cute!

Rohan

Ella

Our moo moo cow

Naomi

Emma was walking non stop today and squealing so much, either she was thrilled to have so many visitors (tired of looking at her mom and dad), or she was so thrilled about being able to walk so much!
It's crazy, the past two days she's been walking more than crawling, and now today all she did was walk.

After everyone left, all the trick or treaters started knocking at the door, poor Em was so pooped, she just sat against the couch and watched the kids come buy and did not move, so we had an early bedtime for Emma.  During bathtime and bedtime I left candy on the front porch, well that went down very quickly, I'm pretty sure some kid just emptied the entire bucket into their basket.  After an hour sitting outside waiting for the rest of the trick or treaters the candy didn't even clear out.  Nonetheless, Halloween is always fun on Rustic Wood Lane, so many kids, and so funny to see the different mannerisms, some kids ask how many they're allowed to take, others will take two and quickly return the second one, others will take fist fulls, one thing though they're all very polite and will always say Thank You once they've taken their candy.

We definitely have to teach Emma to only take one treat, I can't imagine plowing through all that candy after trick or treating!

Pumpkin Patch Oh Ooooh Pumpkin Patch

Saturday afternoon we (Rod, Emma and I) went with Amy, Adam and Ella to Ganyard Farms.  This is quite a popular place for families to visit before Halloween and Thanksgiving.  It's a huge farm with a Pumpkin Patch, Corn Field, Cotton Field, Hay Rides and Farm animals.  Kids get to learn about the farm, feed the animals, pick pumpkins, corn and cotton, go on hayrides, get lost in a corn maze (you get the idea).

I think we went a little late in the month, as all the good pumpkins were taken and the pumpkin patch was all trampled on.  Quite a sweet experience for the older children....it would have been a whole lot easier and more interesting for Emma if she could walk around.  But she got to play with the pumpkins, rolling them singing Row Row, sit in the hay, and see the animals.
We would like to think she had a good time.  Building up to this trip Emma would get all excited seeing pumpkins at the grocery store, always wanting to touch them, however when we arrived at the farm, we sat her down amongst a bunch of pumpkins and the poor baby trembled and burst into tears.  Not sure if it was too overwhelming the amount of pumpkins, or possibly the huge poster of a painted pumpkin height chart??

I was anticipating cold weather and having to bundle Emma in her beanie, gloves and scarf, but the weather was pretty warm, only requiring a light sweater in the late afternoon.  Last year this time I'm pretty sure we were in winter woolies.

It was fun going out in the pumpkin patch and picking out the "perfect" pumpkin. 5 years in the US and this is the first time we've got a pumpkin for Halloween.  It's going to be fun going to places like this every year and see Emma's participation grow.



Our little pumpkin



14 Months

At 14 months, Emma has so many more tricks to talk about!
Everyday there is something new, it's hard to keep up.

Emma has become more talkative, more energetic, more demanding, more expressive.
She's always wanting what she can't have, and I feel like I'm forever saying, "No", "No", "No"!
We do try other ways of saying No, but "No!" comes easiest.
She definitely knows when she's doing something wrong, and for most of the time she listens to me, but every now and again she likes to test her and my boundaries. 

Her new thing now is when I ask her to laugh, she'll say "Ha Ha".  Which is the same "Ha Ha" she'll use to make for the sound of a Hyena.

Talking about animal sounds, Emma has become pretty good as this, she knows the sounds of a dog (woof), duck (went from quaa, to now clicking of her tongue), monkey (aah, aah), cow (went from moo to boo), sheep (baa), goat (baa), fish (sound with her lips), pig (grrrr, trying to make the snorting sound), owl (hoo hoo), elephant (she makes the sound and lifts her arm to make a trunk), chicken (also clicking of tongue), snake (sssss), she's learning bird, some other animals its more action than sound, so for butterfly she lifts both her arms trying to flap, a penguin she'll shake her body side to side for waddle,waddle, waddle, chameleon she'll smack her lips together and for a spider she'll raise both her hands in the air, making like she's singing itsy bitsy spider.  There are moments of progression and then regression, you and wonder whats going on.

She's defintiely trying to say words that we say, like flower, dirty, bye, hi, door, when I say up she says down, two, shoes, cheerios, nai nai (for milk), cheers, diaper, the other day I said something was disgusting, and I heard this little voice saying it back to me.  Too funny.

Other learning milstones, since about 6 months I've been using a bit of sign language to help Emma communicate with us, signs like, more, please, help, upstairs, thank you, all done, eat, stop.  Emma is using her signs alot more these days, and it definitely helps us understand what she wants, for the most part.
We've tried to signal sleep, but instead when its time for nap or sleep, she'll snore, whatever works!

Today we were watching Timmy Time, it's a show on Disney Channel about this little sheep and what he gets up to, no voices, just movement and animals sounds, Baa being the one used most.  For the first time today Emma was watching and when there was a funny part she laughed.  Rod says she's just like her mother, cos the part when she laughed was when the sheep slipped and fell.  I wonder if she really understood what was going on, or just coincidence.  Can't believe how our little girl is growing up, never thought I'd see my baby standing and resting against the sofa or ottoman, taking sips at her water, placing it on the tray, so adult like.  Growing way too fast.

We're reaching that point now where Emma actually understands what we say to her, can follow instructions, and takes things in when things are being explained to her.  So when we say something we really have to mean it and stick to it.  For example, if I ask her if she wants to go to the park, she'll quickly stop what she's doing, crawl toward me and cling to me like a monkey.  On Monday Amy and I took the girls to music class, we thought we'd let the girls play a bit before heading out.  Well I told Emma we were going to Ella, I tried to put her in her carseat, but Emma kicked up a fuss.  She started pointing at her stroller.  Now usually when we go visit Amy and Ella we always use the stroller, so I guess Emma couldn't understand why we were going in the car.  I had to explain to her that we had music class to go to, but were going to play at Ella first, so needed to use the car, well after that was all explained, Emma didn't resist going into her seat, and when we arrived at Ella's, well Emma was squealing with delight.
Every time she sees Ella it's a huge highlight of her day, so sweet watching them wave and squeal at each other, hug each other and then talk while playing, copying sounds.  With the aid of each other, they've both become so brave on the slide, going up and down on their own.  The slide in our neighborhood have just a few steps to crawl up and then a short slide down.  Em is so funny as she'll sit in the middle of the platform and start scooting.....mom gets a little inpatient and will help the process by pushing from behind.  the expression on her face coming down, priceless, thats Emma's expression, not mine, haha!

Emma continues to take a few steps at a time, tries to find her balance, walks another step, then thud, she falls.  We're just waiting for the day she'll just take off.  Her confidence is growing more and more.

As Emma continues to "talk", we can't wait to hear what kind of accent she'll have.  With her being home with me, and not in daycare, will she have the South African twang, or America twang?

This coming month we have some fun things to look forward to, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Not sure yet what we're doing for Thanksgiving, but I know it'll include lots of eating.....for Halloween, we're having a little party for the babies, we get to dress them all up and take tons of pics!

I can carry on and on with more of Emma's getting up to's but best I end off her, instead of leaving my child to entertain herself.  14 months already....just last night I was trying to remember Emma when she was 4 months old, kind of hard to remember, time just goes by too quickly...I say that all the time...Motherhood and Parenthood continues to be filled with so much joy and excitement, along with the testing moments and challenges, amazing how those "bad moments" are soon forgotten when your little one does something new, or comes to you for comfort and wants to give you hugs and kisses without having to ask them.