peek-a-boo

Just had to share this photo from our afternoon outing to the gardens. Emma Jane loves to play on the benches there.

first popsicle

We gave Emma Jane her first popsicle yesterday. I bought a popsicle tray and poured in apple juice. To keep it less messy for our first try, we put her in the highchair. She wasn't sure what to think at first, but then she decided she liked it! The only problem is that she tries to bite off huge chunks of ice! I had to fish out a few pieces before she choked on them! With seven SHARP teeth, she just can't resist using them! For now, we may have to stick to shaved ice.

great find

Our neighbors had a garage sale yesterday morning. They have a little boy who is about 7-8 years old, so I didn't think there would be any toys for Emma Jane. After the garage sale was over, they put a lot of things on the curb for garbage pick-up, so I thought I would go down the hill and look through some of it just in case. Afterall, it was technically in our yard at the bottom of the hill! One of the things in the pile was a brand new Thomas the Train backpack on wheels with the tags still on it! I promptly picked it up for Marlene's little boy, Garrison, who will be three next week. I noticed that the backpack felt heavy when I picked it up, but I just brought it up the hill and into the garage. When I opened it, I was surprised to find a bunch of handmade wooden toys inside...a truck, a train, and a pull cart. They were in perfect condition except for some Clifford the Dog stickers that had probably been lovingly stuck to each piece by the neighbor boy when he was much younger. I took all the toys out of the backpack, pulled the stickers off, wiped them clean, and presto! Perfect new toys for Emma Jane! The pictures say it all....she LOVED them! So, the lesson to this story is...don't be afraid to dig through your neighbors' trash...one man's junk is...well, you get the idea!

a little puzzled

I am thrilled to announce that Emma Jane is finally doing more than just chewing on her wooden puzzle pieces! The teacher in me has been trying to show her how to put the puzzle pieces in place for a few months now, but for some reason Emma Jane just wasn't into it!?! She would look at me like I was crazy, grab a puzzle piece, stick it in her mouth, and quickly stomp away to look for something more exciting to do. I recently bought her a wooden puzzle that has larger pieces in simple shapes that make up a house. Without any guidance from me, I watched her pick up the pieces and actually try to put them back in place! The circle is the easiest for her to manipulate, so she picks that piece up most often. Of course, she only lifts the pieces a half inch or so off the puzzle before putting them back in their place, but it's a start! Here's a short video of her "ingenious" puzzling!

havin' a ball!

We finally got out the giant pool of balls for Emma Jane this week. Aunt Stacy and Uncle Paul got this for her for Christmas and we've been waiting to get it out. We weren't sure just how much space it would take up! Now that we have the playroom, we thought we'd put it together for her. She loved it and thought it was great fun to be surrounded by colorful balls (48 to be exact!). She has discovered many different ways to play with it. She drags the whole pool around the room watching the balls swirling around inside. She jumps into it when daddy is chasing her thinking that it is a "safe" place to hide. She has even started putting some of her plastic farm animals in it to let them play too! Thanks, Aunt Stacy and Uncle Paul! This was a winner for sure!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

miss independent

It has been so rewarding (and a little sad) to see Emma Jane gain some independence. She can now easily hold and drink from a sippy cup with a straw (although she still loves to throw the cup down when she's done!). I also have been trying to give her puffs in a small tupperware snack container with a slide lid. Sometimes she does great getting her little fingers in to pull out the puffs, but other times she just shakes it up and down and we get a rainshower of puffs! The video and picture show Emma Jane on her rare attempts at not making a mess! What a big girl!

bye bye

Emma Jane is now doing all of those cute things that babies her age do ALL the time, but parents like me never get tired of showing off these "amazing" skills. She waves bye bye, but most of the time it is 3 seconds after we leave the person we are saying goodbye to. She can clap, dance, and even spin. Most of the time these "skills" are performed spontaneously when she wants to practice them rather than on command when mama asks her to do them. I did catch "bye bye" on video today. I also caught her "spinning" but the video is too long to upload here. I will try to get a shorter version in the next few days so I can post it. It's cute to watch.

just like daddy

A few days ago I dressed Emma Jane up in pink scrubs that were given to her by Paul's cousins. They even have her name embroidered on them! She also wore pink crocs and was given a child's doctor's kit that I bought just for the occasion. After taking a million and one shots of this crazy, active girl, I finally got one of her smiling while sitting still. I framed the best shot to give to Paul for Father's Day. I dressed her up again this morning and let her waddle into the bedroom to surprise daddy in her hospital attire. She really loves the pretend stethoscope! It makes a wonderful chew toy! Paul loved seeing his baby girl parading around in scrubs since this is what he wears everyday (even when he's not at work!). Unfortunately, he had to head to the hospital this afternoon for an all night shift, so our Father's Day was cut short, but we enjoyed our morning together and I took LOTS of pictures (as usual) to help us remember this very special day.....Paul's first Father's Day as a dad to our sweet Emma Jane.

first lake swim

Emma Jane enjoyed her first swim in a lake today. We took her to a picnic hosted by the head of Paul's CRNA program at USC. As soon as we got close to the water, Emma Jane got excited and squealed in delight, pumping her little fists in the air. Paul took her in the water a few times and she LOVED it! She was very quiet most of the day as she soaked in the new scenery and faces around her. This girl was determined to walk everywhere today and got LOTS of practice in the grass surrounding the lakeshore. She picked up a piece of tree bark and proudly carried it around for awhile. It was a great day, as is everyday with our sweetpea.