Big Girl News!

Em's got some news to share. As you know, she's the big 2. Going to be 2 and a 1/2 next month.

And she's a very smart girl. She knows her colors, numbers, shapes, alphabet. She can say pretty much anything she wants, which has a tendency to surprise us every day. Recently, she's taken to saying "though." As in, "I'm going to jump off this step. I might fall though." You probably have to hear it to understand, but it's hysterical. And her memory is astounding. Nearly 3 months after having Charlotte, Em still exclaims "Your belly's all gone?" I can't believe she remembers me with a big belly. Also, she just learned about opposites and she can name any one you throw at her. Basically, as Aunt Beca would say, she's a genius.

So back to her big news. The same week we brought Charlotte home from the hospital, Em asked if she could use the bathroom. We were shocked. I figured with the "trauma" of a new sister we wouldn't even talk potty training until 2013. Matt helped her on and she did her thing, then didn't mention it again for a few days. We figured it was a fluke. After that we never suggested the potty, but once in a while she'd ask to use it. We were happy with this.

Then I began to get restless. I knew Em could be potty trained. She's definitely smart enough (see evidence above). And the expected trauma of a new sister really hadn't amounted to anything. So I bought some training pants and a book, figuring we would ease into it. Silly, naive me. You can't ease into potty training. Once you begin it, you're in it. Thankfully my intuition was right: Em was totally ready for it.

Since she'd used the potty before, we just had to make the leap to always using it. Early on she had a few accidents, but surprisingly never outside the house. And she's been to the museum, aquarium, zoo, pool, mall, and library without a problem. We've visited many public restrooms, but there seems to be one nearby whenever we need it.

Her incentive the entire time was "painted toes" which Em's been asking about for a w-h-i-l-e. We've always told her that when she's older she can have them (same with chewing gum, wearing earrings, and drinking beer) and she'd been satisfied with this. So when we hit a bit of resistance to using the potty, I mentioned that she could have painted toes once she no longer wore diapers.

She laid out her favorite colors as inspiration that night!

 

And this past weekend, when Mommy and Daddy felt she was completely trained, we painted her nails. It was magical. Just like her first pair of pigtails!

Here's our big girl, admiring her red toes! We're so proud of you Emily Ann!!!

 

Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train, one of Em's favorite cartoons, made a special stop at our Academy of Science museum last weekend - and since we hadn't been there in awhile (before Charlotte was born!), we figured it was the perfect reason to use our membership and head for a visit. Membership bonus: we were allowed in an hour before regular museum visitors. Made standing in line to meet Buddy a lot faster.

Here he is! Emily was super excited to see him all week, but as soon as we spotted him she got a bit skittish. She wouldn't approach him until I offered to hold her. I think it was fortunate he wasn't any bigger.

 

 

She did muster up a soft "cheese" and was all smiles after we left.



Posing on the Dinosaur Train :)

 

Then we hit the rain forest.

And touched some starfishies! Aunt Beca & Uncle Glenn took her to the aquarium
the day before, so she got really good at "petting" them.

 

  

 

Yep, Charlie was there too. We had a great trip!!

 

Cooler Weather

Last week fall weather replaced our heat wave - a welcome change. We put Halloween decorations up weeks ago, so they finally feel appropriate. Because we put them up so early, Em keeps asking if it's Halloween yet. Poor thing hasn't grasped the difference between "next week," "next month," "next weekend," etc, so she keeps asking: "Is it Halloween... yeeeeeet???"

All this prep time's given her plenty of opportunity to contemplate her costume though. She's finally settled on being a bunny, I think. We've been practicing trick-or-treating too, which is a hoot. There's still a 99% chance she'll freeze like a deer in headlights when the moment comes to say it to a stranger. Pretty sure the promise of candy won't even prompt her to do it. We'll see...

And since stores are completely jumping the gun and decorating for Christmas already, she's learning a little about Santa Claus too. This has actually proven handy when asking her to be a "good girl" since we now reference the importance of pleasing Santa too. FYI: her only request for Santa so far is orange goggles :)

 

 

 

With crumby weather outside, we found lots of fun things to do indoors (perfect timing since Em's been working on potty training!! and we wanted to stick close to home). So we did puzzles. 

Then we tried on Em's new rain boots and raincoat. SO cute!

Next, it took a small miracle, but Em agreed to wear a shirt (and not a dress).
And she opted for her Star Wars shirt - which thrilled her Dad. 

Throughout all this, Charlie was content as a cucumber.

She even kept her cool when Em cuddled her with what I like to call "aggressive tenderness." 

Em has only the best intentions though.
And she's actually taken to calling Charlie her "best friend ever" which is ADORABLE!!

Rainy days are so much fun!

Heat

We had a bit of a heat wave earlier this week. Luckily we made it through. Although just barely.

 

Lots of time in front of the fan helped :)

Charlotte had her 2 month check up in the midst of this extreme weather, which went really well. She's still in the 90-95th percentiles for length and weight. Healthy girl!

 

We brought Emily along to get her flu shot and came fully prepared to calm her down afterwards with a trip to Aunt Beca's office (complete with a cat visit) planned.

 

But Emily didn't even flinch when she got the shot. Not one bat of an eyelash. I got the same shot afterwards, and while it didn't bring me to tears it definitely had a bit of bite to it. Brave girl! So funny she can be tough when she wants to be, but will carry on and on when a little boy brushes by her at the playground.

 

It's been a good week, but we're glad the weekend's here!

Charlie's 2 Month Birthday

 

Charlotte's 2 months old and sleeping through the night. Like for 12 hours. Straight. That's bananas. (Incidentally, I say things are "bananas" a lot so Emily now thinks that outrageous/funny things can be described as any type of fruit. So when I tell her a joke, she might say "That's apples Mommy." It's too cute.)

Side story: Emily and I walked to the nearby grocery store last night to get a cupcake for Charlie's 2 month b-day celebration, and on the way we talked about her dog. Now Em understands that some things are real and some are pretend, and so this was a story about her pretend dog. His name's Jokes (love it!) and he lives in our backyard. He's big and orange and likes to eat dog food (of course).

It was a very amusing tale to help pass the time on our walk to get a cupcake. Which she only dropped once on the walk home. It still tasted delicious.

Here are some pics of Charlie's birthday celebration!

 

 

Poor thing's very sensitive about her age.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte May!!!