One terrific Two!

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Wow! How amazing is it that we have a two year old now. And at two Emma can do so many amazing things, more every day. But first off....

Let's talk about Emma's birthday. What a full, busy, eventful day. Both sets of grandparents were there, many others from Patricks family, most of Emma's friends, new friends from our neighborhood plus a friend from Winnipeg who happened to be a few hours away for work. We got all the food done but not all of it out, it was much less organized than I hoped it would be and it was missing a few things I was looking forward to, BUT. It was a very special day bringing everyone together to wish Emma a happy birthday. She got her own slice of the cake (we usually share one) made a new friend, and felt the love from all around her. Thanks to everyone, near and far, who was a part of it!

And now some stuff as a Two or just-about-two year-old.

Picking berries! We have dozens of wild berry bushes in our yard. 

Emma's new make-believe game that she brings everywhere is to have a bug in her hand. I was surprised by how in depth her imagination was this weekend, at the poolside of my parents hotel in Tarrytown. Emma scooped up a bee from the water then laid it down on a towel. She said the bee was shaking off the water! Then she scooped up a worm.

..which was wiggling, see? She also brings over imaginary ants to read Effie, a story about an ant with a thunderous voice. She shows me bugs and lizards and turtles she has in her cupped hand pretty often. Very cute

Emma received a rocking chair from a very thoughtful 9 year old boy from our neighborhood. 

Meeting a neighbors cat at a friends house. Not our friends cat but potential friends for Emma, as all animals are. 

Testing out her new tempera paint sticks from our friends Helen and Millie. They're so smooth on paper, easy for her to open and close without assistance and virtually mess-free. So this mama is sold! 

More of these delicious berries. We can't stop!

Running through the garden hose!

And from this morning, Emma sitting in 'meadow flowers' trying to eat them like the friendly cow in a poem we read often. Emma recalls what must be hundreds of poems and stories in her play and has a deep interest in new vocabulary, characters, themes, and the all sorts of ideas portrayed through writing. Reading and recreating books is one of our favorite things to do. I will post next about her favorite books and the ways she lives them.

One last thing before signing off here and getting to work during Emma's nap.. Yesterday I was able to make a very special duvet and cover for Emma, as she has a new room and needed her own blanket to go with it. The fabric we picked out at Joanne's, it took a few simple stitches and some snaps and it was completed in two hours. 

And here it is in use:

I think it did the trick, because Emma slept through the night in her new room until I woke her the next morning, for the first time. My big girl!

(And I slept pretty well, too ;-))

Making lemonade

New room and new discoveries

Emma's room all set up. This is during naptime, see little Emma in her bed? The shades for the other windows are on the way, hopefully it will make it a little darker in there for naps.

Where's the fireworks? 

Our first cherry tomato was just ripe enough to be plucked off and sampled

Approved!

Found stars in an apple core

View of Emma's wonderful, wonderful room from her bed. So much room to grow!

Emma's Castle

Emma's room is DONE besides minor things we can work in while the room is filled with all her belongings. She has a few new pieces of furniture which came with the house, I changed them up a little to better fit the room. My favorite is this low table (or is this a bench?) that I sanded the top of to the bare pine wood. It's light and natural but the dark stained legs give it a nice contrast. Emma uses this table for cutting her fruit and making food for her animals. 

This fruit cutting set was given to Emma by CoCo, and the fruit for the most part were packed away until now. They were too comfortable for Emma to throw so we thought we'd reintroduce them a little later. 

Today it is the first thing Emma went for when we went to her room after breakfast. She cut all the fruit into pieces then exclaimed, "Emma work hard, like Daddy!"

So right, little girl! 

Emma zips about her room to wherever inspiration takes her.

These shelves in the last two pictures came with the house, they were dark wood and mounted on the livingroom wall. I sanded them and painted them to match the wall color.

Emma raining animals down on sandwich toppings- of course!

Her table has five wooden toddler sized chairs I found on craigslist for $2 each which will be perfect for when we host play dates. That open wall between the windows could house a couple shelves for art supplies but I have to be sure this is where the table and chairs are staying before we start drilling into these walls- we had so many to fill when we were prepping for paint!

Putting her babies down for naptime c:

So that's is so far! We think Emma's bed will be moved in this weekend and the transformation will be complete. Very excited!!

Life and lessons at 23 months

Whole lotta love and being gentle with our pets.

Pets teach children responsibility, not by the animal being their responsibility but by us demonstrating their care and the child learning from it. 

Emma and a favorite tree of mine. That bark!

Ready for anything in her garden.

Lessons gardening is teaching us: care of environment, how food (tomato) is formed, how plants grow. Now that Emma's vocabulary has increased she can understand when I tell her that the leaves use sun to make food. Root are like straws to pull water up the plant. Plants get thirsty! We're keeping it simple but she's learning the cause and effect behind caring for the plants and them in turn growing, and producing fruit. 

Emma's first time setting the table solo (napkins and forks) for only showing her this a few times she did pretty well with no instruction. 

Because we're saying goodbye to "1" next month I want to post a list of all the things Emma has accomplished this year or where she is at this month. It's been another big year for her with lots of learning and growth in many areas.

At 23 months Emma sings the ABCs,

Runs,

Jumps with two feet,

Jumps from ledges (or climbers two feet high!! Wow, daredevil!) 

Walks up and down stairs,

Plays make believe games, 

Knows names of and can point out basic shapes and recognizes some letters

Is completely out of diapers day and night, even outings and travel,

Gets herself on and off her potty regularly, has used the toilet independently,

Sleeps through most nights and takes a predictable nap every afternoon,

Talks often about her friends and their families; talks about games they play or things she associates them with, and their pets.

Uses words to describe things (red car driving. Black cat tail wagging)

Asks others for things she wants,

Listens to our requests but makes her own decisions!

Helps, identifies herself as a helper, and helping

Repeats different words to the tune of ABCs

Can kick a ball,

Throw overhand,

Summersault,

Is openly affectionate to her family,

Requests certain food, songs, and activities by name.

And so much more! It has been a busy year for all of us but the biggest changes have been to Emma's abilities and her shinning personality.

 We love you, Lovey!

Whoa boy!

Whole lotta stuff going on here. We have moved into-- or almost moved in to our first house in Cortlandt Manor. It's been hectic, living around the clutter as we prime, paint and do some minor updating. I'm happy to report that Emma's room is nearly complete and we will soon, finally, be moving her in. The kitchen and dining room as well as both bathrooms are functioning but with some boxes and things out of place. As we get more of the house done things will find their places. While we are spending time inside for meals and sleep the majority of time it seems we are spending outside. The weather is warm, the yard is large and green, and it's perfect for play, exploring and learning about the natural world. As I've been moving rocks around in the yard or lifting path stones we've been discovering different bugs, some solo and some colonies. Ants in all sizes and shades, centipedes, spiders, snails and slugs. With some work we have turned a small filled pond in the yard into a wonderful dirt work site for Emma. It is not a completed zone but I don't think it will ever be 'done' because as Emma grows and her play changes so will the work site. 

As it is now, there's a slope down to the dirt pit and stairs on the other side. The natural rock and some plants enclose it nicely. 

A mix of pasta sauce and dirt on Emma's hands and face is a pretty usual site lately! She loves to dig in, to food and earth alike. 

Now that were in the new house that is farther from the train station our morning routine has had a big change. This new distance means we all must be up and out the door to take daddy to the train at 7:15. While I'm still adjusting to this morning rush there has been a positive side. We get a little extra time together as a family and after dropping Patrick off Emma and I have the opportunity to stop at the park on the way home or take care of some errands while we're out. Stopping for a walk in Depew is all our favorites! Emma no longer wants to be confined to the stroller or carrier, instead wants to walk, run, LAY in the trails, balance along fallen trees and inspect flowers and mushrooms on the way. 

Getting a different perspective ;-)

Emma climbs rocky hills with ease...

But is not sure how to tackle this rocky path over a stream. 

Those pictures are from two different mornings at the park but Emma is wearing half her pajama set each day! That's the reality of some mornings. Getting done what we can and what Emma will allow with no fuss. Sometimes changing her shirt before leaving for the train is going to mean a power struggle and sometimes there's just no time to get breakfast on the table and get both of us changed and ready to go. We're going with the flow! 

It's taken longer than we thought it would take to get the house together as there is only nap time and a couple hours after bedtime that we can work. My focus is on Emma during the day but occasionally I can come up with a job we can both do. Emma helped paint the mailbox post outside for a quick update and something she can feel accomplished about. Helping wipe windows and walls inside and move rocks and rubble outside gives her meaningful work. She even states "Emma helps mommy!" when she takes on one of these tasks. 

This morning I was putting the plates over the outlets that were taken down for painting. My observant Emma brought a screw over to fasten one of the plates. She said, "this one!" but the screw she was handing to me is a long and pointy drywall screw. I'm my hand I put the screw and one of the ones I needed side by side and described them: This is a long and pointy screw; I need a short and flat screw. Could she find the short, flat screws in the box of miscellaneous pieces? 

I think she was exaggerating how closely she had to look!

Yes, This One!

Yes, this is a box of pokey, scratchy and various dangers and I let my child search   through it. Supervising her and giving her the opportunity to prove herself, hone matching skills and take calculated risks is definitely worth it! After all, I am searching through that same box. She moved things around carefully and the satisfaction was visible in her face when she had found the correct screw for the job. Way to go, Emma!

That's just a bit of what we have been up to at home. But before signing off and returning blogging to the back of my mind, here's a sneak peek of Emma's room in progress: 

Ohh it's going to be beautiful! 

Emma at 21 months

My girl. My, you have grown! We are walking and talking all over and about everything lately. Discovering new words, sounds, and new places right outside our door. Spring is here and we are always taking advantage of the pleasant weather. 

Walks on a secret drive behind our apartment, where we find new flowers sprouting, mysterious water spouts spouting, puddles for splashing and back alley garbage gleaming in the sun. Just keeping it real here, guys! Ain't all posies.

We had our first SHORTS appropriate weather day on Thursday and you bet this girl got the memo. After a play in our friends backyard we came home to use the climber and water table (which ended up becoming a pool) 

Besides the weather changing, Emma is growing into a big little girl. Her vocabulary has broadened so much in the past couple months that it sometimes catches me off guard. She's always understandable, at least to ME but if I'm not hearing her right she will repeat herself or give me more details until I've got the idea. She uses three and four word sentences regularly, five and six word sentences occasionally and even wows us with occasional seven and eight worders. She's always singing tunes, sometimes in a hum, using the actual lyric or making up her own. She will sometimes practice using her manners, saying " 'scooz me" when passing, and "thank you" and the right times. There's plenty of room to improve and gain understanding there though, which is especially apparent when she takes something she isn't supposed to have and says "thank you, Emma!" 

On a walk through downtown, she points out the barbershop where Daddy gets his hair cut, then the treat station where we play with trains, and the coffee house across the street where we meet with friends. She recognizes when we are in close proximity to the playground or park and let's me know that that is where she would like to be heading.... though that's not always how it pans out. We go often though because Emma is so active. Swiftly running, climbing ladders, small rock walls, sliding alone, hanging and double footed hopping are all new activities as of the past couple months. Still favorites are galloping and getting generally floppy/cuckoo.

She also loves pretending to be a bug, cat, truck or car, or sea lion. As Emmacar or truck she parks herself in a garage which is our closet and likes to pop out to surprise me. Emma Sea lion is a trouble maker and likes to belly slide into the kitchen counter during lunch- which is prohibited in this zoo! Emmacat usually comes around during meal times to lap up yogurt, soup and other Emmacat food, but I've seen her climbing our stairs outside. Emma Bugs are everywhere! 

Climbing: still in this season

Emma has been sleeping wonderfully also which I'm crediting to three things: fresh air and outdoor activity, consistency at home, and being almost two. Way to go, Emma!