Looking Back... Emma is 30 Months Old!

Okay, late once again. Should I even bother mentioning it anymore? Just take it as a given from this point forward, k? K.

So onward with Emma's 30-month-update. Do you even care? Nevermind, cuz truly I know what the answer is, and I don't need to hear you tell me. I'll try to be brief. As always. And as always, I will likely fail at that.

Little Miss Em is Wildly Independent these days. She must, MUST do EVERYTHING herself - such as, and we think she may have a little OCD issue here - turn on & off her two nightlights, her bedside lamp, put the straw in her yogurt drink, pick her own straw out of the box of 200 straws to which she will then put in her yogurt drink, close the fridge door, close the front door, lock the front door, unlock the front door, brush her own teeth, and I could go on and on and then on some more. But I'll spare you... for now.



As for the OCD issue I touched upon, we started a little Good Bye Ritual thing with Emma that I'm now not so sure was an all too great idea. Every day, whenever someone leaves our house, finishes a playdate, or ends a telephone conversation, Emma must MUST go through her good bye titual. This means saying goodbye in every language I can think of. And all variations of that goodbye. Such as:
Cheerio (like the Backyardigans say)
Too-da-loo
Ciao (Chow?)
See Ya Layder
Adiós
Hasta luego
Shalom
Au revoir
Makahiya
Hasta la vista
Drive Carefully
Have a nice day
Bye-Bye

If she forgets ANY SINGLE ONE of these, she will absolutely and totally FREAK OUT until she gets to say it to the person to whom it was intended. Like the full Emma-on-the-floor dry heaving freaking out until she can sputter out a teeny tiny "cheerio bubbie..." Yeah, I forsee years of therapy to get over this.



Another thing she has taken to this month has been adding an "eee" to the end of all her words. Such as Michael-eeee, Finger-eeee, Juiceyyyy, Milk-eeee, Nose-eeee, Toe-eeee, potty (oh, nevermind). Thing about this is that now I have taken to adding an "eee" to the end of all her words too. I am now calling Michael Michael-eee, I refer to her nose as her nose-eeee. Ugh. I'm a moron.

When she just wants to quickly feel something, she'll ask if she can "pink it." That's one of those things I'm throwing in here as a purely FYI... not that you really care. I know you don't.

She is completely into the whole tea-party scene. I don't really know how it started, unless of course the Backyardigans have tea-parties. But seriously... do all little girls just KNOW that they are supposed to enjoy a good cuppa tea from time to time? And she's very good about it too... always makes sure to tell me to be careful cuz it's hot, instructs me to blow on it, asks how I like it... all the proper tea-party hostess type things. And every so often she'll make me a coffee instead of tea. Nice to switch it up now & then. I appreciate that. Plus, she makes a damn fine cuppa joe. Nabob, I believe.

Here she is having tea on the oh-so-fancy teaset her Grandma gave her for Easter. Notice that she's pretty diligent about the whole pinky-up thing.







The other night, I went to her to give her a good night kiss. She refused me. So then I went to the sofa, sat down, and called her over to give me my kiss. She said I should come to her.
A: You had your shot.
E: How about a second shot?

Another day she wanted to hide in the bed sheets I was folding.
A: How about we don't do that.
E: How about we do?



Loser that I am, I totally forgot to mention that she has all her teeth - have no idea when her two-year-molars came in, she was THAT good about it. Truth be told, I actually didn't even KNOW she had all her teeth till just last week, when it happened to come up in conversation with a friend of mine. Then I sat her down & counted. She's got twenty. I hear that's the magic number. Clearly she's a much better daughter than I am a mother. Now when do I have to take her to the dentist?

And some other cute things:

A: Good Morning Missy!!
E: I'm not messy... I'm Emma. Emma Abray.

A: Would you like some of my banana?
E: Okay. Thanks for the offer.



The other night she referred to her stack of Eric Carle books as her "paperwork." And told me that I wasn't allowed to touch it. Then, two minutes later, said I could look at it.
A: I can look at it now?
E: Yes. I photocopied it.

Then she piled up all SIX of her pillows, when underneath them, and informed me that she was in her office. Did I also mention that she turns over her LeapFrog Little Pad book and uses it to check her email?

She loves to sing & dance. Provided she's not already wearing a dress, she'll pull her shirt down over her head and onto her waist, so she can dance in it. And she pretty much jumps everywhere she goes. Jumping is very big in her world. And she's very, very good at it.



As totally imaginative as she is, what with daily visits from the Backyardigans, Dora, Diego, and a host of other pals, she is somewhat stuck in a rut when it comes to naming her stuffed animals. Let's see... she's got Little Red Dog, Brown Dog, Monkey, Lion, Frog Pillow, Clown, Purple Poodle... shall I go on? A couple days after Easter, when all the animals went on sale, I bought her two new ones. ((I'm sooo Jewish!) And what, prey tell are their names? You guessed it... "New Guy." And "Other New Guy."



I was saving the biggest news for the end... as a special treat for those of you who actually made it to the end. ("Hi, Mom.")

EMMA MOVED INTO HER BIG GIRL BED!!!!! No issues, no anxiety. Completely and totally loves it. Granted, we've been gearing her up for the big move for several months so she was well aware it was coming... I mean, it was just the guest room bed that we moved into her room, and moved her crib into Michael's room, formerly known as the guest room. So it's not like she had never slept on that bed before... But I did get her all new sheets... White eyelet style, the kind I always wanted when I was a little girl. The kind I never did get...






Officially A Big Girl from doublea