It has been awhile but it has been busy around here…
Emma had a new pal for the last couple weeks and I had a “vacation” during this time. Nonnie, my Mom, came and stayed with us. Boy, did Emma enjoy having her here….
Emma got to play dolls(with someone other than me all day), jump in her bouncy toy, play outside(a day or 2 since weather was bad), color, and run Nonnie ragged….. She got to take naps with her, and even took a nap all by herself a day or two–good one nonnie! She was proud and bragged about how she took a nap “all by myself!”
Nonnie got Emma back on track as far as potty training getting her to go several days. After doing so for me a couple days Emma got this paranoia/fear about going on the potty chair–not sure how this happened….
As for me, I had a couple weeks of relief. I got to get lots of work done on my online blogs/business stuff and went to the health club like the good old days. It was refreshing to me that I am not in as bad shape as I thought. I played bball with my old buds and played pretty well. To have this relief was invigorating and refreshing to me as much mentally as physically. It showed me exactly what I have lacked since Emma was born. Not just me but Melissa also has lacked a reliable babysitter.
I think what I mean is that we haven’t had what I think is a reliable family member or members who actively make an effort to see and watch Emma like I think they should. This does not apply to everyone, however. Not to place blame on anyone but both my friends and Melissa’s friends do not have this problem. I know some people may be in the same type of situation but our network of friends is not. I know that there are many reasons for this (schedules, distance, etc…) but I know one thing for certain…. When Emma has kids I will probably be a pest since I will want to see them so much (like Everyone Loves Raymonds’ parents)… But maybe that is just me……
Emma had her 3rd birthday–boy does time fly–and had lots of fun. She got to see lots of her relatives and got lots and lots of presents. She and her cousins ran all over the place and played in her new bouncy pit that we put in the basement due to the cold weather. Emma didn’t play in the bouncy pit when all the kids were in it but she went in after some went home. I think she is like me and doesn’t like crowds. There was lots of food to go around and birthday cake too. I have to give props to Melissa’s relatives as they all pretty much showed up, as they usually do.
Emma likes candy and sweets like all kids do. She likes going through Mommy’s purse too. Well, she discovered that Mommy likes to carry gum in her purse. She discovered this one day when she was in Mommy’s closet looking through all her shoes and empty purses. She found some gum in one of the purses and opened it up and chewed it. She did not swallow it and was busted by us when she was being so quiet. Anyway, since then she very coyly goes to Melissa’s purse after she gets home. We pretty much always catch her in the act but she knows how to sneak….
One day when we were working on potty training she moved her stool from the sink to below the shelf that I keep treats(M&Ms and a stick of gum) as motivation for her. I was out of the room but noticed what she was doing and watched…. She got up on the stool and stretched to reach the gum. She then ran into the office and went under the desk where she quickly opened the gum and put it in her mouth. It was hilarious to watch her sneaking around! Needless to say I surprised her by popping under the desk….. Not sure why we had a stick of gum on that shelf as we have always only used M&Ms as motivation….
Emma has taken to asking “Why?” all the time now. She not only does this when we tell her to do something but asks why things are the way they are… Time to really start forming those innovative answers……
Emma has pretty much gotten Potty Power now….. Nonnie re-energized our program and I have not let up. She is doing very well and barely needs a diaper anymore…. She still gets so proud and puts her fist in the air and says, “I’ve got potty power!” just like the DVD Potty Power that she watches and that I recommend… In fact, the little stinker has went from famine(refusing to use the potty chair) to feast(wanting to use it too much–probably because she wants a treat!). Anyway, she is there and we are reducing the quantity of the treats since the number of them is increasing….
Emma loves Scooby Doo. I think I mentioned this previously. I am not sure that I also mentioned that she really loves a girl band that she saw on Scooby Doo. They are called the Hex Girls. Emma wants us to “go in the office” on the computer so she can watch Hex Girl videos on YouTube. It is kinda scary that their songs are pretty catchy and that sometimes I dream about the songs and wake up with them constantly running through my head.. Ughhh…. Oh, she loves dancing to them too. She is definitely a dancing machine! Like me LOL!
One last thing to throw out there. Just wondering what anyone’s thoughts are regarding a 3 yr old not wanting to hug another grownup relative. If the child does not want to hug someone would you make them? I know what my opinion is…Well, here it is—I would not force a child to hug someone he/she does not want to hug and would not expect a child to hug me if he/she did not want to. I also would not get hurt feelings if that child would not hug me. If the child did not want to hug me(why in the world would they not want to?!) I would try to give a high five or else tell them that they could later… Anyway, if this happened, would you “hold the child accountable?” My opinion on the term “hold accountable” is that this is done when someone has done something wrong. I am completely firm in believing that a child not hugging an adult relative does not qualify as doing something wrong and thus, does not and should not be held accountable…. I mean, kids are kids already!
Note: I may sometimes say some things here in a general and vague way so as to protect identities of people. I write these things down so that I can remember them later. If I ever write the book I say I will then I will provide much more detail about everything in there.
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