Moments

Back when we were doing our Under the Sea theme week, Emily and I took some time while grocery shopping to look at the fish. It was very empowering to realize I could put almost no extra effort into something and have it turn out to be an awesome enrichment activity that she loved.

Another success from that week was making a little octopus out of a paper towel tube. We wrote a number on each leg and Emily colored it a bit. We learned the sign for octopus and she showed Andrew and my family via facetime the sign and her latest creation.

We have really been enjoying using Emily’s chart in the mornings.  After we eat breakfast and clean up the kitchen I ask her if she wants to “get dressed first or make her bed first” followed by “brush your teeth or brush your hair first”.  She always chooses to make her bed first, and then we make mommy’s bed.  She is quite good at pulling the corners to the top of the bed and tucking in the blankets.

Emily loves purses, which was a surprise to me because I basically never use one.  All of her friends have pink purses she likes to play with, but at home she has turned my old Noah’s Ark ship into her purse.  It is always stocked with one baby wipe and baby powder and occasionally her phone and computer.

For a couple of weeks we folded up all of Emily’s blankets in the morning and she stacked them up, making a little chair for herself to sit in.

Although we’ve been reading the scripture readers every morning during breakfast quite successfully, I’ve been trying to read the actual Book of Mormon with Emily. We haven’t figured out a great solution yet, but one night she really enjoyed reading it to herself in bed.  Andrew tried to sneak a picture and was caught.

Playing outside on the railings has become a regular part of our outdoor adventures. She seems so grown up climbing on and swinging through the bars.

Emily is a great shopping buddy. One day we ran around to four different stores and doctors appointment she was a trooper through it all. We got home an hour later than we usually eat lunch and she was in great spirits, even carrying the bags inside.

We took Emily to a research study about kids playing with engineering toys that one of Andrew’s professors is involved with. We arrived pretty late because we went to the graduate student bbq on campus and waited in line for an hour to get food.  When we did get settled, Emily was quick to choose the exact toy she wanted to play with and make up a game for us to play.

Emily is going through a phase where she really likes it when I do her hair. Her favorite part is choosing the clips, pony tail holders, or headband to use.  Sometimes she wants every clip in her hair and sometimes one or two ponytails.  During General Conference she sat relatively still for two french braid pig tails that looked really good until she got the wiggles while I was putting in the rubber bands.  Most of the hair doing happens at the window in Andrew’s and my bedroom where she watches for buses.

Andrew bundled up Emily for a walk in between sessions of conference so she could get out some wiggles. He always snaps the cutest pictures on their little outings.

The finished oven the moment I put it on the chair and realized it worked! About a year ago Emily started loving playing with toy kitchens. Although I thought it would be fun for her to have one of her very own, I did not want to commit to having something so big part of our every day life for the next five years in our living space or taking up precious closet space.  I had the idea to create an oven that would fit over one of our kitchen chairs so that I could fold it up and put it away when she wasn’t interested in using it.  After a little research I discovered I wasn’t the first one to have this idea, so I pulled up a bunch of pictures and picked up some ideas for my own design and then put the project away for many many months.  At the end of July I decided that if I wanted to make Emily an oven anytime soon, it would have to be before our little boy arrives. I tried coming up with some plans, but then I waited until my mom came to visit for Andrew’s graduation to run my ideas past her.  She has lots and lots and lots of experience sewing toys and I soaked up her wisdom and instructions. It was enough to get me buying a $5 flat sheet and pillow case set from Walmart.

This project was really stressful until I got started, and then it was a lot of fun.  It also took a lot of time and I was sewing from the moment Emily went to bed until 10:30 at night for many many nights, and nap times during the weekends.  I made a final push the week before her birthday and let everything go so I could finish it up. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out, but have to acknowledge gratefully that I had many promptings to help me from messing up and also giving me a clear picture of how to do the next step.  My mom was also ready via facetime many times to get me going in the right direction.  I loved creating something from scratch and had such a great time that it really is just a nice bonus that Emily likes it too.