Category Archives: Emma

No tears this time around…

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…for either Em or Mommy.

J., Addie and I just dropped Em off for her first official day of preschool.

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She and I went to meet her teachers on Tuesday evening and to see her room. Em got very anxious and worried because there is another Emma in her classroom. I told her that there would probably always be another Emma in her class from now until she graduates, it, alas, is a very popular name. I think she was a little tired, and a little overwhelmed, and a little shy (I know?!), but when one of her teachers asked Em if she was excited she just looked very, very distressed. So I suggested maybe the class could call our Em, “Emma Grace” and the other little girl just “Emma.”

Em’s teacher thought that would work and it seemed to pacify Em, too.

Then today when we got to class, her teacher said, “Now are we going to call you Emma or Emma Grace?” (I was very impressed that she even remembered our exchange amidst all of the chaos and other parents and students from the other night.) Em said, “I think Emma Grace.”

And that was it. She went tearing around the room, exploring and was completely happy to say goodbye and start her school career.

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I have such a good feeling about both of her teachers. I think she is in for a fantastic year and I’m so excited for her.

When I asked her at lunch if she was excited to go to school, she said, “Yes! Mama, remember when we met my teacher Miss Marie Rose? And she asked if I could give her a hug? I liked that hug. I liked the way she felt.”

And I liked the way I felt when I walked out of the school, a Mommy of an official “preschooler.”

It is so on…

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Conversation from yesterday that never made it into a post. Proof that my daughters are in fact sisters and not sweet and loving all of the time.

E: Stop! Stop it, Addie. No you have to do it like…
(Interrupted by Addie, shrieking, and then full on screaming.)
M: What happened?
(Addie is holding her head and crying. I try to tell her to take a breath and tell me what happened. That clearly isn’t going to happen, she shrieks louder and and eardrum-shatteringly louder…)
M: Em what did you do to Addie?
E: Nothing. Well…I don’t want to tell you.
M: Well, go sit on the stair until you feel like telling me.
E: I DON’T WANT TO SIT ON THE STAIR! NOOOOOoooooo.
(Stomp. Stomp. Stomp…in the general direction of the stairs. And Addie begins to quiet down.)
A: *sniff, sniff* I ok, Mama. Uh oh…Mama? Emma not on stairs.
E: Addie! I. AM. TOO! (She wasn’t.) Mama, you need to tell Addie that she is tattling, and that is NOT nice.

*sigh.*

How does a 2-year old know how to “tattle?” And how does a 4-year old know how to call out tattling?

Gonna be a long 14 years.

An afternoon of Dragons, Marshmallows and Starbucks – without ever leaving the house!

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Emma is cracking me up right now.

She is supposed to be “resting” and we use that term lightly around here. It usually involves her reading 4 or 5 books in Mommy and Daddy’s bed. And then she creeps, ever so quietly down the steps, about halfway, where she sits trying to “quietly” get our attention. Like making little squeaks, or coughs. I usually “pretend” for a few minutes that I don’t see her there until she gets louder or creeps the rest of the way down the stairs and says, “Is it okay to get up now?”

So anyhow, I’m working down here (kind of) and she just quietly (kind of) came downstairs and I acknowledged her and told her “come on down.” But she still has her tights and leotard on (due to the earlier recital she and A. gave me, while they were practicing the Bella Dancerella DVD), and she hit the hardwood floors running, and bit it! I didn’t really laugh until she started to and I knew she was fine, but it was pretty funny. Little arms and legs sprawled everywhere.

Then she asked if she could watch a movie and have a snack. She chose Pete’s Dragon for the movie (again!) and came back in with the bag of mini marshmallows from the snack drawer. The whole bag. They were put into the snack drawer once upon a time explicitly for when we have hot chocolate, but both of the girls LOVE them. So yes, she was having marshmallows for her snack. (Don’t call the nutrition police on me, yet!)

And if you give a “Peanut” a marshmallow, she is going to need a drink. So she went back to the kitchen for a drink and came running back in to the living room with a “milkbox.” I found these organic Horizons milkboxes at the store on Sunday. We always get them on our Saturday treks to the bagel shop – when I usually stop at Starbucks to get a coffee, the girls pick out either vanilla or chocolate milks.

So she comes running in with the milkbox and says, “Mom! Look! This is so great. Our house is just like Starbucks!”

Now if we could just get a coffee barista in the kitchen to make an endless supply of grande, non-fat mochas for Mommy, we’d never have to leave the house.

Serious trip to the Park – Best Shot Monday

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The girls were very subdued at the park yesterday. Lots of serious, “thinking” shots. I had one of Ad all picked out because it made me laugh out loud when I brought it up. And then I came across this one.

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I am always surprised when I come across a photo of the girls that literally takes my breath away. Just an opportunity to stop and admire innocence and beauty for a moment. To forget about the frustrations and trials of the week, and just have that “breathtaking” pause of peace.

Okay, because I cannot resist, I will put up two this week. This was my original BSM before I fell in love with the one of Em.

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That is a classic A. look. She is mad because her Crocs are full of sand. It cracks me up everytime I look at. Seriously, I get this look. A lot.

The rest of our park photos are up at Flickr and for more great BSM photos, hop over to Tracey’s.

Hula Ballerina

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More from our prima ballerina. Yesterday was their summer dance recital and Em did wonderfully, of course. She is a true performer, lost her grass skirt at the end of the piece, but still managed to get it back on and finish up the dance, bows, etc. Miss Claire’s “she is a such a trooper” comment is about Em, so definitely watch til the end! It is cute.

The video:

I’m working on getting some pics up, too. For now, here is my favorite one of the day. She seriously looks like she is twice her age, so tall, perfect form. Looks like a true ballerina.

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We stayed to watch the little dancers (ages 2-3), which is the class that Addie will be in this fall. She has Miss Claire right now for a little music and dance class, so she knows and loves Miss Claire already. Anyhow, as the little girls were doing their dance, everything Miss Claire was telling them to do, Addie would do on my lap. She was following directions better than half of the dancers on stage!

I’m so very excited to have two little ballerinas in the house. Yes, I always wanted to be a ballet dancer. I think I might be living a little bit vicariously through the girls in this aspect, but as long as they love it, too, it isn’t really hurting anyone, right?

Friday Randomness

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It is Friday already. Yes, I did just say, already.

This week went flying by, even without running Em to preschool every other day. Between swim lessons everyday, dance lessons (and preparation for this weekend’s recital!), we have also been trying to catch up on work projects (well, I have), house cleaning (well, kind of) and have been house sitting for the neighbors (well, mostly just taking advantage of their pool). So, yeah, this week has kind of been a blur.

A few noteworthy points to document on the week:

-Addie now has most of her favorite bedtime books memorized. She reads them along with me. And God forbid I try to skip a page or two. Last night I didn’t think she was paying attention, just playing with her little stuffed kitty, so I tried to skip a page (or two, or four). Suddenly her had snapped up so fast I thought it was going to pop right off of her little neck. She exclaimed, “OH! Mama! No, no. This page. THIS page!” As she flipped back to the “forgotten” page. That girl is too smart for her own good.

-Emma has graduated from a “fish” to a “dolphin” in the pool. I am utterly impressed with that girl and how quickly she has caught on to swimming. She now jumps into the pool, no fear, no need for catching. Yesterday in swim class she was going down and picking up rings off of the floor of the pool and was so proud to tell me how to “side breathe.” It won’t be long until we will be needing to find a swim team for her to compete on, I think.

-The debate over Katie Holmes’ haircut still rages on. Apparently people are either really for, or really against this ‘do. I could care less about her, her crazy marriage, or her impossibly cute daughter, but I do happen to love the haircut. And unless I get some serious feedback telling me otherwise by 2 o’clock this afternoon, I’m going in to get my haircut as close to this cut as possible.

And that just about does it for the totally unrelated post today. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Brownie Nightmares

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Today was Em’s last day of school. So she is “home,” for all of three weeks, and then the Fall Preschool starts.

It was a little anti-climatic, I think, but nonetheless, they got to have a little party. Plus she will more than likely have a different teacher next time around, so it was goodbye to sweet Mrs. McCoy. She was a wonderful teacher for Em’s introduction to the whole wide world of school.

Last week there was a little sign-up sheet for their party today and I asked Em what she would like to bring. I was reading down the list, “water, cheese and crackers, cut-up fruit, brownies…”

“BROWNIES! I want to bring BROWNIES, Mama,” she screamed.

Ah, a girl after my own heart. So we signed up for brownies.

Then last night we went over to the neighbor’s house to get the “scoop” on their kitties and fish, since we are taking care of them while they go on vacation. (We also get to “take care” of their pool for the week, yahoo! And it is a really, really nice pool!) So we were swimming, (the kids were, at least) having a glass of wine, (that would be the grown-ups) and visiting.  And time kind of got away from us, so I didn’t get the girls home and in bed until nearly 9:00. And yes, paid for it all day today, cranktankerous girls!

As I was quickly hosing them down in the bath, Em pipes up, “Oh, Mom! Don’t forget we have to make brownies for school tomorrow!”

*#@%!.  I had forgotten. Of course.

So I shuffled them off to bed and ran downstairs to make a couple batches of brownies. Pulled them out, ran to bed myself and thought all was well.

And then I had “brownie” nightmares. The entire night. In between Emma waking me up (a grand total of 7 times) I would get back to sleep I would have some snippet of a dream that involved those stupid brownies.

The first dream was that the brownies had nuts in them and made half the class sick. After I woke up with a start, and then realized I had in fact, NOT, put nuts into them, I drifted back to sleep.

I think Em woke me up once or twice in there, and then I had a dream that Ad had knocked the whole plate of brownies on the floor, and I had to “smoosh” them back into squares because I didn’t have time to make any more.

And, cue Em, who wakes me up because she had to go the bathroom, then I realized Addie hadn’t been anywhere near the brownies, so it was, just a dream. All is still ok.

And finally in that early-morning, kind of “floating in-and-out” sleep, I dreamt that I had entirely forgotten to make the brownies and was running around trying to figure out what to do.

As I woke up from that one, and reassured myself that I did indeed make the brownies and they were ready to go, I tried to figure out why all this stress over some cocoa, sugar and eggs?

I came to the conclusion that I so want to be that Mom who can do it all; bake brownies, have a fantastically clean house (where I can serve brownies off of the floor!), look all pulled-together – you know that calm, cool, collected Mom that seems to just have her crap sorted out. I want to be her, but it is just so hard. And it has been especially hard this week.

It isn’t an earth-shattering conclusion, I know, but I think I just need to let something go. I feel like I strive on having a “full plate.” I seem better organized and I love being able to look back on the day and really feel like I accomplished something, if I have a looming “to-do” list. But really is it worth it?

I mean will Emma remember that I made brownies for her to bring into her “Last Day” party?

Well, let’s not answer that. Because knowing the memory on that girl, she will.

Maybe I just need to find a good bakery where I can buy a decent batch of brownies and pass them off as homemade, and call it a day.

Slightly Controlled

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We are one step above “barely controlled chaos” this week. Holding steady at “slightly controlled.”

I know, I know! It has been a a week of photo-blogging, so in order to squelch the complaining, I am attempting to actually write a little something. You, people! I offer up pictures of adorable, little girls and yet you are never happy. 🙂

Anyhow, let’s see. It is Thursday (Thursday! We made it to Thursday!), and thankfully we have had some great lunch/playdates with old friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time. Both yesterday and today, and they more than made up for the not-so-fun things that happened this week. Like, say…locking ourselves out of the house and getting a speeding ticket.

Other great stuff that has happened. J’s project is live! Yahoo!! You can go see it in all of it’s glory, it really does look great. It has made for one incredibly long week for J. since they are basically sitting around waiting for something to happen, so they can fix it.

It also meant that he got to shave the beard yesterday! Hallelujah! Although now, he looks kind of funny. (Not ha-ha funny, I guess we had just become accustomed to his manly facial hair.) So he’s thinking he needs to work on something in between “babyface” and “grizzly Adams.” I agree. I think he looked great here. My m-i-l and I think he looked a little like Tim McGraw in that pic, sans the cowboy hat (and a little cuter, too!).

So J. is still around, we are still waiting to get to spend more than a quick hour or two with him at a time, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. His hard work has paid off and we are very proud of him.

Em’s last day of summer school is tomorrow. It is incredible to write that. It seems like we just dropped her off on her first day. And it is also remarkable the change in her. Some good, some bad – mostly good, though. The stuff that comes out of that girl’s mouth – it is so funny. A few conversations just from the past couple of weeks…

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(We are in Pei Wei, this Asian restaurant, one of our favorite places to eat. I am trying to herd the girls to the bathroom to go potty before we leave.)

E: Mama, you have to creep like this. (And she is walking kind of on her tiptoes, like she is sneaking into a room.)
M: Uh, ok. Why are we “creeping.”
E: Because! We are secret Asians, Mama.
M: Um, (Gulp. Peek around to see how many “Asian” people are listening to this exchange? And a little cautiously ask…) what is a “secret Asian,” Em?
E: You know those kind of people, Mom? The kind that try to find things? We are secret Asians trying to find the bathroom!
(Ah, then it comes to me…)
M: You mean secret agents?
E: Yeah, Mom! Like the Backyardigans. Secret Asians!

The Backyardigans are indeed very multicultural, who knew they were all Secret Asians, though?

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(In the car, after the great “lock-out” of the week. We do have spare keys…long story. Anyhow they were not available when we needed them and I walked out the door, after having to go back in after BEAR, and my keys were left lying on the coffee table.)

E: Hey, Mom! Remember when you had to puuu-sh out the screen and then push me through the kitchen window, I had to jump off the counters and run around to unlock the door?
M: Um, like 5 minutes ago, before we were late for school?
E: Yeah. Ha. That was fun! If you ever leave your keys inside, I can do it again. It was fun!
M: Yes. Very. Fun.

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(Finally, after the cop pulled me over. Hard to believe, I know, but I was indeed speeding. Late to drop Em off for preschool. I did deserve a ticket and didn’t even try to talk my way out of this one. But it was only the second speeding ticket of my life, the last one was a good 10-11 years ago. I know, I said it was hard to believe and I also know that I am pretty lucky.)

E: Mom! That police officer is on a motorcycle!
M: Yes, he is.
E: Why did he turn his lights and his woo-woop sound on?
M: Because he wanted Mommy to pull over. I was speeding. Going too fast.
E: Why did he take your credit card?
M: It was my license, Em. He is going to give Mommy a ticket.
E: Hey! We have tickets! Remember when we went to see that…mmm…what was it called, Mama? The movie with the polar bear?
M: Yes. It was Arctic Tale. We did have a ticket for that. But this is a different kind of ticket. This is a ticket where Mommy has to pay money (probably a lot!) because she wasn’t following the rules.
E: Maybe he can just give you a timeout, Mommy. Just tell him you are sorry and you won’t be speeding no more. It’ll be ok.
M: Yeah. Speeding tickets are kind of like timeouts for grown-ups, Em. It will be ok.

Such beautiful, sweet innocence. If only a timeout could work on all of our life problems.