Emma

- will be 3 in about 6 weeks!!! :O
- still likes for me to hold her and lays her head down on my shoulder.
- LOVES puzzles! She can do a few 24 piece puzzles all by herself. She also loves to color and blow bubbles. She has figured out how to do it well without my help. It is so nice to see/hear her and Anna blowing bubbles in the backyard sweetly together while I fold laundry or clean the kitchen. Until she starts popping Anna's bubbles. Anna fusses at her, and I think she thinks that is fun to get her sister upset.
- has been a little more fiesty as a 2 1/2 year old than when she was younger. She likes to yell no at me and bug her sister (the bugging part goes both ways). She occassionally hits/pushes Anna and then hollars at me when I put her in time out, then cries "I wan my bunneee".
- still has the cutest voice I've ever heard. My stepmother once called it "ear candy". I think she has a little bit of a lisp, but I usually understand everything she says, unless she has a mouthful of food.
- still sucks her right index finger about 1/2 of her waking hours. (maybe why she has a lisp?) She's got an appointment to get her teeth cleaned for the 1st time in a few weeks, so I am bracing myself for a lecture from the dentist about that. I guess I'll have to figure out how to break her of this habit eventually... so not looking forward to that.
- still holds onto her bunny about 1/2 of her waking hours, usually while she's sucking her finger. She likes to smell it. (yes it does get washed 2-3 times a week!) She wraps it around her index finger and holds onto it with her thumb while pressing it against her nose with her 2nd finger. We go on bunny hunts at least once a week, but she is getting better at keeping track of it herself.
- loves to run and walk and JUMP! and swing. She will walk about a mile with me on our walks with Junior. She usually picks up a stick or 2 along the way, just like big sister. We usually walk along a ditch near our house, and they like to pull up these grassy clovery weed things and put it in the middle of the path and say they're leaving grass for the horses to eat. :) I always liked taking Junior for walks with them, but it is more fun now without a stroller.
- screams like I'm leaving her if I get more than a few feet ahead of her on walks or in the store or at the library or leaving school, etc. This happens quite often because she's always getting distracted so I continue on knowing that she will follow me - always turning back watch her of course and make sure I don't get too far ahead. She acts like it's very traumatic. At first it stressed me out, but I'm getting used to it I think.
- LOVES to ride her bike. When she first learned how, she would fuss and say she wanted to go faster. Now she can go as fast as she wants, and is really good at stopping. She seems to be relatively fearless, and has just fussed a little and gotten right back on the few times she has fallen. I imagine Tony will teach her to do it without training wheels once the time changes and he can do it after work.
- is very tall and skinny. I think she's taller than Anna was at this age. She can wear the same size short sleeve shirt as Anna. Her torso is about the same size as Anna's but arms and legs are shorter. She can wear some shorts (that started out as capri's) that I bought her at the end of summer 2009.
- is NOT potty trained. I put her in underwear at Thanksgiving because she was going potty several times a day. It started out great but after a month of not progressing beyond having to convince her to go potty all day and cleaning up a couple of accidents daily, I put her back in diapers. She was totally fine with that, and so am I. Diapering an almost 3 year old is way easier than running after a not wanting to stay dry almost 3 year old. She has shown no interest in going potty since then but will do it before getting in the tub. I guess at some point after her birthday I'll initiate the whole thing again if she's not doing it herself.
- is a very good eater, but is not a big fruit lover. I don't understand not loving fruit, but I get some in her every day. She LOVES oatmeal with honey and sweet potatoes. She also loves sweets of course, but is satisfied with the limited amount I let her have.
- loves Buzz Lightyear. She has been telling me she wants a Buzz Lightyear party. She still loves Thomas the train too, but not quite as much as last year. She has also fallen in love with the Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious books. She learned "delectable" from Fancy Nancy and uses it to tell me something is yummy.
- likes to play along with the pretend things Anna makes up. She probably does more pretend play than Anna did at this age because she has a big sister to follow along with this. It is very cute to hear them talking about taking their babies on a trip or being a frog family or whatever.
- also loves to color. I love coloring. It keeps them busy for relatively long periods of time and they love it and it's creative and not messy.
- is not picky about what clothes she wears. I just pick something out and put it on her. I can probably count on one hand the number of times she has ever told me she didn't want to wear something. I like this about her. Anna, by the way, picks out her own clothes every day and has since she was about 18 months old. I do make her more or less match, and she thankfully submits to that.
- seems to like "Anna's" friends more than any of the kids her age that I've tried to encourage friendship with, probably because she sees them more often and she's used to hanging out with a 4 year old all the time. This morning on the way to school, Emma, out of the blue, says: Mama I'm thinking about Aiden.
ME: Which Aiden honey, Logan's big brother Aidan or Seth's big brother Aiden? (there are 2 of them in our life).
Emma: Aiden's big brother. (hmmmm... not quite getting it...)
ME: the one with blue eyes or brown eyes?
Emma: the one with white eyes.
Hahahaha!!!

A dirty kitchen is beckoning me....