Bedtime "Lovies"

The last couple of weeks, Emma has gotten very creative with what she wants to take into her crib with her to sleep. At first it was fairly "normal" stuff, an extra blanket or a stuffed animal that isn't usually in there. Then is was "night, night socks" which is what Emma calls the book "Good Night Moon," but last night took the cake - she took 3 books with her to bed!

Sometimes she goes to sleep right away, but other times we can hear her over the monitor "reading" to herself. It's fun to listen too.

Happy Birthday and a Check Up

Our beautiful Miss Emma turned 2 on Friday and we had a great birthday weekend!

Dave took the day off and we started the day at Morton Arboretum for a nice walk and visit to the Children's Garden. The afternoon included a visit to the Owen's family to see baby Jacob (gee bop in Emma speak) and then dinner at the All Aboard Diner with Grandma & PawPaw Breese, Jack & Kyle. Emma got a huge kick out of getting to sit at the counter and have the choo choo train bring her vanilla ice cream while the wait staff sang "Happy Birthday."

The boys spent the night on Friday night and Emma had a blast getting to play with them and watch a Scooby Doo movie.

Saturday was "get ready for the party" day and I tried a new recipe to make Chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter filling. I learned a lot in that process... things I can do differently so that maybe they turn out better if I make them again.

Emma's party was on Sunday afternoon and she had a blast. Everyone enjoyed pizza from Giordano's (well, everyone except Emma who decided she didn't like pizza yesterday) and Emma got lots of wonderful presents. So far, her favorites are her kid size chair, easel, and radio flyer tricycle. We are looking forward to the weather warming up a little more so that she can use her new sand box and pool.

Today was Emma's 2 year check up with the pediatrician. She got a great big thumbs up and is now 34 1/2 inches tall (75th %) and 27 lbs 13 oz (60th %).

Little Miss Independent

We have working on potty training for about 6 weeks now and Emma continues to do well. We average one or two accidents on most days, but the weekends seem to be harder for her for some reason. Yesterday was an accident FREE day and Emma kept herself dry over night, we were so proud of her this morning! Fingers are crossed for more good days.

One of the unintended consequences of potty training is that we have discovered that Emma has a very strong independent streak. While this is a good thing that we need to encourage, it can also be a little hard on Mommy sometimes. We are having to slow some things down to allow for "Mommy no, me do it" moments. There are also times when we are having to find ways to let Emma do something and then repeat the process to make sure everything got taken care of - teeth brushing is a prime example. And then there are sometimes that we just have to deal with some crying and welling - these are usually safety issues - like when Emma wants to walk somewhere and cars/parking lots are involved.

We are a week away from Emma's second birthday and I'm really hoping that the independent streak isn't the beginning of the Terrible Two's.

The Light in the Closet

Several weeks ago we were struggling with Emma wanting to stay in her crib at night. It seemed like she was waking up every night about 3:30 AM and the only way for any of us to get any sleep was to bring her into bed with us. This was not a habit we wanted to start...

Dave's Mom made the suggestion that maybe Emma was waking up and was scared because it was dark in her room. That made us realize that because of where the plugs are in her room, the night light in there wasn't really helping. So... we tried leaving the lamp in her room on, but that was too bright. We ended up going with the light in her closet because we could use the closet doors to control how much light actually made it into her room. I've been amazed at how much that has helped. There are still nights that Emma wakes up in the middle of the night and cries out, but they are much fewer and there have been a couple of times that we've been able to get her to lay back down in her crib. Good idea Grandma!

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