January - February What we did and what we have planned

Just a quick update. No photos....

It has been cold, and wet. I haven't felt like doing anything. I am so ready for spring!!!

Some things that Emily says:

• "Momma, why do you eyes look like that." She says this when I am really mad and fussing at her!
• So many times when I discipline her she laughs at me!! She will say, "Momma, why are you mad, I was only having fun." She is definately a discipline problem!!
• She loves to wear Maw Maw's lipstick. The other day I was explaining to her that she had to be a grown up before she could wear lipstick. and she answered, "but my lips hurt if I don't wear lipstick!"
• Poor thing, she doesn't understand that her uncle is gone forever. She keeps asking when he is going to come home from heaven.

Here are some accomplishments for January:

• We are now potty trained!!! and to think it only took 18 months!!
• We are now in the big kid tumble class. we have had 2 classes and poor little thing looks so lost. You can definately tell that she is an only child and I stay home with her. She really struggles socially with children her age.
• We have had several playdates at Chic*Fila. She loves to go there and play.
• Emily and mommy are doing preschool at home. She really looks forward to this everyday. I have been getting worksheets off the internet and I have several dry erase workbooks. The basic things that we have been working on is cutting, shapes and colors, sorting, which is bigger, letter sounds. I have been working a little with putting the letters in alphabet order, but I think I am too early for that skill. We both are getting less frustrated with one another than when we started. Neither one of us has "quit," so I guess that is a good sign!!

What we would like to do February:

• More playdates.
• Find a Mother's day out program. I really am rethinking this one. I would like to do it only 1 or 2 days a month, but I don't think that is enough for the socialization that I am looking for. I think I just need to be patient, the socializing will come as she gets older.
• Go to the zoo.
• Chinese New Year and Valentines Day. Both are the same day this year. I had hoped daddy and I would go out for VD, but a family night out for CNY sounds more fun!!
• better weather and trips to the park!!
• Both Emily and Daddy are in a wedding in Feb as well. Stay tuned for photos.

SPRING, SPRING PLEASE COME QUICKLY!! I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF OLD MAN WINTER!!

PINK BABY

Emily has a pink blanket that is silky on one side and extra soft on the other. She calls it

Pink Baby. She calls all of her baby blankets baby, but Pink Baby is special. Pink Baby happens to be the first thing that I bought for her once her paper work went to China and the buying frenzy began. It was my prayer that this blanket would be special to her, and it definately has been. As far as calling it Pink Baby, that was Emily's doing. The dog loves his blankets and we call them his bankies, so we knew we couldn't call them bankies. But in true child fashion she decided what she would call them.

Now that she is 3 she doesn't "need" Pink Baby as much. But when she was younger, She could not go to sleep until she had Pink Baby. Her other blankets she named Flower Baby (pink with flowers), Polka Baby (pink with polka dots), Mommy Baby (another pink blanket), and White Baby (you guessed it, white blanket). In the height of our baby dependence, she would make sure that she had all of her babies. It was so cute, frustrating, but cute!! She still sometimes wants to be sure her babies are in bed with her. She puts them at the foot of the bed, "In case I need them," she says. She also used to drag poor Pink Baby around all day!! Still when I wash it, she panics a little, but I just tell her that Pink Baby is getting a bath and fluffed and dried!!

Here are some random OLD pics of Emily and Pink Baby. I know it isn't Tuesday, but you get the Idea. I saw a picture on the computer of Emily and Pink Baby, and I have always ment to Blog abut PB, so here it is.....Enjoy!!

Emilyisms

She just cracks me up! Here are a few things that she says:

Gomeups = grown ups and yes she says it as if it is one word!!
The dog talks "dog english."
I made the mistake of calling her prissy missy. When she says it it comes out "p*issy missy."
Her and I were talking last week and I asked her what my last name was, and she said "Harry Garza." And then just died laughing. I don't know where she came up with that, but you can ask her what mommy's last name is and that is what she will tell you.

Emily's ability to communicate is just amazing. If we don't understand what she says we just tell her we didn't understand, and she tries until we finally get it.

Her sense of humor is also incredible, and always has been. She is too funny.

WE HAVE JUST BEEN HANGING AROUND

This is Emily's latest trick. Since she saw the big kids do headstands at tumble, she has been trying to do it. It is almost scary to see her try to do it on the floor - looks like she is going to break her neck!! But it is scarier to see her try to do it off the coffee table. She figured out that she could do it in the chair and use the chair back for support!! I like this method much better!! Next week she starts the "big kid" class at tumble. The 3 year old class is just the child, where under 3 is the mommy and me. She is so ready. The last month or so I have pretty much been just stepping back and letting her do. I think the toughest for her is going to be the listening and accepting help.

Preschool is going really good. It is a learning process for both of us. We both get a little frustrated at times. There are times that she just plain walks away. I wish I could too!! LOL. I try to show her how to do it, and she wants to do it her way. I have to keep reminding myself to not frustrate her, it has to be fun for her and whatever she learns now is laignape (something for nothing French saying used alot here in south). So far we have done worksheets that I have found on the internet. The other day I wrote her name and she traced it. It was amazing!! We have been doing worksheets on squares and circles. She loves to do mazes, but she just doesn't have the concept of how to do them.

Emily also loves to play games. She got several board games for her birthday and Christmas. Her and Daddy played M#nopoly last weekend. She was determined that she was big enough to play!!

I am also tting to get her in a Mother's Day Out program. I am looking for a place that I can just drop her off 1 or 2 days a month instead of the 2 days a week. My main objective with the Mother's Day Out is to give her playmates and an opportunity to play with kids her age. I have looked into 1 place so far, I need to get out the phonebook and see what I can find. It has just been so cold that I haven't felt like doing anything at all.

WE ARE READY FOR SPRING!! WE WANT TO GO TO THE PARK AND ZOO!!!!!

I'M A BIG KID NOW

Emily is truly growing up so fast. She was so excited to turn 3. She now considers herself a big kid. We did have a little bit of a tough time with the transision. She would have days where she acted like a baby all day long. I recognized it as a transisioning period, and just let her. The last "baby" hurdle to jump over was potty training. Oh the will of a two/three year old!! But, I am proud to say, that we have been in pretty panties for 3 days now!!! This is the longest we have been. In her defense, I started way too early. I started when she was 20 months old. My goal was to have her potty trained by the time she was two. Oh the will of a 2 year old!!

it has been cold here, so we haven't done much of anything. I am also battling the winter blues...yuck!! We have started on some preschool things. She is so excited. She recognizes all of her letters of the alphabet, so now we are focusing on their sound and putting the alphabet in order. We have also learned our phone number!! It took her all of 3 or 4 days!! I set the goal of her knowing it within 6 months.

I know I have promised pics from birthday and Christmas. I will try to get up soon. Just haven't felt like doing it.

FELL OFF THE POST A DAY WAGON

WEll, I did almost half of the month!! I had good intentions. I thought I could fight the holiday blues by blogging, but they caught me anyway!! I am OK, just a little depressed. I knew I had to make the holiday season fun for Emily, and I knew she would be lots of fun this year and I really wanted to enjoy it.

We really did have a good Christmas. Emily was loads of fun. The comments that she made as she opened her presents were priceless. Her favorite gift from us was a soccer set. She also loved the scooter and the VT*C V M*tion that Uncle Jeff and Aunt Angie got her. Granny got her a dollhouse and that was a big hit as well. One of her favorite things from Grandma was a tent. Her wish list for Christmas was a blue camera, a flashlight and games and that's all. That is what she would say when you asked her what she wanted for Christmas. I will try to post pics from Christmas and her birthday before the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. MAY YOU BE BLESSED IN 2010

THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE

2nd ANNUAL COOKIES WITH GRANNY

Granny loves to make Christmas cookies and candies. She is thrilled to have a granddaughter to share that tradition with. Last year Emily was all about the flour. This year it was taste testing!! I forget what little ones will do and how unsanitary it can be to cook and bake with a toddler. But as Granny says what you don't know won't hurt you.

Tomorrow Granny is coming over and they are going to decorate a gingerbread house. This ought to be very intresting. STAY TUNED......

Funny girl

Ok, I am still struggling with birthday, getting ready for Christmas, and life in general. It is tougher than one might think to post everyday. Sometimes it is a time issue, other times it is material issue. Tonight is definately time. Right now it is 11:35 PM, so I have about 25 min!!

This will be a quick post on some of the funny things that she says. No pics - I have dial up and it would take over 300 min. to get them uploaded!!

She loves footed pajamas. She says they are snuggly. She calles them "foot ones."

Emily told me tonight that I felt feverish!! And she told daddy that he was smart!!

She wants her friends to come over, but says they can't because they don't drive!!

Daddy fixed her some chocolate milk this morning, and she didn't want it because it had chocolate in it. She calls milk chocolate milk.

She is always saying my friends are so silly.

Within the last week or so, she has been pretending alot that she is a baby. She will say Momma, hold your baby. Or Momma, you need to change your baby's diaper.

And my all-time favorite quote from Emily. If you ask her why, she says, "because I am Emmie."

One Tired Momma

Today was the big 3 birthday party. Emily had a blast and party was a big success!! Emily had several friends from church here and lots of family. There was of course lots of pizza, cake, icecream and tons of presents!!!

Now I am one tired momma. I will blog more about the party tomorrow and will include pictures.

Night, night, I am off to bed.

HOW TO HAVE A WHITE CHRISTMAS IN THE SOUTH

I saw this in a magazine hanging from the ceiling above the mantle. I thought it was so cute. I decided to put it on the wall behind the tree. Emily was so excited when she got up from her nap and saw it. She said, "Momma, who did that?" the other pics are of the snow that we had last Friday night. The chance of having a white Christmas in South Louisian is next to none, but we can WISH....

GETTING READY FOR BIRTHDAY

It is almost time for birthday. Emily is getting so excited for her birthday party which is this Sat. Last year we prepped her for several days and told her who was coming, but she was very overwhelmed that they were all there at the same time!! This year I think she really gets it. She talks to herself alot when she plays and I have heard her say that is is 2 now, but when birthday comes she will be 3.

Today I ordered her cake and ordered the pizza. The house is almost ready. It is so hard to keep things straighted and cleaned with a child!! She has tumble Sat. morning at 9. Daddy will take her and I'll get the last minute things done while they are gone.

She talks about her birthday all the time. Birthday is a person to her. She calls birthday everyday and tells him to bring her presents. She is also excited that her friends are going to be here. I invited a few children her age from church. Sat. is also the same day as our Christmas program at church and this close to Christmas I am not sure how many will come. But I know she will enjoy her special day.

HURRY UP BIRTHDAY....EMILY IS READY FOR HER PARTY!!

REINDEER GAMES

Here are the promised pics from the gymnastics recital. The pictures arent' the greatest, but she had lots of fun.

PRESCHOOL

Emily is getting ready for preschool. As I have mentioned, I am going to start homeschooling her in preschool beginning in Jan. I am not sure who is more excited, her or I. We have been working on a few things, and she loves it. Granny got her a subscription to H*lites magazine about a year ago, and she looks forward to getting her magazine every month. She sees me doing s*duko or crossword puzzles in the newspaper and she wants to to them too. I have made a game of letting her circle certain numbers or letters in the puzzles. She does very well with that, and begs to do it all the time. For the most part she recognizes almost all of her letters and numbers. We have also been working a little bit on sorting and counting things. I bought her several sets of flashcards for preschool a few months ago and she is enjoying them now, so much that she has them almost worn out!! I have also got out a deck of cards and let her seperate them by numbers and suits, and she likes that. She has some coloring books with activities in them and she has shown an intrest in them. She isn't quite ready to try to write her letters or numbers. I have tried to get her to let me hold her hand or I write it out and she trace it, but she gets agitated.

What we did today

Okay, it is day 7 into this post everyday, and I am already at a loss for words!!!

We got the tree up and decorated today. It was just her and I, so it was quite a chore!! She wanted to help me so bad. I still have some misc. decorating to do, but I should be able to finish that up tomorrow.

Didn't take any pics today....will take some when I get all my decorating done.

Emily enjoyed the Reindeer Games at tumble yesterday. I did take pics, I will post them sometime this month...you know, since I am blogging a day all month!! Her age group was second and she didn't want to stay and watch the rest. The first group was the Acro competition team. They were really good. She was all eyes and she kept saying, "I want to do that." And all day today I have caught her trying to do some of the "stunts."

I am also working on a post on the latest things that she is saying. I started it, then I couldn't think of anything that she is saying!!

Emily and Courtlyn

As you can see, Emily and Courtlyn love each other so much. They are both Hunan babies, just different parts of the "state." The first time we went to church at our church was Christmas morning in 2005. Our paperwork had been in China for 6 weeks. The sanctuary was packed out. We noticed the little Asian girl on the front row. At the time Courtlyn was 3 (the same age Emily is now!!) We knew at that moment that this was where God was calling us to worship. Tracey and Destry have been such a blessing to us, and of course Courtlyn too.

TODAY'S CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY: PARADE

Sorry, no pics.

Today was our town's Christmas parade. Emily's favorite part was the candy!! We still for the most part limit the amount of candy (next to none!!), so she was in heaven with all the candy. Her and I fought over several pieces. She would pick it up, and immediately eat it. I finally gave her a sucker. It was s bit of a challenge to make sure she didn't have a pice of candy in her mouth that she could choke on, and keep her out of the road!!

This evening when it got dark, I took her riding to see the lights. She wasn't interested, she wanted to go home. Oh well!! I'll try again before the end of the year.

Tomorrow is the Reindeer games. Kind of funny to say that the Reindeer games were cancelled Friday night because of snow!! She is really excited about it. I think we are going to try to video it. I have yet to take the video camera when she tumbles, but I really need to. Next semester she will tumble without me, and that will make it a little easier.

Tomorrow night is also the children's musical at church. I know Emily will enjoy that. Next year she will be old enough to be in the preschool choir. She loves to sing and loves music, so I know she will really enjoy it.

Tomorrow at church we are going to take pictures of Emily and another China girl. Our minister of music has an 8 year old from China. She and Emily LOVE one another, and it is so sweet to see them together. Last year after Christmas a lady at church gave each one of the girls a matching dress that she had bought for her granddaughters. It was too late for Emily and Courtlyn to wear them, so we are going to dress them in them tomorrow and take pictures by the Christmas tree.

Till tomorrow......Good Night.

Snow year 2!!

UPDATE:

We finally got more snow...10 minutes after Emily fell asleep!!! I kept her up till almost 10 pm. And she was so excited, she really wanted to see the snow and make a snowman!!! That's all right, there will always be next time!!

WE got snow again, 2nd year in a row. Very rare for South LA. It only snowed for about 10 mins. We are actually just a little south of the snow line. DARN. I do have pictures of Emily in the window looking for the snow. I also took pics of the several crafts that we did today. She loved it. I am going to post pics after I put her to bed. I also got the tree up today. It is put together we will decorate it tomorrow. I can tell already that we are going to have problems keeping miss E out of the tree!!! Reindeer Games at tumble were postponed until Sun. afternoon. Looks like we have a busy weekend already. Tomorrow is our town's Christmas parade. Cold shouldn't be a problem, it is supposed to get up in the 50's tomorrow, just concerned about wet.

PORTRAITS

This is just a small sampling of the photos that we took. Great pics and we had lots of fun. We did birthday (top photo), Gotcha (middle) and Christmas.

A young couple at our church have their own studio, and they really do wonderful. Even though this is their full time job, it is a ministry for them. And these photos if you can beleive it, are not the best ones from this shoot!! Okay, just a teaser, I may post more later.

Emily and Granny made cookies today. Granny keeps Emily every Thursday so that I can do what I need to do. I hung out with them while they made cookies and took pics. I forgot just what goes into cookies made by a child!! What you don't know won't hurt you right??

I am kind of enjoying this posting everyday. Next up will be the Reindeer Games. My little brother is coming in to watch her tumble recital, so I want to take pics of him with her. With my "free" time today, I went to the craft shop and got several Christmas crafts for Emily and I to do together....you guessed it more photos!!!

Check us out tomorrow!!

SANTA 2009

OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS CRAFT

It is December first, and we did our first Christmas craft. I bought a cheap paper ornament kit from WallyWorld, and that's what we did. She had fun. She loved doing the glue. The kit had glitter in it, and I did the glittering. Momma wasn't quite ready to turn that one over to her yet. I do have to admit that her and I did get into an arguement while doing the craft time. The kit had a set of sticker letters and I wanted her to write out her name. She does know how to spell her name. I was telling her what letters to get, and in the middle of her name, she decided it needed an O (O is her favorite letter...go figure). I kept trying to tell her her name didn't have an O and she kept trying to tell me it did. And yes, I felt foolish for arguing with her about it!!

Tomorrow (Dec. 2) we are going to go to the mall. Our mall usually decorates big for Christmas, and I know she will enjoy seeing that. It has been a while since we have gone to the mall. This summer a frozen yogurt shop opened up just outside of the mall. It has a mascot of a man dressed up in a giant icecream cone suit. She is terrified of it, which is funny because she isn't afraid of ANYTHING. Any mention of the mall, and she immediately says she is afraid of the "ipecream cone man." She asked me today if the icecream cone man was going to be dressed as santa.

I may try to blog everyday this month...just don't hold your breath!! We may or may not do a craft everyday, but I would like to do something Christmas-y with her....we shall see.......

END OF THE MONTH UPDATE

Is it really almost December?? Where has time gone. It seems like only yesterday that I received the call that my brother died, and man, it has been 2 MONTHS!!!!

Sorry, no pics with this post, I am going to do just a general update.

• Emily is almost 3....she will be three on Dec. 17. And she can't wait. She has been awaiting her next birthday since Dec. 18th of last year!!! I have never seen a child that young be so excited about their birthday.

• Emily is all about her family and friends. I thinks she is going to be a people magnet. For Thanksgiving I asked her what she was thankful for....you guessed it, my family and friends. I need to find her a play group with children her age....she really wants to play with kids her age.

• She is definately talking like a 3 year old. Here is a sampling of some of the things that she says: It's ok momma, don't worry about it. Just calm yourself down momma. Everything is Why. if you ask her why, her answer is because I am Emmy.

• She really misses my older brother. She called him "kuncle." She calls him in heaven everyday, and asks him when he is coming home. It is funny, but sad too. It is amazing what she understands. She also asks if she is going to go to heaven one day.

• Emily is also excited about Christmas. We weren't going to do the Santa thing, but she knows EVERYTHING about him!!! We have several books on the birth of Jesus, but I need to go get her a book on the of St. Nicholas. Santa is so commercialized, that you can't avoid him, we want to explain him, and let her know that Christmas is about Jesus, not santa.

UPCOMING IN DECEMBER

This coming Friday is "reindeer games" at gymnastics. This is their version of a dance recital. She is excited about it. She ought to do really well. They don't ask the 2 year olds to do much, but the more people that she has watching her, the better she does!!!! And there is going to be quite a bit of family that is coming to watch her.

I am sure we will try to hit a Christmas parade. She will also really enjoy riding around to see the Christmas lights. We are also going to do a few Christmas crafts. Her and Granny make Christmas cookies. We will also go caroling with the church.

Next post will be the pics that we took for Gotcha day, birthday, and Christmas.

Happy December

COOL TRICK

One of Emily's favorite shows is Y* G*bba Gabb*. They have a section on it of kids doing "cool tricks." Emily's favorite is a boy blancing a spoon on his nose. I catch miss E all the time getting into my silverware drawer and grabbing a spoon and saying "cool tricks." Tonight Daddy started snapping pics as she danced around the kitchen with the spoon on her nose!!

The other picture is where Emily wrote her name. I was going to write her name, but after I wrote the "E" she took it away from me and did the "mmy." No, we have not started teaching her to write. She brings her doodle boards to us all the time and wants us to write names. We always spell them out loud, which is where she has also learned to spell her name. I guess she has been watching us really close too!! I almost fell out.

Gotcha Day in pictures

Okay, so I have only posted this year's Gotcha Day pics. We are still really struggling with grief on the death of my brother, so just doing the necessities. Maybe next year I will do a comparison!!

On the lighter side, Emily enjoyed Gotcha Day. When we went to W*lm*rt to get the cake she was screaming Happy Birthday to Gotcha!! She had to have a candle on her cake in honor of Gotcha!! We went and took pictures on the 6th that included Gotcha, Birthday, and Christmas. Emily did really well, and they turned out great!! I will ask for permission to post on blog.

She really is beginning to understand adoption and China and all that goes with it. I started using the terms "in another lady's belly," and she wanted to know what her name was and who she is...maybe I should have waited a little for that one!!

I changed gears and got a little creative and aggressive on the potty training front. Today we bought a dry erase calendar and have titled it "Emily's Potty chart." I explained to her that when she potties she gets to put a mark on the chart and when she gets 4 marks, she gets a prize. That seems to be working...but we shall see, it has only been in commission for a couple of hours!! She was so excited when she "earned" (her words) her first prize!!

Emily is pretty much ready for preschool. I am going to home school her at least through preschool. We are going to start in Jan. I am really excited. I haven't decided on a particular curriculum, but been doing a lot on looking in the stores and online. I have got some good ideas from other bloggers. If you have any good tips, please pass them on.

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY #2

Wow, has it really, really been two years??!! I look at her and she is growing up so fast! I will publish pics in the next post in a day or two that will include Gotcha day, anniversary 1 and 2.

I was just thinking today about the "phases" that she has gone through, many of which I didn't think she would ever outgrow!!

• She used to throw lots of food on the floor. No matter what I said or did, she would throw food on the floor. So glad that "stage" is gone!!
• My baby only crawled for a few weeks!! I can hardly remember when she didn't walk.
• She sleeps really well. This was our biggest adjustment. It took well over a year for her to sleep through the night. For all of the first year home, I would either have to get in the daybed with her or move her to our bed because she would wake up and "need" her mommy. She had a lot of nightmares and night terrors in the first year too.
• She now calls the dog "my little puppy." When she first started calling him dog, she would curl her tongue when she said it. Then he became "gog." Then she would call him by his name "Oscar."
• Emily still does some of her sign language.
• As she began talking good she had a hard time saying her "f's" they would come out as "s's", but now she is saying her "f's" pretty good most of the time.
• Her current phase is to not listen when we tell her to do something. Momma has to keep reminding herself that this too will pass.

Emily you are such a blessing and a joy. Mommy and Daddy would go to China all over again for you!! We love you to China and back!! Happy Gotcha Day.