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.

FALL FESTIVAL