Creativity Unlimited!

I tried to get a nice long video of Emer playing with the Christmas decorations (she was supposed to be helping decorate but everything turned into toys for her, haha!). Of course she would have none of it. She was doing this (see below) for at least 10 minutes and when I finally had a chance to pull out the iPad2 she only continued for another 16 seconds. Here's what I'm talking about when I talk about her creativity and ability to play with anything, as well as her musical talents:

Hope you enjoyed it, even though it was short! :)

Too Much Going On, Not Enough Time to Stop and Think...

Oh dear, October slipped by me! So here I am, sitting down writing a November post. That's OK. I'll add some pics and you'll all forgive me, right?
Lately I've been thinking of blogs to write that have nothing to do with Emer or being a mom. I've decided to start a random blog just for those thoughts. It's be all about my random thoughts and contemplations throughout an average week. You can check it out at thoughts-deeporotherwise.blogspot.com. But in the meantime, I will catch you up on Em's life:

I should go back and count how many times I've written about my amazement. Emer continues to amaze me - in her conversations, in her play time, in her style and love of girly things, in her acting, and just her development in general. In a lot of ways she is a mini-me. She is creative and doesn't need someone to entertain her. Her latest favorite thing to do it is to pretend she's me. She gets a bag and puts a few things in it then says I need to watch the baby b/c she's going to PartyLite. Haha! This morning, while I was at Yoga, she made her dad watch the baby while she pretended to be "mom" and go to PartyLite. When I got home I asked if she'd made a lot money. She said, "Not today. But I have more PartyLite's!" Ah, a true direct sales consultant - knowing that consistency is key :)

She's also like me in that she's usually busy, but get crabby when she's hungry or tired. Feeling good = acting good. We love that!

When I was little I loved to read. So does Em. She will read to herself, read to her babies, read to me, etc. It'll be fascinating when she starts to read for real b/c I think she's going to pick it up quickly. She's pretty accurate with the stories now - using both her memory of the stories and the pictures.

Ahhh, mornings. She completely follows after me in the mornings. When she wakes up she likes to lay in bed and relax for a bit. It makes for a tough morning when we have to be somewhere right away but most days we can lounge for a while before heading out the door. I love those days, and so does Em. We'll either lay in her room and chat or cuddle on her big bed until we head down for breakfast. So kind, loving, and comfortable.

Now don't get me wrong, she is developing into a little Emer - unique to herself, of course. One fascinating thing about this chick is she has a steel trap for a mind! She will quote books or songs from weeks ago. Half her play is based on stories we have read that I've completely forgotten about. I'll be listening to her and catch something about "papa". This is from the Bearenstein Bears. Sure enough, she is acting out a story from a recent book. Love it!

She is also a lefty. This is an interesting thing happening in our family. There is not a single lefty in my generation or the previous generation between me and Steve. My uncle might have been had he been allowed, but no one else really seemed left-dominant. In Emer's generation, we currently have 7 cousins. Of those, 3 are lefties! One more, apparently, is appearing as if she's going to be a lefty. It's so strange! I love watching Emer color or hold a fork. Her fine motor skills are developing well and she holds the pencils and crayons and forks just as she should. She doesn't have the "super-grip" like many little kids have. She is very delicate with them and holds them correctly. She also is trying to learn to use chop sticks. She can do it with 2 hands. Yippee!

It's all so amazing to watch.

There are other things as well - she's very thoughtful. She has this thing she does to try to get out of trouble - she'll come up to me and gently put her hands on either side of my face to give me a kiss. It doesn't work, but it's very sweet. She also has made some friends at the Y and changes who her best friends are day by day. Hayden is ALWAYS a best friend and so are Sophie and Gabby. But then after playing at the Y she'll have another best friend each day. And it's not just that, she can always tell me exactly what these kids did to be nice to her and why they are her friend that day. She notices everything!

There are many other things I could write about but I think I'll finish up with pics from her gardening adventures:

Check back soon b/c I am going to start writing shorter blogs, with fewer pics. That's what holds me up - trying to make time to find my card reader, plug it into my phone, pull off the pix, plug it into my computer, search for the perfect pix, upload them to the blog, and post. So many steps just to share a few thoughts! For now, thanks for checking in today!

How Many Things Change in One Year...

I know, I know...I promised pictures in my next blog. And they are coming. Emer and I are growing parsley and we have been taking pictures with her and the plant every week or so to show the growth. It's really fun and I will post the pics in a couple of weeks when the plant gets a little bit bigger. But tonight I want to just write. I was deleting things from my phone b/c my memory is full (I must be too busy! - and I was talking about my phone memory, haha!) and I have to add a few new things to my life. In the process of doing this I went back a year to figure out what I didn't need in the phone. Wow. I cannot believe where I was last year and where I am this year. Let's recap:

(If we go back 2 years...on this day in 2009 I had just booked Emer's first trip to NYC. Since then she has been twice! She also went to Minneapolis this past summer. And this coming Oct. she will be headed to Austin, TX. I have a traveling baby and I love it! She actually loves to fly and does really well on the planes. It's so nice to have everyone staring at you b/c your kid is behaving and not because she is screaming...)

2010

The 15h-16th was reserved for potty training. I have it in my phone that from 8:00am on the 15th through 9:00pm on the 16th we would live by the potty. We would follow everything in the book, "Toilet Trained in Less than a Day" and Emer would be potty trained. Well you all know how that turned out. And if you forgot, go back and read the blog!

2011

Emer has an accident about once every couple of months. She tells me when she has to go. She even brags to the Y staff in Child Watch that she can wipe by herself. :) This evening we were at Steve's school and walked past the girls' bathroom. She stopped and said, "I have to go peepee!". Really she just wanted to try out the big kids' potty but she did go and was so happy with herself.

2010

I had just made Team Leader with PartyLite. This was something I'd wanted to do b/c I thought the title would be cool. I didn't, and still don't, have any aspirations of being a Unit Leader. It's a lot more work!

2011

I'm frighteningly close to Unit Leader. I don't even know how this happened! I just decided I would make one new contact every day and this started the PartyLite Karma train! I have a call with my Unit Leader next week to see what I need to do. I'm doing the great debate in my head. It would be fun. But a lot of work! But it's an exciting opportunity and a new twist in my life...I'll keep you posted, of course.

2010

On Sept. 9th I participated in a webinar to promote College Go! Week with elementary schools. I was working as a primary school counselor in a position that had been perfect. The counselor I job shared with was great and we were both so happy in our positions to be able to work with a school of children part time and spend the rest of our time with our own families.

I looked into pre-schools for Emer. We really liked the co-ops we looked at and will probably end up there eventually. Deciding between Speedway and Meridian Hills was the question at the time.

2011

Change happens and I now have no counseling connections! I'm back doing marketing, actually, for the Pike YMCA. I love it but it's such a change from counseling. Emer comes with me when I have to go to work and plays in Child Watch. Otherwise I do a lot of it from home. We get to spend soooo much time together it's a ton of fun!

Pre-school didn't happen. With me not getting the marketing job until a couple weeks ago we had already decided that we didn't have the money nor the need for pre-school this year. It doesn't seem to hurt her any not being in school. She knows all her colors, she can verbally spell her name (we started working on this in July when the doc asked if she could), she can count to 20, she can recognize letters, she is working on coloring in the lines (not always, but sometimes!), and my goodness her creativity is so much fun!! I am so proud of the stories I hear her come up with sometimes. She isn't super creative with names (usually she makes her 'friends' be named Emer, Hayden, Gigee, Poppy, Mommy, Scotty, Eron, and Daddy!) but they are always acting things out. It's like live TV in our house sometimes :)

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I LOVE BEING A MOM!!! Having Emer is the best thing in my life. Jobs come and go. PartyLite waxes and wanes. But my love for Emer just grows. I'll conclude tonight's blog with a conversation between us,

Emer, (laughing hilariously in the back seat of the car)

Me, "Ems, I love happy Emer! Well, I love grumpy Emer, but I love, love, love happy Emer!"

Emer, "Mommy, I love, love, love happy Mommy. But I also love grumpy Mommy"

Me, (laughs) "thank you Emer!"

2:00 am, can't sleep...

Well I have to say I haven't posted many 2:00 am blogs in a couple of years but here I go! I just thought since I was awake I'd write a few things down that I love about my Tiny.

A list, in no particular order:

* She's a Mini Me!!! Yes this is frightening in so many ways, but makes my life so fun in a million more ways. I fully understand her bad moods (sleepy? hungry? both?) and fully appreciate and love her goofiness.

* She's a total actress! She has been crying when requested for well over a year but now she adds drama to any situation, she fake laughs, she pulls attitude all the time, and makes up stories with her "friends".

* Apparently, though, this last one is also a mini rendition of me. As a kid I guess I used to line up my toys and have conversations between them and create stories and Emer is the queen of doing this. It's awesome to watch!

* She is naturally talented in gymnastics (according to not just me but also her instructor!). The other day she showed me a handstand with the instructor's help. Emer's toes were perfectly pointed and she kept her arms straight and tight. She was almost doing it on her own!

* However, she is very cautious. She is nervous on the balance beam and I feel like one of my old gymnastics coaches when I prod her to do stuff on her own. I was always so scared and I can tell she has that bit of fear as well. It will hold her back, unless I can find a way to move her past it...

* She has the greatest set of laughs! There is the goofy laugh when she's being completely silly. This is usually accompanied by a fake double-over in laughter. There is the deep, gutteral laugh when she's happy and laughing with others. There is the uncontrolable laugh when she's being tickled or listening to something so funny she can't stop and think. Who knew there were so many different ways for one Tiny 3-year-old to laugh!

* She loves to read! She memorizes books and then reads them to herself or her babies.

* She loves nature! She has an ever-growing collection of sticks, flowers, rocks, pine cones, and now acorns in my car. However, the acorns originally were not for her collection. When I asked her, she replied with, "No mommy, these are for the squirrels". Sorry!

* She loves to swim!! We got a pool recently (one of the big blow up ones, 10ft long, 4ft wide, 3ft or something deep) and she's spent every day in it. And the last time we went to the regular pool she swam the whole time and never got out to play at the splash pad. I was so surprised!

* She just so dang cute!!! I'll do a photo spread soon so you can see some updated pics. I know that's what most readers of this blog want anyway...

And now, since it's 2:15 am, I better get going. Here's hoping Tiny sleeps in tomorrow and takes a nap! Mommy's gonna need a nap :) Good night all and thanks for stopping by!

Three Years!!!!

Wow!!! Three years have gone by since Tiny entered this world, on her due date, against my orders (you remember - I told her to a wait a week past her due date so we could be married 10 years before having a kid). She has proven to be an independent, strong-willed, and very fun Tiny! So it's about time I write in this blog and update everyone!

I will try to add pictures at some point but (it's been requested that I update the blog) I just don't have time to find my card reader, pull the pix off my phone, add them to my computer, then download them to the blog. So, just words for now! :) And a smiley emoticon or two, haha!

Let's start with the stats! Today, well as of her 3rd year doc appointment, Emer is:

36 inches tall - 38th percentile (really?! She seems so tall!!)

29.4 lbs - 36th percentile (that seems accurate)

Above average in some things and therefore just developing "perfectly" according to the doc! :)

Things that she knows now:

* Emer can sing the alphabet song, saying each letter perfectly.

* She can tell us the first letter of all of our names.

* She can count to 20!

* She loves going to the library and picking out books. Then she memorizes them and reads them to herself or her 'friends'.

Things she does:

-> Over the past year we have continued swimming when we get the chance and Emer has kept up her skills. This summer I am teaching swim lessons through the Y and I'm also teaching Ems the same things I'm teaching the kids in the classes. She can swim by herself, using a noodle, by kicking, stroking with her arms, and blowing bubbles! It's so fun to swim with her!

-> For Christmas Gigee got Emer a tumbling mat. We've been working on somersaults, back bends, etc. So, in April I enrolled Emer in tumbling. She has loved it ever since! We even got her a new leotard for her birthday! On tumbling days I have no trouble getting her dressed b/c she is soooooo excited! She can now do front somersaults, back somersaults with a spot; she can hang from the bar on her hips and from her knees, and kick off the bar; she can do a back bend and kick out of it with a spot; she can walk on the balance beam by herself (except when I ask her to!); and she can jump off of a spring board onto a "vault" then jump onto the ground. I'm always amazed at what she has learned and love that she loves tumbling!

-> Ems loves to sing! She learned songs by listening to them and repeating them back. She has always loved music but this last year she has really improved her language skills and pronounces things very clearly in song. She is even better at making up songs - it's too funny!

-> Speaking of making up things, sometime last fall, maybe in the winter (I can't remember!) she started really putting stories together. She'll set up dolls or other toys and make up stories with them. I love just watching her play - so creative!

All in all, Emerson Rachel Cripe, my Tiny 3 year old, is amazing. Yes, she gets crabby and whiny when she's tired or hungry (I know someone else like that!) but she's just so much fun when she's happy. I Love My Daughter!

The PeePee TeePee

I think it is safe to write this blog now. (And I'm using this is as my excuse for not having written it before now, haha!) So here goes.

The week before Hayden's 2nd birthday was a big one for Tiny Wonder. The snow and ice had been horrendous. School was getting canceled day after day, you've seen the ice slide off our back porch, cars were stuck in garages. It was miserable. But, Gigee watched Emer on Feb 3rd and 4th so I could make up one of my missed days of work. And here is where the fun begins.

Emer spent 2 days at "Gigee's PeePee TeePee"! She came home to us totally potty trained! Now I am sure you are reading this going, what?! Really potty trained? Didn't I just read that Emer wasn't ready and caused the most stress for herself and her mom EVER? Didn't I hear her mom say she would learn from her friends in pre-school, maybe Kindergarten? Just kidding :) How is this possible? And what is the PeePee TeePee???

All good questions. Let me answer some of them for you:
1.) Yes, really potty trained. Emer had 3 accidents in the week following her stay at the PeePee TeePee. One was her trying to get to the potty in time and the other 2 seemed to be either deliberate or she just didn't care at that time. Within in a couple of weeks she was napping in undies on days when she would fall asleep in the car. Last week she told Daddy she didn't want a diapee on for her nap because she wasn't a baby. (She does still sleep at night in diapees, but this is a safety measure as she always goes potty before getting jammies on.)

2.) Yes, a recent blog was all about the day Emer and I tried "Potty Training In Less Than a Day". But, that was way back in Sept. And she wasn't ready then...

3.) I did visit a pre-school where I was told 90% of the kids in the 3 year old class come in not potty trained. But they learn from each other. So after Sept. I had decided this is what I would do - let the pre-school train her!

4.) It is possible because Emer was ready this time and Gigee was more calm/relaxed about it all than I was. I think this is Gigee's calling in life! (love you, mom!)

5.) The PeePee TeePee is a fun name a friend of mine created for Gigee's house. I don't know what it is about my generation but many moms dread potty training and my mom is the best at it. When my friend heard about Emer she suggested a business for my mom. Then we brainstormed names. I keep telling my mom she could make a ton of money with this business. Just bring your 2 year old to my mom's house and leave him/her there for 2 days. Let Gigee train your kid! You are thinking this is a great idea, aren't you?!

At this point I could not be more proud of Emer. She is a full-fledged potty-user and proud of it!

Winter Fun!!!

This morning, while potty training, we decided to take a break and play on the ice slide that had developed off our back porch. Emer didn't want anything to do with it, but Steve and I had a blast!

WEEEEEE!!!!!

AHHHHHHH!!!!!

Potty training was OK. She waited until after lunch to do anything. Then she went the tiniest amount, in about 3 different drips. She was excited when it started so she'd step away to look at it. I would then encourage her to sit back down and finish. On the 3rd sitting, I knew she hadn't finished, but she clearly wasn't going to (and was getting sleepy) so we went upstairs to get ready for her nap. She proceeded to COMPLETELY fill a diaper. She told me she was going peepee so I know she knew what she was doing then! We changed that diaper, read her stories, then put her down for a nap. I don't know if I want to attempt it again this afternoon. Can she get an infection from holding it for so long??? What's the deal with this chic?!

Now I think I'll slide some more, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! :)

Happy New Year, 2011!

Let's start this blog entry off with a summary of the last several holidays from 2010:

Yep, a slide show is the lazy mom's way to summarize 4 months, but sometimes I need to take the lazy mom's way! :)
It's amazing to me when I think about all the holidays that fall into place at the end of a year:
The funniest thing about them is that Emer seems to really like Halloween the best! (Yea, that's my girl!) This year we visited a couple other Halloween stores and she loved the blood and gore again! In one store she found a coffin with a blow-up dracula that would pop out and then fall back in. She watched it for nearly 10 minutes! I hope she always keeps this love of Halloween because that will just make the holiday more and more fun.

Christmas was a total blast this year and brought about the first year I felt overwhelmed with gift options for her. I had a HUGE list of items I thought she would love and only realized how big the list was when I started shopping for items. I was able to share ideas with my family so that helped and made the things she got from Santa that much more special. The big item this year was an easel. One side is a chalkboard and one side is a dry erase board. There is a big roll of paper that you can roll down to draw on as well. She also got crayons, markers, chalk and paint to go with it.
Here she is working on some new pieces:

Here are a couple of her first drawings, hanging in her "house":

The 3rd of Jan., 2011 brought us her 2.5 year doctor appointment. So, without further ado, here are the most recent stats:
Weight - 27.6 lbs
Height - 36 inches tall
Head - Average (I forget the measurement!)
Attitude - Priceless :)
Concerns - None! She only had an appointment at 2.5 because of the speech concerns we had at her 2 year appointment. But, just like our fantastic Dr. O'Nan said, her babble turned into words about 3 months later and it seems every day she adds a new word to her repertoire. And according to a speech development chart given to me by my school's speech therapist, Emer is ahead in some language development categories. It kind of makes me laugh that we were concerned at all!

Oh, and 2011 also brought us a whole new look for me! Before I ask what you think, you must understand 2 things - 1.) I have been growing my hair out for about a year and half to donate to Locks of Love. And 2.) I consider this a medium length therefore I did NOT do the "I'm a mom and need a short mom-haircut" cut!! So, that being said, what do you think?

Happy New Year, everyone! :)