More Birthday, Etc.

Emma is still fondly reminiscing about her recent birthday and often asks when she can "do another one." She found some birthday candles in a drawer and wanted to blow them out again, so we occasionally stick a candle in a piece of bread, light 'er up, and sing another chorus of happy birthday, just for old times' sake.

Here she is on her new set of wheels. Don'tcha love the new trike smell?

Blowing out the candles for real way back on April 12.

Random notes:

-I can't wait for the weather to get warm and stay warm. I'm weary of the late April snowstorms and am losing my fragile testimony of global warming. Guess I should be grateful for "the moisture."

-Emma had her 3-year-old checkup on April 14. She grew 2 inches in the last six months and gained a couple pounds. She's in the 79th percentile for height and 24th for weight ("Tall and slender," the doctor said; "A good kind of build to have." To which I say, "No kidding." ) She's very healthy, but the doc does want her to have a speech/language evaluation because she's hard to understand, and surprisingly he thinks it has nothing to do with her late start in English. (I disagree; I just think it's got to be hard to switch over at the age of 18 months from speaking CHINESE!! (!)--and she was indeed speaking some--to tackling English. I think it's been hard for her to learn all these new sounds. Plus, about the only thing he heard her say at the visit was "No shot!") Anyway, he's not terribly worried about it but said it can't hurt to have her checked, so she's going in for an evaluation with the school district in a couple weeks.

-Emma's going great guns with the potty training lately. I started offering stickers for each successful potty endeavor (10 stickers=1 viewing of "JoJo's Circus") and she took to that right away. She's known how to use the pot for some time; guess I just had to make it worth her while...

-I called Emma "My darling, my hamburger" the other day. Does anyone of my vintage remember that teenagey novel? It just slipped out of my mouth. Emma protested quite a bit. "I not hamburg! I Emma! Don't call hamburg!" She has reminded me NOT to call her "my hamburg" several times since then.

This was taken at her friend Jackson's recent birthday party [photo credit: Jackson's mommy, Jen]. I love that she's in midair. I'd call that "frolicking."

And Joe took this picture last week just after she'd fallen asleep. (I know, I know...where are her pj's. Sometimes she scoffs at them...) Anyway, isn't she...well...beautiful?? Sighh. We are blessed parents indeed.

Happy late April to you!

Emma's Three!

Emma had a birthday on Saturday. She enjoyed every particle of it. I talked it up big for several days beforehand and I guess I got her pretty wound up. On Friday I told her that after she went to sleep that night it would be her birthday when she woke up. She kept saying, "Mom, go sleep now?" for the rest of the day. And later that night (after she HAD gone to bed), she wandered out to the living room at 12:09 a.m. and announced "It's my birthday!" (according to Joe, who witnessed the event.)

We had a couple of fun family celebrations. Emma is now well stocked with balloons and toys and has had her yearly allottment of pink birthday cake. She is also the proud owner of a new red Radio Flyer tricycle.

During a lull on Saturday afternoon (between parties), Emma walked forlornly up and down the hall saying "I would like some more birthday." I think I created a birthday monster.

Sure was great birthday weather on Saturday.

And sure was fun to wear new birthday pj's from Grandma on birthday night.

I've got some more cute pix I'll post later.

A Quick Trip to St. George

We took an overnight trip to St. George last Friday to visit two of Joe's sisters and help celebrate his dad's birthday. It was the first time we'd gone on an overnighter since Emma came home. Thanks to Aunt Boo Boo, our transportation arrangements were deluxe and we got to fly in a nifty little jet. 42 minutes from take-off to landing.

Emma looks a little travel-worn and we haven't even taken off yet. I talked up the plane ride quite a bit for a couple days before the trip. Also told her that we would be staying in a motel room with two beds and a swimming pool. She talked about the two beds quite a lot and also wore her swimming suit around the house all morning before we left, just to get in the mood. She did well on the short flight and liked zooming fast down the runway. When the plane lifted off the ground her eyes got big...then her brow furrowed and she said "Come back down??" But that was the only moment of consternation.

We went to Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack's for dinner. Joe's sis Laurie and her family were also in town after spending spring break in Moab. They live in Chicago and we don't get to see them very often.

We celebrated Joe's dad's 81st birthday. Emma was smitten with the Mrs. Backer's cake and managed to swipe her finger through the frosting just after this photo was taken.

I came down with a stomach bug Friday night. Yuckster. I hear it's going around. Hated getting sick during vacation. Plus Emma went from person to person at the birthday party and cheerfully announced "Mama throw up!" Her language skills really are getting quite good.

The next day I felt a little better. We drove to Snow Canyon and admired the red rocks...

...and the red sand. [Note: Some may say my legs look pasty; I prefer to call them alabaster.]

We visited the grounds of the St. George temple. So very peaceful and lovely.

Emma had a good time scampering around on the lawn and the steps.

It was a fun trip. Emma did great on her first overnight outing and it was wonderful to see lots of Joe's family.