Sunday Mornings

Gotta love Summer weekend mornings. The past couple of weekends have been especially crisp in the mornings (which explains the bunny hat...yes, in August) and mild in the day.

Emma Claire loves her little pink car. I think she is working on a new alternative fuel involving grass. She likes to pick fistfuls of grass and put them in the back of the car. Maybe she is onto something...

Church services in the summer are outdoors, which is a treat. Sad to see that come to an end this week. How is it that the Summer has gone by so quickly?

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Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/31/09

Emma Claire had lots of fun playing with the train set this morning. Emma Claire helped me put the track together. She found all the curvy pieces to put together first! Then, she got to push the train down the track!

Today I was...Happy; Good Listener; Active

Side note...
Emma Claire is really scared of trains. She does the "scared whine" when she hears one up close, in the distance or if brought up otherwise. Ask her what a train says or to say choo-choo and you will get the same reaction.
She rids herself of the fear by saying and waving "bye" to the train whether the train is real or imaginary.

Playful Little Pirate Daily News: 8/27/09

Emma Claire had a lot of fun playing in the sensory table with the shaving cream! It made great "clouds"!! Emma Claire wasn't so sure on how to get it off her hands, but it sure was fun to squish!

Today I was...Happy; Good Listener; Active

Should've Brought A Glove

Brad was caught on TV at the Twins game last night. Guy behind him caught a foul ball. The calls and text messages came rolling in from friends that caught a glimpse of him on TV.

Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/24/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had lots of fun playing with the little bunnies and the bunny house this morning. She had the bunnies try out all kinds of toys! They sat in cars, on blocks and even inside the wooden cylinders! It was like they were in a rabbit hole!

Today I was...happy; good listener; active

Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/20/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had lots of fun cooking in the kitchen with Joey and Maleah! Emma Claire looked for all the hot dogs in the refrigerator and found a plate to serve them on. Joey got out the buns to go with! It was a pretty exciting picnic!

Today I was...Happy; Good Listener; Active

Week of August 24 - Air and Water Transportation

What I am Learning from Mr. Rogers

I checked out this book from the library yesterday, upon recommendation from the Dad in my ECFE class this past Spring. I need some good solid guidance as Emma Claire needs are changing and as the challenges evolve. Most recently, my questions relate to behavior and discipline (are we really getting to that point in toddler hood?). I figure Mister Rogers would be a good place to start. Can't go wrong with him, right?
I started reading it this morning. Most of my reading is done on the elliptical at 5am these days, so I will plug away at it. After only a chapter, I can tell it is a parenting book that I am going to love. As I read the sentences, I hear Mister Rogers himself narrating in my imagination.

A paragraph that I thought was worth sharing:

"Often being a parent forces us to know ourselves better than we ever might have imagined. We're bound to discover some surprising thoughts and feelings inside ourselves, even talents we never dreamed we had. As time goes on, most of us discover that we have more to give and are actually able to give more than we ever imagined"

I will keep you posted on what I am learning from Mister Rogers.

Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/18/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had lots of fun playing with Ava this morning. They sat under the little climber for the longest time outside! They each had a bucket of acorns that they were inspecting. Once in a while they would trade and go up top to try out the slide. Quite the "girls club"!

Today I was...Happy; Good Listener; Active.

Week of August 17 - Land Transportation

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy 31st Birthday to Brad and Happy 18 month birthday to Emma Claire today! Emma Claire and I had lunch with Brad at Famous Dave's, which was a treat. The server gave Emma Claire a pack of oreos. To my knowledge, she has never had oreos. But, wouldn't you know it. She took that thing apart right away and licked out the filling. Didn't want anything to do with the cookie part. Do you think that is innate to humans...how to eat an oreo?

I took Emma Claire to the Splash Pad in St. Louis Park after naptime. She was timid at first and didn't really want to get wet. Before long, she was over it and playing in the spouts of water.

New words: Ole Miss (Oh-Me); Rebel; Grove... Hotty Toddy, we are working on! (censored, of course). Emma Claire has a new Ole Miss board book we bought at Square Books Jr. when we were in Oxford last month. She loves to look at the pictures. She is especially fixated on the first page of the book with a picture of Col. Reb, The Grove, The Walk of Champions, etc. She won't let me turn past this page. She is gearing up for football season...aren't we all!

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Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/13/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had lots of fun playing outside in the water this morning. She liked holding the hose and squirting her tummy! She got pretty wet and grinned the whole time.

Today I was: Happy; Good Listener; Active

Week of August 10 - Safari Animals

Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/11/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had a lot of fun playing with all the safari aminals. She seemed to like the giraffes, she carried them all around the room by their big long necks!

Today I was: happy; good listener; active

(The class was having a "water day" when I picked up Emma Claire - she came home barefoot and in her swimsuit!)

Playful Little Pirates Daily News: 8/10/09

Emma Claire had a great day! She had a lot of fun "going on a safari" this morning. She spent a lot of time looking at and playing with the stuffed safari animals...she really liked the monkeys!

Storytime

A rainy morning gave us an excuse to go to the Galleria after Emma Claire's haircut this morning to piddle around. Emma Claire likes to play in Pottery Barn Kids and Creative Kidstuff.

We went to storytime at Barnes and Noble. Emma Claire would rather eat the crayons than color the coloring sheet they handed out at the end.

First Haircut

Big day for Emma Claire -(more like, a big day for mommy). We did it. The first haircut. Took Emma Claire to my girl, Breann, at Spalon Montage. Pretty swank place for a first haircut! They even serve cookies (much to Emma Claire's delight).

All went well. No major meltdown in the salon. She actually sat still (in my lap) and let Breann cut her hair. Now Emma Claire doesn't look quite so shaggy, but still has the long hair and flip on the end. Another red letter day.

Emma Claire said "brush" when we were combing her hair tonight. Guess hair is the theme of the day.

Playful Little Pirates Daily News

"Emma Claire had a great day! She had a lot of fun playing in the pool with the beach balls! She sat in the pool and tried to kick the balls out. It made for a fun game and Maleah joined in!

Practicing for Baby George

Emma Claire spent the morning with Calin practicing to help her Auntie G out with Baby George.

Note that Calin has an "ow-ie", which Emma Claire became very concerned about. Everything turned out to be ok.

Kiddie Koncert

Went to a "Kiddie Koncert" at Parker's Lake Park in Plymouth today. Turned out to be a lot of fun. We ran into some of our ECFE friends and picnicked with them. It was a beautiful day.
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Minnesota's Night to Unite - National Night Out

The first Tuesday of August every year is designated Minnesota's Night to Unite. Our neighborhood has a pot luck gathering in a neighbor's yard - there is even a band. It is always a good time and reminds me how much I love where we live. We have good neighbors.

Emma Claire had a fantastic time. She enjoyed the cookies and playing with a couple of neighbor kids that are close to her age. The firetruck came and the fireman passed out fire hats. Emma Claire especially loved this. She wore that little hat the rest of the night and put it on again first thing the next morning. I have to say, she was pretty cute! (thanks to Whitney for the photos :-) http://eckadue.shutterfly.com/1633

Playful Little Pirates Daily News

"Emma Claire had a great day. She had a busy morning playing with the baby dolls and Maleah! They took turns feeding the babies in the high chair. The menu was sand and cookies. Quite the mix!! :-)"

Emma Claire was...happy; good listener; active

Playful Little Pirates Daily News

"Emma Claire had a great day! She spent the morning having a picnic with Claire! It was fun to watch. Emma Claire brought the picnic basket to the carpet and Claire followed behind with the cookie jar! They had quite the feast!"

Week of August 3 - Ocean Life

Copy Cat

Emma Claire is very much into mimicking lately. It is funny to see her repeat gestures we make - sometimes at the most unexpected moments.

- shakes her finger at the dogs and says "no-no" when they get too close
- holds the same little pointer finger up and says "one mo" when she wants to do something again (one more book, one more time down the slide), although "one mo" often turns into 5 or 6 mo.
-she will repeat each letter of the alphabet after we say it (some more clearly than others). Tonight, we got to "P" and she held her nose like we do for a dirty diaper "P-U"!

An endless source of entertainment.

Good Helper

Saturday morning, Emma Claire ate her yogurt sitting on the hearth in front of the fireplace (so she could have a good view of Elmo on TV without taking the yogurt into the den, which is off limits for food...guess she is getting it). When she was finished, she hopped off the hearth, walked with spoon and bowl in hand over to the kitchen sink, stood on tip toes and just barely got the spoon and then the bowl over and into the sink. Now...if only I could teach her daddy to do the same :-).