Little Climber

Emma Claire climbed today at daycare. They have this little area with soft blocks that her teacher has been helping her climb, but apparently she did it all by herself today. The teacher said they all clapped for her and she was quite proud of herself! She also climbed up into the "loft". Rowie says she is going to be on the roof before long.
Emma Claire's new thing is to stiffen up. Hard to explain, but she acts almost like she has chills and gets all stiff and makes a funny face. The dogs are hilarious to her. She pulls up on Sophie. Rudy would never have that.
It is the little things that are so entertaining! We gave up fancy cable for basic. Emma Claire is our entertainment now. Much less TV watching these days.

T Minus One Week!

It is really countdown time now. One week until the election. Brad is working hard in these last days. He is at an education forum for the Hopkins School district tonight. I look forward to hearing how it went.
The TV ads should air any day now. Hopefully Brad will get it up on YouTube, so that we can share it on the blog. Lots of door knocking the rest of the week and then...an election party at Rick and Diane's Tuesday. Hopefully it is a victory party!
Here is a link to a nice article from a local newspaper, summarizing answers to questions that Brad and his opponent gave at a recent forum. http://www.mnsun.com/articles/2008/10/18/news/fw16hd44b.txt

We had our first hard freeze last night. Woke up to 20 degrees this morning. Brrr... Whitney and I continue to jog in the mornings. Better bundle up tomorrow! We have been taking the dogs along the past few weeks. They love it. I think Sophie is finally losing some weight!

Emma Claire's First Halloween Party

Elissa took photos of Emma Claire Sunday afternoon in front of her new backdrops. One was standard white and the other was a too cute chocolate brown backdrop with big colorful polka dots. We were the first to use it. Emma Claire did well. Can't wait to see how the photos turned out. We are lucky to have Elissa to take photos for us!

It was a busy day, with mom and Greta leaving, photos and Halloween Party (and a measly 30 minute nap for Emma Claire). She was a trooper, though. Hardly fussed.

The Halloween Party at GVCC was fantastic! Emma Claire was the cutest ladybug there! She thoroughly enjoyed herself. There were lots of kiddos of all ages dressed up in their Halloween best. There was even a kiddie friendly DJ. Emma Claire loved the music. We even entered the costume contest, but "Dorothy" won. Jonah was dressed as Yoda. They played on the floor. Emma Claire enjoyed playing with the cheerios and goldfish that Johah spilled everywhere. She crawled around and played under the table for a while. She even whined and reached for her dad tonight (Daddies are fun too...as Brad says!). We even went through the "Haunted House". Mom was more frightened than Emma Claire.

More Photos: http://eckadue.shutterfly.com/726

Rowie and Auntie G's Weekend in Minnesota

Rowie and Aunt Greta "Auntie G", we have been calling her, visited this weekend. We had a fantastic time.

Thursday, October 23

The family arrived around noon and we picked Emma Claire up from daycare. I think we startled her. She had just awoken from a nap and was in her high chair eating lunch. We interrupted her meal and she only ate a couple of bites. I think the audience was too much for her. She was clingy to mom at first, but warmed up and quickly remembered her grandmother and auntie. Rowie brought her a Pumpkin Bib (see photo).

The afternoon was spent playing and visiting. Rowie rocked Emma Claire to sleep at night.

Friday, October 24
Rowie went with us to visit Emma Claire's new daycare at our church. We had a good visit. She will start there in December (after a year and a half on the waiting list...I think it will be well worth the wait). Rowie stayed with Emma Claire in the afternoon while Greta and I had some fun shopping. We enjoyed being at home in the evening. Emma Claire loved to stare at Greta. Maybe she was trying to figure out why she looks like her mom.

Saturday, October 25

We went to breakfast at Marjorie's in the morning. Paul, Chris and Laura were there and Adrian brought Quinn and Ollie. Breakfast was delicious and we had a good visit. Emma Claire then took a 2+ hour nap (outstanding for her!) and we went to Blooma's first birthday party in the afternoon. We had fun introducing Mom and Greta to all of our friends. Jonah and Marissa were there, too.

We spent some time at the galleria and then made our way home. Emma Claire was enjoyed every minute of the afternoon. We took some photos and did a trial run of the Ladybug costume.

We enjoyed watching football in the evening....Rebels beat the Hogs!

Sunday, October 26

Mom and Greta stayed with Emma Claire while I worked in the morning. A special treat for them...our first snowflakes of the year (yes, snow...isn't it too early for that?). The seasons changed all too quickly from fall, to what seems more like winter.

We hated to see the family go. We had a fun weekend and look forward to seeing them soon.

More Photos: http://eckadue.shutterfly.com/702

Growing Pains...

Emma Claire (and Mom) had a tough morning. She (Emma Claire, not Mom) screamed for about 4 hours, almost without a break. The only thing that would calm her was to be held and walked. Not rocked, not cuddled on the bed, not standing still. She demanded to be walked. So, that is what we did for 4 hours. Finally, I called the doctor. They said to come in, and we did in the afternoon. Sure enough, Emma Claire was as happy as could be at the doctor's office. All smiles. The only indication of a bad morning were her red eyes from all the crying and no nap. The peditrician said she believed me, though. Emma Claire was, of course, fine. Ears looked great, no temp, happy, etc. Just those little teeth trying to push through and the beginnings of a little cold. Up the tylenol and add ibuprofin...check! The rest of the afternoon was fine. In fact, we both took a much needed 2+ hour nap on a cold, wet October afternoon.

We did make it to waterbabies tonight. It is our last class of the first fall session. We have a 2 week break and then start back. Jonah is going to continue, too. We haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, so they enjoyed seeing each other (I think, anyway!). We sang lots of songs and practiced our jumps from the side of the pool and, of course, "going under".

Lots of fun events coming up for halloween. Rowie and Greta are coming tomorrow. We are going to a party at Blooma on Saturday (dressed in Ladybug attire) and a party at GVCC Sunday night. A neighbor is having a party on Halloween. A busy couple of weeks ahead...!

Election day is 13 days away...I think we might just make it through, although the end still seems like an eternity away. We are excited for Brad. It is fun to see the Kadue signs up all over!

First Parent-Teacher Conference

Emma Claire had her very first "Parent-Teacher" conference today. It is basically just a time to check in with the teacher and go through a developmental checklist (looks like she is on track there) and ask questions. She is very "social" and "busy", her teacher says. She wrote "Emma (Claire...they just call her Emma most of the time) is doing great! She is social and enjoys being near and interacting with all of her cargivers and friends! She has been working hard at crawling and likes being able to cruise independently around the room to explore!"
Ms. Amy had started a portfolio with artwork and photos of Emma Claire taken at daycare, which we will get later. So, the first conference went well...hope they are always so positive! (many more to go during her school years!)

"Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow"

Emma Claire showed the first real sign of separation anxiety this morning. She was a mess when I left her at daycare. She was open mouth crying and reaching for me. I think she pulled it together after a few minutes. One of the teachers was holding her and I could see her through the big window as I pulled off and she looked fine. She was all smiles when I picked her up in the afternoon.

Two weeks and counting until the big day! Brad is working on a TV ad. Emma Claire and I will make an appearance in the ad. More to come on that. Hopefully I can post the final product on the blog.