CA Trip - April 2017

This is much belated. I thought I had posted about my trip to California last month but evidently I did not. Behold a random assortment of photos.

Since I arrived the week of Easter the cousins did a belated Easter egg hunt together. Emma picked up what to do pretty quickly and was soon practically a pro at finding the eggs and just getting the green ones.

While I was there we made a trip to the Oakland Zoo. Here are the cute girl cousins petting a little goat.

I thought she'd be better on the carousel than the first time she went on... apparently not. She seemed to enjoy it even though she clung on to me the entire time. Note that I did not even put her on a moving animal.

Nap-time sometime while we were there. This isn't how she usually sleeps but I found it rather amusing how tangled up she was in blankets.

We enjoyed a visit to see Sean and Renata. I think this was after we had crossed a street; Uncle Sean held her hand to cross and then she didn't let go after getting to the sidewalk. =) So sweet.

Hanging out on the couch snacking because why not?

I was happy to see greenery returned to the area. 

Sophiiiiieee

"RUN-NING!" in Emma's words.

Funny kids

Visiting Emma's great-grandma is always nice. Aiden was being a dork for pictures but was also being helpful sitting there so Emma could join in pictures.

Thank you to Becca for letting Emma and I stay at your house and for taking many of the photos I posted above. =)

Zoo trip just Emma and mommy

Our membership to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium is going to expire soon so I decided to take Emma while I still can. Emma did a super great job for the car ride and while we were there. It helped that it wasn't too busy (otherwise she would have run into more people - at one point she walked right into a large man who noticed her just in time and thankfully didn't fall on her). She let me push her in the stroller for a while and did was thrilled when I let her walk. She loved seeing the zoo animals.

Red wolves are so cute and they were probably the most active animal we saw. Many of the animals were sleepy.

Arctic foxes might just be my favorite animal on the planet. They're SO FLUFFY. They were napping when we first went to them so we went back before leaving.

Beautiful tigers.

This cute little otter was rolling in the hay when I came upon the exhibit.

Three snuggly porcupines.

Jellyfiiiiiish.

They got up! Alternatively.

My Worst Valentine's Day

Seriously? I never posted about Emma's second birthday? I have completely failed to blog in 2017. It has been a tough year so far. Last month Emma got sick for a few days and then I got sick for a long, miserable week (looking back I believe it was the flu). Just as I was getting better Bry got sick and then accidentally broke his jaw on January 23rd, long story short. He has been living on liquids and will be the rest of this month. Emma and I are sick once again less than a month after being sick the last time; I almost certainly have the flu (no fever but it is significantly worse than a cold usually is) and it's hard to say what Emma has since I only know her visible symptoms (runny nose, sneezing, coughing - all of which I share). We're both pretty miserable and she fell asleep really late last night and then woke me up every 2 hours, one of which times I tried to take care of her for an hour and the last (fourth) time of which we finally got up for the day.

Between Emma and I being miserably sick and Bry having his teeth wired shut (so his jaw can heal) we are a pretty pitiful bunch. I hope this is the worst Valentine's Day of my life and that the rest aren't this awful.

Sorry for the pessimism. I really hope everyone I know is having a great day! And I really hope Emma and I can stay not-sick for the rest of the year. Wishful thinking? Yes. At least no more flu would be great.

Emma's last free flights

Emma and I flew down to California on Friday the 9th - two days after she turned 23-months-old. We had a great visit with family. Thanks to Becca and Isaac for letting us stay in their house again. :) Emma had a BLAST playing with her cousins and I certainly enjoyed [most of the time] her being distracted with them and their toys. I'm glad for the time I could spend with my mom and dad and Pat and Becca and her family.

On Wednesday my mom drove Emma and I to Fairfield to visit the Jelly Belly Factory which was really fun (even for a non-jelly-bean-eater such as myself). We met my friends, the Carlsons, who we met up in Washington but whom moved back down to Sacramento-area where their families are. Their son, Skyler, was Emma's best friend for the year we got to know them and she still talks about him often (as in says certain things are his - like the car seat and chair we have that he used a few times).

SO MANY Jelly Beans 

Emma was somewhat enthralled.

Their Santa was AWESOME - so nice.

Jelly Belly bacon guacamole burger. Yum.
(There were no beans in it.)

 Jelly Belly art

She was so worn out after our excursion she actually slept in the car.

Within a day of coming back I was missing the weather down there since the cold has certainly blown in here in Washington (temperatures in the 30s). While I was in California I could walk outside with just a sweater or light jacket depending on the day and time of day. It was nice.

As an aside, the Southwest crew let Emma help fly the plane. ;) Or, you know, sit in a pilot's seat after we landed. So cute.

I'm grateful for the valuable time and conversation I could have with family, for the delicious food, and for the blessing of good family relationships. Although it would have been nice to stay there through Christmas, Emma and I were happy to return home to Bry so we can spend the holidays together as a family.

Emma's 22 months old

She continues to say a lot and connects so many things I can't even list it all. This is such an awesome stage in her life. I love how considerate she is since she watches us so closely and takes everything in. She shares her food with us and asks us to sit down with her sometimes and is OBSESSED with having us color WITH her (or color while she watches until she decides we done and snatches away the pencil/crayon - we're working on her not snatching). She struggles to consistently identify colors although she is generally good at picking out yellow and brown; sometimes she gets green or pink. She can repeat the numbers 1 through 10 and sometimes finishes 8-9-10 without help although it has turned into "eight - TEN!" And lately she hasn't been in the mood to practice counting and says "all done" when I try. Ha. Not a lot lasts with toddler entertainment/distraction.

I love that Emma is entertained by exchanging funny faces and how hard she'll laugh. Her laugh is still one of my favorite sounds in the universe.

On Monday (when she turned 22 months) we had some corn with dinner and she really wanted to try some so I shared with her. We have tried sharing corn with her before but she didn't really go for it. This time she was definitely a fan and did a great job of eating it.  Below is her eating mine that I ate most of and of which let her finish a few rows. I also gave her a portion of another cob without the pokey handles so she could hold it and eat it how she wanted.

She gives us more hugs and kisses than she used to but I think she prefers to hug and kiss her furry buddies like Winnie the Pooh and her huge puppy (that was given to me a few years ago).

Emma is full of joy much of the time, although she balances it out with a large dose of frustration/sadness when things don't go the way she wants. She is so forgiving and loving and sweet and I don't want her to grow up. Generally she is eager to help and accomplish a task that we ask of her. Sometimes she ignores us but usually she listens well.

Photo dump from today

These are her "fly"ing arms.

Hug. :)

 The result of Emma-led poses - sitting on the stairs. She enjoys inviting us to join her.

CURLS!

She has fun.

Her curls were great today.

This is her hugging a penguin, 

This is her kissing a penguin.

She likes to hug and kiss her toys more than she likes to hug and kiss us but that's okay.

Time keeps moving

I missed posting about Emma's month-iversary this October. She's 21.5 months now and has been learning so much. The last 2-3 months Emma has had a huge boom in her learning. She surprises me almost every day with the things she picks up on. With the increased understanding and attentiveness she has also increased in throwing fits and getting upset if we say something she doesn't want to hear. She is now well into the "no" phase although she doesn't say it constantly. She is still often cooperative but definitely more opinionated.

Her growth has definitely slowed down a lot, as is the norm. Emma is mostly into 2T/24M clothes at this point and wears few 18M items. She is in toddler size 5.5 shoes although will likely be in size 6 before Christmas.

Mostly she's a joy and I'm grateful she's my little buddy.