february

Nigel comes over for a playdate and we all go out in the six inches of snow that fell last night! When we come back in, I strip all three kids out of their pants, snowpants and boots and send them upstairs in their diapers and underwear to get out of the snow and wet on the carpet. By the time I have sorted all the winter clothes and make it upstairs to help with dry things, Emily has herded both Nigel and Sarah into the bathroom and is helping them take off their diapers and take turns on the potty! This from the girl who had no interest in potty training herself until she was almost 4! 2/3

Today Em gets to tell her teachers, "See you tomorrow!" It's her first week of 5 days of preschool! 2/3

We worked on one of Emily's new 100-piece jigsaw puzzles. Emily said, "Can you pass me that piece with the bumps and the curves?" 2/5

Getting into the car after school, Em says, "What does hydrophobic mean?" (They did an experiment today about mixing oil and water. Miss Kelly said the oil was hydrophobic!) 2/6

Daddy took Emily to Timbuk Toys to choose a present for Sarah. Emily looked and looked but decided on a small "dragonfly" prism/kaleidoscope thing to look through, a plastic cone that launches a foam ball "ice cream" on a string when you press a button, and a hollow plastic "microphone" with a spring coil inside that makes your voice sound echoey when you talk into it. Sarah loves them all! Good choosing, Emily! 2/8

After her first week of 5 days of school, a cold, cough medicine, and a day full of festivities for Sarah, Emily falls asleep at 5pm! She sleeps until midnight, at which point she says she is hungry and thirsty. I get up with her to fix her peanut butter on bread and get her a glass of water. She eats, brushes her teeth, listens to a book, snuggles with me in her bed, turns off the light again at 1 am...and spends the rest of the night coming in to our room to ask if it's morning yet! Em came in about three times, then just crawls into bed with us around 4 am and sleeps until 8. Emily is just fine the next day, but Mommy and Daddy are a little sleepy! 2/8

If Emily likes a dinner or dessert she'll say, "If I had three thumbs I would say, 'Three thumbs up!'"

Emily loves making "kissing hands" (a traced hand with a heart shape on the palm) and so for Valentines for her class she asked me to draw "kissing hearts" (a big heart with a little heart inside). She colored each one differently and wrote her name on them, then handed them out at her Purple Coytoe Valentine's Party! Her friend Hunter handed out Valentines that you could fold into a "fortune teller" and that was a BIG hit. (We have since made several of our own. Christine is very patient when she comes over and lets Emily tell her fortune many, many times!) 2/14

Emily's school sheet says, "We are very, very happy that Emily is coming to school every day. She is delightful and she sets a very good example for the other children." 2/14

Emily is thinking about another Chuck E. Cheese's birthday! 2/18

Em puts her headbands in, but isn't satisfied with the results: "I think I'll overdo it." [do it over!] 2/18

On Aunt Amy's first day here, I went up to check on them, playing in Em's bedroom. I sit on the bed to see what they're doing and Emily comes over to whisper in my ear, "Can we have some more Aunt Amy, Emily, and Sarah time?" I said, "Do you mean you want me to leave?" Emily nods so I go back to work packing more boxes! 2/20

Em says she wants to do some "Gummi Birds." Oh, origami birds! 2/26

Emily draws me a surprise picture with my face inside three "concentric" rectangles. I said, "I'm inside all these rectangles!!" Emily said, "You're on a dollar." I said, "I must be really important, then." And Emily said, "You are to me!" 2/26

We said goodbye to Aunt Amy this morning. Tonight at bedtime Emily said, "I really miss Aunt Amy!" Me, too, Em! 2/26

Em tells me about a problem, and I say, "That's a dilemma, all right." She said, "What's a dilemma?" I said, "It's a problem you don't know how to solve." She said, "Then just say it's a problem you don't know how to solve!"