Goop

One rainy day last week I was trying to think of something for Emerson to do so we both didn't go crazy. I decided to whip up some goop for him to play with. The best part is that there are only 2 ingredients: cornstarch and water. You can add a drop of food coloring if you want, and I did because E's favorite color right now is pink. :) I'm glad he's comfortable with his masculinity.

Although it doesn't look like it in the pictures, he really really enjoyed playing with it. He thought it was hilarious to try to pick it up and have it drip through his fingers. (If you've made it right it should look about the same consistency as white glue. It doesn't feel like white glue though...it feels strangely solid and liquid at the same time.)

Another benefit was the easy cleanup. It even comes out of hair easily. I would know. While I was leaning over a small boy let some carefully drip into my hair. I couldn't even get mad. I just let it dry and then brushed it off.

When E finished playing with it 45 minutes later, I just took him and the tray to the sink and washed both of them down. Done.

Pet Store

Before Daddy disappeared for 5 weeks to study for Boards, we had one last day o' fun after he finished his last test as a Med 2. We cooked breakfast, went to Sam's Club for samples (woo hoo! and bought eclairs for Mother's Day) played trains, went to the pet store, and got pizza for dinner, all with little or no talk of studying. Those were the days...or rather THAT was the DAY.

E excitedly spotted Nemo at the pet store and couldn't get enough of him. I was almost tempted to get him a cheap little goldfish, but then I remembered at least two of my friends complaining about having to take care of the stupid thing and how expensive it turns out to be, so I restrained myself. We get to see them on our weekly trip to the grocery store anyway. Every time we're getting yogurt at Meijer, E starts yelling "FISHIES!!!" at the top of his lungs and we have to go over and say hi. It leaves him a very happy boy.
I heart this picture because it shows him cowering away from the puppy. Just like Mommy. :) In fact, Mommy didn't even go in the little cubicle and took pictures from outside. I'm not a dog person. Really not a pet person at all. Got that from my mom too! I'm going to start uttering the phrase "You can get a dog over my dead body" when Ben tries to convince me we need one. Did I mention I'm not a dog person?
Ben had the best time of all of us at the pet store, I think. E petted this little white fluffy puppy because it was so mellow but then quickly became much more interested in the scab on Daddy's forearm and wouldn't stop poking it.
It was fun to see you that day, Daddy! Hope we can do something again soon. You know, after Boards and all that fun stuff. If anyone wants to socialize, E and I are available. :)

Officially A Kid

It's official. Emerson is finally a real boy. He finally discovered how fun it is to put olives on your fingers.





Don't pretend you don't still do it too.

I Made Myself Do It

I was talking to my good friend Natalie Humpherys from Logan awhile back about whether it's normal to dislike the pattern of your carseat from your first child. She assured me that she doesn't like hers either, so then we discussed whether or not you could make/order a new cover. I didn't really want to drop $100 on a whole brand new carseat or custom-made cover, so I made myself figure out how to redo the the carseat pad. Of course I didn't do an official "before" picture, but this one includes cute baby E at 4 months. Was he ever that small!?

Yes, try to see past the cuteness of this boy and notice the carseat pattern.

The challenge was finding a girly pattern that also coordinated with the already-green trim and canopy. I probably did the first frugal thing in my life by buying the fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby for just over $4.00. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It only took me four days...and what a four days it was. I only bled a little from all the pin pokes.

After

Now I just need to go buy some Scotch Guard fabric spray so baby girl's spit-up will wipe off fairly easy, and I'm good to go! (You can do it, Natalie! You know you want to.)

If you are thinking about doing your own, I used just under 1 1/4 yds of fabric and I sewed it to the original carseat pad and canopy. But if you're having second thoughts about doing it, you're probably right and should turn back now.

Sing-A-Long With Emerson

I shot a little video of E helping me sing songs.

A few observations:

*He likes to say the "shut them" part of the song, but says it "shup dem".
*He claps with the back of his hands?? (Not usually, but during this song for some reason...)
*He says "lay them in your lap" about 5 seconds after I've moved on.
*He does the actions to "Popcorn Popping" with only one hand since that's what I'm doing while holding the camera.
*His favorite part is smelling the treat. Listen for him drawing breath into his nostrils. :)

E-Isms

E's been doing lots of things to make me laugh lately. Some favorites:

* I told him to push his chair in at the library, and he did it with his two pointer fingers. (You must understand though, that to him "push" always means pushing a button or something that only requires one finger. Hence the double pointer finger pushing of the chair.)

* He had his little friend William or "Iam" over to play and when he came in the door E handed him some trains and said "Come on!" so William didn't even have time to miss his mommy.

* E insists on being a big helper and now knows that is what it's called. So he'll come try to take something from me and look me in the eye and say "helper".

* When Ben or "Daddyfriend" as E calls him comes home at night, E wastes no time grabbing his finger and pulling him over to play trains. This is always accompanied by E saying "Daddy, pay trains".

* This week he has asked for Aaden every single day. (Aaden is a big older boy in the ward that shares his trains with E. 4 years old is a much older boy to Emerson. :) )

* E asked to go potty in the toilet last week, so I stuck him on not thinking anything would happen. I was wrong. I heard a little plop and the deed was done. We bought him a little potty to practice with and now he asks to sit on "froggy potty" before naptime and bedtime and has been successful with going wet in there almost every time. I don't think I'm going to seriously potty train him yet though...he still doesn't have any idea of when he's going to go #2 and I have horrific images of cleaning out undies and that's just so much grosser to me than a diaper.

* E has also asked every day this week to watch "carrace show" also known as Cars. He's completely obsessed and will sit through the entire movie.

* E spotted a Hispanic man at the grocery store today and shouted at the top of his lungs "MANNY!" (from Handy Manny) and then proceeded to yell "Manny, where you!?" as we went up and down the aisles. I hope the man couldn't understand his jabberings.

* E often thinks he spots aunts, uncles, or grandparents around. Recently he's called random people "Papa" and "Nat" and said sadly "See Steffy" when we were driving in the car today. Whenever I'm on the phone he assumes it is with "Mama J" and sometimes yells "Hi Mama J!" but never when it really is her.

*Whenever he sees anything pink or remotely girly he excitedly points it out and tells me matter-of-factly "bebe sister".

*Speaking of pink, it's his favorite color. You wanna know his second favorite? It's purple. He says it "people" though.

Oh E, we love you and your two-year-old self!

Friends

Emerson just loves his little friends. He asks for certain friends every day, whether it's "EvanClaire" (a brother and sister), Tucker, or "TayeeManis" (Taylee and Mathis). Lucky for him, we got to go the zoo with Taylee and Mathis last week and had a great time. They were so stinkin' cute holding hands and saying the animal names. Apparently he's not intimidated by the fact that she's an older woman, because he insisted on sitting by her while eating his lunch.
(And apparently Emerson is blind at 2 years old, or so it appears from his sunglasses and blank expression.)

Thanks for the fun zoo trip, guys! We'll have to do it again soon.

Not So Handy Manny

You know that show Handy Manny on the Disney channel? Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that he only has 8 fingers? I mean, all the characters only have 8 fingers, but would it really be that hard to add 1 more to each hand? I would think that would be pretty easy for the animators of a DISNEY show, for crying out loud.

And why is he always wearing yellow rubber gloves? That has nothing to do with being a handyman. Maybe leather ones would suggest an ability to fix things? Every time I see the yellow gloves I just can't help feeling that all Handy Manny is good at is doing dishes, and I am even starting to doubt that due to his lack of a full set of fingers. I've dropped plenty of plates and I have all 10 of mine.

Also, the levitating eyebrows on the tools make me nervous. Couldn't they have eliminated that altogether and put their efforts toward ANIMATING MORE FINGERS!? I think most people are going to notice missing fingers on a human more than they'll notice missing eyebrows on a screwdriver or pair of pliers. But maybe that's just me.

McQueen

Emerson was a lucky duck and got a Lightning McQueen car from Uncle Brad's trip to Disneyland for choir tour. He got lost in the diaper bag (McQueen did...not Brad) for awhile, but was rediscovered last week! E's love for this car was so strong that it caused him to share equal time between trains and cars! Crazy!

We were picking out a birthday present for his little buddy Tucker (you can see part of him in this picture cut off...sorry Tucker) and E saw Dinoco Lightning McQueen. He started squealing and got so excited that I just couldn't say no and had to buy it for him.
I handed him Dinoco McQueen when we got into the car and he exclaimed "Oh! AMAZING!" and I about died laughing. I don't know where he picks up so many words, but I love it. So he was running around the house with his two McQueens, calling the red one "McQueen" and the blue one the "Amazing blue McQueen".
However, in the last few days he's distinguished between the two of them by calling the red one "Rusteeze" and the blue one "Dinoco" and he must sleep with them every night. So thank you Uncle Brad for helping us mix it up a bit!

Mommy's Big Helper

I think I've mentioned this before, but Emerson loves to help me around the house. He's an expert duster, sweeper, and mopper. He's going to make someone a good husband one day. (Of course, realistically, I'm sure he'll have grown out of it WAY before then.)
He loves to dip the mop into the bucket of water, so I've learned to let him have a turn first with the dry mop and let him pretend to dip it in water.

I almost didn't get him in the picture here because he has to back up so far to be able to get the mop into the bucket.

Does the handle look really far back there, scraping the door of the fridge? Well that's because it is. He's a very small boy on a very big mission.

Little satisfied face.

I love my big helper, but I have to admit that today I decided to do the mopping during naptime...and it only took a fraction of the time. :)