Emerson

It's hard for me to believe that my baby girl is now 3 years old. She seems like such big girl and appears to be growing before our eyes. On one level I am happy that Emerson is growing and maturing like she should be, another, very weepy and irrational part of me wishes she would just stop growing right now and stay this age forever. Where is my baby going? She is turning into a little girl :)

Emerson seems to have grown in leaps and bounds this past year. Some of the highlights:

**Since Emerson's 3 year appointment isn't until next week, I am not too sure exactly how tall she is, but she has grown. Pants that previously hit at the ankle are now knee high capri's. She's getting heavier as well. She LOVES to stand on the bathroom scale. That makes one of us!

**Emerson continues with Speech Therapy. She will start ST with the school district the week after Thanksgiving. She had been receiving ST through ECI at Easter Seals and we are sad that our time with them has ended. We are going to miss her therapist, Miss Diana. Thank you Miss Diana for all your love and support. Based on how much progress she has made the last little while, we are sure she won't need speech therapy much longer.

**Potty training - well, what can I say except that we are working on it. Emerson exhibits ALL the signs of being mature enough and physically ready to become potty trained, however she is still pretty attached to her Pull-ups. We have a 4 day weekend coming up, so get ready, because my next post may be to announce that we are potty trained! Wish us luck!

**We love Emerson's sense of humour. She loves to play jokes on us, especially her dad. She is intentionally funny and that's so cute to see.

**Eating isn't the issue it used to be. She is still picky, but not as picky as she has been in the past. She also goes through what Rico and I refer to as "Eating Days". These are days when she cannot get enough food in and seems to eat everything in site. She'll then trend the other way and have a light appetite for a few days, meaning she only eats one serving of food. No matter how old she gets, there is nothing I love more than watching her eat!

**Disney princesses are a big part of her life right now. Probably because I use princess panties to bribe her into using the potty (don't want to pee on Cinderella, do we?). She knows all their names and has a few books and a DVD about them. The DVD is a sing along DVD - karaoke for kids. Emerson knows the words and sings along. It is so cute. She is also very firm in her desire that Rico and I NOT sing with her and the princesses.

**Emerson knows all her ABC's and can count up to 20. Rico and Grandma have been working with her to meet the same goal in Spanish. She blows us away when we go out somewhere and she can "spell" the words she sees.

**She knows how to use the iPhone better than I do.

**She's in her big girl bed. The mattress and box spring are still on the floor, and will probably stay there until she is tall enough to get into a higher bed by herself. She had some serious sleep challenges after transitioning into the big girl bed, but they are mostly resolved. She still gets up at least once a night, which we will take any day over the 20 times an hour she was doing a few months ago. We are hopeful that she will revert to her previous habits of sleeping the whole night through in her bed by herself. She did it once, she can do it again, right? RIGHT?

**Monique and Emerson are starting to become friends, Monique much more reluctantly than Emerson. Emerson wants to (((HUG))) Monique, and all Monique is ready for is a discreet pat and brief ear scratch. BUT, I often catch Monique in bed with Emerson at nap time.

**Bath time is still her favorite activity of the day, next to riding the trike. Probably because it involves water. I often have to bribe her to get out and that usually involves some sort of game the involves hiding from her dad.

**This girl LOVES to dance. She is enrolled in Kindertots at school and every Tuesday she puts on her tights, leotard, skirt and ballet shoes and dances. She also loves to dance at home and her favorite dance partner is her dad.

Having Emerson in our lives is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We can't imagine life without her and are so thankful that she is happy and healthy. We are blessed!! Stay tuned for more adventures of Emerson!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emerson!!!

Last weekend, we celebrated Emerson's 3rd birthday!! Can you believe it?! Emerson is 3! When did that happen?

We celebrated by hosting the Third Annual Post-Halloween Costume Party at the house with our our friends and family that we love and that love us. It was awesome. We got the BIG BOUNCER (it was taller than the house) and had food, drinks and lots of fun. The kids bounced and played on the swing set and had cotton candy and then after we sang happy birthday to Emerson, everyone got to decorate their own cupcakes!!!


Michal Riley gets the award for the most creatively decorated cupcake. She used all media available to make this masterpiece.

Kiara's was equally beautiful!

Tio Aurelio looks great in the Princess Leia hair! It's a good look for him. Maybe Emerson will let him borrow the costume?

Kiara and Emerson in the big bounce house. It has a big slide that was a big hit.

Kiara, Cassie and Taylor putting the swing set to good use.

Ewa and Cassie.

We are so thankful that everyone could come over and celebrate with us. Thanks everyone for helping Emerson have a great birthday party!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY EMERSON!!

Biker Chick

For her 3rd birthday, we got Emerson this super cool pink tri-cycle. It has a steering/pushing handle on it that can be removed as she gets the hang of pedaling herself around.
We've been getting a lot of use out of her new trike. We trike to get the mail everyday after work and she trikes around the neighborhood with her dad on weekends. And apparently, it's a pretty comfortable seat for watching a Disney Princess movie!

Princess-cess

Emerson's new friends, she even took the picture. They hang out with Lightening, Mater, Woody and Buzz. We are healthy consumers of Disney around here!

Trouble

I hope this award winning practice run isn't any indication of what we are in for!

Happy Halloween!!

We love Halloween around here! Emerson was Princess Leia! Again!!! We just ordered the next size up costume and here we are. Emerson's father has decided that she is going to be Princess Leia every year until she asks to be something else. Emerson doesn't mind, as she really likes the fact that she is a Princess.

Same genre, different quadrants.

We had fun with our new pumpkin decorating kit. And that's Emerson's painted pumpkin from Thanksgiving. This is our alternatives to carving. I like the pumpkins to last all fall season and they don't if they are carved, so we leave them intact.

Our good friends Amy, James and Alex came over to trick or treat with us and enjoy pizza, beer and treats afterward. Alex reprised his famous Yoda costume and we had a matched set again this year. The kids had a great time going around the neighborhood. They had even more fun answering the door and handing out candy to the older kids after we got back from trick or treating. They took their job very seriously and handed out ALL the candy.

One last final treat.

CLIFFORD!

We are big fans of Clifford, the Big Red Dog around here. When we found out Clifford was going to be touring around San Antonio, we made sure to go and see him. Emerson got to sit on his lap and get her picture taken. Emerson was a little hesitant at first, but very quickly warmed up to her favorite big red dog! SAPD Community Outreach was there and were doing child safety kits which we took advantage of. There was also a balloon animal artist there and Emerson received a sweet monkey, which she loved until it unwound! :)