But first, a caveat. In my last post, I said no one warns you about 3 year olds. I meant that in the proverbial sense; I was warned, and I heeded the warnings. But...it's one thing to heed a warning, and another to actually experience it. No warning can fully prepare you for the reality of having a 3 year old.
I also had the naive notion that MY perfect angelic child would never do that. Ahahahaha. I know, right? Pretty silly of me. Three year olds are three year olds, after all.
Despite all the insanity and talk-backiness that comes with the 3 year old territory, there are so many fun and amazing things Emma can do and learn.
She's fully potty trained, but for awhile she refused to use the big potty. She only wanted to use her little potty. This all came about on a shopping trip when the big potty at the store had a little sewage water-coming-back-in-the-potty problem. It scared her. And then there are the auto-flush toilets...those things are potty training's worst enemy.
We humored her for awhile. We didn't want her to be afraid of going to the bathroom in a grown-up toilet. But quite frankly, I got sick and tired of cleaning out the little potty every. Single. Time. It gets old - fast.
So in order to transition her from little potty to big potty, I made another chart for the big potty. I basically re-did the original potty chart with a different digiscrap kit. Every time she goes in a big potty, she gets a sticker.
And you know what? It worked. Or rather, is working. I printed it out this weekend and we've had amazing success. She almost always uses the big potty now. Sweet!
Of course, the only time she doesn't is when she has to poop...she insists on the little potty for that. Kind of defeats the purpose since poop is way grosser to clean up than pee, but oh well. At least we're going in the right direction.
Most of the Emma updates are in the form of Emma-isms. I've got a bunch...here we go:
- "Hyrum take that off too, and he try to eat it, and that's silly."
- "I got Play Doh for my birthday!" - before her birthday...she didn't know we bought some for it.
- "Daddy don't wear pigtails. Emma wears pigtails."
- "I wanna watch it again when it's over."
- Emma: Mommy!
Noah: I'm right here! - over and over again. Funny kids!
- "It's a mess in here, Mommy." - thanks...
- "No I don't wanna talk to Daddy anymore." - we were on the phone with John and she wanted to call Grandma V instead.
- "No I don't want dinner. I want chocolate, Mommy." - haha, nice try
- "Don't eat the potty, Hyrum!"
- Me: Emma, how old are you going to be on your birthday?
Emma: Cake!
- "No he don't want to do homework anymore." - haha, true, but he had to. She wanted Daddy to play with her instead.
- "Look, I made a church. Of Jesus Christ."
- "Mommy, I crack you up. I wanna crack you up again."
- "Lion smells like dogs." - ?
- "Once a far away." - her version of once upon a time. So cute.
- "No that's Daddy's diaper."
- "No you not big, you a big girl."
- "You not a boy" - to Daddy
- "It makes Daddy better."
- "Mommy, what you doing? For my birthday?" - during birthday party preparations
- "I need M&Ms, Daddy" - how she told us she pooped. Funny girl.
- "Nemo's all gone. It means he's dead. He needs his mommy and his daddy and his brother. The boy one is all gone. Next time, we get a girl one. He's with Heavenly Father and Jesus." - when her fish Nemo died
- "My fishy is dead."
- "I flush my fish in the potty, in the big potty."
- "You get a new one, when you get home." - telling John he'll bring a new goldfish home
- Me: Emma, do you want your potty in the living room?
Emma: No, in the kitchen so you can vacuum the living room. - what a great helper!
- "I want to smell poop, in the big potty."
- "She needs to put more clothes on to be modest." - talking about Tinkerbell, haha. We've been teaching her about modesty.
- Me: I'm sick of cleaning up this mess.
Emma: No you not sick, you feeling better.
- "Sponge Bob is gross. But Noah likes Sponge Bob." - heehee, I hate Sponge Bob.
- Emma (when Daddy wouldn't let her have her way): I want Moooommy!
Me: Emma, Mommy's going to say the same thing as Daddy because we're united.
Emma: No don't be united!
- Emma: Do you eat poop?
John: No.
Emma: Yeah, you do!
- "Mommy and Emma are 2 girls and Daddy and Hyrum are 2 boys."
- "I turn the warm air on." - when the furnace turned on
- "Uh oh, someone needs help with their car. Jesus needs help with their car." - after hearing a siren
- Emma: No I don't want to be happy!
Me: Then you can be grumpy in time out.
Emma: No I don't want to be grumpy in time out!
- "Emma was born in a temple."
- "They built a boat, just like Nephi. Nephi built a boat. And the Lamanites were naked."
- "Pee starts with P, and poop starts with P."
- "Is it ok I sit here?" - she asks this a lot these days, especially when she wants to sit at my desk
- "I have a big back pack." - she put the straps of a mesh laundry basket on her shoulders and wore it like a back pack
- "I have long hair, like Tangled."
- John: Do you want to see Tangled?
Emma: Yeah. Maybe when it's in the cheap theater."
- "I'm done with my potty." - while still going...uh, no.
- "E-m-a spells Emma. No, E-m-M-a spells Emma. I have 2 Ms in my name." - yep, she can spell her name!
- Emma: What is that?
Me: They're gingerbread cookies. Maybe we can eat them after dinner.
Emma: I wanna eat dinner now.
Aside from that, she loves to draw, sing, play with Play Doh, and play with her dollhouse.
As for Hyrum, he's learning (and getting into) so many new things. He just learned how to climb on the couch! Eeep! Scary! He crawls and cruises all over the place, and climbs on whatever he can. He hasn't shown any interest in standing alone or walking. He stood unsupported for about half a second once, but that's about it. I think he'll be a little later on the walking front than his big sister. She stood alone and took steps at this age.
Hyrum's favorite pastimes include: pulling books and DVDs off the shelf about 20 million times a day, opening cabinets and playing with whatever he finds there (mixing bowls and pots and pans, mostly), playing with toys, playing with Emma, and eating any kind of food. It's impossible to eat anything around Hyrum without him begging.
We're trying to teach him to ask for food nicely instead of just fussing/whining for it. I know, he can't say it in words yet. We're trying to teach him the signs for please, more, and food/eat. He's not showing much interest in picking them up. When he whines for more food, we tell him to ask nicely and wait until he stops fussing before we give it to him.
Hyrum is working on tooth number 4. It's sooooo close to being in. I really hope it pops through soon. I am at my max for fussy teething tolerance. Ugh, and to think he'll have 16 more baby teeth after this...and Emma is still working on her last molar. Thankfully, he started the teething process earlier than she did. She got her first 2 teeth at 11.5 months; Hyrum is almost 11.5 months now. He got his first 2 at 8 months.
Hyrum is such an expressive little boy! He makes some of the funniest faces. I love the flinch and nose wrinkle he does when the camera flash goes off. So funny. He's a very happy, sweet boy.
But when he's grumpy, oh, is he ever grumpy. And teething makes him grumpy, especially when he's tired. He has a harder time falling asleep while teething. That's been rough. Oh I hope this tooth comes in soon!
We are so blessed to have such sweet, adorable, and intelligent children. They are both SO smart! They never cease to amaze me. Of course there are challenges; that comes with the territory. But the blessings far outweigh the difficulties.
You probably want to see just how cute they are, huh? I'm sure you do...if you've read this much, anyway. Well I promise I won't disappoint. We've got 6 weeks' worth of daily photos to share. Here we go!
November 3
We did some rearranging of the kids' room. Emma's bed now goes the other way in the same corner. The toy corner is more easily accessible this way.
November 4
Emma goofing off on our bed.
November 5
We babysat Noah and Anna. The kids all had a blast with the toy food. Emma and Noah cooked, Hyrum and Anna ate. Anna already has a love for chocolate. Smart girl :)
November 6
Aw ♥
November 7
Hyrum playing with a balloon.
November 8
Fingerpaints! She loves making hand prints...but then she paints over them.
November 9
Making a snow angel!
November 10
Heehee, Hyrum wanted to play with Emma's dollhouse while I worked on it. I let him play with the daddy.
November 11
Messy boy! He fed himself fruit and cereal. A necessary bath followed.
November 12
Emma's potty charts. The pee section is completely filled out.
November 13
The kids and I walked to a stake primary activity. This was on our route. I love the snow, the almost-falling leaves, and the berries together here.
November 14
Emma gave her first talk in church! She did great. Of course, I helped her, but she repeated most of what I said. The funniest part was when she pointed to the microphone mid-way through and asked, "what IS that?"
November 15
Racecar toyboxes! Very fun FHE activity. The kids loved it!
November 16
Preparations for Emma's birthday party. Goody bags, crown, homemade pinata, and pin the wings on the fairy.
November 17
Wrapped presents, all but one of which were for her actual birthday. But they made cute party decor.
November 18
Party day! Getting ready for the party. She was SO excited! The party turned out great :)
November 19
Hand turkeys with what we're thankful for. Emma wanted to do both hands. I love that she said chicken, macaroni and cheese, movies, and baby dolls. Funny kid.
November 20
Hyrum eating puffs. Such a cute little boy.
November 21
This is how I found Hyrum sleeping in his crib. What's with my kids moving all over and never keeping a blanket on when they sleep?
November 22
Playing with baby dolls. I love her expression.
November 23
Learning to ride a bike at Walmart. Someday we'll get one for her...
November 24
She climbed on John's back while he did push ups. Talk about a workout!
November 25
Hyrum's first Thanksgiving! And oh, did he love the food.
November 26
Emma's dollhouse, complete and ready for wrapping...
November 27
The birthday girl! She was SO proud of her cake decorating. I don't even want to know how many sprinkles were on that thing.
November 28
Trying to get a good picture after church while she still had on her pretty dress...she wasn't very cooperative.
November 29
Christmas tree!
November 30
How to keep the baby out of the Christmas tree.
December 1
Eating the toy knife...
December 2
Straws go in my nose, right?
December 3
We switched desks. We moved my computer to the living room and John's to the bedroom. This way, he can do homework quietly in our room and I can be on the computer during the day while the kids play. Why didn't we do this sooner?!
December 4
Got milk? Hyrum "helping" us put groceries away.
December 5
Happy birthday, John! My boys dressed up in their Sunday best :)
December 6
We went to see Santa up on campus. Emma loved it! She told him she wanted a baby doll and a computer. That's my girl! You can't see in this pic, but her shirt says, "who needs Santa when I have Grandma?"
December 7
Our little fashionista, modeling a tutu/skirt from Grandma and my black fuzzy scarf.
December 8
Christmas party! Emma and her friend rode the sheep...
December 9
Caught red handed! One of many obsessions. He kept pulling out my mixing bowls. He even tried to put a lid on them!
December 10
Lovin' that dollhouse.
December 11
Pancakes for breakfast! He often makes this face when the flash goes off.
December 12
We had our ward Christmas program this day. I had a blast putting it together! Aren't they cute in their Christmas outfits?
December 13
We decorated gingerbread houses this day, but this picture of Hyrum with the sword was just too cute NOT to use as the pic of the day. Gingerbread house pics coming later.
December 14
Emma and I made this Christmas tree out of construction paper. She's showing it to Hyrum. They love it! Please ignore Emma's messy slept-on pigtails.
December 15
Uh oh, look what Hyrum can do! He climbed up on the couch, then climbed up the arm to reach the counter! Gotta keep an even closer eye on him now. Eeep!
And now we're all caught up! 2010 will soon draw to a close. I'm thrilled to say I've taken (at least) one picture every single day. I totally plan to keep doing Project 365 every year. It's been so much fun! My photography skills have definitely increased. I still would love to have a fancy expensive camera, but that's just not going to be an option until after John finishes school, gets a good job, we buy a house, etc. But someday, it will happen. For now, I'll have to content myself with my point-and-shoot Canon and work on my Photoshop editing skills.
Anyone want to join me with Project 365 next year? I'm so doing it again!
I may join you next year...I'm so bad at taking pictures and wish I had more.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not going to ignore the adorable slept in pigtails. ^_^ My kids just get faux-hawks...