25 month update

Likes: Emilia loves LOVES her prschool... new fave people (besides Ms. Phyllis and "otro Ms. Phyllis - really Ms. Susan, the assistant) are Ray, Jackson, and Natalie - three of her buddies from class. (There are 8 boys and 4 girls in the class)... likes to carry her schoolbag around... branching out from her one show, Curious George, and is now interested in "Max Ruty" (Max & Ruby - another kids show on TV)... repeated choruses of "I do it", "it mine", "yo solita (by myself), "I love you Mama/Papa/Cholita", "no Cholita", "Cholita, ven a cama" (come to bed because now, Cholita has to sleep in Emi's room to keep her in her big girl bed)...playing soccer with Papa in the backyard (more recently, playing Cornhole/Baggo as well)... riding the sheep (see picture)...stalking the "bike gang" in the neighborhood (the dozen or so school-age kids who ride their bikes through the hood all afternoon long... emi SOOOOo wants to be one of them... Calli and Mari (two neighborhood friends, but Emi calls them CalliMali - like it's one word and like they're "calamari" - hilarious)... helping me cook... singing (pretty much at the top of her lungs - everything from "Kinkle Kinkle ittle tar" ("Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:) with "Blancanieves in the ty" (for "like a diamond in the sky) to the ABCs to Alee Galoo and the Hello song from MT classes...her bedroom nightlight...Friday Dessert Day (inspired by friends Anne and Kate, even if it meant I lost my cell phone - totally worth it!)... falafel patties...playing with her babies... coloring (a bit more than before)... playgrounds (terrifying)...broccoli (still), spring rolls (both Vietnamese and Thai forms - loves them - easily can eat an entire roll by herself)... waffles with "mielt" (miel/syrup)and of course, catsup (on pretty much everything).

Dislikes: diaper changes... putting on her face cream (I think because it's sticky feeling)... riding her trike (prefers to push it from behind)... the stroller (still - even with bribery won't stay in it past 2 minutes)... not being able to run...dark places (they give her "susto"/scare her).... brushing her teeth... wearing a hair bow... my taking her picture (sometimes she's just over it)... the rental car we're riding around in (carro yucky - this car is yucky! agreed!)... waking from her nap (is in the WORST mood post nap - crank city!)

cumpleanios papa

birthday lunch with papa.

Tuesday was Marcus' birthday. As a special treat Emi and I went uptown and met him at the Epicenter for lunch. We ducked into our favorite little Vietnamese restaurant there where Emilia ate her way through 2 cha gios (Vietnamese spring rolls - so divine) and, thankfully, didn't irritate the other lunch patrons.

When we came home I set to work on making Marcus' special birthday dinner and cake (this year he requested pineapple upside-down, so of course I had to consult my dad). When Emilia woke up from her nap she was upset the cake was already made (she wanted to "play cocina con mama" - play kitchen with me). As a consolation prize I let her help put the candles on instead.

guess what i'll be having for dinner.

loved seeing the candles all lit up - guess she thought it was her birthday again.

cama nueva, take 2

I forgot to include these two videos in the last post. The first is of Emilia trying out her new bed.



In this next video she's saying each of the animals that are now on her wall. The video is really shaky because the camera was around my neck and I was trying to hurry up and capture the moment...



translation: serpiente, mono, luna, jirafa, maquita, gusano, mono, jirafa, mono (or: snake, monkey, moon, giraffe, ladybug (really butterfly, but the words are similar), worm, monkey, giraffe, monkey.

cama nueva *updated*

Saturday we finally had time to take apart Emilia's crib and convert it to a toddler bed. The neat thing about her crib is that it converts pretty easily into a toddler bed, and then eventually into a full-sized bed. It'll be her bed forever!

papa's helper. if i'm being honest, i have to admit to shedding a tear or two - it was a bit sentimental for me - thinking about when we put her crib together when we first moved here and she wasn't even born yet and how i thought this day was a long LONG way off.

can't even talk about what it says on papa's shirt - let's just be glad it's in Spanish. just look at mr. cubicle doing some manual labor!

um, say what?

testing out the mattress with baby.

we made her bed afterwards and she put all the babies/stuffed animals as she wanted them.

Emi was definitely a little uneasy with this transition but we had gone to Ikea earlier in the day and purchased these cool stickers she could put on the wall that won't damage the paint and can be moved around. I ceded control and let her put them pretty much however/whereever she wanted to. She loved the whole process and I think it helped her take ownership of her "new" toddler girl room.

1 little monkey jumping on the bed. (check out big girl stickers on the wall).

I'm happy to report that she took to the transition just fine. Certainly it helped that she didn't get much of a nap yesterday because we were running so many errands and she just doesn't nap as well "on the go" anymore. In any case, we followed our usual routine of milk, jammies, and stories and then she went to lay down in her bed. She wanted either Papa or I to sit in the rocking chair with her until she fell asleep, but instead, as a compromise, I told her that Cholita would stay in the room with her to watch over her, but she couldn't not get out of bed or cry because Chola is old and it would make her nervous. I thought for sure we'd hear her crying two seconds after I shut her bedroom door, but we didn't here a peep. She slept soundly (and contently?) until this morning. Bliss. Here's hoping tonight's just as successful!

*bear with me as I mess around with the picture sizes.*

cole nuevo, the week in review

showing off a new skirt A sent her via the UPS man. she insisted on wearing it immediately.

Emilia has really loved her first week of "cole nuevo." She's happy as a clam walking into her classroom and generally heads straight for the kitchen/home area. I was a little worried about my decision to switch her school, but after this week I'm totally at ease. Her teachers are warm and engaging with the kids and the kids already feel comfortable trusting them. I also love that they give you lots and lots and LOTS of information about the school in general (ie: H1N1 preparations) and about the class specifically. Below is the general daily schedule for her class.

9:15 - 9:30 - Arrivals/Free Play.

9:45 - 10:15 - Art Project/Cooking. (I love that they cook!)

10:15 - 10:30 - Clean up/Potty time/Diapers

10:30 - 11:00 - Snacktime (They are making little placemats for their meals with their pics - OMG! Too cute!)

11:00 - 11:30 - Outside time.

11:45 - Bible/Story time (sometimes it's a bible story, sometimes just a regular story) and get ready for lunch.

12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch.

12:30 - 12:45 - Circle time.

12:45 - Clean up/Dance time/Goodbyes.

12:50 - 1:00 - Pick up.

Her teacher also sent notes home saying they are learning about the color blue, the shape of the month is the circle, learning about one another, and learning to wash hands before meals. They are also learning the blessing they sing - to the tune of Frere Jacques...

God our Father

God our Father

Once again,

Once again.

Thank you for our blessings,

Thank you for our blessings.

Amen, amen.

On the not so fun side, Tuesday night Emilia figured out how to jump out of her crib. Frankly, we haven't slept well since. Even with her mattress on the floor and surrounded by her crib, she still manages to climb out. It's been just awful. Lots of wailing and upset-ness. Thankfully the weekend is FINALLY here which means Marcus will be going to work and converting her crib to a toddler bed, and then putting on a guard rail to prevent her from rolling out. It makes me sad because it reminds me of when we set up the bed - just weeks before she was born - and now she's a big girl and ready for a toddler bed. It's just another milestone.

2 year update and greek festival

I had held off on posting Emilia's two year update because I was waiting for all of her doctor's visits to be completed. Overall, Dr. Walker thinks Emilia is doing just great. Her height is 33" which puts her in about the 45th percentile. Since this is the age when they predict a final height, Dr. Walker predicts Emilia will end up being between 5'3 and 5'5 (I'm 5'4).... kind of a shorty, but then again, other than my dad, there was not a lot of chance of her being tall. In terms of her weight, emilia's at 26 lbs... a bit of a drop off since her 18 month check-up, but she also runs around a whole lot and this is the age where one minute there's not enough food in the house for them to eat, and the next minute they want nothing to eat (except, apparently, catsup... Emilia will eat that plain).

Faves: Emilia loves her "cole nuevo" (new school) and loves to dance and to sing. I have to remember to videotape her learning new dance moves from her Papa - truly terrifying if you've ever seen Marcus dance (think Pinnochio). We hear "Twinkle Twinkle" the "Clean Up" song (from the Y and from school), the "Hello" song, "Happy Birthday" (in English and Spanish) and the "ABCs" all the time (along with others). She also loves her new trike she got for her birthday and spending tons of time outside, even if the mosquitos like to eat her alive. We've also had lots of lunches at her new picnic table from Tia Marga. Fave foods include broccoli (yuck), catsup (on everything), whole wheat waffles (preferably with blueberry syrup from Gapa), and of course, "hummy bap" (hummus and pita).

Dislikes: She hates to wear a bib at mealtimesand hates having her diaper changed. Seriously, it's like a WWF wrestling match to change her diaper. She'll use the potty sometimes, but not on any sort of a regular basis, and I'm not interested at this point in pushing it. She also hates brushing her teeth (again, a wrestling match), but Dr. W said as long as they get a really good brushing at least 1 time a week, we're good. So we're good for a while (no more shots!) until November when Dr. W wants to see us for an asthma action plan update and we go back to the allergist/pulmonologist.

showing off some moves at the greek festival

One thing Dr. Walker did notice was that Emilia has a heart murmur. This was first heard in Ecuador by Dr. Eguiguren when he examined her because of a rash she had. I thought he was mistaken, but apparently no. This week I took her to Presbyterian Pediatric Cardiology where the wonderful Dr. Greene and his staff hooked her up to an EKG machine and did an echo of her heart. Kinda cool, but also kinda creepy and I must admit to doing a whole lot of praying while they were looking at her heart. Of course, everything came back just fine. She has what's called a "Still's murmur" which is an innocent murmur and will just need to be evaluated periodically. (Another plus, we have a cool picture of all 4 chambers of her heart... will have to scan to post at some point).

Video of some dancing *warning: the sound is VERY loud - the music was BLARING*

"cole nuevo"

enjoying a little before-first-day-of-school snack. yes, she still drinks milk from the bottle. i know, i know...

Wednesday was Emilia's first official day of school, though it was a short day. She went in at the usual time of 9:15 but dismissal was at 10:45 (more on that later). She was so excited that her first day of "cole nuevo" (short for "colegio nuevo" or "new school") had finally arrived that we didn't even see any tears.

making her "carita feliz" (happy face).

really need to photoshop the bottle out of this one.

outside first day photo shoot - rockin' a fancy epk dress we bought her in quito - it was the first day after all. we're going for a more casual look now.

at the front door of school. honestly, there was a line of mamas (mostly) and some dads taking turns taking their kid's pic in front of the door. gotta love those darn episcopalians and their red doors!

one last smile

in her classroom. the school policy is that you (the parent) stop at the door and let them walk in on their own. i think this was the point when emi realized i wasn't coming with her... looking a little worried and the bottom lip was quivering a bit, but there were no actual tears.

i was late (yes, on the first day) to pick emi up from school. i felt so awful that when i stopped by the bakery to pick up cupcakes for our playgroup baby shower, i just had to get her one as well, right? (red velvet btw - new for me - yummy!)

nyc - part 3 - the finale

Because really, aren't we sick yet of New York pics at this point?

Monday (yes Monday, the day we left) we went up to the US Open where we got to see little Melanie Oudin, the Cinderella story of the week, trounce whatever that girl's name is that she creamed. So sad she's out now. The girls had tons of fun, but I'll never go back with toddlers - just way too many people around, too many places to run off to, just a nightmare. Lesson learned.

the papas with their nenas

holy cats! another family picture!

We left just after this pic was taken. Emilia was AMAZING on the plane. She played with her sticker books her friend Mia gave her for her birthday, drank a little juice, had a lollipop (because landing hurts her ears) and napped for about 40 minutes in my arms. Delightful.

Tuesday when we came back we were off to Doolittle's for a first day of school trim....

ands he was not at all happy about it either... lollipop was a must.

First day of school pics and 2 year update are on the way...

nyc - part 2 - central park

Sunday we went to Central Park for the day. We couldn't have asked for better weather, better company, or better food.

in the morning - eating some cereal.

our picnic party, minus marcus (picture taker)

the girls and their dads played soccer for ages. (in case you're wondering, we had a smallish accident with emi's shorts - thus she's pant-less in the park - of course, it is new york... could be considered a fashion statement!)

lots of running and jumping

finally -a family picture! just in time for our first homework assignment from emi's school.

more running

my favorite Fede pic

reading the paper

emi couldn't get enough of spending time with her papa

riding the carousel in Central Park. at first someone wanted nothing to do with it

by the end she was happy as a clam

and about 10 seconds later she was sound asleep going down 5th Ave.