por Dios mama - comprame pantalones!

I swear that's what Emilia has been saying to me for the past few weeks... please Mama - buy me pants that fit!

My friend Caitlin and I have been taking our two girls to Childwatch at the Y. Since we go early in the morning (ugh) I don't bother bathing Emilia or really combing her hair so she goes kind of scruffy looking to the gym. I figure she doesn't smell that badly and if I had to go to the trouble of bathing her and everything, well, I'd never make it to the gym. Besides, it's not like she's going to school or even to playgroup. So in the mornings I just throw some clothes on her and dash out the door.

Well, the other day it turned cooler here and the girl definitely couldn't go in just a onesie - she needed some pants. Now she has jeans from the winter that fit her perfectly now (they were too big then) that she wore in Quito but they were too much of a hassle. So I put her in her pink pull up pants... we bought them in the Spring. Judge for yourself if they were a complete fashion faux pas.

Rest assured - we were at Gymboree today - the girl now has pants that fit her lengthwise!

Forget about Ike

It's hurricane Emilia you have to worry about - at least in the kitchen. Long gone are the days when she would sit nicely on a blanket happily banging away on a pot with a wooden spoon. Now she goes from one cabinet to the other (hmm... maybe we should childproof a few of them?) seeing what she can find. I've already dedicated two cabinets to her, plus the bottom shelf of the pantry. Nevertheless, she leaves a wake of destruction behind her.
Clearly tired of opening cabinets, Emilia decides to grab a bag and head out?

Happily surveying her work.

Okay, so this was quite cool. She actually answered when I asked "cuantos anios tienes"! So exciting!! (Of course, she hasn't done it since).

Rare photo of Emilia and some strange woman.

i swear i only took my eyes off of her for one second

and this is what i saw when i turned around....

that's right - my naked child climbed on top of my trunk in the TV room/playroom. She's been trying to climb it for a few days now. Her new thing is to climb everything - the trunk, the standing toys, the door of the dishwasher (not good!) anything.

Emilia is also getting quite good as saying "byebye" when we are leaving. Whenever we start heading out to the car she starts waving and saying "ba ba" which around here means "bye bye". I'll have to try to get video of it since it's quite cute and one of the few things she actually says. Sum total of words she says: four.

She's also been hard at working cutting those top teeth. The 2nd one on the right popped through a few weeks ago but the 3 other top front teeth have been reluctant to make an appearance. They have been visible since we were in Quito (way back in July) but now they are finally breaking through the skin. It's been a pretty painful experience for her - lots of clear runny mucous out of her nose, some congestion as a result, a sub-normal appetite and lots of fingers and hands in the mouth. The only thing that seems to soothe is some homemade gelatin with fruit in it and crunchy pita crisps. Even her raspberry paci doesn't seem to be doing the trick. It's been so bad that the other day when I woke her up from her nap there were little spots of blood on her sheet. When I checked her head to toe to find the source it became clear - her little gums had been bleeding where the teeth were coming out. Poor booboo. Thank goodness for Orajel and Tylenol.

goodbye, so long, farewell, my friend..

Circa December 2007 - who is that baby??

... good bye, so long, farewell...

Finally, FINALLY put away our good dear friend Mr. Jumperoo Tita bought for Emilia back in December. She was so tiny back then we had to boost her up on a phone book. She hasn't used it in a long time but I've been reluctant to put it away. Today however, as I was making my massive list of home improvements, putting it away seemed like a small step towards getting the TV room/Playroom how I want it to look.

One last picture of Mr. Jumperoo before he went to stay in the attic.

Now, about that ivy in the backyard....

day 2 of school

Before school - admittedly not the best picture, but she wasn't cooperating very much!

Well, Emilia had a successful 2nd day of school today. We walked over to QHP - one of the many reasons I love the school - it's a 10 minute easy walk over. She went over to her teachers, Ms. Courtney & Ms. Annete easily seemed calm enough despite the fact that several of her classmates were in major meltdown mode (lots and LOTS of crying). Emilia stayed calm and cruised her way over to the housekeeping center of the room. When I picked her up at 11:45 she was still fairly happy, though she had just taken a tumble, tripping over her own feet and is now sporting a nice big bruise on her forehead. I swear it seems just as soon as one bruise on her head has healed she smacks it again and gets a new bruise! Poor booboo. In any case there were no crafts to come home today as her schoolbag stayed at school. One of her teachers monograms on the side and offered to monogram the kids bags with their names for a small fee. How could I turn up that offer!?

She already ripped her bow off her head (from the bow party I went to last night).

As a result of her allergic reaction to baba ganoush/eggplant, Emilia is still very phlemmy and congested which means the reactive airway disease has flaired up so she's back on the Albuterol which is no fun as it makes her very hyper. Dr. Walker says she should only need it for about 48 hours though which is good.

After a long day of school - she was asleep the second I put her in the carseat.

who's calling?

Grandpa sent Emilia an old phone from his house the other day because when we visited him she was absolutely fascinated with it. We "hid" it in her toy box and she found it the other day. Total love.

Look at all the buttons to push!!

Calling Grandpa to say thank you.

new "purse"

Emilia recently "added" a new purse to her collection - check it out!

Hey! Check out my new purse! It's the basket from the dishwasher!

With a couple of her purses. You can also see Marcus' crutches and his swollen ankle.