Hippity, Hoppity Easter is on the Way

Emma's infant group was visited by the Easter Bunny this week.  Most of the infants did not like being held by the bunny, but Emma seemed to have no trouble being held by the big, furry creature.  We have had experiences with bunnies at the pet store and we play with lots of stuffed bunnies when we go over to grandma's house, so maybe that helped us to prepare for his visit.

 Happy Easter!

Right Foot, Left Foot

Emma is officially walking on her own with the help of her pushing devices.  In addition to walking, we have lots of talking, screeching and slobbery kisses.  Yesterday when Mommy was organizing pots in the kitchen, Emma was playing with a plastic Easter egg.  All of a sudden she shouted out, "EGG!"  Mommy pulled her head out of the cupboard to listen for the word again.  However, Emma remained really quiet and just stared at Mommy.  Mommy thought she might say it again, but no such luck.  Mommy decided to make up a rule that Emma's first word had to be said more than once so we would know it wasn't just an accident.  Besides, who wants their first word to be egg?

 I can do it all by myself!

This past Saturday, Emma attended her first ECFE class at the nature center.  She was the youngest child present.  Most of the children attending were two years old, so they were very advanced in comparison to Emma.  We went on an animals that lay eggs hunt, saw a puppet show about a duck that was looking for his mom, colored some bunny ears (which Emma decided to destroy about five minutes after creation), went fishing with a velcro fishing rod and loads of fabric fish and we even went outside on the nature trail hunting for squirrels.  Emma's favorite activity was the welcome song where everyone cheered for each student in the class.  Emma was still flapping her arms and raising them up to shout "hooray" long after the song was done.  Besides watching people, music is definitely one of Emma's favorite things! 

Door Stops and Doggies

Lately Emma is great at finding exactly what Mommy and Daddy don't want her to touch.  Even when Mommy or Daddy move her away from dangerous situations, Emma wants to return.  She is quite the dare devil.  Yesterday Emma discovered that she could hang onto the gate that blocks the stairs and shake it with every once of force in her body.  She also finds all the little bits of Alli fur that have fluttered to the corners of our house when we are too busy to clean.

 Daddy teaches Emma how to sneeze out a dino ball

Emma learns the importance of door stops

In terms of crawling we can go far distances at lightning speed.  You can almost see the ATP reactions taking place in Emma's body.  Emma sits still for a second or two before you hear this great shreaking noise and then see her fly across the kitchen floor.  She can make it the entire length of a room in a matter of seconds.  Perhaps she has been studying some insects and has learned how they move their legs so fast.  Wherever she learned this quick moving skill, it definitely keeps Mommy and Daddy on their toes.

Emma loves to bop to any kind of music

What goes on at daycare?

Our daycare has a Facebook page so we frequently get picture updates showing us what Emma has been up to with her friends all day.  A morning in the life of Emma....

9:00 a.m. Side by side play with Clara

 10:00 a.m. Sharing a good book

 

  10:15 a.m. Sitting up to smile for the camera

 

11:00 Still playing, now I have the circle to myself

 11:30 a.m. Learning to Read Books Together

 Say Cheese!

Say Cheese Take 2

 Learning to make faces when our picture is taken too often.

Emma + Great Grandma = 100...

Well, not exactly 100, but in about month and a half the equation will work.  Last week Great Grandma Burrell celebrated her 99th birthday. Even though Mommy and Daddy had to work, Emma was with Great Grandma to help her celebrate.  Emma loved Grandma's purple feather boa and her "Happy Birthday" balloon.  During the visit Grandma even took Emma for a walk around her apartment.

Hey Grandma, Did you have to grow into your tongue?  Mine seems extremely long.

Happy Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, Emma and Mommy presented Daddy with a crown of hearts.  Emma made Daddy's heart band with lots of scribbles and Mommy helped her write the word love.  Mommy had to do the cutting and taping for the project.  Emma's job was mainly to lick every possible item that she could get her hands on.

 My favorite part of the project was licking the tape.

 It was hard for Emma to resist the scents coming from the candles we had out for dinner.

Daddy Tornado Twist

Daddy added to the weekend fun on Sunday when he took Emma's sledding adventures to a whole new level.  Instead of just going down the slope and coming back up, Emma learned the meaning of a 360 degree rotation.  We had lots of fun outside after the ice storm passed.

By the end of the day, Mommy and Daddy were both really tired but Emma was still up for more playing.  We decided to let her bang on pots and pans while we made dinner.  The clanking definitely kept both Mommy and Daddy fully alert.