Emma's Dance Recital

Our little Christmas tree performed her heart out in front of hundreds of people today, and she rocked it! Have I ever seen her dance so well? Aside from rehearsal, never. Was this mama proud? You better believe it.

Here's part of her performance:

We love you, little ballerina!

Emma's Dress Rehearsal

This fall Emma has been taking dance classes with Tara Cluck Dance Center. Tonight was the dress rehearsal before the big holiday performance on Sunday. The 2-3 year olds class Emma is in is the youngest age group at TCDC. I wasn't sure what to expect when she was on stage with her three little classmates, especially since for the majority of the classes I've had to wait outside the studio so Emma would participate in class. Would she come through and actually follow along with her teacher, Miss Michaela? Would she come screaming off the stage? I had no idea.

I certainly didn't expect this, though:

Not only did she participate, but she had the packed auditorium in a fit of laughter. And her mama, because this is so typical of Emma. She does things her own way and in her own time, and she doesn't care what anyone else thinks. This little tutu snafu has inspired a new phrase in our family: When life throws you a curve ball, just pull up your tutu and keep dancing!

Visiting Santa

This year, Emma is so excited about Santa Claus and the idea of Christmas. It's been a lot of fun including her in our holiday traditions, now that she's almost three. (Yes, a year has gone by since I last posted!) Our poor sweet second child, though; after visiting Santa she thought we'd be opening all the presents he brings to us. Guess this mama did a poor job of explaining how this Santa visit thing works.

Moab Weekend

Emma is Two

Another year has flown by at the speed of light, and Emma Noelle is two years old. I probably say this often here, but I mean it: the world just seems to keep turning faster and faster. Each year passes with surprising speed, and quicker, it seems, than the last. Now, suddenly, my baby girl is two.

Last year on Emma's birthday I wrote about the great responsibility I felt to raise Emma to become a strong woman who will grow to fight the odds set against women. I couldn't mean the words I wrote any more than I do today. The responsibility sometimes feels heavy on my shoulders. Every experience, every interaction Emma has I find myself analyzing and wondering how it will affect her. Not completely without reason.

Over the past year Emma has begun to display a lot of the traits I did as a little girl. The tendency to be quiet, passive even. Turning inward instead of expressing herself. While I love these sensitive qualities in Em, I also recognize how difficult they can be to cope with. As an introvert, I know that it can take a great deal of effort to be heard in a loud world, especially when your tendency is to shut down instead of speak up. I want to help Emma learn strategies to make herself heard and advocate for herself when no one else will. As a female--an introverted female--I can't think of anything more important.

At two, Emma has settled happily into toddlerhood, over the past year came a newly quiet, curious spirit. As a baby Emma would wander about the house tinkering with everything and anything she could get her hands on. She crawled early, climbed high, and feared nothing. I couldn't take my eyes off of her for fear she'd be into something or up high on some other thing. Her personality matched her tenacious energy, too. She was spunky, curious, and independent (she screamed like the dickens when she was upset). Still independent, she often plays alone contentedly, chattering to herself, or sits to read books for long stretches. At home I have come to trust that if the house is quiet, Emma is simply entertaining herself somewhere, and I needn't worry. Don't get me wrong--she is still a toddler and I definitely catch her doing things she shouldn't. (One of her favorite places to play is mama's craft room.) But even then I can talk to her about why she shouldn't touch mama's stamp or fiddle with the stove knobs and she'll listen. (That's definitely not the experience I had with Isaac, my feisty toddler, so every time I'm heard by her, I'm surprised.)

Some of Emma's favorite things include books, baths, sandboxes, balls, taking walks, coloring, swinging, riding her scooter, mimicking Isaac, running in circles with Isaac, playing with Isaac's "pokenon" and Shopkins, and BABY DOLLS. This is a house filled with baby dolls. (Did I go through this phase, too?) Emma is carrying a doll around constantly--and she always has a rotating favorite. They come everywhere with us. I find it pretty adorable. She's my little mama.

The only dislike I can think of right now is kisses. She never gives her poor mama a kiss, and never let's me kiss her. That's okay little mama, your body, your choice.

Emmy now attends a toddler program at Patchwork two half days a week. It didn't take her long to settle into the routine of school in September. She loves doing anything her big brother does, and the fact that she stays at Patchwork instead of joining me for only drop offs and pick ups makes her pretty happy. It also allows me to sneak in some time for work, as Emma has been trying to give up her nap for the past few months, which has previously been my time to work. She is in that difficult in between phase of still needing a nap but refusing them. There's a lot of nap wars and dinnertime whining going on around here. Ugh.

Em's stats are as follows:
Height: 36.5 inches
Weight: 21 pounds 11 ounces

So basically she's the size that Isaac was at 18 months. She's our little pixie.

Emma's language development took off right around her second birthday. She went from saying one to two word phrases to speaking in outright sentences in a couple of weeks, it seemed. (When we returned from our holiday travels, her teachers were astonished by her words. They hadn't heard her speak much at school.) She talks quite a lot, but quietly and often incoherently. (I have such a hard time understanding Emma's sentences! I feel so bad since I never had an issue understanding Isaac. Though he was never very quiet, either.) Emma is pretty polite, asking please and saying thank you often. And we are teaching her to express her feelings more often, which has curbed the terrible two tantrums--so far.

Some common phrases heard by Emma:
"Oopie-dee-dee-dee" (Oopsie daisy)
"I cweam" (Ice cream)
"Oh no, my baby! She cwying!"
"I hewp you?"
"Go-ey" (Her word for nursing.)
"Tigey?" (A request to watch Daniel Tiger.)
"That's my sister." (Referring to Isaac.)

Staying home with Emma and her big brother has been so fulfilling for me. I enjoy it all--the easy, the fun, the difficult and not so fun. There's nowhere I'd rather be. And I feel lucky, especially, to have been able to be home with Emma right from her birth.

Happy birthday, my Christmas star. You are the light of our lives.