Wonder Baby/Toddler Wednesday -- Welcome home!

Wonder Toddler Powers, activate! Form of...a Big Sister!

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...wait, I'm barely home from the hospital. Can't I just lay here a little bit before having to save the world?

Wow, nothing like having a new baby to make me drop blogging like a hot potato. In any case, here is a pic of the new addition -- Oskar -- with Daddy and big sister.

Eme's comment upon seeing the pic was to say "it's an Oskar sandwich!" So true.

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Wonder Toddler Wednesday--Prom Queen

Wonder Toddler Powers, activate! Form of...Pretty in Pink.

She dressed herself up in jewels and fuzzy shoes and descended the stairs, and the scene from Father of the Bride (the one with Steve Martin) was playing in my head -- you know, the one where the daughter is saying "I've met a man and we're getting married" and the dad is picturing her as a little girl.

One day, Eme is going to descend the stairs in her prom dress (or wedding dress, or supreme court judge robes... whatever) and all I'll be able to think of will be this picture.

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It's DEFINITELY a Kind of Magic

I love Eme, but that doesn't mean that every day is a picnic.

There are some days, however, when I am convinced that Mommy Magic is a very real, very powerful force.

Of course, while I'm calling it Mommy Magic, it's not exclusive to mommies. It's that thing where you (whether you're a mommy, daddy, grandparent, aunt, uncle, and/or primary caregiver) know the child so well, that you can help bring them around to where you need them to be through the exact right mix of cajolery and responsiveness. When it works, it feels magical.

Examples: sometimes she doesn't want to put her coat on, but I magically come up with a way to get her to do it herself without a fight. Once in a while, I'm the only one who can convince her to let us buckle her into her car seat. And today, I magicked her into taking a nap.

Eme has recently stopped taking naps. The good part of this is that she goes to bed an hour and a half earlier, and pretty much gets the same amount of sleep as before. The down side is that I don't get a break in my day, which can be a little bit wearing.

Today she woke up an hour early. Both she and I were yawning by 11am. We were planning to attend a family party tonight, and I knew that we'd end up leaving early (and possibly in tears) if she didn't get a nap.

I convinced her to lay down next to me after lunch. I talked, told stories, cajoled, and after a struggle of wills to get her to stop jumping around, convinced her to close her eyes, at which point she was asleep within minutes. Me too.

The fact that both Eme and I got a 2-hour nap was real magic.

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Wonder Toddler Wednesday--Mulan

Wonder Toddler Powers, activate! Form of...Mulan getting ready for the matchmaker!

Eme got a costume for Christmas that is supposed to look like a traditional Chinese outfit (thanks Aunt Gillie and Uncle Ryan!). She calls it her "Muuman dress." She enjoys putting on the whole getup (including a pair of red shoes--thanks Papa Guy--and a pink fan) and acting out the first few scenes of Mulan (where Mulan gets dressed to go meet the matchmaker and, through a series of hilarious events, ends up making a huge mess).

Luckily, Papa Guy is usually willing to act out the whole movie with her. Then they act out Cinderella, or Beauty and the Beast, or Robin Hood... the list goes on.

So cute.

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Welcome to Wonder Toddler Wednesday!

New year, new baby on the way, and my girl has been a toddler for some time now, so welcome to the newly named (but still the same) Wonder Toddler Wednesday!



Wonder Toddler powers, activate! Form of...the cutest sheep in the Christmas play!

At the last moment we got roped into the Christmas play at church (they had only one sheep). Eme enjoyed her time in the spotlight -- she was a total show-stealer -- but kept trying to take the baby Jesus away from the girl playing Mary. When we told her she couldn't hold the doll until after the play, she requested to hold the other sheep's actual baby brother.

At least she's interested in babies. Hopefully this will come in handy over the next few months. :)

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Wonder Baby Wednesday #37

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...Maid Marion (the fox version from the Disney Robin Hood cartoon) or Maria from Sound of Music. Or both.

Eme is at an age where she loves to mimic things she sees. When she wanted to put dishtowels on her head to mimic wearing a wimple, we clearly had to capture it on film.

She's actually getting quite good at repeating lines from movies, as well, so when she plays "Maid Marion" she's constantly looking out windows and sighing for Robin Hood. When she's Maria she runs around singing "my favorite things."

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Wonder Baby Wednesday #36

Wonder Baby Powers, activate! Form of...Daddy's little helper.

"Mommy, I haf do some wurt."
"Ok, why don't you go sit by Daddy and you can work on his phone while he works on his computer?"
(yes, she does know how to use the iPhone with very little help.)

My favorite part is that they each needed a drink to keep from getting parched because they're working so hard -- guess whose drink is in the little yellow chick with a straw...

She's getting so big!

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