sign of the times

Emily Grace and mom just went out for a little drive around the neighborhood to look for Halloween lights. Santa who?

Love,
Dad

love bugs

Emily Grace saw Love Bugs for the first time today. They're an annoying bug, or more often set of bugs making love until they come in contact with a speeding car. When Emily learned their name she gave them a kiss.

Love,
Dad

I never noticed that Fruit Loops are spelled Froot Loops, no wonder kids can't spell.

that's a problem

I don't think the terrible two's are as much of a problem as Emily Grace's prodigious language development (hey, let me brag for once). The problem is that she can only pronounce, (recognizable to most adults) about 200 of the 2000 words in her vocabulary. How many babies ask for sentimental trinkets to mark the second anniversary of her birth? Just Emily Grace.

Love,
Dad

It's just another sign that she's not a little girl anymore. She used to have "cute" names for her grandparents-Nanna and PopPop. Those were hers; not prompted or taught to her by adults. The adults also referred to them that way to acknowledge her "speak". They were unique to my parents and we always knew who she was talking about. Well, just this past week things changed. I told her Nanna was coming in the morning to get her and she looked back at me and said, "Grandma coming?" I was too sad to even answer her. She still goes back and forth, but each day it's becoming more "Grandma/Grandpa" and less "Nanna/PopPop". Being a parent is crazy. You are so glad she is becoming more self sufficient and independent while at the same sadden that she's no longer a baby...she's a big girl!

Love,
Mom

backseat driving...

Emily Grace likes to shout directions and driving instructions from the backseat as we drive around town. Did I mention she's only two? We get on the highway and she starts yelling "turn left" I explain that there is no left turn on the highway. Why do I try and explain this concept to a two-year old? Because, that's what adults do. Emily's mom's solution seems to work much better, she just agrees to make the left turn and then just keeps on driving. Emily also like to go fast. That's also a frequent refrain from the back seat. It doesn't matter if we're on the highway or sitting in traffic. Emily wants to "go fast." Once, after multiple requests to "go fast" I asked Emily how fast did she want to go? Almost immediately she answered "real fast." Recently, Emily wanted me to make a left turn at an intersection so she could see something. She told me what the something was but I could not for the life of me figure out what it was that she wanted to see so I kept going straight. No sooner had we driven through the intersection before she started yelling "turn around, turn around." We had a little talk about driving the car and being a good driver. Emily informed me that she wants to be a bad driver. Watch out State Farm.

Love,
Dad

The best laid plans...

These pictures are "other Pop-pop and Nan-Na." Emily Grace had her first visit to the Veterinarian, as a helper not a patient. Emily has been waking up at 6:30/6:45/7:00am all summer, now a week before we go back to school she starts sleeping until 8:00+; based on her old sleep pattern I made the appointment for 8:30am. At 8:15 I had no cat, no kid and no help to pull this all together, a mad scramble ensued. I made it there on time, but by the time I got there the cat was strapped in the car seat and Emily Grace was in the cat carrier. The Vet, Dr. Barsch was great about explaining everything he was doing so Emily could watch and understand as he examined the cat and gave her her shots. The only part I wasn't so sure about was when they collected a stool sample. Looks painful, if the cat was a boy I would have suggested they check the prostrate while they were in there.

Love,
Dad

What a helpful little girl....

Had a guy coming to the house today to give me an estimate for a new roof. Emily Grace's mom thought this would be a good time for her to go see the dentist and leave Emily here to face the salesman with daddy. What a good decision. The salesman could never hit his stride with all of the interruptions from Emily Grace; she was always polite, but she was non-stop. The salesman brought one of our old shingles down to show me how bad they are. He wanted me to bend it in half or tear it apart to see how much it had deteriorated. I declined citing the fact that I didn't want to clean up all of the mess that would fall off. He was very insistent. I told him I already know how bad they are and didn't need to make a mess to prove a point to myself. Emily Grace solved the problem by taking the piece of shingle, shoving it down her shirt and running away. Emily also helped to end the meeting by climbing up and playing the piano, LOUD. I really didn't know she could play it that loudly. The guy was trying to be nice and kept turning around and asking her to be quiet. Which she did for about ten seconds, just long enough for him to turn back around to face me. The meeting ended soon after the concert started. Normally I would not have let Emily Grace carry on like that, but after an hour of hearing about how bad my roof is, even after telling the guy I know that already, I really didn't care what she was doing as long as it reasonable. Next time I'm going to the dentist and mom can deal with the roofers. No Novocaine for me please.

Love,
Dad

a little light reading...

We read two/three books at night to Emily Grace before bedtime, one of them involves a little bear that has different outfits to wear depending on which page you are on in the book. The problem with this book is that all of the outfits are attached to the book by little strings that become impossibly tangled. I can't imagine that it is very restful for Emily Grace when her daddy is cursing under his breath while reading the story trying to un-tangle the outfits so they reach their respective spots.

Love, Dad

P.S.

Happy number 46 to Na-Na and Pop-Pop and thank you for taking me to the zoo.

Love,
Emily Grace

The many faces of Emily

Emily Grace is trying on new faces. They might be a little hard to distinguish in the pictures but she can tell you what each face shows and make them again for you. Her only problem is trying to maintain the face. If you make it back at her she starts to laugh and says "crackin' me up."

Love,
Dad

Free?

We found a free water park sponsored by the city of Oldsmar. We went one morning when the park opened at 11 am. We got there right after the fourth daycare van had just arrived. There must have been 30 to 40 kids running around. The time to go is late afternoon, you can see how many kids Emily is competing with for the fountains.

Love,
Dad

Emily in ORLANDO!!!

The only thing that Emily Grace took away from two days in Orlando is how LOUD it is there, I could not agree more. We went to Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure and it is loud everywhere, you can't escape the aural assault; inside, outside, even upside down. They really should offer a "quiet" room for us old folks and babies (big and small). The best ride there according to Emily is the moving sidewalk from the parking garage.

Love,
Dad

shoes

Emily Grace has a thing for shoes. Mine, mom's, Aunt Amy's (guess which ones are hers). Emily has been putting on her own shoes for at least six months, even getting them on the correct feet most of the time. Now about those socks.....

Love,
Dad

I'm not saying she's picky....

Emily Grace is certainly showing her "personality" now that's she's two. When she asks for something like "slide, swing" which is a request to go to the playground and play on the slide and swing. If you tell her "later" she says right back "No. Right now." If I offer her a drink of water she looks in the cup and says "need ice in it." And don't even try and select the pickle out of the jar for her. If she can't pick it she won't eat it. I get a lot of pickles this way.

Love,
Dad

what a concept

Emily Grace and I were talking about going to see my parents who live in Geneva OH. They're actually closer to Geneva-On-The-Lake, but that's like saying your parents live in Ruskin. Emily calls them "different, Na-Na, Pa-Pa" I told her that we were going to go on an airplane to visit them and she told me "different Na-Na, Pa-Pa far away." How does a two-year old figure out that concept, amazing.

Love,
Dad

These pictures of Emily playing in the rain are courtesy of the sunshine state, where its been raining everyday. Can you guess that mom's not home?

Happy Birthday, Emily Grace.

Love,
Dad

happy birthday

Well, she made it to two. Some days she seemed hell bent on not reaching that milestone. The party was a big hit. Only grandma and grandpa could get away with one of those "singing" birthday cards featuring their voices..... Where's the battery in this thing......

Love,
Dad

7 days and counting.....

I can't believe that Emily Grace is going to be 2 years old next week, on July 10th. It's already become problematic to spell things in front of her because she can figure out what your trying to hide by using the context in which you're spelling to figure it out. When I got home from Publix the other day I was hiding the ice cream as I was putting it in the freezer. I told mom that I had purchased the thing that we have after dinner. Emily Grace promptly announced "Ice Cream!" There was a time that Emily like ice but not ice cream. Oh, how I long for those days........

Love,
Dad

These pictures are from Emily's trip to Maine. Go visit Bar Harbor it's a beautiful place.

get the forklift ready

I need to do a better job of changing the diaper genie. When I emptied it today it looked like a giant blue Anaconda coming out of it. I hope the garbageman doesn't have heart attack when he opens the can tomorrow.

Dad

Mom, Mom, Mom, Momma, Momma, Mommy, Mommy....Dadda?

I'm sure I don't say it nearly enough but, there is no greater joy in this world than watching Emily Grace and her mother interact. Doesn't matter if it's bath time or changing a diaper; mealtime or reading a book; just the way Marcy talks to and loves Emily Grace is a sight to behold. It almost makes up for the non-stop stream of requests from Emily Grace for her mother. Second on the list of requested items from Emily Grace is pizza. Emily and I went out to dinner the other night and when the waitress came to take our drink order, Emily looked her right in the eye and said, plain as day "I want pizza!" Fortunately, the waitress was out of ear shot when Emily Grace followed up her initial request with an order for a short beer (Budweiser, for Grandma). That's my girl....

Love,
Dad

That's no way to talk to a baby

Emily Grace's Aunt Amy dropped by for a visit yesterday. All I could hear from the backyard where I was working was mom and Amy yelling "Sit! Sit!" over and over again. I kept thinking "That's a strange way to talk to a baby." then I saw Amy's dog Buddha. Naming a dog Buddha is right up there with calling it Jesus Christ, but Amy's from Alabama where apparently everything is called Jesus Christ.

Love,
Dad

Never too early to start...

At 19 months, there is no way I should have to be spelling words to keep Emily Grace from repeating them, but that's not how life works. Only once, maybe twice have I slipped with the word "stupid" in front of the baby. Not, %#@#(&^% or @!$&*^$*%$ or even !*&$%#%, just stupid. But no sooner did the word escape my mouth (in reference to our cat who is stupid) did the little voice from the back seat begin practicing her new word. Emily Grace can't do the "st" sound but even without the "t" there was no doubt about what was being said. And why, oh why, did I have to have a beautiful witness to my little transgression? Thank God mom's very forgiving.....

Love,
Dad

that explains a lot...

I know that companies are always trying new ideas to boost sales, the easiest being the introduction of a new version of an old favorite and the corresponding price hike for our convenience. My experience is that the new version is actually a poor imitation of the original, costing the company less to manufacture and allowing them to charge more. One of my favorite versions of this process is the select-a-size Bounty paper towels that you get at Wal-Mart. You pay extra so that you can save on paper towels by only using the size you need. What they forget to mention is that they only actually add the perforations to every third paper towel (bigger savings for them) so when you try and pull one (half-sheet) off you end up with the entire roll un-furled on the kitchen floor; this might just be the special Wal-mart version that allows them to charge a penny less per roll that Publix. All of this nonsense comes into play with Diet Pepsi. For some reason (see cost savings stratagies above) I have ended up with a large number of Diet Pepsies (Is that really the plural of Pepsi? Or is it Pepsis? They both look wrong.) that are flat when I open the bottle; I would estimate that 1 out of every 10 six-packs is flat. My first clue is that the un-opened bottle is already soft when you grab it out of the fridge. Pepsi is always very nice when I call to complain and are quick to tell me that even if the product is flat that drinking it won't hurt me. I always tell them that I like to throw up so it's a win/win situation.

I also thought that the "new" version of Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi Max (I guess Diet Pepsi Extreme, was already in use) went flat a lot faster than the regular Diet Pepsi. However, today I caught Emily Grace vigorously shaking my bottle of Diet Pepsi Max. When I asked her what she was doing she told me "bubbles" and she was right. Shaking the Diet Pepsi Max vigorously produces a lovely bottle full of bubbles to look at with none left to drink. Emily Grace seems bound and detrimined to get me out of the Diet Pepsi generation. I wonder how much mom is paying her.

Love,
dad

The physical toll of Emily Grace, or "I'm not getting any younger."

I like to run in the annual Gasparilla 5K every year; Emily Grace was there to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line last year. To prepare for this year's race I decided that I needed some new running shoes and Emily Grace and I went off to the local Sports Authority where they were running a promotion, buy $75 in Nike running gear and the race fee ($25) is waived. I like the Nike Free 5.0 running shoe, even though I don't think I'm supposed to race in it but that's what I wanted. While Emily Grace was busy pulling random boxes off of the shelves and looking inside, I tried on a pair of the Free's (or as close as Sports Authority gets to them) when the sales associate came by to see if I needed help and saw what I was trying on he asked what I planned to do with the shoes, guess I've lost that runner's physique, I told him tennis. I was not sure about the shoes so I went to check for some new shorts, Emily Grace played hide and seek in the racks of clothes. No luck. Went to give the shoes another try. A new clerk came upon me trying on the same Nike shoes and asked me the exact same question. I told her they were for swimming. I ended up buying the shoes and I really like them. If I have one complaint it's the insane shade of green that Nike uses on these shoes. It looks like I'm running with a couple of fire engines on my feet. Of course, none of this is as bad as when strangers stop and ask me how old my granddaughter is.

Love,
Dad

If I can get it in my mouth...

Emily Grace is not a picky eater, she does seem to cycle through how much she'll eat at any one time, but seconds and thirds are the norm; she also likes to graze throughout the day. With so many meals we were running out of cutlery. That's right Emily Grace is very proficient with a fork and spoon. We have been using the little spoons that you use when you first feed the baby, the ones with the long handle. Watching Emily try and hold the end of those and maneuver the food to her mouth was always interesting. I imagine it would be like us trying to eat with a mixing spoon or one of those barbecue forks. So Emily and I went out today to buy some new forks and spoons, the choices are many the options are few. But the most interesting set of baby cutlery out there is the three pack from Gerber. It contains a knife. What is a baby going to do with a knife? Granted, it's not sharp, pointy or serrated, she might be able to cut some soft butter if that ever appears on the menu. I think I'll make her a steak tonight.

love,
Dad

some things only a grandma can do

When grandma is watching Emily Grace and you call to see how things are going only grandma starts the conversation with how many bowel movements Emily Grace has had that day "She had two large poopies today." Not that Emily has learned how to talk or walk but how many diapers needed to be changed. At least I know my daughter is regular, just like dad.

Love,
Dad