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