Run, Run As Fast As You Can

Today was such a fun and productive day for all of us Sheltons!  Rob has been very hard at work on tennis coaching stuff the past couple days and I have been doing some serious new baby room clean out.  Lots of great progress made for both of us today.  And even though Rob has spent his entire summer vacation working pretty much, he’s been doing almost all of it from home which has been super wonderful and handy.

As for Emma, this is the first week that we don’t have music class so I decided I’d take Emma to the library for “Toddler Time.”  It’s been several months since we’ve made a library trip so when I told her we were going to the library, I don’t think she really remembered all of her fun previous library experiences.  Toddler Time at the library is an awesome time of singing, clapping and other movements, story reading, crafting, and other fun stuff.  It starts at 11:15am and free tickets can be acquired up to 30 minutes prior to the class.  I know from experience that the summer can get busy and there are a limited number of tickets so I showed up 15 minutes early…to find out that I was already too late :(   Dang!  I was bummed but there’s still plenty of fun stuff to do in the children’s area at the library so we stayed and headed for the puzzles.  We headed for the puzzles because Emma loves puzzles but also because I think it’s time for her to step it up in her puzzle difficulty and we currently don’t own any beyond her skill level.  When we went to the lake the other day, there was a small Finding Nemo puzzle with interlocking pieces that Emma greatly enjoyed working on.  So I figured we needed to make use of the free puzzles at the library to work on her skills rather than rushing out to buy her some.

Anyway, sitting at the puzzle table was a mom and daughter I recognized from church as well as our previous library times so I greeted her and asked how early she arrived to get tickets.  She said she came 15 minutes early for the earlier baby class since her daughter is a little younger than Emma.  She was too late for tickets as well so she had waited around for the older class.  A little while later she came over, informed me they were tired of waiting, ready to go home, and that we could have their tickets.  Score!!!

And oh what fun we had!  Emma was totally in her element and had the biggest smile on her face the entire Toddler Time!  A couple times she even turned around and hugged me with a look as if she was saying, “Mom, thanks for bringing me, this is totally awesome!”  :)

She did a great job of paying attention, participating in the songs and motions, and even got to decorate a paper snake that went along with the book we read together.  She loved every bit of it!  Here’s a video I took with my phone during the 2nd and 3rd (and faster) rounds of Head and Shoulders.  Emma kept up with the slower first round but then was a bit confused with the pace pickup :)

After Toddler Time, Emma spent probably 20 minutes playing with the wooden roller coaster toys before we eventually headed back to the puzzles and then finally went home only because I was starving for lunch.  Good times!  I definitely have to make a better effort to take Emma more often…especially since the Toddler Time is held 3 mornings each week.

I’ve given Emma yogurt on several occasions but nothing too regular since Rob and I don’t keep it around for ourselves.  I know it’s good for you but only if you buy the nasty plain stuff which I hate…otherwise, the good tasting stuff is so full of sugar and other stuff that I can’t bring myself to buy it hardly ever.

Emma’s buddy Emrey likes yogurt though and so Emma is often around her when she’s eating it.  Emrey’s mom will often give Emma some so Emma has lately been asking for yogurt at home.  I finally broke down and bought some yesterday and offered it to her after today’s afternoon nap.  She was so excited!  The flavor was cherry and Emma was making some great tart faces so I busted out the camera in hopes of catching her faces.  However, when I did, Emma dropped a glob on her bib and became very concerned with cleaning it off…so much so that she eventually just decided she was done with the yogurt because her cleanup operation was  unsuccessful.  Watch…

Did you hear her requests at the end of the video?  She cracks me up!  She always knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask.  She usually wakes in the morning hungry and makes very specific requests about breakfast items immediately…and yes, sometimes she even requests ice cream or cookies with a smile knowing that she’s being silly :)   In this case she requested raisins and then immediately changed her mind to cheerios.  So here she is eating a few cheerios and making silly faces for some reason…

This evening I was busy cleaning out some of Emma’s closet and she came across a tub of play-doh containers.  Only once I have busted it out and she didn’t understand it so I haven’t bothered a second attempt until she requested it this evening.  This time I also got out a few cookie cutters and she was loving it!  We VERY regularly play with the online phonics website called Starfall and one of her favorites on there is the Gingerbread Man activity.  So Emma especially had a blast making, decorating, and playing with the play-doh gingerbread men!  Too bad her mom is too anal to mix the colors ;)   Maybe we’ll make gingerbread cookies one day and she can decorate those.


Emma was a very unhappy camper when I told her it was time to put up the play-doh and get a bath.  And then as we were getting ready for her bath, she started going on and on about how much she wanted to see “Near” aka Grandmother…to the point where she started whining and eventually said with much dramatization, “I NEVER see Near!”  Crack me up!  She finally let up during bath and then again brought it back up afterward.  Good thing Near is planning on coming to visit this weekend!   :)

July 19, 2010  No Comments

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