Potty training

We started potty training yesterday. I knew this was a good time, so Monday night I downloaded a book to help me figure out what to do...it was very helpful. Yesterday went much better than I expected, but we are all exhausted. (She is still asleep at 7:45am.)  She does seem to have an idea when she needs to go, which is helpful, but we spent half our day in the bathroom.  It is definitely a learning process for all of us. We are doing both day and night training at the same time...no more diapers. We told her that babies wear diapers...and use binkys, etc. and she knows she is a big girl, but it is still a hard transition. She was so nervous about going potty yesterday that she couldn't relax to take a nap, so I let her watch some Veggie Tales, which distracted her and she seemed to relax and do better. Hopefully she gets better everyday. 

Relaxing on her couch, with potty nearby...and Dolly's potty too. She likes to explain to dolly how this all works. 

Post-Christmas fun

Emma has been having a great time playing with all of the things she got for Christmas. She has been toting her new bear around in the car seat and changing its diaper over and over and over again. She lives to set up all the little people to come see baby Jesus, and make the lion chase and eat the zebra inNoah's Ark...while singing Arky Arky, of course. Oh and she has been doing lots of cooking and puzzles, too. I'm not going to lie, it is nice to do something besides talk for Minnie Mouse to her dollies. :) 

She loves to help me unstack the dishwasher. The silverware is now her job; she also likes drying off her cups.

The Campbells (where we went for Christmas dinner) gave us an extra Snow White dress...which Emma tried on before 7amthe next morning. 

Her new teddy bear and car seat.

Oh my goodness!

Still half-asleep at 6:10, we heard little footsteps coming down the hallway. We told Emma to come knock on our door and say Merry Christmas when she woke up, and then we would open presents. But we left our door open, so she just stood there, and finally I got up. She said, "its light out, the sun came up," because the full moon was so bright. (I had also told her to wait for it to be light.) so we went downstairs and opened presents. I should have taken more pictures than I did today. We got her a little white teddy bear (all she asked for), and a dolly car seat. She has been carrying the teddy bear around in the car seat all day. She calls it her very special bear. She was so much fun...lots of giggles and excited laughter. While opening stockings she kept saying, "oh my goodness, oh my goodness," over and over. Several times whatever she got was just what she always wanted...even if she wasn't sure what it was. (She learned this line from Pooh.) We had biscuits and gravy and monkey bread for breakfast and also skyped with my family, and later Steven's family. For dinner we went to a friend from PWOC/chaplain's house, where we all had fabulous time. On the way home we stopped by station 2 to wish the guys a Merry Christmas and unload the rest of our desserts on them...they obliged. :) It was a very good, long day. Thank you all and Merry Christmas!

We let her open presents from Aunt Emily on Christmas Eve (Noah's ark), and the nativity set we got her to explain the Christmas story. Although we left Joseph at chapel. 

Opening presents

Pepper had a good Christmas, too. 

She didn't even know what it was at this point. 

She had fun bringing us our presents.

A scarf like mommy!

The aftermath. I promise we had cleaned up already once. And it's clean now again, but it looked like a tornado went through. 

Ladybug Girl

Emma has discovered a book series about a little girl named Lulu, who becomes Ladybug Girl to help her day turn around, have fun, be brave, etc. Todat Emma reminded me of her, with her skirt and ladybug boots. It was in the 60s this afternoon, so we got out to enjoy some fresh air. Emma wanted to 'run' so we took Pepper, too. We ran all the way to TLF, about a quarter mile away. She has discovered playing in the leaves, so that's what we did. After that we dropped Pepper off at home and went to the park for a little. Then we read books and both took a nap. It was a pretty relaxing day for a change. Daddy was even home all day except when he worked out. We had a lot of fun.

Found the next door kitty

Daddy's Home!

It has been nice having Steven home...since we hardly saw him for the last two weeks. But he is finally done with his EMT class, and only has a 12 hour shift in the ER on Wednesdsy and then to take his national rest thing...I think that's all. But we soak up all the time we can get. 

He has a cold/cough, which he is slowly getting over now that he can get some rest. Emma freaks out every time he coughs though...runs and hides, or if it's really bad, she cries and runs to me. Sometimes it's a game to her, but she does it every time. She loves to bring him Kleenex and make sure he takes his medicine. 

Chillin in Pepper's bed

Hiding from daddy's cough....across the room. 

Playing ball with daddy in her Minnie Mouse high heels 

Going night night in her 'beautiful house,'as she calls this sectioned off part of the living room. You have to be invited in. But she will cook for you and put you to bed. She even takes off her slippers and put on her heels before answering the door...where does she get this stuff?

Merry Christmas!

Pink

Emma had on all pink today...not uncommon. She also did her own makeup...pink as well. She does this fairly often. I moved most of my makeup out of her reach, but she an still get the blush and lip gloss. 

Hair cut

Yesterday Emma and I both got haircuts. She sat pretty still during mine...but I brought the iPad so she could watch a movie. And she was pretty good for her's, too. She hasn't had her hair cut by someone other than me in over a year. She looks cute. :)

And since I forgot to take a picture yesterday, here is one from today:

Early morning fun

Emma grabbed her Awana book this morning to practice her verse. Last week they talked about Adam and Eve, or as Emma says, "Adam and Eat'em." :)

Monday outings

Today I had a dentist appointment and Emma came with me. Steven was going to take the afternoon off, but he ended up having a lot to do this week...plus tonight is his final for his EMT class. He wasn't feeling well this morning, and I know he was exhausted after last week, so we will all be glad when it is over. Anyway, Emma came with me to my cleaning. She kept telling me, "They are gonna call you back and look at your teeth and you're gonna be just fine." It was so cute. She watched as they took X-rays, and cleaned. I set her up with Frozen on the iPad, and she was perfect the whole time. She sung along with her movie...and they gave her stickers. Afterward we went to the pet store to get some Christmas treats for Pepper. They had these adorable little carts for kids, so I let Emma push one all around the store. It was so fun to not be in a hurry and enjoy our shopping. She even handed all our things to the cashier. It was a great time...and then we went shoe shopping. It was fun, too, maybe too much fun by the end. Emma loves to try on shoes and then put them back. It is a good system as she doesn't really ever ask to buy anything...except of course the Mickey Mouse umbrella she found. (I definitely have to be careful about her moods when I take her shopping. Sometimes she is perfectly pleasant, other times I wonder what I was thinking and end up being the mom carrying out the crying child.) About that point in the afternoon she started to get a little crazy. And I never really could get her to settle down, so she went to bed early. She is also learning to ask to go potty right at bedtime, just to stay up. Sometimes I let her, sometimes I don't. But at least she goes. 

Her little spot at the dentist office.  Pretty sure they all know her there by now.

Pushing dolly in the cart.

She couldn't figure out what the chinchillas were.

She found some jellys

Also, here is a picture from the base children's Christmas party, the fire trucks bring the grinch. A U-2 brings the 'Christmas guy.' This year they dressed up too...hilarious. Oh, and Emma got a cookie, a stuffed dog, little doctors set and a dolly with a binky at the party. I don't know how they do it, but they always have great toys for every kid there. 

Getting ready for Christmas

Since Steven has been so busy, Emma and I have been finishing getting ready for Christmas...making pfeffernusse, and wrapping presents. The pfeffernusse is extra good this year, probably because of my sweet helper. :) she had fun...and some of your pfeffernusse might be misshapen, but it was made with love. She also enjoyed helping me wrap presents...her job was to pick out and stick on the to/from stickers. She may have also gotten distracted by some shiny ribbon. After lunch we went to the dollar store so Emma could pick out presents for our family. I hated to explain that our family is in Kansas and we were mailing the presents...they weren't coming to our house to get them. But she is 3...she took my explanation and was distracted by all the 'Christmas guy' stuff in the store. 

She like these Christmas guy hats

I had to re-roll two of these, but it wasn't so bad.

Looking out the window for daddy...this girl sure does miss her daddy...especially when I do something she doesn't like.