Friday, September 07, 2007
On the other hand...
My two year-old daughter corrects her own bad grammar. The other day she exclaimed, "Yes I are!" Then quickly, "Yes I am!"

So I've got that going for me.
Crap! Angie will never hire me now...
Stolen from Leslie. I was tripped up by millennium (how could I forget so soon???) and supersede. Doh!

Your English Skills:

Vocabulary: 100%
Grammar: 80%
Punctuation: 80%
Spelling: 60%
Arrgh!
I found some little boots in storage and gave them to Emma to try on. She decided they were pirate boots. She and daddy put together the whole ensemble and Emma posed for us. I guess one day we'll have to tell her what pirates actually are, but in the world of Dora, Backyardigans and Little Einsteins you'd never know they were lawless brigands. Seems harmless enough for now.



Thursday, September 06, 2007
June Loves to Dance
Emma is sporting her brand new Little Einsteins "June" shirt that I bought her at Target yesterday. I had seen it on a previous visit and thought she'd love it. Then I went all "el cheapo" and wouldn't part with the bucks. When I got home I regretted it. I was surprised to find that it was still there yesterday so I snapped it up. Woo hoo! Emma loves to be June. I usually get to be Annie.


Emma Loves to Dance.


And leap too!

Emma's first foray into the chalk medium...
We're starting out with sidewalk chalk, pastels will come later.

Mommy, look at the shiny puddle!
Says Emma, as the soaks her hands in the pool of grease in the parking lot.

That brand new Little Einsteins shirt that Mommy was so proud of? Ruined.
Gaaaaaaah!!!
Enough with the questions! Dang!

OK, it's not like I'm trying to stifle her curiosity. Those aren't the questions I'm referring to. It's the questions that get repeated over and over because she didn't get what she asked for the instant she asked for it the first time.

"Can I have some milk?" (Picture me, getting up from my desk)
"Can I have some milk?" (Now I'm nearing the living room, where she's blurting out her questions as she lounges on the couch in front of the television. She sees me...)
"Can I have some milk?" (Me "How do you ask nicely?")
"Please may I have some milk?" ("That's better, I'll go get some" I disappear around the corner)
"Can I have some miiiiiiiilk?"
"I waaaaaaant milk"
"Can I have some milk?" ("Emma! I'm getting your milk right now!")
5 seconds of silence while I finish up.
"Can I have some milk?"
Right. Up. Until. You. Put. It. In. Her. Hand.

Gaaaaaaaaah!
The Fair - Day Three
Yay! The cousins are here! Emma got to ride everything all over again with her cousins. She had a fabulous time. Her cousins took the job of looking after her very seriously. We finally let Emma go through the playhouse since she did have some guardians. Turns out she needed them. It was impossible for her to get from the ball pit to the rope ramp without their help. It was somewhat comic, watching poor M try to heave Emma from the ball pit onto the rope ramp. It was quite an undertaking. M gave it her all every time. Usually little J was trying to help too. Sometimes even passersby would pitch in...

Here she fell down and was being swallowed by the balls. While she's panicking they're trying to help her up. Do you think the trauma slowed her down? How long have you been reading this blog anyway?


Little M is trying to get Emma over the balls onto the rope part where she can get a grip.


Success means a trip across the bouncy bridge. They only went through this thing about ten times.


Emma and Little J do the Go Go Gators Uncle B style!


Popi and Sweet Pea on the slide.


Emma, C, and Little J on the big swings.


Later in the evening Emma takes a popcorn break.


The visiting crew went home around 9:15 p.m. We stayed on and played for another hour. We had to call it quits when Emma sprung a leak in her diaper. We headed back to Grandma's house, which is close to fairground/school grounds. From there we were able to watch the fireworks show at 10:30 p.m. For a good half of it Emma kept asking to go inside. The noise from the fireworks really reverberated through the valley and I'm sure it sounded scary. Daddy held her off and she finally forgot the urge to flee and enjoyed the show. My head hit the pillow at midnight and I don't know that I've ever felt so dead.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Look, Ma! Pigtails!
It's only taken us nearly three years to grow enough hair for this. Woo hoo!


Cold redux
It's back. I can't believe it. I blame it on spending Saturday evening under-dressed for the cold and sucking up the dust of the fairgrounds. Yesterday I slept late, napped and went to bed early. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a sneezing fit. I laid there for the longest time trying to get back to sleep. My thoughts turned to, "oh my gosh, am I really going to have to call in sick again tomorrow?" Then it occurred to me, "Wait! Tomorrow is Labor Day, I don't have to work tomorrow. Whew!" So here I sit, coughing and sneezing my way through the holiday. Yippee!
The Fair - Day Two
After a day of rest we returned to the fair on Friday night. Near the entrance we found the crashed up cars belonging to the school shop class. It had been beaten up pretty badly in the Demolition Derby the night before.


We grabbed some supper and finished it off by sharing a bowl of ice cream.


"Daddy, look!"


Wednesday night had been totally devoted to the rides. This time we took the opportunity to stop by the livestock barn so Emma could see the animals.



As we passed by the rabbit exhibit one of the exhibitors was feeding her bunny. She kindly pulled the rabbit out of it's cage so some kids could pet it. Emma had to sit in a chair and then the bunny was placed in her lap. As soon as Emma felt the unexpected "claws" hit her leg she grabbed the bunny by it's back one-handed and set it aside. Yikes! Then M moved in to hold the bunny in place so Emma could pet it gently.


I got a kick out of the lamppost that the amusement company owners placed in front of their mobile home.


The girl behind Emma is the "other" Emma, who's mom used to send us bags of clothes. That Emma is four years old now. Unfortunately I'd say that she and our Emma are about the same size now. Pretty soon we'll be sending clothes to that Emma I wager.


There was someone to run the Go Go Gators Friday night so Emma got to ride that for the first time. The ride goes in an oval and whips the gator around the curves quickly for a centrifugal thrill. The girls erupted in giggles each time. She's riding with her babysitter's granddaughter.

Sunday, September 02, 2007
The Fair - Day One
We had good weather for the first night of the fair on Wednesday night. The parade was great fun, except for the part where Emma fell over in her chair reaching for some candy while we weren't watching. The Dora chair pitched her in the gravel. After that she sat in her Daddy's chair and wouldn't even bother to pick up candy. She ended up with a gallon bag full of it nonetheless. I mean, you can't just leave it laying in the street!

We bought her the "ride all night" bracelet and she wrung our money's worth out of it, no problem. One ride she did six times consecutively. That evening there was no entertainment in the grandstands so the fair wasn't well attended. The little kids had the run of the place. There was no waiting for any of the rides, unless it was running when you walked up. She rode the carousel, the pumpkins, the mini-scrambler, the dinosaurs, the slide and the big swings. She did everything at least twice and some things many more times.

We had a late night but enjoyed the whole evening. Of course we paid for it the next day, as attested to here.

Showing Daddy some candy. Unfortunately most of what they throw is the hard disc shaped candy. That's something that I won't allow her to have yet. Bummer.


Mmm, chocolate.


Grandma and assorted great aunts and uncles.


Emma is entertaining her cousin and her cousins friend. She astounded them by regaling them with tales of pygmy seahorses and such.


We always start with the carousel.


All alone on the pumpkin. She didn't care.


Riding the green dinosaur. She did a circuit of this ride. She rode each of the six dinosaurs at least once.

Right place, right time
I had often heard that you could find the nice big seashells on the Outer Banks, but never had seen them on the beach. I figured the early birds were snapping all the interesting finds before I was even out of bed. It turns out it's more complicated than that.

We went to Canadian Hole again on Friday. On one side of the highway is the sound, on the other side is the ocean. Some of our crew decided to check out the ocean side to see if it was any calmer than our area. It turned out to be more brutal. But when they waded out to where the waves were crashing they found themselves being pounded on the ankles and shins by large seashells. The shell would make it as far as the maelstrom of the pounding surf, but didn't wash up on shore. If you were willing to walk out where the shells were churning in the surf you could find some nice ones, way above the run-of-the-mill shells we were used to seeing. They collected shells for a long time and then crossed the highway to join us back on the sound side.

We were amazed at their collection. Everyone wanted to help wash the sand from them in the sound. Then they laid out their collection on a towel to admire it. Passersby were stopping to ask where they'd found them. I believe they did end up taking them all home. A good day's work, if you ask me.

The shell collectors. Popi and C not pictured.


Popi taking abuse for the sake of discovery. After it was all over Popi and Uncle B were sitting by the pool comparing their bloody wounds.


Proudly showing off a good one.


A view of the sound from the other side of the highway.


Lots of helpers to clean the shells.



The booty.