I mean really, can she get any friggin’ cuter???
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The never-ending name game (and other miscellaneous updates)… June 26, 2008
Even before I started to write this — after deciding that the title I’d come up with was ever so slightly humorous — I thought this posting would be a little disappointing. Without actually going back and reading all of our previous posts, I have a gut feeling that a lot of them — the “dispatches,” anyway — have to do either with grandparent names or fecal humor.
(I’ve already been warned to lay off the poop stories…)
But since The Life of Emma is supposed to document our life, and since I’ve started the grandparent-name thread, I feel like I have to continue with updates as they occur.
But I’ll keep it brief.
The maternal grandfather formerly known as “Papaw,” who became “Papoo,” has returned to the original moniker. Honey says “Papaw” is ingrained in everyone’s head already and so rather than changing to Papoo because that’s what his second-youngest granddaughter took to calling him, they’ve decided to teach her to say Papaw.
On the paternal grandparent front, Emma’s Auntie Amanda has suggested the Hebrew words for grandmother and grandfather — both of which escape me currently. Auntie Amanda may have come upon those suggestions as she was gearing up for her birthright Israel trip that she is now on.
And in other miscellaneous updates:
- Emma is doing wonderfully well (yes, she’s THAT good);
- She’s growing every day and she’s smiling a lot;
- At school this week, she had her first encounter with a real fish. Her teacher brought in a whole trout, explaining that stuffed animals just don’t offer enough contextual information to young minds;
- Emma likes to dance on the bathroom counter top before her bath, and she’s now known for peeing as she dances;
- She’s now eating six to eight ounces of breastmilk and/or formula instead of four ounces;
- And she loves her new “exersaucer,” which I call the UFO.
With another weekend rapidly approaching, I’ll try to post some multimedia here soon. Until then…
How we roll… June 20, 2008
This morning, Ashley left for work and I needed to alter my typical morning routine in which I take Emma to school and then return home to get ready for work.Today, I needed to be ready to go straight in to work after dropping off Emma, so she spent a little more time in her “bouncy chair,” which has been displayed in previous photo postings (but not this one). After a while, she got sick of being in a reclined position but I still wasn’t finished getting dressed. So, I grabbed her UFO, which I had yet to see her in, and put it in the bedroom. As as her feet went through the holes in the cloth chair, she knew what was happening, and shut off the tears.She was sooooooooo happy in her UFO, I had to stop and take a few photos. Enjoy!
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Dad’s Day ‘08 June 15, 2008
We celebrated Father’s Day at my parents’ house, and when we arrived, I was forced to wear a paper crown. It wasn’t just me — my dad, grandfather and Roland, my parents’ next-door neighbor, all wore them for the day’s festivities.Be sure to check out Emma’s outfit. Her maternal grandparents gave that to her the day she was born. It says “Dad’s Team” on it. And for our first Dad’s Day, Honey and Papoo gave Emma and me our first baseball/softball set. It’s AWESOME. She’ll be hittin’ grand slams in no time!
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Yay! Finally! More pics of Emma…. June 14, 2008
UNCLE, UNCLE!!! I’m sorry it’s been so long since we’ve posted any photos. We’ve been busy and I haven’t snapped as many as I’d of liked. But here’s some from the last several weeks. I know there’s a lot of repetition, but she’s so friggin’ cute!!! Enjoy!
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BREAKING NEWS: Papaw’s name changes…. June 13, 2008
Grandparent names are a funny thing. For all the time grandparents spend coming up with what they’ll be called, in the end, it seems that it’s really not up to them at all. On this blog, you’ve surely read the goings-on of Emma’s paternal grandparents, and their pursuit for the coolest possible monikers.
Originally, my dad had gone threw a slew of names before deciding that he’s was going to be plain old Grandpa. Maybe he’d trick it out a bit by throwing in an initial: Grandpa G. Then he decided either version was a bit too much like an actual grandfather, and he’s far too young (at heart) to actually be a grandfather, so he sought something with a bit more pizazz.
El Abuelito — the “Puro San Antonio” version of “grandfather.” For a while, that was it. But it wasn’t too long before the consensus was that at least in her early speaking days, there was no way Emma would be able to say El Abuelito so we decided on something else that was even better suited for The Dude. He’s now known as El Jefe (which means “the boss” in Spanish).
My mother is a different story altogether. We’ve taken to calling her Bubbe Alissa Buju Omama, an amalgamation of all the different names she’s considered (well, to be fair, she’s NEVER wanted to be called Bubbe, which is Yiddish for grandmother). My mom’s mom is Bubbe. She shrugs off Buju, which is a term that refers to her spiritual leanings — a Buddhist Jew. And Omama is a take on her political leanings. To continue to riff on the intertwining languages here in Say Town, she also sports an “Obamanos” sticker on her bumper — a combination of Obama and a Spanish word that means “Let’s go!”
But back to this whole naming thing. My parents’ pursuit for the perfect grandparent nickname may be futile.
Emma’s maternal grandparents had their grandparent names picked out long ago. There were already three grandchildren when Emma came along, so their names were set in the proverbial stone. It was Honey and Papaw – always was, always would be….until it wasn’t.
The youngest grandchild, besides Emma, is Allie Grace, who’s about 18 months old. She’s talking now, but can’t (or won’t) say Papaw. She’s decided he’s better suited for Papoo. And thus ended the days of Papaw.
It seems we can spend weeks or even months trying to come up with the best possible grandparent name, but when it’s all said and done, we’re not the ones who actually choose at all. It’s our little ones who are really the big decision makers…
