F-Bombs floating in the fish tank… November 12, 2009

Emma is a very smart little girl.

She likes to ask, “What’s that?” as she points to something unknown. We tell her, “That’s a measuring tape, that’s a tripod, and that’s a candle.” She repeats, “Measuring tape. Tripod. Candle.”

Her pronunciation is quite good. Her ability to learn new words, retain them and apply them correctly is amazing. And that’s why this story is so…., um, unique.

Many of the classrooms at Emma’s school have fish tanks, mostly with goldfish and sucker fish. Some tanks have lots of goldfish with one sucker. Others have one of each.

Now, if what I’m about to tell you had only happened once, I’d have written off as a fluke. But it’s happened a number of times, and there’s no doubt about what she’s saying…

“Look, Emma! Look at all the fish in here!”

Emma gazes into the fish tank and exclaims, “F*CK!”

“Yes, Emma. Those are FISH,” I say, putting extra emphasis and enunciation on that last word. “FISH.”

Emma repeats, “F*CK!”

Daddy tries again: “FISH.”

Emma: “F*CK!”

Daddy: “FISH.”

Emma: “F*CK!”

We go back and forth nearly a dozen times, her pronunciation of the word never wavering.

And it’s not only “FISH” that become F-Bombs as they leave Emma’s mouth. “FROG” gets the same treatment…

 

 

Mamma’s Tea and other tales from the pre-2 days… October 23, 2009

The evolution of Emma’s language has been a magnificent thing to watch over the past couple months. To think that it’s only to get more enthralling is a wonder. It’s amazing how quickly The Little One can pick up new words and put them to use.

The other day, Emma and I had returned from a trip to the grocery store, and there was a gallon of tea sitting on the counter. I’d put Emma in her high chair and she sat in the kitchen while I was getting her dinner ready. She pointed to the tea, slightly tilting her head to the side, and said, “juice?”

“No, Sweetie. That’s tea… Mommy’s tea.”

“Teeeeee,” she said with a smile.

The next morning, we were back in that same spot — Emma watching from her high chair as I prepare d her breakfast. We were talking — she’s especially chatty in the mornings — and she pointed to that gallon container and said, “Mamma’s tea!”

Wow. I had said it only once the night before. Then she had her bath, went to sleep, dreamed about Elmo, woke up, hollered for “Mamma! Josh!” as she has become accustomed to, had a cup of milk and watched Choo Choo Train on DVD. After all that, she remembered that the container of dark brown liquid on the counter was “Mamma’s tea.”

By the way, I seem to have lost my name as “Dada,” or “Daddy.” I’m now almost universially referred to by Emma as “Josh.”

Let’s hope it’s just a phase.

As cute as the tea thing was, there’s another Emma saying that will perhaps continue on as Emma lore for a long, long time. It all started about six weeks ago in the children’s section of Target. Emma wasn’t happy. In fact, she was rather upset.

To be honest, she was having a full-on meltdown. Over what, no one knows. But she was sobbing and collapsing and screaming. There was nothing Ashley could do. After running through a quick series of questions trying to determine what it was that was bothering Emma, Ashley simply asked her, “Do you want me to hold you?”

“Yeeeeeeeeeees,” Emma cried. “Hooooooood chu! Hoooooooooooold chu!”

Ever since, any time Emma wants to be held, she walks up to you, frowns a bit, holds her arms in the air and says, “Hold you? Hold you? Hold you?”

I pick her up and say, “You mean ‘hold me. Hold me.’”

“Hold me!” she says with a huge smile (showing a near-full set of teeth!). But you can put her down and 30 seconds later, she’s back at your leg, hands held high in the air, asking, “Hold you???”

Lots of new photos… October 7, 2009

I know, I know…. We never post anything anymore. Admittedly, we’ve (read: I) not been as diligent in posting here as we had been over the first year of Emma’s life. We’ll try to do better, I promise.

In the mean time, check out these awesome photos of our little girl (who’s getting so freakin’ big!!!)

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS

The evolution of Emma… August 31, 2009

At some point in the last few months, Emma ceased being a baby. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when she morphed into a little kid, probably because the evolution happens on a daily basis and it’s hard to see the shift at any given moment. But when you step back and take a grander look at it, the change is amazing. 

This morning, Ashley and I went into the back bedroom, which is currently our “office/guestroom,” and Little Miss Emma had seated herself up on the office chair and was pounding away on the computer keyboard. 

Yesterday, we caught her climbing up a ladder. She was full-on standing on it — feet on the first rung, hands clasping the second, a huge smile on her face. She had conquered the world!!! And in her new running shoes, to boot.

 The ultimate indicator that your baby is no longer a baby and has progressed to toddlerhood is the proliferation of her use of the word “no.” Sometimes, it even comes with a vigorous shake of the head. “Noooooooooooo!” comes simultaneously as red locks look like they’re being twisted by the spin cycle.

 It’s absolutely amazing to watch our daughter grow. Her vocabulary is astonishing and her knowledge about how things work is startling.

 A few days ago, Momma had left for work and Emma and I both needed to get dressed so she could go to school and I could go to the gym. We were sitting on the floor in her room; I’d gotten her clothes out and put them next to me.

 “Emma, are you ready to get dressed?” I asked.

 Then came the brisk shake of the head and the extended “Noooooo!”

 “Well,” I said, “you need to get dressed, and I need to get dressed. Do you want to get dressed first?”

 “Nooooooooo!”

 “Do you want daddy to get dressed first?”

 She nodded and smiled. So I left her to play in her room and went to get dressed. A few minutes later, I was tying my shoes when Emma came in and plopped down on the rug at the foot of the bed. Clad only in her diaper, Emma brought with her the shirt and shorts I’d picked out for her, a pair of socks and her shoes.

 I was flabbergasted. Emma knew everything she needed to get dressed. It wasn’t like all that stuff was in a bag or placed in a neat little pile. She had to collect it all from various areas of her room. I think that’s pretty damn amazing for a 19-month-old child.

 Last night, she had her own enchilada plate at dinner.

 Today, Emma pointed out a bus. We’d arrived at school, and I’d taken Emma out of her car seat. She was looking off in the distance and exclaimed “BUS!” I looked up, and sure enough, about a football field away, a bus was rolling down the road.

 She likes to point out stop signs, and she knows that a red light means “stop,” too.

 She knows that when a phone rings, there’s someone ready to speak out of that little plastic brick. She also knows that when people are coming toward her, she says “hi,” and when they’re walking away, she says “bye.”

 She’s begun stringing words together, too. She knows that Honey goes with Papaw and Mommy goes with Daddy. She knows “No no, doggies. No, no!” There’s “A-B-C,” or, a better representation of her vernacular: “A-B-SEES!”

 Emma never ceases to amaze us, and though she’s only 19 months old, she’s growing up too fast!

Photos by Honey… June 28, 2009

The Wonderful Little Emma (who’s not so little anymore) and Mamma Ashley spent the last five days visiting Honey and Papaw in Marshall. Here are a few photos Honey snapped of Emma. They’re AWESOME!!! (Just click on a picture below to enlarge.)

Fever: One-oh-four — YIKES! — and what’s to come… June 20, 2009

A few nights ago, Emma raised her fist in anger and took a swing at Momma. On a side note, can you blame her? Think about how frustrating it must be to understand what someone is saying but be unable to articulate a response. We talk to Emma, and she knows what we’re saying — at times, it may be something she doesn’t want to hear — but she can’t vocalize her thoughts. It’d make me take a swing, too.

So, Ashley got onto Amazon and ordered three books about how to handle a child who wants to hit? And who can blame her? It’s not like ignoring our boxer daughter will make her punches go away.

So back to the story… Ashley ordered the books and then when she got the confirmation e-mail, she realized the order had been shipped to her old house in Austin. We called Amazon and UPS hoping one of them could help. But since the package had already shipped, neither could do anything.

We tried to find the current resident but discovered that the house had been torn down, rebuilt and was currently on the market — and vacant. Ashley tracked down the Realtor and arranged to make sure the package would remain on the porch until we could go retreive it. We made plans to go up Saturday morning (the order was delivered on Thursday night), grab the booty and see some friends who were headed down from Dallas. Well, they have a 10-month-old baby and Emma had awoken early Saturday with a 100-degree fever, which we figured was the result of her teething (at least three molars are beginning to poke through her gums). We didn’t want to risk it with Erin, but we still needed to retrieve the books from the old house.

When we got there, nothing. Ashley looked all around the porch, but there wasn’t a box anywhere. Then she looked in the window.

Sitting on the dining room table, no more than three feet from the window, was the box with $40 worth of books inside. Someone — probably a potential buyer’s agent — thought it’d be nice to take the box inside, where it wouldn’t be stolen. IT WASN’T (nice, that is).

We got to grab lunch at one of our favorite Austin eateries, Curra’s, but we knew something was wrong when Emma wouldn’t eat her  black beans or rice — some of her favorite food… We went from there over to Jo’s to meet our friends from Dallas. It was really nice seeing them and their new daughter, but soon after arriving, Ashley took Emma’s temperature, which had quickly spiked to 104. It was time to go — pronto.

About an hour later, we were back at home and Emma’s spirits had picked up a bit. She drank a bottle of milk and Ashley got her to take a bit of a nap. But she’s still running a fever. Hopefully, this one will run its course quicker than the others have.

I’ve got some new photos to post. I’ll try to get them up this weekend. We’ve got pics of Emma’s first trip to the pool this year, some from her Mommy and Me swim classes and also photos from her very first haircut. Check back soon to see them!

Videos Galore June 6, 2009

It’s VIDEOS GALORE at The Life of Emma today.

We’ve got EMMA DANCING HERE.

We’ve got EMMA TELLING A GREAT STORY HERE.

And we’ve got a hillarious short of EMMA PLAYING IN THE CLOSET HERE.

Enjoy!

Bubbles: The Video… June 5, 2009

Here’s a video of Emma playing with the bubble machine Honey and Papaw gave her. She really does love bubbles. I didn’t do a lot of editing on this, so there’s a lot of footage — about 4.5 minutes worth. Ashley said I had to put that diclaimer in there!

Click HERE to see the video. More to come, soon.

Don’t know what it is… May 23, 2009

Really, we don’t know what it is… Granted, we haven’t had any deep discussions about this or talked to other parents about what drives it (though some of my friends with children have independently said it). But, what’s with little kids and the Beach Boys?

Emma’s absolute favorite song is Barbara Ann. Hands down, no questions asked. When she sees a boom box on the ground, she points to it and says, “Baba Baba Baba!”

When an iPod fleetingly appears from my messenger bag and then disappears again, Emma instantly starts digging to find the device that will soon satisfy that Barbara Ann craving.

Or she’ll walk into the bedroom and stand before the dresser, atop of which sits an iPod dock, and nearly jump up and down as if her kinetic energy itself will bring on the tunes.

But what is it about the Beach Boys and kids? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Beach Boys — and I did as a kid. I’ll never forget it. The first concert I truly remember going to was the Beach Boys. The show was during the day at the Harry and Joe Freeman Coliseum — outside on the parking lot. On the parking lot, really??? Yes. They’d covered the lot several inches deep in sand, and swimsuit-clad concert goers watched the show from the beach towels.

When the ‘Boys played Be True To Your School, the Alamo Heights cheerleading squad came out and performed.

The Beach Boys albums were also the soundtracks of my childhood summers. We’d all pile into the family minivan and fly down the highway for a week in paradise — South Padre Island.

I guess it was actually also the soundtrack for our winter trips to SPI. I remember “twist” contests at the beach with the Specias — led by my dad. The kid who could twist the longest would get $1. SCORE!

I haven’t talked specifically about this with my dad, but I believe he was a big Beach Boys fan when he was a kid, too — they formed in 1961, when my dad was 10. That means Brian Wilson, his brothers, their cousin, Mike Love, and the rest have helped put a groove into three generations of Baughs.

So, I’ll leave you with this: A ba ba ba, Barbara Ann/ Ba Ba Ba, Ba Barbara Ann/ Barbara Ann, take my hand, Barbara Ann/ You’ve got me rockin’ and a’rollin’/ Rockin’ and a’reelin’ Barbara Ann!

Fiesta’s Pooch Parade May 16, 2009

Every year, there’s a HUGE event in San Antonio called Fiesta. It’s a week of parties, parades and general celebration. It’s citywide and schools and businesses close down on the Friday of Battle of Flowers. I guess some people would say it’s San Antonio’s version of Mardi Gras or Carnival.

This year, we didn’t do much at all because we were in the midst of moving into our house and doing projects on it. But we did slip away for a morning to go see the Pooch Parade with Honey and Papaw. Here are some photos shot by Papaw, a.k.a Mark Bice.