Green thumb

We were able to get home a little early on Friday and spend some time outside. Our little landscaper dove right into helping daddy with the grass...

...and then she discovered the hose.

I think she's definitely going to enjoy water toys this summer!

A-planes!

Today we went to the Joint Services Open House at Andrews Air Force Base with the Vaughans. Emilia and Nathan were so excited to see all of the planes and helicopters up close (that is, after they got over the initial euphoria of simply riding on a school bus from the parking area to the show).

They got to go on some planes...
And even try their hands at flying one (passengers, buckle your seat belts)!The only rough patch in the day was the flyover routine of some of the fancy military planes (sorry, I don't know them by name, but think Top Gun). None of the kids, including 11-day-old Andrew, were fans of that. But, we recovered and it was a great day in all!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

And this one says it all! It's true -- we are thrilled to be expecting our second child! And earlier this week, we got the exciting news that we’ll be adding another girl to our family. Though our doctor wasn't 100% positive on the gender, the baby looks like she's developing on track for an early October arrival. We'll start taking contributions to the wedding fund soon.

We are so excited to be giving Emilia a little sister close to her age, but she's not all that convinced. When we had asked her whether she wanted a brother or a sister, her response to both was "no - doggie!" Though I felt sick as a dog the first three months, I'm pretty sure there's a baby in there and not a puppy.

While we won’t be sharing our name selection until after the baby arrives, we invite you to comment below and offer your best suggestions. Since the only names we could get from Emilia so far have been “Applesauce” and “Santa Claus,” we need all the help we can get!

A perfect day

Sunday, Mother’s Day, was gorgeous. After church we took a spontaneous trip down to Historic Occoquan with the Hills. We had a picnic lunch by the river and then Wendy and I browsed the shops. We didn’t have the camera with us, but I got this shot from my cell of Emilia and Clara looking out at the ducks in the water. They looked so cute in their dresses and hats. It was a very fun and special weekend!

E-I-E-I-O

Last weekend, after Emilia’s best gymnastics class yet, we went to Spring Farm Day at Frying Park Farm Park. Here is Emilia getting lathered up with sunscreen in the parking lot.

She saw some animals...

She played some games...

She got her face painted...

She saw a sheep getting a haircut and then had a bracelet made with the sheep’s wool...

She also milked a goat and a cow! She didn’t love that, of course, since she hates having her hands dirty at all. This is Emilia in the corn box just six months ago at the Fall Farm Day… And here she was last week… (I wonder who is torturing her with that corn?) After a great visit at the farm (it never disappoints), we met up for lunch with Uncle Corey, who had just won his age group in a 5K race!

Stall tactic

We’ve been encouraging Emilia to tell us when she needs to go potty. I'm afraid that she's now learned that if she does this, it's a way to delay bedtime. She normally looks forward to "nigh, nigh," but one night recently I guess she just hadn't gotten all of her energy out of her system. She conned Eric into getting her out of bed to try the potty. The end result: nothing actually in the potty, but a new medley of her favorite tunes. Viewer discretion advised – our little multitasker is less than fully dressed as she belts out these classics.

My personal favorite is “BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP SHESH SHUR, SHESH SHUR”

Long-lost friend

Emilia has been missing one of her best daycare buds, Kaitlyn. When they were babies, they used to hold each other’s hands in the swings. Kaitlyn, who was born the day after Emilia, became a big sister last month. Her mom (also named Erin) decided to stay home for a year, so Kaitlyn hasn’t been back to daycare since. Erin and I scheduled a playdate for the girls a few weeks ago. They picked up right where they left off and had a great time at the Dulles Town Center play area and on the choo choo!

Lions and tigers and bears... oh my!

A few weeks ago, we had a great day with Corey and Gillian. We started at Surfside Grill in Glover Park for lunch and then made our way to the National Zoo. It was pretty crowded and very HOT -- about 92 degrees -- but we had a great time. Emilia got to see so many of her favorite furry friends -- elephants, hippos, lions, bears, gorillas, tigers, zebras and more.

We had to make sure she was staying cool despite the heat.

She was out before we even got out of the parking lot and slept for a good three hours. I'd say that was a very successful trip.

Emilia’s development digest: 21 1/2 months

This is our 100th post!


I started this posting when Emilia turned 19 months, so you can consider this a wrap-up of what Emilia has been up to in the last couple of months now that she is nearly 22 months old. Our little girl is developing more and more every day. She is turning into an imaginative, stubborn and pretty funny little toddler.

• She has found her identity: She went from calling herself "Ya Ya" to"Mia." She's also getting much better identifying other people by name: Gamma, Gappa, Gammy, Poppy (although she goes back and forth and also calls both grandmothers Momma), Corey=Koorie, Melissa=Masia, Bob=Bob (she is excellent at this one), and Kyle, Owen and Henry are surprisingly close. She's also getting better at friends’ names. She asks to pray for Nay Nay and Cara (Clara) every night and constantly talks about her friends from daycare.
• She is making a lot of progress with her compound and possessive phrases: "Hi, daddy, how you?", "daddy's chair," "mommy's purse," "daddy tired," "Mia read the books," and "aw mon u mommy" (I love you mommy). Unfortunately, sometimes we hear things like, "Mia hold it," or "Mia want that."
• She has a memory that won't quit. About a month ago we saw a tree being cut down in the backyard next to daycare. She sees the remnants everyday and reminds me that the "tree" went "boom."
• She loves to sing Old MacDonald, although the farmer almost always has a “bok” (she means chicken, but it's always "bok"). Her favorite song, though, is Happy Birthday, although it goes something like this, "Happy day day you you, happy day day you you, happy day day Nay Nay, happy day day you you – yeah!" (claps hands).
• Physically, she is more active than ever. I think gymnastics class has helped with this. She spins in a circle, bounces, attempts to jump and her walk has turned into more of a jog. She loves to hold our hands and walk ("walka walka walka"); it's getting harder to keep her restrained in a stroller.
• She can’t stand for her hands to be dirty, although she still prefers her hands as the best eating utensils.
• She is obsessed with pictures and can’t walk by the computer without her wanting to look at digital photos or watch a home video.
• Our favorite car ride activities are playing Simon Says and spotting buses, trucks, fire engines and ambulances.
• She can spot or hear an airplane or doggie a mile away.
• She insists on carrying her "purse" to daycare, which is really just her lunch bag.
• She has her favorite books and asks for them by name "moon," (Goodnight Moon), "gilla," (Goodnight Gorilla), "doggies," (the Spot books), and "Jesus," (Jesus Loves Me or her children's bible, among others.
• She likes to play show and tell with her food, making sure I know everything she’s eating: “meat,” “carrot,” “potatoes,” “rice,” “cous cous,” “patta” (pasta), “ornj” (orange), "dawbies" (berries), etc.
• She can repeat colors when you name them, but if you ask her what color something is it’s either “pick” (pink), “lello” (yellow) or red.
• Her conversational skills are still a little limited. If she doesn’t know the answer, she always replies with “yeah”:
  “Emilia, did you eat lobster for lunch?” Yeah.
  “Emilia, are we riding in a rocket ship?” Yeah.
• She knows when to perform. She imitates us when we ask a silly question by responding, "noooooo." She does this happy scream and then quickly puts her finger to her lips and says "ssshhh." And, our favorite, if someone is laughing, she says "yoke" (joke), laughs hysterically and then says "Megan." Apparently, to Emilia, Megan equates to hilarious!

Late afternoon at the lake

It seems like summer arrived in full force a few weeks ago. One Saturday afternoon, after Emilia's nap and before dinner, we went over to Lake Fairfax to wander around. We did some walking on the dock and some off-roading around the lake. Since Eric discovered the fishing potential there, I am sure we'll be back throughout the summer.