Muah!

Emma loves playing on the mall play structures for kids. She even knows that when we go to the Seatac Target, she points to the direction of this structure. It's a welcome rest for mommy to watch Emma use up some of her boundless energy. Emma LOVES watching herself do the kissy in this first video!

BIG Icecream

We all went to Salty's on Redondo Beach for OB Ngoai's anniversary dinner!
Happy Anniversary, OB Ngoai!!

Emma got a kidsmeal, which included icecream as dessert. Emma's icecream was huge!!

Here's a video of Emma in action!

Beach!

Over the July 4th weekend, we went to Ocean Shores with OB Ngoai. Got Emma a little pail & shovel (overpriced!) and Emma got to play in the sand.

Emma & her stroller

To prepare Emma for her Big Sister role, I got her a little doll stroller. She loves this thing. She puts her doll in it, and says 'beo (seat belt)'. The first night, she made like 50 rounds around the house with it. She would lean down, and check to see if the 'baby' was sleeping, and make shushing sounds. I also taught her 'stop' and 'go'.

Posing with the stroller:

The Dentist

Emma had her first dentist appointment! Emma's dentist was my old childhood dentist - Dr. O'Brien*. To Emma, any place that has little offices and a waiting room with toys means its similar to the doctor's office where she gets shots. So, I knew Emma would NOT like this place. We got to the little room. Here is Emma's pre-dentist picture (yes, I dressed her up for the appointment):

Here is Emma after seeing the nurse, and the nurse put her in a a chokehold to show me how I should be brushing Emma's teeth (big dewy teary eyes):

Here is Emma showing that she CAN brush her teeth:

And lastly...here is Emma after being held by me in the scary dentist chair, and having the dentist prod her mouth:

They had a polaroid camera in the office, to take the official "first dentist picture". Emma was crying so much that they said they'd wait until her appointment next year in Jan/Feb to take the 'first dentist picture'. Apparently, they have a picture board of smiling dentist patients, and Emma crying wouldn't fit in.

*note: Dr. O'brien inspired Unco Van to be a dentist! :)

HAP-PY

an older story.. but a funny one!!

My husband gave Emma an icecream cone and a little scoop of cherry chocolate chip icecream. She stood in the kitchen, just munching away and picking at the little chocolate chunks. When we looked down at her, she had chocolate chunks on her face, sticky face, a scrunched up cone in her left hand (with icecream melting through her fingers). She looked up at us and said blissfully, " HAP-PEEEEEEEE!!!" She was 21 months at the time! This was the first time that she said a word to express an emotion!! We hadn't even taught her this word!

* eating icecream on the bed with daddy in NY.

Picture People

If you know Emma, you know she does NOT do well with professional pictures.
Exhibit A: The Santa Picture:

So, armed with a free pose from picture people, I KNEW Emma would be crying for those pictures. We got there 20 minutes ahead of our appt. and she cried. She cried for like 1/2 an hour! Finally - we got some smiling pictures out of here - each of the images she'd smile, and then she'd run back to me, sitting 1 foot away. Hence, a lot of the pics are close-ups!

I picked the first picture below, because I thought it was the prettiest (and best for giving to grandparents and aunts and uncles). The piano one was very cute, the demure one is sweet, but the cheesy picture is VERY EMMA. We might get some prints - that's probably how picture people make their money- each and every picture of the precious baby is worth a print, right?? Good thing I'm into slickdeals! (thanks, Ee-ba, for the coupon link!)