A Momma on a Mission: That Thing You Do

A day in the life of a 20 month old. Scratch that---an almost 21 month old. Ohhh to be that carefree and amazed at something as simple as lint on the carpet again! (Speaking of which, Emersyn is growing up in the perfect home, because I have plenty of lint.....among other things.....throughout the house). She probably feels she hits the lottery on every day off we have together! You see, her daycare lady, Kathy, is an extreme neat freak. In no way, shape, or form would you walk through her very organized home and guess she runs a daycare out of her house 5 days a week! You would never guess that her home is a specialty daycare at that, and only keeps children up to age 3. It's immaculate in every sense of the way. I am thankful for Kathy's germophobia, as Emersyn has only "gotten sick from daycare" just one time that I remember. Kathy is every mother's dream!

Kathy's influence is certainly carrying over into our house. One of Emersyn's favorite things to do is teach her momma how to clean! She will take her wipes out of the package and wipe down anything, and everything, in sight. I asked Kathy if she noticed that at daycare too, and would you believe that is a form of entertainment there? She said the girls love to take clean damp washcloths and clean stuff off. Well, I am living proof that that habit doesn't come natrually, so I am pretty sure they see Kathy keeping everything clean as they are messing it all up. Where else would Emersyn learn that? Certainly not from me! Now, poor Emersyn has her work cut out for her mommy as her student. Housework and I just don't really click. I mean, it's there and it will always be there, but it really isn't one of my priorities. And I'm okay with that. My "baby" is growing up ENTIRELY too fast where I don't allow myself to feel guilty for letting the housework go while we are home. Housework (and I use that term lightly) happens only while Emersyn is asleep. Like right now. The sinks are bleaching. HAHA!

My little almost-21-month-old housekeeper keeps me entertained all day long and I am amazed at how much she has learned, especially in the last month or so. WOW! Today we walked out to get in the car. I opened the garage door and she said "SNOW!" like it was national news. Well I guess in some parts, the weather is national news today. It is cold here, but only light snow. Not really a big deal in my North Dakota-grown mind.

I took Emersyn in this morning for pictures. Remember how I told you how SLOW I have been at everything lately? Well, Christmas pictures are no exception! Thank Goodness for my mom buying Emersyn's fancy Christmas dress or we wouldn't of even had that this year. It was so adorable on her, and I had one more photo shoot to use in this package I bought way back when she was 3 weeks old and we finally finished it today! (Side note: the intentions of the package were to have it finished by 12 months). I have not lacked in having professional photos of the child taken, it's just that this place scares me because it is sooo stinkin' expensive. I fall in LOVE with the photos they take of her and learned from the past that I am, um....vulnerable. "An easy sell" as Travis calls me. So I learned to have her pictures taken at other less-expensive places prior to going in for these scheduled photo shoots as part of this package. Today was the day, and yes she wore that stinking adorable fancy Christmas dress from my mom. The setup was perfect, the time of day was perfect for her. What could go wrong?

Apparently, plenty! I think we got a lot of pictures of big fat crocodile tears. I do have to say, that little scrunched up crying quivering lip is quite cute, but I would of rather she gave me her big "cheee" grins! We did get some good ones, however. I will see them next Friday. I was just really hoping for a nice, posed, smiling photo of my little Christmas Cutie in her dress. I will settle for a Christmas Cutie with a half grin in her dress, I suppose!

I have been thoroughly enjoying working 3 days a week! I am very spoiled and living a lot of people's DREAM! Not many "newer" nurses get the opportunity to work in the clinic, period, yet alone work 3 days per week in the clinic. Now granted none of this would be happening at all if I were childless. Emersyn got me from the hospital to the clinic in the first place, and school got me the reduced hours (ahem...along with a nice big ol' student loan to compensate...ugh!). So, my jobs right now are first and foremost---fulltime mommy, wife, nurse, and student. I just LOVE staying home on those special days with Emersyn, but I have realized I am just not born to be a full-time stay at home mom. I need that interaction with adults and the mind stimulation that ensues. Career and goal-achieving is important to me and we hope to pass that on to Emersyn. In the meantime, she loves going to Kathy's, and, well......cleaning. And playing I suppose! :)

Tuesday on our day off, there was certainly a mess she could have had a heyday cleaning up! I made a big ol' tub of vanilla pudding and took a spatula and spread it out all over her highchair tray. I mean, it filled it right up to the top!

Now, Emersyn, being the dainty little housekeeper that she is, didn't particularly go crazy with this, as many toddlers would! We drew letters in the pudding (okay, I drew letters while she watched) and sang the ABC's. Then I just gave her a spoon and she ate her snack in an unrefined way...but she loved it!

Today, after her photo shoot, we came home and played in her toyroom. She sure loves all her Christmas gifts! She made us "lunch" in her kitchen.

Nothing comes free these days:

And apparently, she likes to leave her kitchen like I leave mine when I'm done cooking. Except mine, unfortunately, doesn't have money in the sink!

She had a blast in her new car that plays music. She would get in and out and say "byeeee!" each and every time. Then she'd sit in it and go "beep beep!" and honk the horn (which plays the music). This picture is perfect!

She also has morphed into quite the Mother Hen! She got a baby for Christmas from her Grandparents. It interacts as you play with her and comes with her own stroller, diaper bag, bottles, binky, and crib. Quite impressive if I say so myself! Emersyn likes to take her "baby" (we don't have her named yet) for stroller rides. Then when the baby cries, Emersyn is usually done with her or else takes her out of the stroller by her neck and throws her down. We have to have a little lesson in Baby 101 someday. Emersyn also gets pretty upset when her own binky doesn't fit in the baby's mouth. Baby has her own special binky and Emersyn hasn't wrapped around that concept yet. In the meantime, I encourage strolling so as to avoid any cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome.