Back to School

This morning Todd and I both went to drop off Emma at school this morning.  She's got the hang of the lunch box so she proudly toted her goodies into the school.

Emma's First Day of School

Today Emma had her first day of day care, but we're calling it school.  We scoured the supermarket and from the limited lunch box items found one that she loves, but is nearly as big as she is.  We got her all packed up and ready to go and she even carried her own lunch (after she rode the lunch box for a bit).

Shuley Cup Weekend 2012

Emma snuggles down for the night with Norbert and Lamby after watching Todd win his first game.  

We had an exciting, but exhausting weekend!  We participated in the Shuley Cup for the 4th year in a row.  Todd played for the Platypus Avengers and Emma and I cheered him on.

Since ice skating rinks are generally chilly we all had our cold weather gear including Emma's spiffy new pink snow suit.  Here we watch the two teams that Todd and his siblings weren't on before the Parkin vs. Parkin game.

It was a fun time and Emma enjoyed spending time with her Auntie Mia.  We watched the hockey for a bit, then Emma ran around the rink for a bit.

Emma was very curious about everything and a little serious as she caught sight of some other little kids in the rink.  This was also as Emma was winding down towards her mid-morning nap, but she didn't want to give in until she finally toppled over and skinned a tiny patch on her nose on the rubber mats.  The snowsuit provided plenty of padding except for the face and she was too tired to quite break her own fall.  

A couple of hours and a brief nap later Emma got to have a little trip out on the ice after the Parkin siblings had their game.  Todd zipped around in little circles which Emma really enjoyed.

Emma gives the happy victor a wide-eyed look, or maybe she is still fascinated by the zamboni.

Hooray Todd!

After the games we regrouped in the warm part of the rink for a bit and Emma explored my purse for a bit.  She gets so quiet when she's got an exciting bag to go through.

Emma skipped right over the uninteresting contents of the big bag such as knitting and spare clothes and got straight to the good stuff in the high value bag.

After a false start with an only moderately interesting receipt Emma got down to the good stuff and fished around until she came up with something more valuable.

She got a winner when she came up with a wad of cash.  Jackpot!  Several people tried to talk her out of her booty, but she wasn't convinced.

Next up we went for food to to fortify the hungry players.  Emma decided that the counter was a handy place to lie down for a bit.

And that was just a prelude to her real nap later that afternoon.  There was so much going on and so many people that Emma wanted to play with that she resisted her naps as long as she could.

When she was finally overcome by exhaustion she completely passed out.  But she was warm and cuddly to snuggle up with in the stands.

Now that was a very, very tired baby!

After a day of watching two hockey games plus playing two games, Todd had a healthy appetite.  Emma convinced Todd to share some of a tasty sandwich he got at a place that was open nice and late.

On day three Emma actually got her teeny tiny skates on and got to go out on the ice.  Complete with tiny hockey stick and her furry hood she was ready to go.  Once she got her hands on the stick she hung on to it firmly.

Check out the adorable little hockey skates!

Todd got her steadied on the ice and Emma got to play around for a little bit.  She wasn't about to let go of the stick, but she was happy to get a little help from dad.

Emma was pretty happy about being on the ice overall.  She's hiding a grin behind her stick in this picture with Scott.

And also here with Melissa.

There's a big smile!

Happy hockey family

Happily Todd's team ended up winning in a very close final match. Here they are posing with the giant check they won for charity.

The winners

Asphalt Screams

Emma takes swimming lessons at Asphalt Green and they throw a Halloween party that got rescheduled because of the storm.  Since Emma had her costume all picked out we headed over.

I didn't realize that she'd be one of the smaller peanuts there, but we got there right when it opened so Emma got to give the gymnastics equipment a try while it was fairly empty.

Turns out that she's a natural tumblebug!  She climbed right up on the different blocks and through the obstacles.

She even went through the tunnel made from a colorful parachute.

There were some activities outside, but they were mostly for bigger kids and it became obvious just how tiny Emma was compared to most of the other kids.

Emma got a goody bag that she enjoyed looking though and somehow got a handful of my business cards and became absorbed in getting them into the bag.

It was a little chilly so we went back inside where Emma discovered a tootsie pop and became completely absorbed in that.

In the 80's there used to be a commercial about tootsie pops and it turns out that Emma couldn't resist crunching up the tootsie pop either.

Re-energized by her snack Emma did another circuit of the gymnastics equipment and I got a shot of one of her favorites: the balance beam.  The nice lady in fancy dress encouraged us to try it and held Emma's hand on one side while Todd or I held her other hand.

If we didn't catch her after she got off that big red box she'd try to run around to the beam and climb onto it in the middle.

I'm glad we were able to go despite the storm and it looks like maybe we should add some gymnastics to the swimming classes!

Iron Chef Here I Come!

Welcome to Iron Chef. Our mystery ingredient today is bananas. That has proven a tricky start for Chef Emmeline, because she needs to make the tough decision of whether to eat all banana or put it in the bowl like she's supposed to.  

"If they make me eat one more banana I'm going to burst."

Here is Chef Emma saluting the bananas before sending them to their bowl.

The chunks got a lot more evenly sized once Todd started helping.

Tea Time

First-Cousin-Once-Removed Aubrey (we just call her Aunt Aubrey for short) gave Emma one of her favorite toys for her first birthday. Emma plays with her teapot all the time and frequently brings us cups of tea to drink or else feeds the cupcakes to a little pink doll that's always smiling. 

"Don't be frightened by how happy this teapot makes me sometimes."

Oh no! Cupcake down!

This technique would not work in real life.

Rings on Her Toes

Kids do the funniest things.  I know that is a cliche but it is really true.  Although kids begin to be influenced by everything from cultural and gender specific norms to music and language as soon as they are born, there are still lots of surprises.  When babies first discover their toes they don't realize that there is any reason that they shouldn't be as versatile as their fingers.  So when my mom let Emma play with her rings, and she realized that they were much too big for her fingers, she wanted her socks to come off so she could put them on her toes.

A much better fit!

And a source of endless fascination.

And excitement.