We have officially survived three years of parenthood! I'm extremely grateful for this spunky, loud, hilarious, talkative, Moana and Mickey obsessed three year old we have in our lives! Emma has never been big on cuddling, snuggling, or hugging... so if she happens to give you a hug, take that as a BIG compliment! Now that she's gotten a little older I've noticed she likes to lay down and spend more quality time with us which I looove. Even though she's not really a cuddler, she's quite the social bug and makes a friend wherever we go. She thrives the most when we're out and about, which has been extremely hard this winter because we've been sick so dang much.
One of my favorite moments this year was when I had just bought some new workout underwear at the end of January. William just learned to walk the same week Emma decided to be potty trained. One day she saw my underwear that was still in its package, took off her diaper and has been diaper free ever since!! I wasn't ready at all for her to be potty trained since we had such a
rough experience last summer... people ALWAYS told me to wait until she was ready, but how was I supposed to know when that was?! Now I understand ;) What has been the hardest for me during this whole new phase of having a kid that is potty trained, is her waking up in the middle of the night needing to go potty half asleep and just hysterical. I'm half asleep as well, and she's always in tears and never makes any sense. I just try to help her go potty as fast as possible and by the time she's done she is basically screaming at the top of her lungs and crying. Let's just say I really look forward to the day when she can hold it through the night! Although I am grateful she doesn't have accidents at night anymore.
Emma has been talking more and more every day. One of my favorite parts of the day with her right now is praying. Joel will pray in Swedish first and she tries to repeat after him, and then she repeats after me in English. Hearing her sweet little voice pray is definitely one of the highlights of my day! Emma has also been a lot more in tune with feelings. We will watch Moana and she turns to me and says, "Mama, Moana sad..." and she pulls such a sad face like she is starting to feel sad because Moana is sad.
Some traits that describe Emma: she is silly, playful, spirited, lighthearted, and lively. I have a lot of people tell me how happy she is, and I am so proud to say that she really is this happy little girl majority of the time. Sure, she has her moments because she's still little and learning to communicate better but for the most part, she really is funny and goofy. She's definitely more silly whereas compared to William he is more observant and thoughtful. Maybe that's a first and second child thing?... I wouldn't know any different I guess haha!
I have loved talking with Emma more and trying to figure out what is going on in that little brain of hers. I also love having better conversations with her and hearing what she has to say. Listening to her random thoughts of things that she learns and takes in has been interesting. We watched Daniel the Tiger a month or so ago, and she still sings one song from the episode, "I like you... I like you... I like you just. the way. you are."
Emma's favorite thing to do right now is open my phone and call people on facetime. She loves calling people who have a picture next to their name so she knows who she is calling!!! It kills me! Especially when I randomly hear my phone ringing and I think, "Oh dear, who is she calling this time??" Her other favorite things are getting her nails painted and sparkle eyeshadow. Yep, definitely my child. When I'm getting ready in the morning I put a teeeny bit of sparkly eyeshadow on her and she LOVES it.
