Gardening, etc.

I planted a garden this year! Everything is in, finally, and fenced, although I need to get some stakes to replace the sticks that are currently employed. I planted lettuce, spinach, arugula, green beans, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and green peppers - of course. And one hot pepper plant, which was Travis's selection. I'm hoping that Emily will enjoy watching these things grow in the garden, and then not be so adverse to eating them. As you can see by the pictures that show dirt stuck between her teeth, she is still willing to put anything in her mouth, as long as I don't waste my time cleaning, cooking, and seasoning it. Perhaps green beans off the vine will be more palatable to her?

Emily has been incredibly charming lately. The last few days that I've picked her up from daycare, Amanda has had fun stories about what she did and how impressed she is with how she listens and follows directions, can say 2-word phrases, eats well, and has such a good time. I am so proud of my little girl!! It baffles me that she insists on climbing the stairs here when I'm not looking, and I can't seem to get through to her how dangerous that is. She even fell down a couple of stairs today, and although she was not hurt, she was really scared and I thought that might do something... nope. She was back up there 20 minutes later. Brave, I guess.

And a chowhound - wow. She ate an entire sloppy joe tonight and a decent-sized pile of mashed potatoes. She even drank out of her cup without the sippy lid on it, which she's done before but not with such an opinion about it. She's growing up so fast!! On the one hand, I want her to stay like this forever, but then again, I can't wait until her vocabulary expands just enough to make things easier. And, I'd love it if she could understand concepts like "not now, but yes later," or my explanation of why I can't hold her suspended over the drinking fountain for the entire trip to the library. But that'll come, and then I'll miss her simple innocence.

The baby is starting to make his/her physical presence known. I can feel the bump when I lay on the floor now, and it won't be that many more weeks before I might feel a flutter of activity! Exciting! Fun to think I'm starting in on this again, although I must say that I do enjoy having my sleep to myself. Okay, I still get up once a night to pee, but that's not really that big of a deal to me. I can't think of the last time that Emily was up in the night - it's been so long! She's such a good sleeper, and she's even told US that it's bedtime and she wanted to go upstairs to go to sleep!! Crazy! I didn't tell my mom that - she wouldn't believe me that a kid would actually do that, since hers never did. Guilty! :)