Pajama Day

Today was pajama day at Ethan's school. Emmett and I joined him this morning for stories, movies, popcorn, fruit snacks, and juice. Emmett enjoyed hanging out at school. Instead of watching the movies, though, he chose some works to do. Ethan was little mellow, because he has a runny nose and didn't get enough sleep last night.

More Pie Please

A couple weeks ago we went into town to get some supper. The restaurant had terrible service and we had to wait and wait for our poor quality food. The boys both had some pie coming with their meal and were running back and forth in anticipation of their pie. Finally the pie arrived on the table. As Ethan was eating his "pie" (a sad helping of pudding with some whipped topping plopped on top and a chunk of candy inside), he looked up at us and said a bit irritated, "When is our pie coming?" I guess it didn't quite measure up to the pie he gets at Grandma Treu's house.

Dum Dums

(again, already posted on Facebook, but reposted here for those without Facebook).

Emmett has always called the color Red "cherry", which we always thought was very cute. Shortly after this, he started calling Brown "chocolate." I just thought it was funny how he associated colors with food. Well, today I realized what food in particular he was associating colors with: Dum Dum suckers. This revelation came when he pointed to 2 blue things and said they were the same color. I said, "What color is that, Emmett?" He said, "Cotton Candy". Ahh, the Dum Dum suckers from the bank.

Now, the color yellow, though is Bumble Bee ... like the Transformer.

Smaller and Smaller

(I already posted this on Facebook, but the grandmas don't access that, so here it is for you guys).

When we built our house Ethan was just shy of 1 year and I was in my 1st trimester with Emmett. We were still all-consumed with diapers and sleeping habits with no thoughts of potty training. When it came time to pick out toilets and sinks we decided on the higher variety. Later, we realized a high sink may not be wise with children, so we changed the main bathroom to a normal-sized sink. Again, thoughts of kids using potties were far from our thought processes, so all original toilet choices stayed the same: higher.

My boys both learned to potty train standing. Ethan potty trained closer to age 3, so with his combined height advantage and mental reasoning to aim a bit better, we never experienced much trouble with Ethan. Emmett, however, potty trained much younger. Right around his 2nd birthday he was trained, and I cannot really say how it happened. He is a fast learner. But, until just recently, the Treu height genes were shining through. So, he was a shorter 2. We had a stool for while that he used and he did very well. But, as he hit 2 1/2 he hit a growth spurt. He was still too short to reach the higher toilet, but the stool made him too tall. His mental reasoning was not there to aim like Ethan did at 3. So, we had take him to the bathroom most of the time and let him stand on our feet--just enough height to make it without needing to aim too much. During this time I was quite irritated with our choice for higher toilets. When we went to anybody else's house he could go independently, but at home we always had to help him. (Aaron was more willing to let him continue to use the stool, but that is because he doesn't clean the toilets and the floors.)

Right around his 3rd birthday he hit a growth spurt. He actually surpassed Ethan's 3-year-old height. Suddenly he was fine to go by himself again. As well as being a fast learner, Emmett is quite independent. So, this regained toilet independence is a big deal to him. Because old habits die hard, we still try to help him when he first wakes up in the morning or when he wakes in the middle of the night which he usually resists. So, the other day as I was putting on make up and fixing my hair, he came in and went to the bathroom. While he was peeing he turned to me said, "This toilet is just getting smaller and smaller!"

Home Depot Project

Today we ventured to Home Depot to do the Kids Workshop Project. When I say "we", though, I mean me and the boys. SO, needless to say I was a bit intimidated seeing the project in pieces that needed complete assembly! BUT, thanks to the Terry at Home Depot, we managed to get the project made!

Children's Museum

Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum. As you can see I had more fun playing with my camera's color accent function. The kids had a great time as did my brother, Brad. He got the kids a bit wild in the "Infants Only" area. Not sure what the other parents were thinking. The boys were sweaty from so much activity. They loved the Grossology displays, too. The farting machine, the burping machine, and the booger that dripped out of the nose of a talking display.

Happy Birthday Emmett

Emmett is 3 years old today! In keeping with my pictures from the past, I had to share some of his. Here is his as a brand new newborn.


This next picture is the next day in the hospital. I just LOVED his hair. Kind of spiky and so soft. He had a hat on usually, but when it was off I just couldn't resist his hair.



The next 2 are pictures I took in my quest for the perfect birth announcement picture. (I didn't use either of these.)



Finally, a picture when is isn't so newborn, but still a baby. Just too cute not to share.

I realize that many of my posts about Emmett are about his ability to drive me a bit mad. That is true, but I do have to say that he is so sweet, too. He is a very helpful little boy. When I have work to do, he is always willing to help and is a good helper. Emmett loves to help me in the kitchen, too. He is also my dishwasher helper. Emmett is also a very quick learner. He just seems to pick things up without much effort and on his own. Things like potty training, puzzles, and letters to name a few. Emmett makes us laugh. He is a funny little boy. He is always trying to climb onto our backs/shoulders/necks anytime he has access to them. He just climbs up there and hangs out. The other day he stood behind me and turned my face to his and kissed my cheek -- about 10 times. I was laughing so hard. He also likes to turn our faces toward his when he is talking and he doesn't think we are listening. Emmett cannot talk, tell a story, or listen to a someone else unless everyone else is quiet, and that sometimes applies to loud background noises. He does not like scary images or talk of scary things (ghosts, witches, "scary" parts in kids' movies)--unlike Ethan who loves this stuff. He is recently a daddy's boy. If he is scolded at all during the day he cries, "I want my daddy!" Emmett is also our adventerous eater. He will try anything and likes a lot of things most kids don't like.

He just had is 3 year well child visit. As always after such visits, I rush home to see how he compares to Ethan's height and weight at that age. Emmett is a bit taller and a bit heavier than Ethan was at 3, which surprised me, especially the height! As I looked back at his growth I was amazed! He started life out in the less than 3rd %ile! And now he is in the 75th %ile for both!