a haircut is serious business

Emma's hair has grown so long, but I have noticed that it comes in a bit crooked in the back. So when it was time for the older kids to get haircuts, I decided it was time for Emma to have a trim, too. She sat very calmly in the salon chair and did her best to follow directions like "put your chin down" and "keep your back straight" and "close your eyes while I cut your bangs". It is funny to see how solemn she is in situations that involve people she doesn't know.

Unless you know Emma, you would never guess that this uber-serious little girl is actually a completely silly little goofball most of the time!

"meer"

two months have passed since my last blog posting. that is a very long time in the life of a toddler. things change at an accelerated pace when you are two years old. new things are learned. new habits are formed. personality traits are developed. communication skills are honed. it is this aspect of toddlerhood that I will focus on today.

each and every day, emma develops her communication skills a little further. I love this process, and am grateful to be here to witness it. it is great fun to hear the trial and error process, as she attempts to assemble sounds and syllables into coherent words and phrases. she is great at making us giggle when she mispronounces words like "fox" and "shirt".

I hope that the Lord is able to giggle at us, as we fumble around down here on earth trying to figure things out. and I hope that He is making a list of our funniest mistakes, so that we can share a laugh with Him in eternity.

here are some of my favorite emma sayings:

"sat?" = what's that?

"sap? = can I sit on your lap?

"chup" = chip

"wearm" = wear them

"boowm" = spoon

"karm"= popcorn

"drawn?" = can I draw?

"sessue" = bless you

"lu loo!" = I love you!

and guess what this means:

i see
i hear
i feel
i pray
i wonder
i hope
i love
i thank

i see imaginary lines on the wall that show how
fast you are growing.
i hear the wheels of your brain spinning as you learn

more and more about the world around you.
i feel my heart skip beats as you become more
independent and adventurous.
i pray daily that i am being the mother that
God wants me to be for you.
i wonder what you will be like when
you grow up.
i hope that you find joy and happiness in a world that is so
full of despair and tragedy.
i love you more than i could ever express in
actions or words.
i thank God for giving you to me to
hold and cherish.

Charming

As I work hard to learn the ins and out of my camera, I tend to have many more misses than hits. But on the rare occasion, one of those misses turns out to be beautiful in its own way. Such is the case with the picture in this post... it has a very dreamy quality that I found charming. With only a few touch-ups and the addition of a lovely poem, it captures the magical quality of childhood - and the beauty of a toddler named Emma.

The poem reads:

A bright and sunny smiling face,

a mix of playfulness and grace,

a fun-loving and friendly way,

of bringing joy to every day,

her little hugs and kisses, too,

the way she works her wiles on you

and sets your heart all in a whirl . . .

These are the charms of a little girl.

(author unknown)

a sign of times to come???

Is it a bad sign that even at such a tender young age Emma is particularly argumentative with her mother? It came as a fairly big surprise to me one day when I realized that she was indeed arguing with me. Our “arguments” usually go something like this:

While riding in th car, she sees a a cow that she called a “horsey.”
“Cow,” I replied.
“Horsey.”
“Cow.”
“Horsey.”
“Cow.”

Doesn't really seem like an argument, does it? But when you consider the following conversation, you may change your mind. One morning, I walked into her bedroom wearing an Eeyore nightshirt. She looked at it and said, “cow.”
“Eeyore,” I replied.
“Cow.”
“Eeyore.”
“Cow.”
“Eeyore.”
“No! Cow!”

I guess I shouldn’t be too worried yet. But I can’t help wondering if one day the argument will sound more like this:

“Hi Mom! My friend just got her driver’s license and her parents said she could drive us to Portland for the day, so I’m going.”
“No, you’re not,” I reply.
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No, you’re not!”
“YES, I AM!!”


















Oh, dear Lord, have mercy!

my favorite moment

My favorite moment is definitely the moment each morning that I awake to the sound of Emma talking to herself in bed. She has so much to say and it all sounds so important. There is nothing more precious than the sound of a baby’s voice.

My next favorite moment is the moment I crack open her bedroom door and she sees me standing there. Her usual greeting is “hi”, followed by more of whatever conversation she has been having with herself before my arrival. She stands up and begins handing me all of her essential gear… pillow, blankies (sometimes up to 3 of them), and whatever stuffed animal or doll it is that she has slept with the night before. This moment is always followed immediately by one of my least favorite moments of the day, which is trying to get me and her and all of her gear down the stairs in one piece.

Another of my favorite moments is when she has decided that she is hungry and ready for breakfast, which is basically seconds after we arrive downstairs. She likes to have the high chair pulled over to behind the couch so she can watch either Little Bear or Blue’s Clues while she is eating. And she absolutely insists on having her pillow behind her back and a blankie (sometimes two) across her lap while she is eating.

My other favorite moment is bedtime – either for a nap in the afternoon or at the end of the day. At the words “time for bed”, Emma jumps up from whatever she is doing with a cheerful “uh-huh!” and gathers her essentials (pillow, blankie, stuffed animal of the day). All family members get a big kiss and hug and the farewell “Nigh!” After she is changed into a clean diaper and pajamas, we cuddle in the rocker and she requests lullabies, by saying “dance!” from behind her soother. After a few minutes of cuddling and rocking together, she lays down in her bed with her pillow, blankies and stuffed animals and bids me “nigh nigh”, as I quietly let myself out of her room.

And my final favorite moment is each and every moment in between.

lazy days of summer?

summer days go by, lazy and slow.

lazy and slow?? get real! time flies and little girls grow up a little more every day. saying words. acting silly. making memories. turning two. life flies by so quickly it makes her momma's head spin. wish I could turn back time...

I find this a common theme of my musings: slowing down the growing process. but instead of wishing for time to slow down, I ought to make the most of each day and be grateful for each and every moment.

DANCE!

with each week that passes, Emma becomes more and more articulate. she understands more and is able to communicate better all the time. it is so much fun to see and hear her use her new knowledge to talk to us and share what excites her. in our family, music plays a very big part of our day to day lives. all of the big kids and I love to put on our favorite songs and ask Emma, "you wanna dance?" so I was delighted one day while Emma and I were out shopping when she heard music coming from a speaker in the ceiling of the store... she pointed up to the speaker and exclaimed excitedly, "dance!" to her, all music is "dance" - and how precious is that!

such a delight

is there anything more fun than having a toddler living among you? many would argue that there ARE things that are more fun than living with a toddler, but who can resist the sweetness of a little one running around, learning and discovering the world and God’s creation? each day, my breath is taken away by just how completely delightful it is to see Emma’s joy at play and how earnestly she tries new things. my heart leaps in my chest each time she runs toward me with a huge smile and throws her arms around my neck in the tightest of baby bear hugs. and I would argue that there is no more beautiful sound in the entire world than the sound of my little darling saying “mommy”… my heart just melts each time. Emma lights up the entire house with the sound of her laughter, and although she has her moments of temper and in spite of her selfish tendencies, she is a complete joy to be around. I therefore submit the following video as all the evidence I need to convince even the most skeptical among us – toddlers are a delight!!

mess maker, mess maker, make me a mess

the art of mess making… Emma has mastered it! one mess after another. before I’m able to clean the last one, she has made a new one. but she is so cheerful as she untidies, that I find it impossible to be all that angry with her. in spite of myself, I simply have to smile. to a one-year-old like Emma, making messes is like making masterpieces. so make messes my little darling. make many beautiful messes.

the perfect shade of orange

like most children, Emma loves spaghetti. so that is what she had for lunch today. I attempted to help her eat, in the hope of preventing a total and complete disastrous mess, but she had other plans. so I let her at it and while I was busy ignoring her (which is the surest way of getting her to eat), she managed to create a mess the likes of which I hope to never see again. I knew I was going to have to get out the elbow grease for this one. wash, rinse, repeat. wash, rinse, repeat. and still, I was unable to completely remove that slight tint of orange from her skin. oh well, Emma is cute in any color!

a stitch in time

May 18, 2009 – a day that will go down in the annals of the Luff family history as – mostly bad, but with a shining moment of God’s grace.

Minding her own business, walking along the clean and tidy floor, little Emma tripped on her own tiny toes and BAM! was accosted by the hinge of the storage room door in the living room. At the loud THUNKing sound that Emma’s skull made upon impact, I turned from my place 7 feet away and ran the entire distance to her side to pick her up into my arms, with desperate cries of, “oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” Emma’s initial screaming cry was drawn out into a long moment of silence before she was able to catch her breath. Terrified and certain of what I would find when I looked at the damage left by the offending hinge, I placed Emma on the kitchen counter and inspected the wound. Blood poured down Emma’s face and I knew immediately that there was an extremely high likelihood that the deep gash would require stitches. Predictably, I panicked, placing folded paper toweling on the cut and applying pressure with the desire to dam the flow of blood. Unable to think clearly, I tried to remember which Urgent Care office was part of our insurance plan. I shouted to big sister Jordenn to call Dad and get some guidance. “Meet me at the Gresham Urgent Care,” were his instructions. Relieved to know what my next step was, I shouted instructions to Brooke and Jordenn, and we all hurried to the vehicle and took off down the road. By the time all were settled in the car, Emma had calmed down and was gleeful at the delightful turn of events… we were going “bye-bye”. At this point, the bleeding had slowed to a manageable crawl and after picking up Braden at his baseball game, we made the trip to the Urgent Care office in relative peace. Daddy was waiting for us, paperwork already filled out and co-pay already rendered. We were whisked back to a room with a curtain for a door and a paper sheet on the bed. And then…. we waited. After we waited, we waited some more. Then, more waiting. At long last, Dr. Charles Wong entered the room and proceeded to tell us that for some reason that he does not understand, when the weather is nice, people get hurt. It did not seem to be relevant to the good doctor that Emma’s injury occurred indoors. Nevertheless, he felt the need to mention this odd phenomenon on more than one occasion. I was far too grateful that my baby girl was being fixed, however, to be bothered by the repetitive lesson on the effects of weather on injuries sustained by people indoors or out. Emma, however, would have preferred to just listen to the doctor talk than have him come near her head to clean, desensitize, and stitch it. She stayed mostly calm in the procedure room as long as no one was messing with her, but as soon as it was time to take care of the laceration, she became panic-stricken and could not be calmed down. The doctor instructed us to lie her down on the bed and hold her still so that he could begin numbing the injury site and he then proceeded to poke her with a needle at least 20 times. Emma did not like this. Who can blame her? Finally, when she was sufficiently anesthetized, he placed a paper sheet over her head with a small hole in it that he placed over the cut. Emma did not like this, either. What was the point of that sheet? I’m sure someone knows, but I am not one of them. I held it up off of Emma’s face so she could see me as I leaned over her, holding her head between my two hands to hold it still, murmuring words of love and comfort to her as her father held her two arms down to prevent her from squirming and pushing the sheet off of her head. Emma truly did not like this. In almost laugh-out-loud absurdity, the doctor had suggested that it was possible that Emma fall asleep during the procedure when she realized that the injury no longer hurt. I guess he doesn’t know Emma. There was no calming her down, until, by some miraculous gift from God, a lovely young nurse came into the room and offered her assistance to the doctor. She simply leaned down to gaze into Emma’s eyes, and Emma stopped crying immediately. She looked at the nurse’s face for the remainder of the procedure and did not so much as whimper again. What a blessing! Isn’t God kind? He took compassion on one of His littlest darlings and sent her an angel to calm her. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus!! Procedure complete, stitches in place (all five of them), we were sent on our way and Emma never again complained about her injury, even in the days to follow. I even caught the stitches a couple of times with the comb while I was styling her hair and she didn’t even flinch. What a trooper!

And as an after note, we had the stitches removed on May 28. The very same angel-nurse that calmed Emma down during the stitching procedure was the one who removed the stitches. Once again, Emma sat calmly and still for her and didn’t even so much as whine once! God is good!!

Too big for her britches!

Oh Miss Emma... I know you love your big sisters and want to be just like them. But honey, I'm sorry - you are too young to wear a thong!

superhydrator

there's no rest for superheroes. the day is long. the night is longer. so much crime to fight. so many lives to save. it's a thankless job, and messy too. but a true hero cannot deny their calling. when you were born to be the best, you sacrifice "normal" for greatness. but even the greatest of superheroes have to take care of themselves. and that's why this masked crusader makes time to stay hydrated. because you never know when the next call from the commissioner will come in. it's best to be ready.

it's in the genes!!

I’ve been wondering lately…. is silliness learned, or is it in the genes? you see, Emma is a total goofball, and she truly knows how to get us to laugh. she just makes a silly face, sits in the fridge or wears a headband across her eyes, and she gets us laughing every time. Emma also seems to know instinctively when someone in our family is being goofy – especially Braden. with just a silly look, he gets the best belly laughs out of her.




this has got me thinking… and reminiscing. I will never forget the time that my nephew Jeremy belted out his first gut busting belly laugh. he was probably around 9 months old at the time. I was lying on the couch and he was sitting on my tummy. we were playing and interacting when for some reason that I do not recall, I said, “da!” in a fairly loudish, startling voice. well, this tickled Jeremy’s funny bone because he started laughing – hard, which of course made my sister and me laugh as well. for the next 5 or so minutes, I shouted “da!” and Jeremy laughed his guts out. did someone teach him that was funny? no, he just knew it instinctually. it was one of my favorite moments.




babies laugh at the most unsuspecting moments, don’t they? you’ve probably seen the video of the little baby that thought the most hilarious thing in the world was the sound of paper ripping. or the one of the quintets that all laughed in unison when their daddy said, “boing!” (if you haven’t seen these, I will place the links at the end of this post). I absolutely love watching video clips like this. and I am thrilled when we catch Emma on video laughing her heart out, like we did on Easter (the video is still here on the blog if you want to watch it again).




all in all, I think babies are born with a great sense of humor. I think it is because they are so fresh from Heaven. and so I guess that I’ve decided that silliness is most definitely in the genes!

Here are the youtube links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb9RJlHvjXQ

while I was away...

I have been told that while I was away, she would point at the front door and ask, “Mommy?” And yet, knowing that she missed me only makes me feel marginally better about the time with Emma that was lost in my absence.

You see, these are the days of discovery, wonder and constant learning…. and I love to see the look in her eyes as she processes something new and I can almost hear the wheels of her brain turning as she tries pronouncing new words. I missed witnessing the joy in her body language as she encountered something new and exciting. While I was away, she grew, she learned, she experienced, she tried, and I wasn’t here to share it with her.

Coming home, I was acutely aware of the time that had passed in my absence. I felt so out of the loop. I am usually the person that tells the cute stories of the things that she does over the course of the day, and instead I was hearing them from my sister and Emma’s older siblings. I heard stories of bathtime, bedtime, mealtime, playtime…. all of the times that I am usually present. The most difficult story to hear was the story of her illness while I was away. She was sick, and I was not here to comfort her. She needed cuddles, and I was not the one to give them to her. How that wrenches the heart! I am deeply grateful that she had the next best thing, her Auntie Dawn to provide the comfort and cuddles that I was unable to provide myself.

I hope that I won’t have to be away from my littlest angel again. There is so much life in her to see that it hurts me to have missed any of it while I was away.

becki = m.night

So I find that I am the M. Night Shyamalan of the blogging world and my first blog entry titled “the perfection of the day” is the equivalence of M. Night’s movie “The Sixth Sense”. You see, as a new blogger, I feel that I hit it out of the park with that first entry, which was better than expected and full of surprises (she says, modestly). Since then, while there have been a few shining moments, I feel that I have not been up to the task of “topping” it. As a result, I find myself a victim of the most brutal case of writer’s block, fearful that my initial success will turn out to be just a blaring example of beginner’s luck.

Did beginner’s luck stop M. Night?? No, of course it didn’t! And as his fans, we have happily endured his less shining moments (“The Happening”, anyone?) in anticipation of another brilliant success like “The Sixth Sense”. Therefore, because M. Night has dared to press on through the less brilliant moments of his movie career to bring his followers modestly entertaining films, I will follow his example and press on through the less brilliant moments of my blogging career to bring those of you who kindly read these words some hopefully mildly entertaining blog entries. And maybe along the way, we will have some laughs and I will learn to write sentences that are less confusing than the last one I just wrote.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you hanging in here with me.

the greatest gift is Love

at the young age of 20 months old, Emma is completely unaware of all of the ways that her life is blessed. she has no concept of the difficulty and hardship that are so prevalent in the world. she is in fact sheltered from adversity by default, as a member of our family. we have received much to be thankful for in this life. we have a roof over our heads, more than enough food on our table, a warm place to sleep. but more than all of these, we have Love – the love of the Savior, Jesus Christ – and love for one another. for Emma, this love comes in the form of older siblings that adore her and parents that cannot imagine life without our littlest angel. so Emma is doted on and spoiled beyond measure, all in the name of Love. with heavenly guidance, she will grow up to be kind and loving in return. and each day, I will thank the good Lord above for allowing us the greatest blessing – a family full of Love.

Emma on pop

So, it’s the end of the day. I am tired, and Emma is tired. We have been on the go and away from home for hours and it is now past bedtime. The method that Emma expresses her exhaustion is to whine and scream and cry for any and every reason. The method that I express my exhaustion is to give in to Emma’s every whim in the quest for a few moments of peace and quiet (please note: while this is my method of choice, I do not endorse this parenting style).

It was in the midst of such a scene that against my better judgment I did not intervene when Emma found a Taco Del Mar soda cup on the table and helped herself to the remaining pop therein. She gleefully sipped away at this cup, trading it in for one with more soda in it when the first cup ran a bit too low for her straw drinking skills. I sat in a chair nearby, watching with apprehension in my state of fatigue – knowing full well what was to soon occur. You see, Emma is one of THOSE kids. You know the ones….they are the kids that get super-ultra hyper when they drink soda with sugar in it. I’ve never had one of those kinds of kids before, and I always pitied parents who did. And truth be told, for some reason, I judged myself as a superior parent because I did not have one of those kids. Well, you’ve heard the Bible verse, right? It goes something like, “do not judge others or you too will be judged, in the very same way that you have judged others you will be judged”. Well, now I fully comprehend this Biblical warning because sure enough, the day will come when our little family will be out in public and Emma will have too much sugar and BAM! She’s gonna go all hyper-crazy! Me and my judgmental mouth!!

The one shiny silver cloud lining to this story is the following video. When Emma is all hyped up, she sure is a cutie! Note: this video clip takes place about 10 minutes AFTER the super-ultra hyper outburst Emma had when she was running all through the house screaming…. this time in delight rather than exhaustion.

the fleeting nature of time

wasn’t it yesterday that she was the little bundle of newborn life? I would sit and stare at her perfectly formed ears and nose and caress her tiny little fingers and toes. I can still feel her warm breath and contented sighs in the place at my neck that I would snuggle her into. and selfishly, I wished that time would stand still so that I could experience the sweetness of those moments forever. yet time marches faithfully on and now she is the one gazing down on one of God’s newest creations, her cousin and future friend, Alakai. and even though I am certain that the sweetness of these moments will fade in my memory, still I am grateful to have been chosen to be “mommy” to this precious little angel.

my favs

pretty pink hair bows and

Emma's sweet kisses

sign language signals and

cute plastic dishes

little girls tangled in black headphone string

these are a few of my favorite things

a meeting of the minds

intense concentration marked the mood as two opponents met across a level playing field. move was met by countermove; intellect stared down intellect. tension was high as each opponent carefully planned their strategy. only one player would be victorious in this meeting of the minds: she wore polka dots that day.

Easter greetings!

even though this is Emma's 2nd Easter, it was more like the first. she was too young the first time around to even notice that anything wonderful was happening around her. this year, she has been the center of our Easter celebration and it has been a delight to see the joy of tradition through her eyes.

when she awoke and was brought downstairs, the very first thing she saw was her very first Easter basket, full of plastic eggs filled with "baby appropriate" goodies, such as fruit snacks, temporary tattoos, tiny tubs of Playdoh, and yogurt raisins, as well as a small-ish bouncy ball and of course a hollow chocolate Easter bunny. she was instantly excited and exclaimed "bah!", which is her cute way of saying "ball". I put her on the floor and she scurried over to the basket to explore each of the treasures. breakfast today was not the usual breakfast bar and milk... it was Easter treats instead!

our most cherished Easter tradition is attending church to celebrate the death and RESURRECTION of our Lord, Jesus Christ. wearing a beautiful pink taffeta dress, Emma entered the church and joined the congregation for worship. she participated in singing the hymn, "Christ our Lord is risen today, Alleluia!" in her own precious manner, which is to say that she got a very serious look on her face and vocalized, "aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!"

after singing, new friends were made in the nursery, and dresses interfered in the climbing of the tiny slide. she was sleepy when we arrived home, but was cheerful enough to make up her very own Easter game (which you can see in the accompanying video clip). we have not yet had our Easter egg hunt (we've been hoping for the rain to take a break) but if necessary, we will hide eggs indoors for Emma to find and soon we will partake in a delicious ham dinner.

I hope that all of our dearly loved family members and friends have enjoyed a beautiful day of celebrating your own Easter traditions.

returning to the bowls

I am much more familiar with temptation than I would care to admit. Each day is filled with the temptation to eat more, and more often, than I ought to eat. Of course, I HAVE to eat every day, it is all a part of God’s plan. We eat, we drink, we survive. So not eating is not an option. I *simply* need to find the balance that is also a part of God’s plan: eat when hungry, stop eating when no longer hungry, do not over-do it with any one kind of food (sweets, for me). Finding the balance, however – resisting temptation – is so much easier said than done.


That is how it is for Emma. God uses her adorable little self to show me what He is trying to teach me. As I have previously mentioned, Emma is drawn inexplicably to the dog’s water and food dishes every day. She sits down and dips water out of the bowl with a spoon and then brings the spoon to her own mouth, losing most of the water along the way – but still… ew! She also loves to take the dog’s food and put in the water. This is a very fun game to her – she never grows tired of it. So strong is the temptation to engage in these activities in Emma, that no amount of scolding or diverting of attention stops her from returning to the bowls. Of course, the dog HAS to eat every day, and so removing the dishes is simply not an option.


Emma, and I, will have to learn to face our temptations and stand firm - - - RESIST! Thankfully, God is patient with us, even as we consistently return to the bowls!!

morning girl

shuffling around in footsy pajamas, hair mussed up from sleep, she finds joy in the simplest of pleasures - like using a pencil or wearing hair clips on her fingers. routine rules at the beginning of the day: diaper change, breakfast, Blues' Clues, get dressed, brush teeth and fix hair... now all ready for the day. ready to learn, to explore, to experience, to grow... thank you, Lord, for the beginning of a new day!

the perfection of the day

on a day like today when she is cheerful and silly, it is hard not to adore her, even when she is using a spoon to take "bites" of the dog's water out of the water bowl on the floor. my heart is wrapped around her entire being and I almost ache when I look at her. I want to tickle her belly till she giggles and give her millions of kisses all over the soft and tender skin of her back. my heart melts as she reaches out to take my hand and lead me somewhere, anywhere... even her frustratingly picky pallet is unable to sway my undying devotion.

today, she is perfect.

tomorrow, we will see!