9 Things... Emi Edition (why not?!)

1. I finally got around to getting Emi's 3 year pictures done. You'd think this would mean that most of the frames in my office and house are filled, but nope.... still empty. But here is a sneak peek of my little beauty!

2. I got a call this week from an attorney I respect quite a bit. At the end of the conversation he said "Do you have a blog?" I said "Yes?" He said "Well I was just trying to find your phone number so I googled you and your blog came up. Its pretty neat." Ugh... I instantly regretted writing the post "Pottying With a 3 Year Old!

3. Emi's new thing is to ask "Is it beautiful?" She asks it when she gets dressed, colors a picture or looks in the mirror. Melts.My.Heart.

4. It blows my mind how much she mimics what she sees. For example, the other day at the zoo, the path was closed so the only way was to go up stairs. Tommy picked Emi and her stroller up and hauled her up the stairs. That night when we got home, Emi picked Molly up, stroller and all, and carried her up the stairs!

5. Speaking of the zoo, we went to the Omaha Zoo and brought my nephews along. They are the best. Seriously, to see how much fun they have with Emi brings me so much joy. (Even if he calls me Donna!)

6. There is still no clear answer on whether she is left or right handed. Just when we are ready to call it, she suddenly starts using her other hand. Obviously however God designed her to be is how she shall be, but if I could choose I'd make her right handed. Don't you find lefties a little off? :-)

7. Emi went through a short phase where she was stealing toys from the babies at daycare. So funny because it is so the opposite of her personality. Usually she is helping take care of babies! And now she is back to her normal self again. The babies are happy.

8. I love when we are driving down the road and she sees cars that she recognizes. She will yell "There's Grandpa!" And then we will pull up to the white truck and she says in a disappointed voice "That's not Grandpa!" Sometimes she is more cautious and says "Mama, is that Meghan's car?"

9. Emi is energy efficient. I usually know when she is headed out of her bed and into our room because she shuts her lamp, fan and music off first. Its a good heads up for me to meet her at the door and redirect her to her own bed!

Pottying with a 3 year old...

Tommy claims that there is nothing more disgusting in this world than a men's public restroom. I find it hard to believe that it could be more dirty than the ladies' pubic restroom, but am afraid I'd get arrested if I tried to find out. So, what that means is when we are in public and Emi has to go to the bathroom- the ladies' restroom it is!

I'm getting better at taking her. No, she hasn't had any accidents. The skill I am learning more has to do with the things that she says and what she does when she is in there.

For example, it may seem wiser to use the handicap restroom as you may have more room for two of you in the stall, but I've learned this can also create a dilemma when the adult is sitting on the toilet midstream and the child opens the stall door. If you are in regular stall it is easy to remain seated and reach your arm out to shut the door. In the handicap stall, one must sit and pray nobody walks in while begging your child to shut the door.

Going back to lesson in my last post- honesty is the best policy. I learned heard about this one. Maybe the child will ask "Mommy, do you have to make yellow or go poopy?" And maybe the adult will think it is wise to ignore the child's question leading the child to ask again but in a louder voice "Mommy, are you making yellow or going poopy?" To save some embarrassment perhaps the child's mother will reply "I'm making yellow." But, as soon as the child learns that the parent is not making yellow and instead is going #2, the chid may scream in excitement "You're going poopy, good job!" And just maybe, that child will also want to give the adut extra encouragement to the parent (Afterall, the adult did lie to the child about having to go #2 anyway) and start chanting "push it out, push it out, all the way out!"

Maybe we one day we will have an uneventful trip to a public restroom, but in the meantime, she keeps it interesting.

9 Things...

1. After a six month hiatus, I'm going to just reenter the blogging world like I never left it. (I hope).

2. I love Emi's imagination. First of all, it means that there are no side effects from the amount of time that I have allowed her to use her Ipad for the first 3 years of her life. :-) But also, it is so fun to see the things she thinks of. She makes a great mama to Molly. She loves to take my phone cord and pretend it is her lasso and she is catching animals. I hate how quickly she is growing, but I love the little girl she has become.

3. No, I'm not pregnant. You were curious, right? I also haven't moved, bought a new car or even taken a vacation. It's still on my to do list though. All of it.

4. Emi keeps asking to go swimming outside! When we drove over the lake this week (ice and snow covered) she asked if we could go boating. She took the news better than me.

5. I did, however, start my own law firm. I left the old place in July 2014. New office has been open about 8 months. It is going well. And, like most of my other friends told me, once I did it I would be asking myself why I hadn't done it sooner.

6. Thank god they only sell those girl scout cookies once a year. Those Lemonade cookies are too die for, and I don't even like lemon flavored things. Right?

7. Every week Tommy gets a random text from the same random telephone number giving him hours for a work schedule the following week also including details of whether its "Expo" or "Server" or whatever other details that are involved. This has been going on for over a year. The problem is Tommy doesn't work at the place he keeps receiving texts about. And instead of letting this person know they have the wrong number, he keeps letting them text him week or week. Good thing texts don't cost the ten cents they used to!

8. I always tell my clients that honesty is the best policy. Recently I realized that I need to modify that advice. So now I will tell people "Honesty is the best policy except when it involves calling the opposing parties' wife a whore."

9. I'm totally bummed about my friend, Giulianna Rancic, is in some deep water right now. Godspeed, girl!

Bossy Pants

Are you wondering how Emi is doing? Just great! She is talking so much. In fact, the other day I nearly lost my nephew. You know, "Silent" Sam. I apologized to my sister by saying "Sorry, I don't always have to keep my eyes on Emi because I can always hear her, so I'm not used to having to pay that much attention!"

And as Emi learns more and more words, she seems to get more and more bossy. If you take a look at both the Vos and Van Wyk families, this is really no surprise. Afterall, my Aunts do have a wine named after them called "Bossy Pants."

It does get a little embarrassing at day care to hear her boss the other kids around. And she seems to know just who she can get away with bossing around. For example, she knows she can boss Sam around, but she would never boss Anthony around.

Here are some of her favorites:

"No, that's not right!"
"No, get away from there. Its not time to put your shoes on!"
"No, you aren't supposed to do that!"

My mom even mentioned to me the other day, in the most endearing way, that Emi was becoming a "little b%#*h."

I guess the bossiness skips just one generation and not two.... :-)

I'm THAT Mom....

There are a few things I remember from preschool- typewriter day, a circle rug we all sat on, the day our bodies were outlined on old wallpaper as a keepsake. Oh, and how my mom forgot it was picture day that year. I'm not sure why I remember this so clearly. I was not a girly girl growing up, so it is not as if I wish my mom would have dressed me in a cute dress rather than jeans and a carebear sweatshirt. I was too young to wear make up. But regardless, I remember it.

I was reminded of that day today as I brought Emi to her new daycare... without a change of clothes, or a coat, a half hour late, without any of the forms completed, and just in complete and total chaos.

As I hurried into the office for what I thought was 15 minutes late for a conference call (that I was actually 45 minutes early for) I felt things hadn't been that chaotic since Emi was 3 weeks old and I was pumping in the car on my way to work!

When we got home today, Emi sat down next to me and patted my back. As if to tell me "Its okay mom!" In fact, even when I said sorry to her  she said in complete excitement back "Hey! I'm okay!"  I just hope I had as much compassion for my mom growing up as Emi has for me.

Oh, and by the way, Emi had a great day at her new daycare! She didnt cry when I left, she napped well, and had lots of fun with her new friends! At least somebody had a good day!

Nine Things...

1. I hate and love the "Nine Things" post. I love it because I can inform you on some total randomness in my life, but I hate it because it never provides many details.

2. Tommy and I booked our tickets to Vegas for my birthday! I'm so excited- not only to spend time away together- but tickets were so cheap ($214 round trip plane and $77 per night for Paris Las Vegas). Noting makes this dutch girl happier than a good deal!

3. I've actually been away from Emi a few times so this is not new territory for me, but this (trip to vegas) is Tommy's first time away from Emi. I hope he is not a hot mess over it.

4. In case you were wondering, I still search for a new house every.single.day.

5. This morning when I went to three different places to try to find my husband a bear claw donute (his favorite) and failed, I realized that Ankeny is our home. Even though I usually don't feel over the top about daylight donutes- they do make a good bear claw that apparently Johnston, Urbandale and Clive cannot match.

6. This morning when I was too lazy to find Emi matching socks, I put two different colors on her feet. She looked down at her feet and up at me and said "That's funny!" I assume she means her socks and not my parenting style.

7. This week when I was mediating for an older male attorney he said 'You know, Dawn, I use you as a mediator when I got a dumb female attorney on the other side who I need put in her place." That's a compliment, right?

8. This week I received a phone call from a commercial realtor who pretty much thought because he was an older male and I was a younger female that he could push me around. He obviously didn't get the memo- but I sure gave it to him. Later in the week when he was calling back to try to push somebody around, he called a different partner in my firm (who happens to be male). This is what I call a success. :-)

9. Ankeny is also the place we should call home because our two favorite restaurants are in Ankeny (Thai Flavors and Jethros). Ok, I know Johnston has a Jethros- but it is not the same. Trust me.

Nine Things...

1. It has been so long since I have blogged I had a hard time finding the button for a "new post."

2. Emi thinks my name is honey. It is so sweet. I say "Emi, just call me honey, ok?" And she says "Ok, Honey!"

3. Speaking of Emi, she likes to talk to herself a lot. Like today she said "Hi, Emi. I like your shoes!"

4. I have some of the greatest friends on Earth, but when I watch reality TV, I cant help but wish those people were my friends too! (Hello Giuliana and Bill!)

5. Not a day goes by where I dont have a conversation with another female attorney about how we picked the wrong profession.

6. I love Bubble Tea. Ever have it? Grab one at A'Dong's next time you are in the downtown area.

7. Every day I reminded that you can't help people who can't help themselves! Ugh!

8. I pretty much always see people blow their inheritance. It make me question why I try to save so much money when Emi will just blow it on something I would never approve of!

9. Emi got a new stuffed dog named Pepper. She likes to point at it and say "It's a monkey!"