The Emma Report: June 2007

School's Out for the Summer

Today was Big Sister's last day of school.

Summer has officially begun!

Now we can look forward to ten glorious weeks of fun

No morning rush to get to the school bus on time.....

just lazy, hazy, summer days....

doing what we want, when we want

playing in the sand

or hanging out around the house

In the fall, Big Sister is off the the almost-grown up world of Senior Kindergarten and Mommy is returning to work, so we're going to enjoy every single minute of our summer

Table Manners

So, Emma was eating itty, bitty apple slices the other day....

and, um, it looks like we have a bit of work to do in the table manners/etiquette department, hmm?

'course, Emma thought it was hilarious:

well, truth be told, I thought it was kinda funny, too, so I brought out the camera...

(Sigh) Now, I've created a monster ;>

An Update on Emma's eyes

Emma was back at CHEO this week for a regular follow-up visit with her ophthalmologist. While Emma had Stage 1-2 Retinopathy of Prematurity while she was in the NICU, the ophthalmologist declared that Emma's eyes were "beautiful" with no obvious damage as a result of the ROP. Although she is slightly far-sighted, a normal occurrence for a toddler her age, her vision is fine! The doctors continue to feel that that Emma will likely need corrective lenses at some point, but for now she is seeing well and doesn't yet need glasses.

As she is at increased risk of developing other vision problems as a result of her prematurity (such as eye misalignment, amblyopia/ lazy eye, and retinal tears/detachment), Emma will have to be followed closely, but we don't have to go back for another year or so.

In other, somewhat less exciting, news Big Sister and I made playdough this week. Emma was very interested in what we were doing, so we decided that she should join in the fun too:

She especially liked the playdough while it was still slightly warm:

For some reason, known only to her, Emma really enjoys squooshing things in her hair.... Strawberries, peas, yogurt, cheese... you name it, Emma will squish it....

The play dough was no exception:

Big excitement coming this week: we're going to see Hi-5 at the N.A.C.....
Sshhh, it's a secret though - Big Sister is going to be soooo excited when she finds out :)

Destructo Baby

The scene: Big Sister is in playroom, proudly displaying her masterpiece - The Great Tower.

Enter, stage right: Destructo Baby

Her mission: to single-handedly destroy the Great Tower

With one mighty swing of her powerful arm, Destructo Baby lays waste to Great Tower:

(sorry for picture quality, camera's flash could not compete with Destructo Baby's speed of destruction)

Destructo Baby surveys her wreakage:

Destructo Baby says: "Uh-Oh"

and watches as Big Sister stomps off, muttering grumpily about Baby Sister...

luckily, Daddy helps with the reconstruction project and peace returns to the land...

Passport Photos

Today I took Emma out to get a passport photo. You'd think it would be easy, but with rigid Canadian photo guidelines (correct size, both ears must be showing, neutral expression, and mouth closed), it wasn't. Laurie had tried at Costco, but they couldn't get a good shot after about 10 attempts, and Emma's patience ran out. So Emma and I headed up Bank Street, where I found that Ginn Photo is no more (according to the sign Vistek is opening there soon), and the folks at Henrys said they couldn't do it because it wouldn't be the right size.

So northward we went to Sooter's (just north of Queen), where we found a friendly young lady who had both the equipment and the patience. A few shots later we had our pic. So, if you need a passport photo for a young child, Sooter's at 83 Bank Street is the place!

Lady in Red

It's been a quiet week around here. Eric was out of town, so it's been just us girls...

We were stuck inside early in the week due to the dreary, rainy weather, so we played dress-up for a bit.

Emma has a thing for hats.