Here’s proof of how sweet & loving she can be:

Emma, when you get older and are ready to date (which I know is many years away- but time flies so I gotta let you know) I hope you will look at your Dad and realize the wonderful man and father that he is. Don’t ever settle in life. Know that you deserve to be happy and in order to be happy, you need to find a partner that has all the wonderful characteristics that your Dad has. Finding the right partner to share your life with is very important. Once you find that person, you will learn that you can overcome all obstacles together.

May God always bless you and protect you my Little Sloth! I Love You and Daddy with ALL my heart!

If you are still smiling after 13 years, you know you found the right partner;)

Emma and I going down the slide:

My father’s memory is also warn by age and circumstance. I have accepted the notion that I will never really know my Mother. That her life will remain, forever, a mystery to me. It’s a sad prospect to come to terms with, but a reality I must face. Unfortunately the knowledge I seek, lay like the treasure on  a sunken ship at the bottom of the Sea.

It is because of this, that I write this blog. One never knows when their time is up and I would hate for Emma to not know something about her Mom and Dad because we falsely assumed there would always be time to tell her later.

With that said I have decided to incorporate aspects of my own childhood into my posts so that she can better understand her Father’s background in order to gain a deeper understanding of her own origin. I am sure I will tell her these stories in person, but children are not always ready to listen. One day, when she is ready, my words will be waiting to tell their tale.

Jumping In The Pool

Jumping In Again

For Emma’s 3rd swim lesson I joined Emma in the water for some wet and wild fun. We practiced entering the pool, freestyle swim-stroke, blowing bubbles through our nose, holding our breath under water, and jumping into the pool (Emma’s personal favorite). Emma is such a fish it’s not even funny. She can stay in the water all day if allowed. The only part she hates about swim class is the end.

Entering the pool

Free-style swim

Blowing bubbles through our nose

Emma holding her breath under water

Emma doing the back stroke

Emma holding her breath

We recently returned from Florida where we visited Grandma Aldona who broke her arm in a fall. She was hospitalized for approximately 10 days and had two surgeries to mend her wounds. She is now back home recovering. We are praying for her.

On our way home we stopped in Orlando so that Emma could see where Mickey lives. We had taken her there when she was about 16 months old but she was too young and the experience was anticlimactic for all of us. This time around, Emma was two years 10 months old and really enjoyed Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Among the rides she rode and attractions she saw were:

“It’s a Small World”

“Cinderella’s Golden Carousel”

“Dumbo the Flying Elephant”

“Mickey’s Country House”

“The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm”

“Astro Orbiter”

“Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin”, “The Magic Carpets of Aladdin”, “Mickey’s PhilharMagic”, “Peter Pan’s Flight”, “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”, “Tomorrowland Transit Authority” (a.k.a. “The People Mover”), “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and “Carousel of Progress”.

Some other activities included:

Emma cooling off at Ariel’s Grotto.

Boarding the Engineer section of the Monorail

Emma riding the first car of the Monorail

Watching a show at Cinderella’s Castle

It was really neat to watch Emma have so much fun throughout the day. Her favorite part however, was meeting the characters. We hit each and every character spot and Emma didn’t mind waiting on the long lines as long as she got a chance to give them a hug and a kiss. As a parent you live for moments like these. Seeing your child’s eyes light-up in joy makes yours well-up with tears as you know they will be little and innocent only once. Elena and I had a great time with Emma and look forward to many more adventures in the future.

All tuckered-out (Finally)

For the last three weeks Emma has been sitting in a booster chair instead of her high-chair. She is really excited about it and will sit in it any chance she gets. She will even watch TV in it. We are starting to look more like a family now with everyone sitting at the table for meals.

Emma’s high chair has not been put into retirement yet as it is still a good place for her to play with her Play dough.

Although we arrived early, the parking lot was already at capacity. A sign directed us a mile and a half down the road to where a very organized crowd patiently awaited the shuttle bus that ferried eager frog-lovers to the festival. We parked our car and joined the family-friendly group that boarded the next bus.

At the park frog-themed stations were set up to educate children (young and old) about the natural and environmental challenges frogs face. Although frogs were the creature of honor at this event, it was clear that it was designed to create awareness as to the consequences of human actions on the environment and the animals that live in it.

Before we got started Emma got “inked” (Aunt Jennifer and Cousin Jessie would be proud).

There were “Arts and Crafts”

Like this Origami Frog

And a Frog themed coloring book made up of stamps of your choosing.

There were Reptile Exhibits

Here we are looking at a salamander

A snake

Some frogs

A bunny Rabbit

And a Bearded Dragon

There were Games

Like this ring toss that Emma just loved

And a Frog Toss where Emma had to simulate the jumping on lily pads by throwing a rubber frog into a paper plate. This was another activity Emma really enjoyed. She loved to play with water.

I was impressed to see how good Emma could throw during the wet sponge toss.

The spinning wheel above illustrated the odds that a frog would grow to reach adulthood (the yellow pie slice above). All the blue options were things that a frog might encounter that would limit its mortality.

There was Fun

Emma picked a flower for her Mom

Emma saw an Ice Cream truck and said, “Emma have ice cream please”. We never had ice cream from a truck before but Emma saw the stickers adorning the truck, and the people walking away from it licking their cones and quickly deduced that the truck can provide her with yummy ice cream. We were quite impressed.

A quick photo opp with my little Emmalicious

A family photo. It’s rare that the three of us appear in the same shot.

Watching a demonstration with my baby.