Emma’s Dad — Page 6

Trick or Treat 2007

October 31, 2007

This year we recycled Emma’s costume from last year and sent her off Trick or Treating with her Mom. We could do this for a couple of reasons. One, because she still fit in the darn thing; and two, because I really don’t think Emma noticed. She’s two people! This was also the first year that Emma actually went door-to-door with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. Last year we dressed her up and she stayed home with us to hand out candy (because that’s really all a one year old can handle). At two years old, you get to actually go trick-or-treating (to the houses of the five closest neighbors anyway). Our community is still under construction. The homes that have been constructed are spread out enough that visiting five homes was sufficient for a newbie.

This year I got tricked for Halloween and admitted myself to the local Hospital for a baseline colonoscopy (It certainly wasn’t a treat). It’s been something I have been dreading for years now but the timing was appropriate considering my Mother’s untimely death at the age of 51. Perhaps my biggest goal in life is to stay alive as long as I can for Emma. Losing my own Mother at such an early age has always made me feel rather jipped. Clearly it wasn’t my Mother’s fault, these things happen you know. But since she died of colon cancer, there is always the chance for a genetic link. We know today that colon cancer is one of the easiest forms of cancer to treat if caught early through routine screening. A baseline test for everyone should occur at age 50. In the case where one of your parents were afflicted by the disease the recommendation is that you are screened 10 years prior to your parents original diagnosis. Since I don’t know when that was (because details about my mother are hard to come by) I had to use fuzzy logic and take an educated guess to determine when my baseline should be taken. In short, I chose the ripe old age of 38. Better to be safe than sorry.

I was really nervous about the whole project (being a guy and all and somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of being violated in such an emasculating way) but I believe after watching everything Elena went through prior to and during our pregnancy, and focusing on the why it was necessary that I do this, I cowboyed-up, Brokeback-style and submitted to the test.

Everything I had ever heard about the procedure suggested that the prep-work the night before was the worse part. After having gone through it I suppose I would have to agree. It wasn’t awful, but it was also not desirable. I would say the worst part for me was the fasting. I hate to be hungry.

As far as the procedure is concerned, they narc you up with a cocktail of drugs that put you in a state referred to as “conscious sedation”. The idea is that you are sedated and numb to the procedure, but awake and responsive to any and all instructions. I had never been anesthetized before so this was an interesting experience for me. After having gone through it and comparing notes with Elena after the procedure, with regard to what transpired and what I remember transpiring, I have to say that I was on some trip. Essentially what happens is that they drug you up and you retain your complete personality, you might even feel pain and complain, carry on conversations, etc. but the combination of drugs does not let you remember a thing. I imagine they use the same stuff as truth serum for interrogation purposes. Apparently I spent an hour in recovery asking all sorts of poignant questions to the Dr. and nurses that came by. My questions were so good, Elena said, that she didn’t realize that I was mentally out of it and flying on autopilot the whole time. Scary stuff.

Anyway, the worst is behind me (no pun intended) and on Wednesday I visit with the Dr. to get the results of my lab work (They snipped out a single lonely polyp). Hopefully all is well and my mission will be accomplished for now.

Filed Under: All, doctor, Elena, Emma, Halloween, Mark

Happy Birthday!!!

October 21, 2007

Today we celebrated Emma’s second birthday. She received a lot of wonderful gifts and phone calls from friends and family as well as a visit from her Abuelo and Abuela. The day was all about Emma. We played, we sang, we laughed, and played some more. Emma really enjoyed herself and Elena and I reflected upon how quickly the time has gone and how blessed we are to have Emma in our lives.

Filed Under: birthday

I Think It’s Going To Rain

October 18, 2007

It’s been quite the dry season this summer. But Emma always finds time to pose for the camera, especially when it is with her new umbrella.”Is that a cloud I see over there? How ’bout back there? No worries, I’m ready for anything!” -Emma

Filed Under: All, Emma

Family Visit

October 16, 2007

Last weekend we had our first guests from out of town. Emma’s Godmother Ceci, Great Aunt Araceli, and Great Grandmother Sarita flew in from Florida to stay with us for the weekend. They had wanted to come for Emma’s Birthday but this was the best time they could all make it. Emma was really excited and had fun playing with them. We went to the farmer’s market and checked out the local produce. It was a fun relaxing time for all and we were very pleased and honored that they made the trip out here to visit. We hope to see them all again soon.

Filed Under: All, Araceli, birthday, Ceci, family, Sarita

Duck!

October 1, 2007

Duck! Duck! Those were the words Emma tearfully exclaimed as she looked up at me in a panic. Although I didn’t know what she was talking about it was clear she was in trouble. From what, I could only imagine. You see, it was 8:20 PM. Emma was nestled by my side for the last 15 minutes as she always is when I put her to sleep. I was watching TV, and Emma was drinking the six ounces of soy Milk that she always does at bedtime. I remember peering down at her just a few minutes prior to note her progress. Her finger twirled soothingly in her hair and her bottle dipped and quickly recovered rhythmically as she slowly drifted in and out of consciousness. She was right on schedule and boarding the train to la-la land when her urgent call for “Duck!” rang out. Confused, I looked her up and down and asked her what was wrong. “Duck!” she replied, her eyes welling up with tears. Given that nothing could have entered the room to harm her, certainly not while her Daddy was there protecting her, I realized that this “Duck” that she spoke of was not a duck at all, but rather her attempt at the word, “stuck”. I quickly rationalized that she was stuck, but stuck on what! It just didn’t compute. I scanned her up and down again and the only thing that made sense was her hand which was still holding on to her hair. I attempted to pull it away from her head just to confirm that that was not what she was referring to and sure enough, it was stuck.

A closer inspection revealed that her index finger, whose gentle swirling motion has served her well these past 23 months, was tangled in a lock of hair. I apologized to Emma for not understanding her initially and then proceeded to liberate her index finger. But I couldn’t. Her hair was tightly wound and constricting it. I picked her up and carried her out of the dark bedroom so I could see what I was doing. It was there, in the light of the hallway that I realized that her finger was not only caught pretty bad, but her finger tip had turned purple. Not knowing how many minutes her digit had been held in a strangle-hold by her hair, I called Elena in as calm as a voice as I could. Elena responded quickly and ran upstairs. A little nervous, I stammered and studdered a description of the problem. After a couple failed attempts to remove Emma’s finger we ran to the office and Elena picked up a pair of scissors. Concerned with the discoloration in Emma’s finger tip, Elena was prepared to vanquish the lock of hair by any and all means necessary. As Elena held the scissor against the uncooperative lock and prepared to seal its fate, the hair reconsidered and released its grasp on Emma, sparing itself from a horrific end.

After a bit of massaging, the color of Emma’s finger returned to normal. Back in bed I rubbed Emma’s back to sooth her from the adrenaline rush she was on. As I did she would periodically lift her head, look me in the eye and blurt out words like, “Duck!”, “Air!”, “Daddy!”, “Mommy!”, “Cut!”. Which pretty much summarized the nights events.

Filed Under: All, words

Everybody Poops

September 22, 2007

Emma turned 23 months yesterday and in one short month she will be 2 years old. It’s quite amazing how quickly time flies. Developmentally Emma continues to amaze us with her ability to communicate and comprehend our conversations and instructions. She can also chain single words together to convey concepts to us like “drive”, “balloon”, “bye bye”, “Abuela”, “string”. This sequence tells the story of what happened to her balloon while Mommy was driving the car. Mommy opened the sun roof, the balloon got sucked-out of the car, and Abuela was left holding the string.”.

Elena purchased a toddler toilet seat for Emma a few months back but there was way too much going on in our lives at the time with our move and sale of our home for us to devote the energy required to provide consistency in the training. So we intentionally postponed that effort until a later date. During the second week of September (this month) Elena decided to start the training process. Her strategy has been to place Emma on the toilet two to three times a day (morning, night, and afternoon) and to encourage Emma to poop. If she completes her “mission” Emma is rewarded with a sticker, which she promptly places on her calendar to mark her progress (One for each poop and pee she does in the toilet). That and the festive praise and fanfare her mother and father provide as we excitedly gather around the toilet singing praises of encouragement for a job well done. I believe Elena’s system is working because in the last three weeks, Emma has only pooped in her diaper once. On several occasions Emma has even requested to go to the toilet to poop which is a really good indication that she gets it. I don’t know how long it will take to get her to use the toilet exclusively but I think we are headed in the right direction. We’ll keep you posted. 🙂

Filed Under: All, development

Stubborn or Determined?

September 10, 2007

Don’t let those pouting brown eyes fool you. Or that inquisitive stare make you believe for one second that this pint-sized cutie is all sugar and spice. Emma packs quite a personality into that little frame of hers. And when she doesn’t get her way it’s tantrum city. Elena and I continue to work on softening her sometimes rough edges but she is determined to have her way. In some cases it’s a good thing, like with potty training. We (or I should say more accurately, Elena) has started asking Emma if she needs to “poop” and then sits with her for 20 minutes at a time while Emma reads books on the commode. Elena has been doing this for about two weeks now and Emma is starting to request it on her own. With every sitting Emma is determined to “complete the task”, which earns her a sticker on the calendar.

Emma also insists on feeding herself which can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how careful and tidy she is.

Emma will push your hand away from her if she is trying to do something and you dare lend her a helping hand without being asked. And when meal-time approaches, Emma refuses to be placed in her high chair. Instead she prefers to climb it on her own, seat herself, and then lock herself into her five-point harness. She’s a tough little cookie that Emmalicious.

Filed Under: All, development

Emma The Great!

September 2, 2007

So as you can see Emma has fully recovered from the ankle injury she sustained while leaping over the bars of her crib a few weeks back. I guess that’s what kids do, they hurt themselves, and then bounce right back. She looks like a little bad-ass in this picture. I look like a happy, proud, albeit nervous parent. This picture was taken the day Emma turned 22 months (August 21st, 2007). Emma enjoys badness. If she shouldn’t be doing it, it must be fun.

Filed Under: All, development, park

Pizza?

August 30, 2007

So on two occasions in the last month or two, Elena and I stood around the kitchen during dinner time and asked each other the age old question, “What do you want to eat for dinner?”. We like Pizza around these parts and we had grown particularly fond of Papa John’s Hawaiian Pan Pizza, so feeling adventurous we decided that we would call in a carryout special. This means that we have to get off our butts and pick it up ourselves, but the pizza comes out significantly less expensive, plus we had business to do in the area so we figured we would kill two birds with one stone and eat our pizza in the car picnic-style. Elena is always good about making sure we have everything we could possibly need. She typically packs napkins, paper plates, plastic utensils, soda, etc. and off we go. Emma seems to like the change of scenery as well.

In any event, we literally did that twice in the course of a two month period. Today during lunch we wondered aloud what we should eat for lunch. Our neighbors have raved about a local pizza joint so we decided that we would go try it out. Within minutes of our saying the word “Pizza”, Emma proceeded to dig through our pantry and prepare her to-go plate. She then approached her mother who was otherwise distracted and said, “Pizza?” Elena was stunned to see that Emma had collected the same items (paper plate, napkin, and plastic utensils) that Elena normally prepares for us. She is one smart cookie that Emmalicious.

Filed Under: All, development, food

Sleeping Like A Baby

August 21, 2007

So over the last three nights, Emma has awoken an hour or two after being put to bed crying for “Mommy” and “Daddy”. It’s gut-wrenching and difficult not to succumb to her enchanted calls, so periodically we enter her room to let her know everything is OK and that Mommy and Daddy will pick her up in the morning but right now it is sleep time. It’s amazing how much of this she understands because she immediately responds with a sad and crackly “no”. After comforting her we place her back into her crib but sure enough she is out a few minutes later. We tough it out until she falls asleep, and then enter her room once the coast is clear to pick her tired body off the floor and return her to her crib. It’s quite funny that Emma chooses a nice fluffy throw, that we place on her floor when we prepare her for bed, as her landing zone. She also raids her stuffed toy box and grabs “Emma the Frog” for some comfort. We have been placing Emma the Frog to bed with her ever since.

Filed Under: All, sleep