34 months old

Emily is inching closer to 3 years old! She's still quite the feisty little toddler. After a horrifying screaming episode during nursery at church last week we have laid down some new ground rules. Emily had to spend some time in bed that afternoon as a consequence for her actions. She now talks about "cont-ah-quints" if she's misbehaving. I also put my foot down this past week, and after some decisive actions, took care of the screaming problem that has been developing over the last month (I hope!).

You may recall the secret photo shoot Emily did with Curious George. She is so fascinated by the digital camera that it has to be stored either on top of the fridge or in my purse on the top shelf of the back coat closet. If it gets left anywhere else I end up with random, mysterious pictures. On more than one occasion my memory card has been full.

As a result of another act of mischief, Austin had to replace the thermostat for the hot water heat system in the house. There used to be an old-school dial one on the wall in the living room. On three different occasions during the first 2 weeks of living in the new house I either smelled something warm or heard the boiler running. After a little investigation I discovered the heat dial had been turned up past 80 degrees. One day it was up to 78 degrees in the house and only 70 degrees outside with the windows open before I caught it. The little rocking chair pulled underneath the dial was a dead giveaway as to the culprit. Unfortunately, there was no "off" switch on the dial. Luckily, Austin found an extra digital thermostat in his boxes in the garage. Not only does it have an "off" switch now, I also can see at a glance what the current room temperature is.

Emily can be very good and helpful, too. With the new front-load washer & dryer she has become quite the laundry helper. She gets so excited when the clothes start spinning around. I'll have to try and catch that on video sometime. It may take a little while, but she can fill or empty a laundry basket wet or dry. She is even getting the hang of which buttons to push to turn it on. It won't be too long before I can tell her to go switch the laundry on her own! (If she still thinks it's cool to do so.)

Emily has learned how to whisper and wink this month. The whispering was necessary and welcome now that I have to try a little harder to get Lincoln down for naps. We are also working on saying "Yes" in response to a question rather than making a generic monkey noise. We're reaping the benefits of too much Curious George. :op Emily is doing quite well, though. She's also learning how to say "please" as part of a full sentence and not just as a result of a parental prompt.

For the most part Emily is really enjoying her new peach bathtub. :o) She is fascinated by her wrinkled fingers after bathtime lately. Unfortunately, she is also fascinated with sticking her fingers up her nose. Not exactly a fun stage. :op

One last funny: Emily listens to a music CD when she goes to bed at night. She requests CD's based on different aspects of the CD. "Pretty music" means anything without words. "Puppy Dog" music means the CD of kids songs with a picture of puppy dogs on it. "Old Nick Donald" means the Farm Songs CD of kids songs that starts with "Old McDonald". Her latest request has been "Green Fried Rice" or "Green Flied Lights". It took a couple days to figure out that meant the kids songs CD that starts with "Three Blind Mice." :o)

The August pictures have been uploaded to Winkflash and the August video player is below.