Horsies, Sleepover with Taylor, Bood, The "Scooter"

The other day i brought Emma to my sister Kimmy’s place to pick up Nonnie. Emma was excited to go there because she knew her cousin Taylor, age 5, would be there.
Emma got to see their 9 pet bunnies (buddies) and also the 3 horses that they have on their property.

Emma likes riding her little rocking horses and likes to see horses on TV. Boy did she like to see them in person! She even got to pet them! The big Momma horse even did some horse talk for us.
Emma got a bonus when my cousin Diane came by with her daughter Adell (Dell). The 3 girls went walking in the mud and went in the stable where it stunk. Emma still says “Stinky barn.”

Friday night Emma got another treat when Taylor came to sleep over. They were all over the place, running and playing. It was chaos with them. They both woke up early on Staurday and after awhile were cranky. They started pushing each other a bit and “fighting” over Emma’s bike that Taylor gave her, etc.. They kept Nonnie very busy! Emma is still doing things that she learned from Taylor. She learned a Karate type stomp that has her saying, “Yah!” She learned to climb on the living room table and likes to throw herself around a bit more. She loves other kids!

Seeing how Emma is really growing and learning at an accelerating pace is quite amazing. She picks up things just by watching and observing others. Seems a long tgime ago that she was scooting around on her butt. Melissa was really concerned that Emma wouldn’t walk! Emma would scoot around pretty fast and seemed like she did not have any interest in walking on her own. I tried getting her to walk while holding her hands but the stooping over really bothered my back. I bought an excellent product that I highly recommend called “Walking Wings” (Stay at Home Dad Tip) The walking wings are great because they are work like a harness that she sits in with handles that I hold with my hands allowing me to stand staright. We did this lots and lots but when it cam to walking by herself she would just plop down on her butt and scoot, scoot, scoot.

She broke through the barrier when we were on vacation in North Carolina last summer.
It was the end of July and Emma loved the ocean. We walked her in the water but she wouldn’t let go of our hands. It was funny how she was afraid of the waves! Well, one night in the hotel she was standing by the sofa when, after some encouragement from us, she walked about 6 steps to Mommy! Yahoo, she finally did it! She din’t do it again for a few days when we were at home. After she did it a few times she was hooked. Our little scooter was a true toddler!

Since then she has learned to run, thanks to encouragement from Taylor. She routinely tells me, Mommy, Nonnie, or whoeve else comes here to “Go!” When someone goes, she chases after them. My how time flies! Like everyone said, enjoy it while it lasts as they grow up so fast.