29 months old

Welcome to 2009. Emily has already started our year with lots of laughter and is still quite the little mimicker. We believe in spanking, but we also have times where Emily has to sit on the stairs quietly. I can't remember actually calling it "time-out", but evidently I did at one point because the other day she picked up her M&M beanie baby and proceeded to place it all by itself in her rocking chair and said he was in time-out because he was being mean to Aunt Kristen.

She is also quite the listener and picks up on our words. Yesterday Charlie and I were cleaning up our upstairs hallway and pulled out an old cot that folds in half. The cot was leaning up against Charlie's chest of drawers and made a nice little hiding spot for some golf balls that were also found in the hallway. Emily was entertaining herself by strategically placing the golf balls inside the fold of the cot. At first she was wondering how she might go about getting the golf balls out and then when I unfolded the cot, her wonder changed to excitement because she saw her golf balls. She immediately shouted "oh my golf balls, praise da Lawd, praise da Lawd". Oh how I wish I'd had the video camera on hand.

Still no signs of an interest in potty training. I think that is one of the many aspects of toddlerhood that helps the parent develop the virtue of patience whether you pray for it or not.