Voracious Reader

My kiddos are not the fast movers when it comes to crawling. Spencer was a roller basically until he took his first steps (THEN he decided crawling was pretty fun and fast). Emma is a bum scooter - hall advisor friends will remember since Melanie's little Julianne employed this same tactic. However, when it comes to talking, the Wride kids are ultra-interested. Emma has her first real word (besides "mama" and "dada"). She says "buh" and will point to books. Amazingly, it is not just imitation (although we cajole her into it often enough). The other day, I came across her in the midst of a slough of books left from Spencer's earlier ventures. She was sitting in the middle pointing at each book and saying to herself, "buh...buh...buh." Of course, we think our children are geniuses, and this English major mama could not be prouder. Nevermind that Emma tries to eat the book at the end of this clip...

Let it Snow!

Admittedly, metric estimations are not my strong point, but I would say that I just swept a good 3-4 inches off our car, and it is still coming down (albeit more gradually than earlier today)! It was a glorious surprise to wake up to a white world this morning. I found a bit of time to peruse the blogs of some VA friends, and many are commenting on this wet, white phenomenon. Time to join the crowd!

Just after lunch, when there was a respectable amount of snow, I got the kids all gussied up in their winter weather gear, and we headed outside to take a few runs down the hill in the backyard. It took about half an hour to get ready (had to make sure Spencer had used the facilities and Emma had a dry diaper before putting on all those layers) and then we had a good 15 minutes of fun before the mittens were falling off and it was getting cold. I didn't fight it; we headed inside because I want to have LOTs of sledding parties this winter, so I didn't want any negative impressions of the first to ruin those in the future. We made a track down the hill and were careful not to walk on it as we trekked back up for more runs. We even made a few snowballs before heading back inside for hot cocoa. Spencer loves the snow - but he didn't appreciate the snowflakes falling in his eyes. Emma didn't seem to mind that at all. She was a happy little snow bunny. Spencer was a good big brother and held onto her - and then I onto him - during our sledding runs. It is nothing to compare with the sledding we used to do at my parent's place when I was young - or those down suicide hill before they leveled it out and built houses. But still, it was an appropriate celebration of the first snowfall of the year. Tonight, post shoveling, I plan to snuggle down with some hot cocoa by the lit Christmas tree. Adam's in Utah for a biz trip or else I'd be snuggling with him. Hot cocoa it is for tonight.

p.s. I know, I know...my kids look like that one character on the movie "The Christmas Story". At least they were protected against the elements.

We're going to zoo, zoo, zoo

"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...How about you? You? You?..." Ah, the music of Peter, Paul, and Mommy (from the CD title). A childhood favorite. (I think that credit goes to Dad, the main CD purchaser in our family). This catchy little tune was running through my head the entirety of our trip to the National Zoo on Thursday. I am convinced I lead a charmed life. This dates back to an experience walking down the antiquated streets of Cambridge and exclaiming to my two roomies, "The only thing that could make this better is if there were bells ringing..." and then, on cue, the church bells began to "Bong! bong! bong!" This time around, we had been concerned about finding parking, so my mom pulled over to let the stroller brigade out at one of the first lots so she could scout out lots D, E, F... A parking attendant rushed up and said that a car had just pulled out, and we immediately took the offered spot. Our Cummings group was going to meet up with the Wride group who had made an earlier start somewhere in the zoo, and we were preparing to use cell phone locating techniques to perform said meet-up when who should appear walking along our entrance to the zoo than the very people we had intended to find! Like I said, a charmed life is mine.



Now for some favorites: Spencer loved the panda bears, the mating turtles (awkward, I know), the elephants, all the creepy snakes, the seals, and the fire engines that happened to be by the panda entrance. Emma loved sleeping in her Baby Bjorn (through nearly the entire day with the slight exception of the moment we took the picture at the top of this post), and she managed amazingly well in the late afternoon shower that drove the crowds away and cooled us off. I loved seeing my cute kids at the zoo and missed the giraffe (my favorite animal) who is down in Florida with friends while his home is reworked.

A cute little anecdote. I was asking Spencer yesterday who was in his family yesterday, having received a perfect answer earlier in the day ("Daddy, Mommy, Emma, Spencer!"). The afternoon's version was "Daddy is in my family, and fire trucks, and policemen..." Apparently seeing the fire engines and accompanying police cars at the zoo brought this boy's passion for emergency vehicles to the forefront of his little mind. What a family reunion we are going to have!

3 months old!

Alright, it may seem that I am now an excessive blogger having posted thrice previously today. However, at some point this evening I realized that today is the 18th and that means our little Emma is three months old! Coming from a long line of shutterbugs (remember those BUG books, Cummings clan?), I pulled out the camera to document the day, and Emma obligingly gave me a sweet little grin (see above). Now for a little brag time.

Emma is a beautiful baby with dark hair and the most exquisite blue eyes. She is a content little girl and has been sleeping through the night for the last month (bless you, Em). She loves to snuggle, but likes her alone time too. Emma is learning to laugh, starting to coo, and just recently started reaching out and purposely grasping things (like the toy that hangs from her swing, the skirt of her dress, or her mother's hair). She LOVES to be outside and truly does enjoy long walks...in the neighborhood since we do not have ready access to a beach. Emma loves the fellas in her life (big brother Spencer, Daddy, and both Grandpas) and reserves some of her sweetest smiles for them. She's been holding her head up since the day she was born and falls in the 97th percentile for height and weight. What a gal! We love you, Em!