Only God in Heaven Can Make a Butterfly

Emmy came home from day care last week singing this song, and since this is the first thing I've been able to get her to sing upon request in FOREVER, I thought I'd better capture it on video for posterity. In case you can't understand the words, they're as follows:

Little caterpillar, he climbed up in a tree
He wiggled long, he wiggled short, he wiggled right at me
I put him in a little box, "Don't go away" I said
But when I looked inside it was a butterfly (instead)
I never could have made it, not even if I tried
'Cause only God in Heaven can make a butterfly!

Note the graceful bow at the end - she's already quite the performer!

Aye Waukin-O and Allelujah

I just stumbled across a beautiful voice, and wanted to share her with you. Eddi Reader is her name, and she's blessed with an incredible vocal gift. The lyrics to the first lovely song are by the famed Scottish poet Robert Burns. The fearless abandon with which she sings the second song (live, mind you!) reminds me a little of one of my favorite artists, Joni Mitchell. Who have you discovered lately?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Emmy is at the most adorable age - there's a lot of whining (it seems every time she opens her mouth, it's to say "I want . . . "), but we love that she's able to express herself so well, and seeing her little personality emerge is unbelievably fun. Although her pronunciation is pretty good, she still struggles with some of the multi-syllable words - but I'm not sure I ever want her to stop saying "umdumbra" instead of umbrella. Now that her speech has progressed so far, we adults are having to be much more circumspect about what we say - she got in trouble at day care a few weeks ago for dramatically exclaiming "Oh . . . my . . . God!" so I've had to nip that one in the bud (yes, that was Mommy's fault). Every now and then she says something priceless, and I always think to myself, "That's so cute - I'll never forget that!" . . . and then I forget. So for posterity, here are a few of the more endearing things she's said lately:

Playing peekaboo: "Keepaboo!"

Upon being informed that nose oysters are yucky: "Tiggers don't like boogers!"

Imitating Piglet: "Oh D-d-d-d-d-dear, dear, dear!" and "Oh my goodness!"

In a voice filled with awe, while watching the garbage truck empty our trashcan: "How beeeyouuuuuuuuuuuutiful!"

Observing Daddy sleeping in: "Daddy's sleeping! It's so morning!"

Whenever Mommy and Daddy don't do exactly what she wants: "I want to go to Grandma's house!"

While crying about something unbelievably trivial: "I . . . *sob* . . . want . . . to be . . . *hic* . . . happy!" (for some sick reason that one made me laugh)

Here are a few recent photos - playing catch after Sabbath School last weekend looking like Alice in Wonderland in a beautiful dress from my cousin Janel, and horsing around at Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shari's house.

A Memorable Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, Peter had his heart set on taking Emmy to the 93rd annual Orange Show in San Bernardino - so in spite of Emmy's bad mood (she was fighting a cold) we went, hoping for the best. It turned out to be a fun couple of hours for all of us - Emmy got to ride an elephant AND a pony (both very exciting firsts!), pet animals in the petting zoo, and watch a few circus acts (that was a bit loud and weird for her - we left before it was over). Here are a few pics from the day (click to embiggen).