firsts...

A couple firsts for Emma this week:

 First dentist appointment!  Emma carried on the Norton Fam tradition of going to my mom's brother, Uncle Ron, for her dental care; very good choice. He counted Emma's teeth with his "teeth-counter" (actually the very sharp cleaning pick, wouldn't wanna scare Emma with it) and she's got all 20, yay! And, even more importantly, all 20 are cavity-free!  A fact that I'm particularly happy about, since Emma started brushing her teeth totally on her own a little while ago, and I wasn't sure if she was doing the greatest job. haha  Silly mommy.

Our other first, as of this afternoon - Emma is *finally* enrolled in her first year of preschool!! So, full disclosure, I completely dropped the ball and all year have put off getting Emma's preschool figured out. I was just a teensy-bit panicked considering everywhere I talked to was already booked out till next year, unless I wanted to shell out a few hundred a month for the Ivy-League preschools, no thank you.

But, I got a hot tip from a gal in my ward who goes running around the neighborhood & spotted a sign in front of a house for a new preschool that was open for enrollment (thanks again, Nikki!). So starting at the end of August, Emma will be going to preschool on Tuesday & Thursday mornings, and I'm hoping someone who is trained & educated in the field of childhood education will know more about getting Emma to listen than I've so far deduced. :) lol  totally kidding, Emma's gonna be such an awesome little student, I'm beyond excited for her - and still completely shell-shocked that the little monkey-baby who used to climb into her highchair is suddenly old enough to go to preschool. *tear*... *followed by a loud cheer all through the house*   LOL

With all that, though, our most favorite "Emma-growing-up" moments lately have been something like this:

No, not Emma riding large commercial-grade cleaning equipment - Emma playing with friends! For quite a while we've been trying to help her develop her social skills, which hasn't always gone so well. (I still get all worked up remembering last December, when at our ward Christmas party Emma came out of the nursery, crying, to find Colby & told him, "Nobody will play with me. Will you play with me?"  break my heart, for crying out loud!) I've been considerably worried that Emma may have inherited my anti-social tendencies, a very troubling thought for me.

But, suddenly, things have started to change! She's getting comfortable with her friends in the neighborhood, as well as seeming more friendly with kids she's just met - like with her second cousins at my extended family party last night. We're so excited! I mean, Emma's already a very unique little girl, and I was so worried that she wasn't getting how playing with friends worked & that other kids would be put off by her. Again, silly mommy, I needn't worry so much. So, after what might be the longest description for a single picture... that's Emma riding on the vacuum with her friends during ward cleanup day.

Happy momments, happy days!