February 16, 2003
Bath Time

You know, I just can't resist putting pictures of bath time up on the Internet.

Emma loves bath time. She always splashes, and makes Daddy put the washcloth on his head. Sure, it started out as a harmless game of peekaboo. Now, it's a bathtime ritual. Draw on tub, washcloth on head, and a cup to pour water out of.

Wacky, wacky baby...

The sad thing is, I worry about the sickos who ruin innocent pictures like this. The child porn freaks who search for stuff like this.

::sigh:: The Internet is a wonderful communications tool. It's also something that brings out the worst in society. As much as I want to shield Emma from those types of things, what can a parent do?

So, to all the sickos out there, looking for pictures of my daughter: get lost.

Posted by mithy at 09:54 PM
February 09, 2003
"Matt"

This story has two parts to it.

Part 1:
For her first Christmas, Anne Marie Saunders, Emma's cousin somewhere down the line (she is the daughter of her Grandmothers cousin), had Emma for Polyanna. She gave her a pink baby doll that we have been calling "Dolly". Partly because Anne Marie had one that she loved and called her "Dolly", and partly because the name fit the subject. She has loved "Dolly" and she's gone just about eveywhere with us. The last couple of months "Dolly" had been replaced by "duck" (a stuffed animal that just so happens to be a duck). "Dolly" was kept in the van in case of emergency, but "Duck" has been going with her everywhere. She still likes "Dolly", but "Duck" has become her favorite.


Part 2:
Emma is in this phase now where she is desperately trying to assign names to everyone and everything. Our friend Elizabeth is now, "Bit", my parents are now "Baba" and "Papa", my sister is now "Pump" (that's another story for another time). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Braz's friend, Matt, was over at our house. Emma quickly picked up on his name and in the next weeks started calling for "Matt" over and over, especially in the car. On Friday I noticed she was becoming especially upset over the fact that she was calling for "Matt" and I didn't seem to be producing him for her. In desperation, I gave her "Dolly". She was satisfied for about 2 minutes. Then she started saying "Matt" again. I looked in the review mirror. She was pointing to her pink and white baby doll, who used to be "Dolly". I said, "Dolly?" Emma shook her head and said, "No, No, Matt". So, humoring her, I said "Matt?" Emma said "da", which is Emma for "yes", then settled down with "Matt" and started looking out the window. Ever since then, "Matt" -used to be "Dolly"- seems to have become her favorite again, but only if we call her/him/it by her/his/its proper name, "Matt". Braz is wondering if there are girl names we could say have abbreviated to "Matt". I suggested "Madeline", but he said that wouldn't do because it doesn't have a "t" in it. When I pointed out that "Braswell" doesn't have a "z" in it he was speechless, but still doesn't think that "Madeline" is "Matt's" proper name. So he's thinking "Matilda". That's fine. It doesn't really matter, because for now, she's "baby Matt" or "Matt".

Posted by akris at 08:21 PM