Silly Monkey: A Halloween Post

The Halloween celebration began for us on Sunday. That’s when Marcus carved one of the pumpkins we’d bought the weekend before while Emrick observed.

We waited until it was dark, and then we put a couple of tealights inside of it and placed Marcus’ Jack-O-Lantern on the porch.

Emrick has been fascinated with candles — and the idea of blowing them out — ever since his birthday last month. Every night since Sunday, Emrick has asked about lighting the pumpkin, just so he can blow it out. He also says goodnight to it every night. “Night, night punkiss,” he says. Cuteness factor: infinity.

The other thing we did last weekend, besides carve a pumpkin and get it on the porch, is spend effort on deciding what kind of costume Emrick would wear. We wanted to take him trick-or-treating for the first time. Marcus’ work was going to be holding an informal Halloween shindig from 3:00 to 5:00 and kids were invited to come and trick-or-treat from office to office during that time. So we planned to take him to that, and possibly take him to a few houses on the street as well.

I had been getting Halloween emails from Pottery Barn Kids advertising children’s costumes, and some of them looked pretty cute. For the toddler set, they had things like lions, dinosaurs, and bears (oh my). They were a bit too expensive for something he might only wear once, but it did give us the idea that if we found a cheaper costume of an animal he knows well and likes, then that might be a good idea. Marcus suggested a monkey as a good possibility, and I agreed. Emrick does a brill– er, um — comical monkey impression, so a monkey suit was what I decided to keep my eye out for, though I was open to other things as well. Last Friday, I made a couple of stops with Emrick. First we went to one of those temporary Halloween stores and looked around but didn’t see anything suitable. Their stock was getting low, with no more shipments to come, and the few things that seemed doable were not in his size. (This Halloween store proved interesting in other ways, but I will save that for another post!)

Next we hit Target, which I had browsed a couple of weeks earlier. They were selling a toddler garden gnome costume, which I could just see Emrick looking completely mind-blowingly adorable in, but I also knew there was no way he would wear the beard that came with it. But then I saw a monkey! There was just one left, and it was in his size! The best part was that there was nothing covering the face. It was basically a monkey suit with a hood. And the top of the hood was shaped like a monkey’s head. In fact, here is the exact costume I bought:

This costume seemed like a good choice. Nothing would be covering Emrick’s face, and even if he didn’t want to wear the hood, he would still be recognizable as a monkey without it, thanks in part to the banana sewn onto one of the hands. Plus, it cost about a third of PBK’s cheapest costumes, so we were winning all around!

Of course, it did occur to me that maybe Emrick wouldn’t be into it… that maybe after a summer of shorts and t-shirts, he wouldn’t LOVE being shoved into a puffy brown sac of misery. And because Marcus and I thought we ought to be prepared for that possibility, we decided to give the costume a practice run on Sunday night. We let Emrick touch and look at the costume. We showed him the picture of the baby on the front tag (same as above) wearing the outfit happily. We tried calling it an “outfit”, “pajamas”, “jacket”, and “monkey jams”. Nothing we said could convince him to willingly get into that suit. He just kept saying, “No” over and over, and he wouldn’t accept bribes. Finally, I said to Marcus, “Let’s just do this.”

So we swiftly slipped him in and zipped him up, while he whimpered. He didn’t get into a full screaming fit, which gave me hope that he might learn to like the suit in a few minutes. After getting it onto him, we stood him up, at which point he immediately began searching for the zipper. “Off, off,” he whimpered. Then we decided to take him to the bathroom down the hall so that he could see himself in the mirror. Surely once he saw what an awesome monkey he was, he would come around! So off we went.

I snapped this one and only picture because I knew that he might never wear this thing again. After I took the photo, we took him out of the monkey suit. He was wearing it for not even five minutes, I would say, but it wasn’t fun for him.

On Monday, I thought maybe I would try again, thinking he might have gotten used to it. So at one point, while Emrick and I were playing at the table in his play room, I decided to bring up the monkey costume in a sly way. “Hey, Emrick,” I said with a big smile. “Remember your monkey costume? Wasn’t that fun?!!” His face dropped, he looked at me, then shook his head and said, “Off. Off. Off.”

Hmm. Okay.

Later, in the evening, I squealed, “Hey Emrick, Let’s get on your monkey jams!”

“No, no,” he said, shaking his head. “Off, off.”

And then one more time, in case he wasn’t clear, “Off.”

So, we never tried putting the suit on him again. On Tuesday, I went back to Target to look for something, even if it was just Halloween-themed pajamas. I had other things to get, too, so it would be easy to take a quick look around. For some reason, though, Emrick wasn’t having it that day. He was impatient with having to sit in the cart, impatient when I stopped to inspect and choose laundry detergent, and impatient when I attempted to browse the toddler pajamas section. He was screeching, and demanding things, and standing up in the cart (even though he was buckled in tightly — the kid is Houdini). I finally gave up, checked out quickly with my toothpaste and deodorant, and left. It was rough. And it must have been rough for Pookie, too, because once we were back in the car, Emrick looked at me with a hopeful face and said, “Daddy home soon?” … It was noon.

I had already figured out by then that whatever Emrick’s costume, it was going to have to be something that felt like regular clothes to him. That evening, I was trying to think of something, and I remembered this little black leathery jacket that Grandma Sorensen had picked up for Emrick last year. Of course, at the time it was still too big for him to wear, but I had been saving it in his closet ever since. Just a couple of weeks ago, in fact, I had tried to get Emrick to wear it, just for fun, but he wasn’t interested. But still, just the idea of the jacket got me thinking of doing something like a 50s greaser look. Blue jeans? White T-shirt? Gelled up hair? Yeah, that could work. I didn’t have any plain white tees for him, so this Halloween morning we went out and bought a 5-pack of toddler sized Hanes undershirts (I couldn’t find just a single, plain, white, short-sleeve tee-shirt there in the store). After Emrick’s nap, I put on his outfit, used up the last of Marcus’ hair gel, and then plopped him in the car and headed down to Marcus’ work. I had the leather jacket in hand, too, just in case I could coax him to wear it for a picture or two.

When we got there, I tried to put the leather jacket on Emrick while we were in the parking lot, and miracle! He let me without any objection whatsoever! Obviously, this was all meant to be.

Anyway, I took lots of pictures of Emrick’s adventures today (and it is after midnight), so I will continue this saga in a second post on Thursday night!

Tickle Nose

It’s been awhile since we’ve done a video. I have a bunch on my phone, but who has the time to edit this stuff?

 

Emrick Eats a Corndog

NO MORE POSTS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

For the second time in the past month or so, I have composed a post for the blog filled with lots of text and pictures, only to have virtually all of it disappear while I was working on it. For no reason. I suppose it is possible that I am accidentally doing something or hitting something, but given that in the four years we have had this blog, it has only happened recently, I am inclined to think that WordPress just hates me.

So, on that note, until further notice I am not posting on here anymore. Not until this issue is figured out. Or Marcus will do all of the posting from now on. Because I? I cannot handle putting in all of that work only to have it go poof into thin air. I will throw my computer at the wall and set the office on fire if it ever happens again. So… I better not even take the risk.

Right?

Emrick’s Second Annual Professional Portrait Session

As we did last year, we took Emrick in for professional pictures in order to mark his birthday. Last year we were more on top of things, and had his pictures taken the day before his birthday. This year we weren’t quite so with it, so he didn’t have his “birthday” pictures taken until today! Close enough, I guess.

The result was similar to last year’s: not as many pictures of him smiling as we would have liked, but still enough really cute pictures that we were glad we did it. Plus, it’s Emrick. Even when that kid isn’t smiling, he is impossibly cute.

I also liked our photographer better this time (we went to the same studio as last year). She was low-key and listened to my and Marcus’ suggestions for getting Emrick to loosen up. As many of you know, Emrick is wary of strangers and does not warm up instantly, so we knew going in that we weren’t going to get a hundred pictures of Pookie’s most charming smiles. But I think we got some good ones anyway. The photographer, by the way, introduced herself as “Sam,” and I repeated that to Emrick and hoped he would look at her and start to feel comfortable with her. It was only later that I realized how confused Emrick must have been. After all, he has an aunt named Sam, whose lap he has sat in and whose flashcard he sees every day! And this brunette with the bun in her hair? Yeah, THAT AIN’T SAM!

After the session, they take an hour to edit the photos and get them onto a disc. So we got lunch and then headed back to the studio. When we were called back to look at the pictures with “Sam,” Emrick was suddenly all smiles with her. She was familiar to him at that point. Oh! If only they offered a free, let-your-kid-get-to-know-the-photographer-for-an-hour-before-the-actual-session-starts package.

Anwyay.

Here are a few of the pictures.

That first outfit — the one with the dog on the sweater — is an outfit that my Uncle Eric and Aunt Harriet gave to Emrick  after he was born. It is sooo darling, and I have been excited for him to wear it for so long. It is such a perfect Autumn Ensemble. We plan to take him outside with it and get more pictures.

Here is the full set of pictures in a zip file: https://marcusandshona.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Emrick_CameraShy_Oct_2012.zip

I am making a New Fall resolution to update the blog more frequently. And I am resolving to keep that resolution.

The Emrick Braden Sorensen Quarterly Report: Year 2, Quarter 4: Can You Believe This Kid Is Two?

Neither can I.

Emrick turned two on Sunday, which somehow makes it seem more official that he is a “little boy” now, and not a “baby”… though of course, he will always be my baby. Grandma Sorensen, Grandma Cinda, and Grandpa Ed were all in town to celebrate with us, which meant that our Little Big Pookie was spoiled with attention and presents.

On the morning of his birthday, he came downstairs to get breakfast.

Don’t mind the shoe. Emrick pulls that old baby shoe out of his dresser every morning lately and plays with it.

He sat in his high chair and ate the cinnamon muffins that Marcus made for him. Marcus makes muffins for us every weekend, but these were extra special and fancy. They tasted like little coffee cakes and were so, so sweet and yummy.

I am not sure why Emrick is crossing his arms here, but it sure looks cute.

After breakfast, Emrick took a bath. There are more cute pictures of this, and I will share them later.

“Wash? Face?” said Emrick, as he washed his face.

Then Emrick played with the lamp. This actually went on for several minutes. For some reason, he is very interested in lights and lamps. I think it’s mostly the turning on and off that fascinates him.

Then a whole bunch of stuff happened that didn’t get pictured. Emrick played and enjoyed his grandparents throughout the morning. Then he ate lunch and took a nap. While he napped, I baked his birthday cake, and while the cake cooled, Marcus and I went to Harmon’s to buy their excellent ground beef for the hamburger dinner we had planned. The timing of all of this was perfect: when we got back home, Emrick was just waking up, which meant the grandparents had been able to relax the whole time we were gone. But once we got home, they kept Emrick occupied while Marcus and I decorated the cake (pics below!).

Then it was time for dinner. Marcus grilled the burgers, plus a chicken breast for Pookie, and then we ate. After dinner, it was time for Emrick to open his presents.

Here, Dad. The trash is for you!

Last year, Emrick still didn’t fully “get” the present-opening thing. But this year he was really into it. It only  took him about half a second to realize that every bag and box in the family room was for him, and that he was free to rip and tear into all of them. He actually played with each toy for a few minutes before moving on to open the next present.

 

After the present-opening extravaganza, it was time for cake. We’d kept it hidden from him until it was time to eat it.

Earlier in the day, when it was time to decorate the cake, I applied the chocolate frosting and wrote “Happy Birthday, Emrick!” on it, and then Marcus did everything else. He created a scene with some new little trucks we bought. He drew a road, and made plants out of green and orange frosting. Then he added crushed Oreos behind the backhoe and inside the dump truck. It was all very cute and well done!

After taking some pictures, we added the candle and lit it.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…”

I didn’t get a picture of him blowing out the candle. He didn’t really grasp the concept at first, so Marcus blew it out for him. But once that happened, he seemed to get it. He asked us to light the candle again so that he could blow it out himself the second time… and he did! With maybe a little help from Daddy.

Next, it was eating time!

I think the whole cake experience really made an impression on him. The next morning when I went into his room to get him up for the day, he sat up in his crib and the very first words he said to me were: “Ice cream? Blow candle?” (He says almost everything with the tone of a question). Clearly, he had spent his first waking moments that morning, lying in his crib reminiscing about the night before. What a sweet pea!

This little boy is two years old. He weighs 25 pounds and is 32.25 inches tall. He is my precious, darling, funny little sweet baby boy. We love you, Emrick! Here’s to the next 98 years!

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