Emma and I have been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately, and as soon as she woke up this morning, she told me she wanted to listen to the Geese Mamamot song. I told her I didn't know what that was, and she kept saying, "Geese Mamamot! It's a Christmas song, mommy!" Several hours later, Feliz Navidad came on, and she started jumping up and down excitedly. "Geese mamamot! Geese mamamot!" Ah ha. No wonder I didn't get it.

This morning we were at Target, about to check out. We were waiting in line when another cashier opened up the lane next to us. I headed over there, and called to Emma (who was inspecting all the candy for sale in the aisle) to come with me. She looked up, didn't see me, and took off running in another direction. She disappeared into a nearby aisle, so I left the cart and went to get her. As I rounded the corner, there she was holding the hand of some stranger, along with a little holiday Life Savers package, and saying to the stranger, "Should we get this for Christmas, mommy?" The lady looked completely amused, and just stood there looking at Emma, who clearly thought this woman was me. I said Emma's name, and she looked up at me, then looked at the lady for a minute, then dropped her hand and sprinted to me, looking completely terrified. The lady said Emma came running around the corner, saw the Life Savers, grabbed them, then came over and took her hand without ever looking up at her. I guess the excitement of the Life Savers - which I'm pretty sure she has never had before - made her forget that she didn't know where I was!

We are getting ready to have a wonderful weekend. Tomorrow Steve is taking off work, and we're driving to St. Louis. Tomorrow night we're going to see a play - in which my little brother plays the lead - so I'm pretty excited about that. Then Saturday night Steve and I are going to stay at a Bed & Breakfast all by ourselves. That's right...ALONE. Emma is going to stay with my mom and dad. It will be the first night in her whole life that she will not be cuddled up next to me, and I'm feeling a little sad about it. I think she'll be okay, and she won't have to sleep by herself there or anything, but I'm still pretty nervous about it. I hope it goes well, because it will be nice for Steve and I to enjoy a night alone together. We probably won't get another chance for three or so more years.