Fourth of July

This was Emma's second 4th of July but last year she was so little that she didn't really know what was going on. Gosh, a lot changes in a year!
My parents always have people over to their house and have lots of food and a TON of big, reservation fireworks. We didn't go over there last year because Emma was only 5 months old and I was in the midst of transitioning her from her Amby bed to her own crib and I was (actually still am) really strict about her sleep schedule. Since they don't start setting the fireworks off until after dark, if we had stayed that would mean we wouldn't get home until long after Emma's bedtime.
I'm still a nap/sleep Nazi and was super nervous about letting her stay up late and watch fireworks, but my husband seemed to think it was fine so we stayed. I had actually told my mom that we would only come over for a little bit and leave before firework time. I'm really glad we did stay, though because Emma was just so cute about it.
My husband laid her on his chest and they snuggled under a blanket while she laughed, clapped and signed "more". I was worried that keeping her up late would throw off her whole schedule, but it didn't and she's just fine. In my defense, though, most of the reason I'm so strict about her schedule is because I worked really hard to set it up almost from the day we brought Emma home from the hospital. She was such an easy baby, sleeping 8 hours at night from the time she was 6 weeks old, and now is an easy toddler. She's easy going, mellow and predictably (unless she's sick or teething) sleeps 10-12 hours at night and 1-3 hours during the day for her nap. I attribute that to keeping her on a schedule, not wavering unless absolutely necessary. Oh my, I almost forgot....this post is about the fourth of July, not sleeping schedules, anyway...
With all that said, we had a great time at my parent's house, eating and watching fireworks. It was all worth it to see Emma having so much fun.
She hasn't stopped talking about it since. When we ask her about the fireworks, she says: "pshhhh" and waves her arms around. Then she covers her ears (my husband was covering her ears during the show). See what I mean here: