Oh sweet Emerson!
Rocks remain number one, maybe tied with walks. Although she still loves to walk with someone to hold onto, Emerson is a full fledged walker these days. She's still no daredevil but she finally feels confident enough to go from A to B upright and independently. I'd say she even prefers it. She's been doing it since she took her first steps, but it was pretty rare to catch her doing it and most of all, you could tell she just didn't have confidence in her walking ability (even though all of us adults could see that she obviously can do it and surely could just take off). One day, she just decided she was ready! She's my cautious little first born and I'm okay with that!
Her vocabulary continues to expand. Although I also notice she doesn't use many of her previously mastered words.. it was the same with sign language. Once she masters something, she slacks off and takes the easy way out. Or maybe it's like a toy, once the new has worn off, she's over it. She's still miss social butterfly and 'HI' is definitely her most used word (dare I say over-used)! In addition to
the last list, here are the updates:
- Oh! - usually this is when we walk by some rocks and she notices them. Also when she discovers something she didn't expect (e.g., lift up a blanket and find a book, 'oh!'). Not to be confused with 'whoa' when she is really pleasantly surprised (e.g., lift up a blanket and find some rocks, 'Whoa!!')
- Dah - Yes. Now she says this more often instead of 'ya' for yes (although she still uses both). She also kind of says yes to anything but when she really means it she'll say it multiple times (e.g., Is your name Fred? 'Dah!' Do we live on the moon? 'Dah! Do you want to go play with rocks ouside? 'DAH! Dah! DAH!'). It has kind of become her generic word.
- Animal sounds: (in addition to baa and meow) Moo, (cow), who-who (owl), baat-baat (chicken), twat-twat (duck), haah (voiceless, lion), hop-hop (rabbit & kangaroo) and fishy lips (fish).
- Dat - Walk. She used to think that asking to get down was the same as asking to walk. Now that she's walking more independently, she has started saying 'dat' when she wants to walk with someone. It's like a combo of 'down' and 'walk'.
- Den - Again. Usually followed with a giant head nod and then almost always followed by 'dah!'.
- Dide - Outside. Sometimes she shortens this to 'ide'.
- Uhp - Up. She used to grunt loudly and strain her neck 'up'. We must have combined the 'soft voice' lesson with the 'use your words' lesson because for some reason she always whispers this and stretches it out, "uhhp".
Emerson is so cuddly these days. She hands out hugs and kisses or blows kisses to almost anyone that asks. She is still a little sassy but for the most part is learning to mind and the tantrums are shorter and fewer (for now?) ;). She loves to read book, after book, after book (it's actually the only thing that will distract her from a walk). She is helpful in getting dressed/undressed - when she sees me pick up her pants she lifts her leg and gets the next leg ready etc (has been for awhile, can't remember when that started). She follows directions about her hands, feet face etc and goes to the right rooms when I say where I'm going.
It's so cute to see her toddle along and get such a kick out of herself for doing it. She loves her own little routines and likes to 'tell' me the certain things at certain times. For example, when she wakes up after a little bit of snuggling, she always says a few hi's and then usually looks for the ceiling fan and makes a round and round gesture with her hand, then she finds my belly button to tickle, I giggle for awhile, she may or may not give me a zerbert or three and then we usually play with her piggy bank (coins out, coins in, repeat). Then she asks to walk and we're off.
Emerson has continued to develop her voracious appetite. She eats almost everything we give her, which is generally whatever we're eating except grains and things with sugar. She loves meat, especially fish; egg, particularly runny yolks but also the white recently; raisins (a treat), mushrooms (!?), watermelon (most melons really), nuts and for dessert:
Chocolate Super Cookies. She still goes crazy over toasted coconut flakes and sprouted black beans. She'll try anything at least once, prefers veggies over fruit and her general rule is the crunchier the better. She loves to try to use her fork (or even better - my fork!) but uses her hands when she needs to get down to business. She's still working on drinking from a regular glass, but is good about using both hands and bringing it up to her mouth etc independently, however, she gets a little too tempted to take too much, spit it all over or spill it on purpose.
She can be so sweet and calm and also so spunky and sassy! She still weighs the same (not surprising given how much she's on the go) and is too wiggly to measure for height! She is on the same snaps in diapers, I'm sometimes tempted to make the rise smaller to help the fit around her legs, they're slimming down a little, but then they're a little short up the back. She's still in 12-18 or 18-24, depending on the brand etc. but some dresses are just too wide for her narrow frame.
Oh! She has been pooping on her little potty lately! It's only because I catch her when she has to go and then we go in and read books while she does her thing, sort of a very modified
EC approach. No pressure and the only reward is praises and getting to push the handle when we flush it down but man do I love fewer poopy diapers in the wash!
I have to say, as much as I miss her being a light, tiny, sleepy infant... I love this stage. She can follow me on her own (frees up a hand!) but isn't overly adventurous/confident enough to run off alone or get herself into much trouble. It's so adorable to watch her learn so many new things and although I'm excited for her verbal communication skills to continue to develop, I love the nuances of her non-verbal communication, the depth of her facial expressions and her simple verbal approximations. Oh and her adorable babbling/'talking'. I'll miss that when she outgrows it! She is so sweet, entertaining and endearing.
She's done it a hundred times, absentmindedly as she plays or when someone asks her to but this was one of the first times she really
chose to walk on her own just for a stroll. There was a noticeable change in her attitude and approach to it this time. She was so proud of herself and it was some kind of turning point in her mind. She has been walking more and more since this moment.
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| "BO!!" (translation: "Look!! An animal!") |
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| Playing rocks with grandma |
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| Touring the yard. |
