The other night while Emma was running around upstairs in her birthday suit, Will and I looked at each other and decided that one is a really fun age. It brought back memories of Lucy at this age and we feel very blessed to experience it all again. What a bonus! The utter joy on Emma's face as she ran around diaper-free made us laugh so hard it hurt. I could watch her all day long, running around naked. Or at least until I had to clean up the carpet.
The following is the clothed version of what our little one year old has been up to this month.
Emma is very active and is constantly on the move. She loves spinning around and around to music and she loves throwing and chasing after a ball. She loves chasing and being chased with Lucy. In case you are wondering, Emma is holding a fake knife from the play kitchen in the below picture. She was chasing Lucy while brandishing the knife over her head, but by the time I found the camera, the tables had turned and Emma had turned into the chase-e, even though she was still holding the weapon. Yup, when subsequent children run with fake knives, we take pictures.
Emma loves climbing. She can climb to the top of the slide in our backyard, can climb up the heating register to look out the window while she clings pull up style to the window sill and she also loves climbing on top of the Little Tikes picnic table as well. Here she is below, after she climbed into Lucy's new doll wagon. Seconds later she started jumping in it, the wagon started to move, and she fell out. She tends to curl into a little ball when she falls though, and usually falls, rolls and then springs back up. That is of course if no one saw her - otherwise she will sob uncontrollably while hiding her face out of embarrassment.
Emma loves reading simple board books on our lap. She has a handful of favorites that she always brings us to read and it is fascinating to me that she picks out the same couple of books every time from a very large selection. She also is really enjoying the new bookshelf Will built her for her birthday as it is just her height.
Emma's food pickiness has decreased ever so slightly. She has tried several new foods this month that she has previously refused including chicken and shell-shaped pasta. She ate one or two bites of the pasta before she discovered it was more fun to put them on her toes.
Note to self - try spaghetti next time.
Emma has also developed quite a sweet tooth and knows the difference between a vegetable and a dessert. The difference is she refuses to try the vegetable, where the dessert she will shove in her mouth faster than you can say childhood obesity. She swiped a juice box for Lucy out of my hand the other day and drank it so fast she started choking. Even when the juice box was gone, she refused to give it to me and even fell asleep holding it.
She also swiped a sucker Lucy had left on the picnic table outside. By the time I realized it, she had already fallen in love and sticky drool was everywhere. Lucy has been telling Emma, "Swiper, no swiping!" which some of you might recognize from Dora the Explorer.
Speaking of Lucy and Emma. Besides Emma's constant swiping, they have been playing together better this month. Emma adores Lucy, and wants to do whatever she is doing. Here they are below checking out some worms in our flower bed.
Monkey see, monkey do. As many of you know Lucy adores running around with bags of all shapes and sizes filled with toddler treasures. It seems Emma has developed this habit as well this past month. Here she is below toting a purse. She kept running over to me whenever it fell off of her tiny little shoulder and would then indicate that she wanted it put back on.
To me, the biggest development this past month besides her fourth bottom tooth and an upper molar popping through is her level of comprehension with the world. We can almost see the wheels turning in her head, and the connections being made. The other day Will found a frog in the yard and put it on the driveway so the girls could see it better. Emma ran off while we were looking at the frog and came back with a plastic toy frog. She proceeded to set it down next to the real frog and then went on her way. It was like she was saying, "yup, I know what a frog is!"
She understands simple directions now like "Go get your socks" or "Put your spoon on the table." She can give high fives when asked, and even blow a kiss. I swear she said "Banana" and "Jane" (for Aunt Jane of course!) but hasn't repeated it so I can't say it is official yet. She hasn't yet learned that she can defy our simple directions, and I think that is one reason why I love this age so much. When I say, "Emma, lay down it's night-night time" she immediately drops to the mattress. That of course doesn't stop her from popping up 10 seconds later but I attribute that to a short attention span, and not defiance.
Ah, the sweetness of a freshly turned one year old! Look at my little cuddle bug snuggling with me. Oh, I love my baby!
Posts
