Emma is 14 months old!

Today Emma is 14 months old! I can’t even describe how fast the last two months have gone by. She went from a wobbly walker to a steady and confident toddler so quickly! And she can move fast too! She’s not quite running, but I bet that is right around the corner. She is learning so much every day. She can climb the stairs with ease, although she prefers to sit and play on them. She can also climb into her toddler rocking chair to sit down. She loves to get a book and climb in her chair to read. She talks quite a bit but most is not understandable. However she does understand most of what we tell her. I can ask her to find her puppy, or Pooh bear and she will go and get it and bring it to me. When I say it’s time to go to bed, she will walk over to the gate to go upstairs. She understands when I ask her if she wants to watch Sesame Street too. She gets so excited and runs up to the TV, waiting for me to start the program (we record the show so we can watch it anytime). She LOVES Sesame Street, and the opening theme song with Big Bird just sends her into a tizzy! She dances, laughs, runs to me and then back to the TV, and makes the most excited shrieking sounds I’ve ever heard. Most of the show does not hold her attention yet, but when Big Bird makes an appearance she looks up and watches him.

We have been trying to teach Emma a few baby signs so that she can tell us what she needs without so much frustration. We have signs for “nursing”, “cup”, “more”, “all done” and a few others. We make the sign when we are doing the action, to show Emma how to do it and when. Just a few days ago, she finally used the sign for “more” during lunch. Before when she’s eating and she wants more food, she’d make a noise similar to ‘ehhhhhhhh’. Sometimes it gets loud and whiney and she makes this sound a lot, so we don’t always know what she means. Well, Emma finally figured out the sign! She wanted more peas and she made the sign! It was so exciting! She doesn’t make any of the other signs yet, but I am hopeful she will.

She is eating all table food now, although she is showing signs of the famous toddler pickiness I’ve heard about. Some days she eats very well, other days she doesn’t want anything. Her favorites are scrambled eggs, spaghetti and sauce, canned pears and peas. She also likes bread, cheese, rice and yogurt. So far she does not really like meat, although we keep offering it to her. Just a few days ago I decided to try pushing her up to the table in her booster seat, instead of feeding her on the booster seat tray. I put her lunch on a paper plate and set it on the table. She did very well, and didn’t toss the plate on the floor. It also seemed as though less food was thrown on the floor too. Tonight though she almost tossed the plate, but I caught it just in time. I prefer her to eat at the table; it’s much easier to wipe off the table than to try washing that booster seat tray off in the sink. That’s my most dreaded chore of the day (and I have two cats), and if I can eliminate that I’ll be so happy!

Our days are pretty full, although sometimes I can’t remember just what we do exactly! Emma is usually up by 7am. We spent time with Daddy before he leaves for work, then we have breakfast. I try to have us both dressed by 8 or 8:30. Some mornings we go to walk around Town Lake, or we have a play date or mom’s meeting of some kind. If we are at home, we try to play outside in the morning and afternoon for 30-45 minutes. With the nice weather we are having we have to take advantage of it before the summer heat sets in. Lunch is usually between 11:30 and 12. Then we’ll play for a while longer, until Emma’s nap time about 1:30. Then I am running around for the next two hours, trying to clean, plan, cook, or anything else than needs to be done. After Emma’s nap we will play outside again, until Daddy gets home or I need to be in the kitchen to start supper. Around 7 or 7:15 is Emma’s bath time, and usually she’s asleep by 8.