sign language

When we signed unborn Emma up for daycare, the school told us all about the curriculum for the infants and toddlers. I'm not sure about Mike but most of that went in one ear and out the other for me. I didn't know how to take care of a baby much less that they were actually supposed to be taught anything. I seriously wasn't thinking beyond having the baby and learning how to take care of her. So when she started picking up on sign language around 9 months to a year with the sign for "all done" I thought -cool. Then she signed "milk." Convenient I thought. Now all of a sudden the kid is a sign language machine. She signs "please," "thank you," "more," "milk," "eat," and this morning I caught her doing the sign for "yes." She is also trying to say the words when she is signing them too. Now I'm sure there are plenty of others that she is doing that I just haven't learned myself yet. But it is fantastic. Babies are so much easier to understand when they sign that they want to eat or that they want more than just figuring out why the kid is screaming. And it is teaching her manners at such a young age. It really does make me glad that we sprang for child care with a curriculum!

Where did my baby go?

In the blink of an eye it seems that my precious little infant is gone. In her place is an equally precious and silly little girl. I was putting away Emma's laundry last night and like I do every time I was double checking that all of her clothes in rotation still fit etc. I ended up cleaning out most of her 12 month clothes (she's 16 months so this isn't a surprise) but I also ran across some of her teething bibs and a stack of burp clothes that I leave in her closet because I dont' want to have to search for them when we have another one. It is so amazing and a little sad how fast time goes. People always say enjoy every minute etc etc. but it is really true. Emma is at such a fun age now and we love it but I do miss the helpless little baby who needed us for everything. Now, except to reach things that are too high, pour milk into her cup and provide her nourishment and diaper changes, she is fine on her own and prefers to do things herself. Oh where did the time go?

Still, we are so fortunate to have a toddler that is healthy, happy and mostly well-behaved. Now, if only we could get her to stop eating food after she lets the dog lick it!

NO! Swimming and Organizing

Ahh it's finally happened and practically overnight too! Emma's words have come in, specifically No and NoNo which are the words she probably hears most often these days. She has also begun calling me Mummy on a fairly frequent basis with somewhat of a British accent. No idea where that came from but it is adorable I must say. She is also working on many other words like ball, bubbles, book, cat, stuck, thank you and many more I can't remember at the moment. She just gets cuter every day.

There have been two particularly funny instances this week. The first was Tuesday night. Mike and I were outside with Emma so she could play with her Powerwheels. She drove it down the drive way and into the cul-de-sac. Then, she got off and went back to the garage and Daddy pushed her in her Cozy Coupe out into the cul-de-sac where she got out, went back to the garage and came out with her no-peddle tricycle. She pushed this into the cul-de-sac. Next she went back and got her little push walker toy and pushed that into the cul-de-sac. All of her mobile toys now out in the cul-de-sac, she commenced moving them one at a time up the street. First the Cozy Coupe to the mail box, then the tricycle, then the walker toy. Then she repeated this process moving them a little further each time. At one point, she had moved maybe 10 steps away from her tricycle when she looked back and then walked back and readjusted the trike to a better position. This continued for at least 15 minutes. Then came the Powerwheels. Instead of riding the thing up to the other toys which were now 2 houses away, she tries to push it and gets frustrated. So, I put her on it and hold down the button to make it go and we get it with the other toys. At this stage, she's exhausted having just moved her toys one at a time at least 2 houses away! So we had a break down and she started crying and searching for a place to throw herself down on the ground to throw a tantrum. Unfortunately, we weren't even close to our house but you could totally see her looking for somewhere to have a tantrum.

The second thing that is new and fun is swimming in the bath tub. She loves it. She flips over onto her belly and holds herself up with her elbows and kicks and kicks and sometimes she even sticks her face in the water- usually to get a drink but still adorable. Those swimming lessons at the Y were worth every single penny!

No More Rash

Emma has been diaper rash free for over a week! We eliminated citrus fruit from her diet and the diaper rash went away. Poor kid loves manadrin oranges and pineapple and even peaches are off limit now. But, we are substituting applesauce, dried fruit and melon so that seems to be an okay swap. I'm just happy the kid can sit in the bathtub again!