Chibi!

I am getting carried away with hairstyling. Thankfully, Emma seems to like it. Enjoy!

Hair!

Emma has been looking very scraggly lately. Her hair has been long and messy for awhile and it has been bothering me a lot. I've been wanting to let it grow out so I could do barrettes and pony-tails. Today, I went shopping and decided to buy some teensy hair bands. I wasn't sure they'd work, but they did. Emma was such a good girl. She sat very still for me, and I think she looks cute and more tidy too!

Developing

My daughter will be a year old in 2 weeks. Every day she is someone new. At the moment, she is nearly obsessed with cars. She will climb on my lap and point at the window saying, "Car, car! Vroom-vroom!" This is her way of asking me to take her outside to watch for cars. Yesterday I waited a total of 40 minutes for a car to come down the road, but it never happened. Emma was so patient. She babbled about cars and pointed up and down the road the whole time. I never thought there'd be a day when I'd want to live on a road that actually had traffic.


Emma is adding to her vocabulary daily. Here is a list of some of her words:

Hey
Hi there
Hello
Yes
Dad or Daddy
Emma - pronounced Eya
Two - while pointing her index finger
Car! - with a 'C' now
Yay! - while clapping
Some - when she wants to eat what's on your plate
Bye - while waving
Milk - I haven't heard this one yet, but Daddy says he has
Come - with her hands out
Train - followed by "Vroom-vroom" every time she hears the train pass through.
Hair
Cat
Come - This is said to the dogs.

Words Emma understands, but doesn't say:

Taste - When I offer her something new to eat
No - Usually followed by pathetic whimpering. She does not like to be in trouble.
Cookie Dough! - Her favorite.
Brush the hair - She will grab a brush and proceed to brush her own hair or mine.
Eh-Eh - For when she is thinking about getting into something.
All gone - Mommy is done feeding her.
Time for a Bath!
Mouth - She points at my mouth
Nose - She touches my nose
Can I have that? - She will bring you whatever she's holding
Turn off the light! - She will flip off the light switch or look up to see if any lights are on
Kisses! - She will either kiss you, or lean in for you to kiss her.
Honk! - She'll touch her nose to yours.

Emma also:

Barks
Clicks her tongue
Emulates sneezing and coughing
She loves to grunt and talk like a monster too.

11 Months Old!

A few days ago, I sang Emma her "11 months oooooolld" song. Time goes by more quickly when you have kids. Next month, my baby will be a year old. Sometimes I find myself looking at her pictures and thinking to myself that the baby in them is gone forever. Never will there be more pictures taken of her when she looked or acted just so. It's kind of sad. At the other end of the spectrum, my "new" Emma is so amazing. She's learning so much. Her problem-solving abilities knock my socks off. Truly.

Yesterday, I took my shoes off and watched as my little daughter took each one and pressed the bottom of her foot against the sole of the shoe. When that didn't look right to her, she set the shoes side-by-side and stood on top of them. She seems too young to think that way. She doesn't ever wear shoes or socks right now. I'm amazed that she recognized her feet as being the equivalent of my own.

I had another surprise when I was standing in the hallway (no windows visible from the hall) and Emma began to twist her head left to right frantically. I thought she was looking for Daddy, but instead she began to shout "Gar, gar!" She was absolutely right, a car was going by and she didn't get to see it. All this time, I'd point out a moving vehicle to her expecting her to recognize it in the future. I had no idea that she was registering the sound as well. Clever girl.

Emma is also showing a lot of skill with shape-sorters and stackers. She doesn't place the rings on her stacker according to size, but she does place them on there. She also takes the rings and hangs them on things. She's been doing this for months. I find it quite impressive.

When my mom came to visit me recently, she pointed out that Emma doesn't speak anywhere near as well as I did at her age. On the other hand, she is much more curious and better with using tools and problem-solving. I suspect I have a baby engineer on my hands.