Happy Mother's Day

I LOVE that I get to be Emerson's Mommy. She brings us so much joy & laughter, it's hard to even try to remember life before her -- what did we do? what did we talk about? what did we laugh over? I love seeing her grow & learn new things almost every day. She's turning into such an independent little person. Although I miss my snugly little baby, I love watching this little girl interact, explore & discover.

I love seeing her play more, responding to things, and trying to figure things out...
...pointing to things and "asking" a question (like in the photo above)
...playing with her toy phone. She holds it up to her ear (usually buttons out) and always "says" the same thing (at least it sounds like the same word, something like "hiya"). She'll then give me the phone and want me to talk while she seems to study what I'm doing.
...unzipping her hooded sweatshirts and jackets and then trying so hard to put the zipper back together.
...knowing just what arm or leg to extend when getting dressed or undressed.
...understanding so many more words & directions. She knows most of her toys by name, knows what going to different rooms means, when it's time to eat, go to bed or take a nap, take a bath, go outside...
...laughs when she gets something she needs, like when putting on her sleepsack when she's especially tired or getting put in her highchair when she's hungry
...patting me on the back when I pick her up, like she's saying "hi mom, I'm glad your holding me"
...hugging her toys. She thinks giving Mommy a kiss means to snuggle in close.
...bringing book after book to me to read. She hands me the book and then backs-up towards me to plop down in my lap. If she doesn't want me to read to her, she'll pace around with the book, turning the pages, and "reading" out loud.
...playing chase. The faster she runs away, the higher her arms go up and the louder the giggles get. The best is when Daddy chases her, because then she always runs towards me and dives into my arms with lots of laughter.
...the sheer excitement of touching one of the cats (especially Lucy). Once in a while, one of them will get close enough to Emerson for long enough, that she'll get to "pet" them. She's SO careful about it, just touching with 1 finger.
...knowing when something that she's not suppose to have is accidentally left in reach. A good example of this is the t.v. remote. She'll look at it, and then watch you very carefully (almost as if to say, "do you realize that you left this in a place that I can get at it?") while she ever so slowly reaches for it.
...taking her medicine. Unfortunately, we had another recent bout with an ear infection. The last one, Emerson really resisted taking her medicine. So, this time we tried a different approach. We acted as Emerson's cheering section. Made medicine (which we call "sweetie medicine") sound like a treat she was getting, and cheered, jumped & clapped with every swallow. Emerson loved it! She took EVERY single dose so good!
...eating more and more new things. Although Em is still behind on eating, she is doing better with tyring more new things. We do a lot of cheering & clapping when Emerson eats well, too! So much, that sometimes when she takes a good bite of something, she'll clap for herself. She thinks when I say "good job" that it means to clap. And the things that she especially likes (like yogurt or graham crackers) she say "mmmmmm" after each bite.
...the made up words. What is it about adding the sound "ie" to so many words? Diaper becomes diapie and then there's blankie, snackie, sweetie (as in sweetie medicine), wipie, sockie.
...how much Em loves her Elmo. We're always talking about Elmo, or watching Elmo, or reading a book about Elmo. Elmo has become a big part of all our lives; so much , that I accidentally called Emerson Elmo the other day!

These are just a very few examples of all the things I love watching Emerson do and the joy I have in being her Mommy.