Looking Back... Emma is 16 Months Old!

Emma has a new favourite game. It's simple, it's fun, everyone can play it, and it's called "BOO!" It started when she figured out how to put her hands in front of her face and, because she can't say "Peek-A-Boo" shortened it to just "BOO!". After doing that for what seemed like hours on end, it moved to running down the hallway on our main floor and when one of us would hit a corner, yelled out 'BOO' with the intent of scaring the other. Usually it's Emma who gets scared... but sometimes she can sneak up behind me, and well... since I gave birth to her I've had this incontinence thing... but I guess that's another blog entirely. Just don't make me laugh too hard.. Anyhow, when you succeed in scaring her, she laughs hysterically. It's so fun... I'm gonna miss this age much much much!

What I'm not going to miss, however, is the early tee-up to the terrible two's. Uh-huh. The temper tantrums have started. God help us. Acrhed back, stiffened body, clenched fists. The screaming. And the tears. Oh God, the tears. And when she throws herself on the floor, the fun really begins. And the kid has stamina. She can go on & on. 15, 20 minutes... easy. Fortunately so far this has only happened at home, but it's quickly becoming a daily occurance. My child is the devil. Really - you should see the look she gets in her beat red little face - eyes crossed, veins pulsating, lips pursed. I'm her mother, and if I'm telling you it's ugly... well, believe me. Bitchy Angry Emma is no joy... I'm just waiting for it to hit at Loblaws. Any day now... any day.

Understands, and loves, the word "MINE". Scarily enough, she believes all the wallets in the world are hers and hers alone. She truly is my kid.

I'm really going to miss her full-bodied excitement whenever she sees a dog. Be it in real life, on TV, in a book, or even a cartoon version. Her shrieking of "WOW WOW" is so all consuming, it truly takes over her entire being. How wonderful that something we all take for granted, like seeing a dog walking in the park, she looks at as so fantastically spectacular. Enough to yell out for the entire world to hear. When you even mention "Nacoma" to her (my mother's dog), she'll run to our front door and bark her little head off, like if she calls for him, he's going to come barreling through any second.

This month Emma has finally taken a shine to reading. And, like everything else in her little world, she's quite particular about which books she likes, and which ones she doesn't. Then there is the whole stack of books that she's grown sick of. And here I thought kids thrived on repitition. (Perhaps I need to read more books...) In any case, Emma is good for anywhere between a week to a month with any given title, then when I go to pull it out, she just slams the cover shut with a "DONE". Clearly not many words are required in a person's vocabularly to get their point across.

She actually ages to bed every night with a book. This weeks book of choice is "Tails". So long as there as textures, flaps, or pull-outs she all over it.

Has done away with her high-chair. High-chairs are for babies. NOT big girls. Big girls sit on booster seats, or on their daddy's lap. And sometimes on the kitchen floor. Hey... whatever works. Don't judge me.

Her communication skills are steadily improving...
"Hi" is now sometimes replaced with "High-Lowwww" (Yeah, too cute. I know.)
"Door" has been added to her reportoire. Similar to the phone ringing, and she announces "FONE!", whenever she hears a sound coming from outside she lets you know... "DORE"!
We think she actually strung her first two words together the other day... Jeff & I were both witness to this, so you can't say I'm just a wacko mother, but I swear she said "All Done!" when she finished her bottle. "Done" has been part of her vocabulary for awhile now, but "All Done", this was new! Granted, she hasn't said it again, so maybe it never really happened in the first place...

Much to my chagrin, and sadly in large part because of me, Emma loves TV. French fries too, but once again that's another blog altogether. In the morning I let her watch Dora and/or Baby Einstein while I get ready (it's the only thing that keeps her content - otherwise I'd leave the house looking like the woman in art class that I make fun of - the one who is so frumpy that I didn't know she was pregnant, thought she was just frumpy.) And if that's the price Emma has to pay so I can leave home looking half way decent, so be it. The kid will be a TV junkie. Sorry... but some things are important. Mama needs her mascara. But back to the story. She understands that the remotes change the channels. And if she's not happy with what's on, she'll be the first to take your take and actually put the remote in it. Just her subtle way of saying "Change the damn channel already." And tonight, she was sitting on the sofa with Jeff watching the small screen, was sick of his show, took the remote, and said "Bye-Bye" to the show! And with each channel he flipped through she waved it "bye-bye" as she welcomed the next one in line. How ridiculously cute is my kid?

Cute when she's not acting like satan's spawn that is.