Looking Back... Emma is 23 Months Old!

As usual these days, I'm running late. Be it for class, park, or coffee... you can count on me to not be there on time. Usually it's about 10-15 minutes past.. or in the case of the monthly wrap up blog, 3-4 days at best. Or six. But fear not... I'm here. And hopefully still somewhat funny. Or if not, at least coherent.

Where to begin? Well, the big excitement this month has been Emma's remarkable improvement into 3, 4, and even FIVE word sentences!!! Like today, she looked at me at said, "What's going on here?"

Another one was, "Pick up Daddy from work." Well, it was more like, "Pick up Daddy fr'work," but still... you get the gist. (His car was in the shop and indeed, we were going to pick him up from work... how smart is she??!!) Speaking of his car being in the shop... know anyone interested in buying a '99 Mercedes SL 500 - Black on black, convertible, fully loaded, AMG sport pkg? I don't know if he is ready to part with it, but I sure as hell am!! With two children we hardly need TWO two-seaters!!! Ugh - men and their cars. I just don't get it.

Another good one is "Pick You Up?"
She means "pick me up" - she's just getting out of referring to herself in third person all the time, much like "Jimmy" on that Seinfeld episode way back when... You know it - "Jimmy has cool shoes", "Jimmy likes hot dogs", uh-huh. That being said, she's starting to make sense of her vocabulary - I, you, me, mine, yours, and so forth. She gets confused every so often, but personally I think it's pretty fantastic progress across the board. Clearly, I think this. I am her mother, after all. (But then again, Esther can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in its ENTIRETY - and she's a whopping six weeks YOUNGER than Emma. What gives??)

A cute vocabulary one is "Up Here" - for instance, if she's on the floor looking toward her bookshelf, and wants me to grab a specific book, she'll tell me it's "up here" (meaning "up there" on the shelf). It's slowly coming together... it is absolutely wild to watch her learning language, learning to communicate more and more effectively every day.

And still other notables are:
Wha Wa Dat?
What Doing?
Where You Mommy?"
Emma fall down
I fall down
Emma do that
I do it
Zackary where you
Mommy what doing
Efther all wet
Emma new shoes
Holy Moley
Oy vey
Oh my God
Michael choking
Needs new batteries
See ya later
Dora Uppy Down (upside down)

And my absolute favourite...
Whas goin on here??

This kid we call Emma is such a girl. And by girl I really mean SUCH A GIRL. She's now fully into picking out her own clothes. Everyday. Right down to her socks, shoes, jacket, and even her pajamas. The red ones generally win. Good thing I do laundry EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Sadly the pants are quickly becoming floods, but until I can find new red ones, I'm gonna keep shoving her too-long legs into these to avoid the disaster that will inevitably happen should they suddenly disappear without warning. Some things... just not worth it. She's also developing a terrific little sense of humour - like when she asks to wear her green socks or orange pajamas - knowing full well that she does not own green socks or orange pajajams. Like really - I'm gonna buy my kid GREEN socks? I think not. I've gotta tell you though, her colour coordination skills are questionable at best. But my god, she's determined. It's adorable, sure. But I can only imagine what people on the street must think of MY taste... but screw 'em all - she's not screaming.

She also doesn't leave the house without her purse. Or necklace. And her purse she now actually carries over her shoulder, rather than just around her neck like a saddlebag, which she's been doing up till now. Unless she's really tired, in which case around the neck is just easier. Fashion isn't ALWAYS everything, y'know. At least when it's not concerning footware. In which case...

A natural musician, I tell you... Martine gave her a guitar last month (did I mention that then?) and she LOVES it. Clearly, if she has any innate musical abilities in her, she got it from the Abray side.. This Jewish girl, after nine, yes NINE years of piano lessons, still can't play a flowing version of Greensleaves. But she's got a whole new appriciation for the instrument - the first night she got it, she & Jeff sat us till 11:00 PM having a jam session (he's not much better than she... - maybe they could take lessons together in a few years?). But they strummed away and made lots of noise and had an absolutely rockin' good time together. It was mighty adorable. And you should only see the way she looks at her music teacher now when he plays... like I said, a whole new appreciation.

I just hired him to play at her 2-year-old birthday party... It's November 5th. Watch for updates sometime around February at the rate I'm going...