The Incredible Emma, part 2

Emma has so many new skills! All of a sudden, she's busy learning and doing all kinds of new things. It's a total blast for me, and she seems to be enjoying all of her new activities, too. Where to begin???

• Emma loves to clean up after herself. She will intentionally shake milk out of her sippy cup, then go into the kitchen to get a towel and clean up her mess. She does this over and over again, and has a blast!
• She can feed herself with a fork and a spoon. She can even stick peas with her fork! That's tough for some adults (including me, occasionally), but she is super-patient and works at it until she does it. Of course, then she applauds for herself and her food usually falls off the fork, but we won't count that! :)
• She loves to run back and forth through the house. She'll run through the entryway and into the family room, stop to pant dramatically, then turn around and run back. It's maybe 20 feet or so each way, and she does this over and over again.
• She has definite ideas on what she wants to wear. Today, after I went to school, Grammy was getting her dressed. She got out an adorable outfit with tigers on it that Ginni Dreier got for Emma at the Santa Barbara Zoo, but Emma said, "No!" and pushed it away. Instead, Emma wanted to wear the star pajamas that Grammy made for her. She didn't care that she had to pull them out of the dirty clothes, she wanted her "staaaahhhhh" (as Emma says it) jammies. Finally, she compromised and put on her sweatshirt with a star on it. It had to be a star, though!
• She knows how to throw things away, and will go to the kitchen, open the cupboard, pull out the trash can, throw away her trash, push the trash can back in, and close the cupboard. In fact, closing cupboards has become her goal in life. She goes around the house making sure all doors and cupboards that are supposed to be closed are, in fact, shut tight.
• She also can point out most of the letters in the alphabet when asked to do so. She doesn't say all her letters, and many of them sound the same, but ask her just about any letter and she'll point to it.

See?! I'm totally floored over just how many new things my little girl can suddenly do. Like I said, she's incredible!!

Parenting her, by the way, is an absolute joy. She's got a great temperament, and has a fun sense of humor. She loves to laugh and make jokes, and when someone else gets a laugh, she'll try and repeat whatever that person said so she can make people laugh, too. She is extremely affectionate, and loves to give hugs and kisses. And, lately, she's started rubbing backs and arms when she hugs, imitating how she gets her back rubbed while being held. It's extraordinary how children imitate, and though we often say things about how we have to watch what we say for fear of them shouting out a profanity or something similarly inappropriate, there are also these really sweet imitations that they do, like the backrubbing that Emma has started doing.

Being her mama is just about the coolest thing ever!!!!