Emerson: 13 Months

August 1, 2013

• You are wearing 12-month and 18-month clothing.
• You weighed 22 pounds at your 12-month (plus three weeks) check-up. You did well at this appt., and were far less upset by the doctor than before. Of course, you kept a very close eye on Mommy. You calmed very quickly after your shots, and had no side effects following your immunizations. 
• You started walking on our vacation to Colorado...and you haven't stopped since. You are on the go constantly, and you rarely revert to crawling. You are very steady now, and seem quite pleased with yourself at this new talent. It will serve you well!

• You hate bedtime. As we come inside after our nightly walk, you know what's coming and immediately start to cry. You scream through putting on your pajamas, brushing your teeth, (our attempt at) reading a bedtime story, and continue crying for anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes after you're in your crib. This behavior has rendered your evening bath rather unpleasant, so we've shifted that to every other afternoon (which you really delight in). Clearly, you just have too much fun each day to think well of ending it. Bless your heart, though, you are so tired at day's end, and once you let yourself rest...usually after tossing your blanket and babydoll overboard, you've been sleeping until 6:00 a.m. or so. 
• You occasionally wake-up around 3:00 a.m. and it's a toss-up whether you'll put yourself back to sleep or need "mama" to come check on you. You wake us up with a very desperate "ma-ma, ma-ma, ma-ma", and it's almost always impossible for me to ignore that plea.
• When asked a question ("what should we eat?"..."what would you like to wear?"..."what book will you choose?", etc.), you put your pointer finger to your lips as you say, "hmm". It's precious.
• You love to be a helper! You carried mailbox tags from Grandma to Mommy as we decorated Grandma's classroom...back and forth, proud of your delivery duty. You love to stand at the dryer and put in the wet clothes, one by one, as Mommy takes them out of the washer. Such a big girl.

• You've gotten to be around a couple of older girls a few times, and it's adorable watching you interact with them. You will have lots of friends someday!
• Your hair is getting so long! It lays nicely and is a beautiful shade of blonde. You will tolerate a barrette for a little while, but as soon as you discover that it's there, out it comes. So, you usually have long bangs in front of your eyes. It is what it is.
• Your laugh is the most precious sound, and I think you love to hear it as much we do.
• You love to give kisses, usually obliging when asked ("can you give Mommy a kiss?") and often offering them to loved ones without prompting. You are very affectionate and come up to Mommy several times a day to give hugs. There's nothing I love more.

• You are imitating lots of sounds these days. Words you don't know, animal noises...you're seeing what you can do!
• Your vocabulary has definitely expanded, and you are quite clear in expressing several words, including bubbles ("buh-bull") water ("wah-wah"), Royal ("Roh") mama, ("ma-ma") dada ("daa"), grandpa ("baa-ba"), and book ("buh"). 
• You love bubbles. You request them outside, point to them in the kitchen sink, and spot them in books. They're everywhere! 

• You've been taking a midday nap around 11:00 a.m., which allows us to run errands in the morning, when needed. You'll often fall asleep in the car on the way home, and will sometimes continue your snooze when carried inside to the couch. Sometimes.
• Now that you're walking, you are busy, busy, busy...on the go all the time. You have a very brief attention span, so we do a lot with ourselves through the day.
• We've made several visits to the zoo, which you really seem to enjoy. You're recognizing animals and enjoy the elephants, monkeys, and giraffes, especially.
• You love to smell (or, pretend to smell) flowers...outside, or if you see a flower in a book...sniff, sniff! I hope you always stop to smell the proverbial roses.
• For whatever reason, you always kiss bears. A teddy bear from your room, a picture of a bear in your book, the honey bear in the cabinet...all get a big smooch. Too cute.
• "What does a cow say?"..."Mooo"..."What does a puppy say?"..."woof, woof".

• It is very clear these days when you need to take care of your bathroom business. You've started to find a quiet place (usually)...and you squat...and get very red in the face. You seem to be recognizing what we mean when we say "poo"...and you definitely know what it means if something is "stinky, stinky!" You wave your hand in front of your face and wrinkle your nose. You're pretty adorable!
• You've begun to wander off by yourself in the house for brief periods of time. You're most bold in the morning, and while Mommy gets ready in the bathroom, you'll usually go to your room or play in the living room. It makes me happy that you know this is your home, that you're safe, and that I'm still close-by.

Emerson, you are an absolute joy.

I just love to be around you, and I'm so grateful that I get to be your mom. 

Thanks for being precious, wonderful you.