The latest amazing developments

Emily is a fantastic little puzzler now! Two weeks ago, she was only able to put pieces back if she had just taken them out, but now she'll dump out a whole puzzle, orient the pieces correctly in her hands, find where they go, and get them into place. It's pretty crazy to have watched her learn how to do that. And to realize how much vocabulary comes along with it. My favorite is the high-pitched and enthusiastic "CHOO CHOOOO!" that comes when she puts the train engine into place. She is getting more communicative now, too, using words like Shoes, Juice, and Choo choo (all of which require adorable little lips sticking way far out), Blanket (sounds like of like tay-teh), Mmmmmmoo for moon, Truck, and of course Tractor!

In case it sounds like we're pushing the trucks and tractors on her, check out the video of her playing with her dolls. Precious! This weekend, she figured out how to make her little walker into a baby stroller. It's pretty creative, and I snagged a picture of it today (I'll post it soon). She figured that out while her Grandma J was watching her on Saturday and the rest of us were doing BRR ride. Everybody had a great day that day - I enjoyed the exercise and socializing, and Emily had a fantastic time with Grandma. We both seem to have come down with a cold since then, though, which is disappointing. We did so well the rest of the winter to avoid getting sick, and considering what a pathetic sick person I am, I suppose that's for the best!

Emily has one other new trick I'll mention - going limp in protest! She has yet to do it in public, but she's already decided that if I want her to go one direction (such as, NOT into the street), she can turn herself into dead weight and really throw me off. It seems that toddlers don't have to obey Newton's laws about conservation of mass, because I'd swear she gains 10 pounds when she does that. I also thought she was supposed to be 2 before she started testing me like that, right?

I've also determined that Emily is not a morning person. She still gets up at around 7 every day, but she likes to snuggle and take her time to get going, and even then her happy perkiness only lasts until about 10:00. Then, if there's nothing more interesting than just hanging out with me, she gets whiney and cranky and sometimes snoozes a little. Then she's happy for the rest of the day, generally, unless she's not eating dinner by 6:15 in which case she transforms back into the whiney cranky girl from that morning, who wants nothing more than to be "Bup" in my arms while I'm trying to use both hands. I've tried giving her juice or a banana for a little sugar boost in the morning, but she's never really interested, which is strange because she eats and eats and eats during any other time of day that she's presented with food. Maybe I'll just have to be more interesting to be around, I guess. My life story. :)