baby steps

Emily just keeps doing new things. A few days ago she actually stood up by herself for a few seconds (both hands were busy holding something).

She also started saying "please" (well, the clap-your-hands sign for please) when she wants something. It started as just "please" for "I want a drink" and has expanded, today, to "please" meaning "more of what we were just doing", like "more tickles".

Today she successfully got herself OFF the Vitalizer (exercise trampoline) by getting on her stomach and backing up - without my doing or saying anything to prompt it. She likes to get on there and try to bounce herself up and down while she's sitting on it.

Her first "words" were not mama, dada - but "ta, ta" while pointing at something she wasn't to touch, meaning "don't touch!" Now she says "nyoh, nyoh" or "noh, noh" when pointing and things she knows not to touch (though she often goes ahead and touches them anyway).

She likes to wander down the hall into Katherine's room to wake her up from a nap (to Katherine's, and sometimes Mommy's, chagrin). She loves her big sister!

She likes to make a mess too. To take the clean clothes out of the laundry basket and toss them on the floor one by one. Or pull everything off the little table next to the couch (needless to say, we don't leave much on there on a regular basis).

She keeps being able to reach higher and higher to grab magnets off the fridge - especially Katherine's foam letter magnets, which if Emily gets, she loves to put in her mouth and "gum" them for awhile, till Mommy notices and fishes them out.

"Babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow..." yet at the same time, it would be more sorrowful if they didn't progress in ability. So thank you, Lord, for normalcy, and for a fun little girl who is growing so fast!