At 14 months, Emma has so many more tricks to talk about!
Everyday there is something new, it's hard to keep up.
Emma has become more talkative, more energetic, more demanding, more expressive.
She's always wanting what she can't have, and I feel like I'm forever saying, "No", "No", "No"!
We do try other ways of saying No, but "No!" comes easiest.
She definitely knows when she's doing something wrong, and for most of the time she listens to me, but every now and again she likes to test her and my boundaries.
Her new thing now is when I ask her to laugh, she'll say "Ha Ha". Which is the same "Ha Ha" she'll use to make for the sound of a Hyena.
Talking about animal sounds, Emma has become pretty good as this, she knows the sounds of a dog (woof), duck (went from quaa, to now clicking of her tongue), monkey (aah, aah), cow (went from moo to boo), sheep (baa), goat (baa), fish (sound with her lips), pig (grrrr, trying to make the snorting sound), owl (hoo hoo), elephant (she makes the sound and lifts her arm to make a trunk), chicken (also clicking of tongue), snake (sssss), she's learning bird, some other animals its more action than sound, so for butterfly she lifts both her arms trying to flap, a penguin she'll shake her body side to side for waddle,waddle, waddle, chameleon she'll smack her lips together and for a spider she'll raise both her hands in the air, making like she's singing itsy bitsy spider. There are moments of progression and then regression, you and wonder whats going on.
She's defintiely trying to say words that we say, like flower, dirty, bye, hi, door, when I say up she says down, two, shoes, cheerios, nai nai (for milk), cheers, diaper, the other day I said something was disgusting, and I heard this little voice saying it back to me. Too funny.
Other learning milstones, since about 6 months I've been using a bit of sign language to help Emma communicate with us, signs like, more, please, help, upstairs, thank you, all done, eat, stop. Emma is using her signs alot more these days, and it definitely helps us understand what she wants, for the most part.
We've tried to signal sleep, but instead when its time for nap or sleep, she'll snore, whatever works!
Today we were watching Timmy Time, it's a show on Disney Channel about this little sheep and what he gets up to, no voices, just movement and animals sounds, Baa being the one used most. For the first time today Emma was watching and when there was a funny part she laughed. Rod says she's just like her mother, cos the part when she laughed was when the sheep slipped and fell. I wonder if she really understood what was going on, or just coincidence. Can't believe how our little girl is growing up, never thought I'd see my baby standing and resting against the sofa or ottoman, taking sips at her water, placing it on the tray, so adult like. Growing way too fast.
We're reaching that point now where Emma actually understands what we say to her, can follow instructions, and takes things in when things are being explained to her. So when we say something we really have to mean it and stick to it. For example, if I ask her if she wants to go to the park, she'll quickly stop what she's doing, crawl toward me and cling to me like a monkey. On Monday Amy and I took the girls to music class, we thought we'd let the girls play a bit before heading out. Well I told Emma we were going to Ella, I tried to put her in her carseat, but Emma kicked up a fuss. She started pointing at her stroller. Now usually when we go visit Amy and Ella we always use the stroller, so I guess Emma couldn't understand why we were going in the car. I had to explain to her that we had music class to go to, but were going to play at Ella first, so needed to use the car, well after that was all explained, Emma didn't resist going into her seat, and when we arrived at Ella's, well Emma was squealing with delight.
Every time she sees Ella it's a huge highlight of her day, so sweet watching them wave and squeal at each other, hug each other and then talk while playing, copying sounds. With the aid of each other, they've both become so brave on the slide, going up and down on their own. The slide in our neighborhood have just a few steps to crawl up and then a short slide down. Em is so funny as she'll sit in the middle of the platform and start scooting.....mom gets a little inpatient and will help the process by pushing from behind. the expression on her face coming down, priceless, thats Emma's expression, not mine, haha!
Emma continues to take a few steps at a time, tries to find her balance, walks another step, then thud, she falls. We're just waiting for the day she'll just take off. Her confidence is growing more and more.
As Emma continues to "talk", we can't wait to hear what kind of accent she'll have. With her being home with me, and not in daycare, will she have the South African twang, or America twang?
This coming month we have some fun things to look forward to, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Not sure yet what we're doing for Thanksgiving, but I know it'll include lots of eating.....for Halloween, we're having a little party for the babies, we get to dress them all up and take tons of pics!
I can carry on and on with more of Emma's getting up to's but best I end off her, instead of leaving my child to entertain herself. 14 months already....just last night I was trying to remember Emma when she was 4 months old, kind of hard to remember, time just goes by too quickly...I say that all the time...Motherhood and Parenthood continues to be filled with so much joy and excitement, along with the testing moments and challenges, amazing how those "bad moments" are soon forgotten when your little one does something new, or comes to you for comfort and wants to give you hugs and kisses without having to ask them.
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