10 Months

Emery will be one year old in two months. Simple math, I know, but somehow it just doesn't seem to add up for me. We just brought her home: such a tiny little thing. As tiny as a chunky nine pound baby can be, of course. More staggering is that big kid behind her is going to be four next week. That just knocks the wind out of me entirely. Four! I remember walking through the door from the hospital with him like it was yesterday. Back when our big concern was helping Boudreaux adjust to having a sibling. And now we've helped that four year old adjust to being a sibling himself. Wow.

Emery is the sunshine in our house. She wakes up happy and radiates joy and love all day long. Except when Alastair steals her toys, but hey, a woman has got to be able to defend herself and when you're only 10 months old, crying is about the only defense. She even knows to look for me when Alastair comes over to play. Such a smart little cookie she is, making sure I'm going to witness whatever is about to transpire.

Em's up to eight full teeth now and she's earned her own little pink toothbrush. In the last month, she has learned to clap and is starting to wave at Kim when I am holding her. She has communicated "more" in sign language twice this week at dinner and although it looked more like a clap, "more" was clearly the intention. And in crawling news, Emery is now both a "belly off the ground crawler" (Alastair's term) and a "belly on the ground crawler." Whenever she is on a hard surface or in the tub, she crawls on her knees, but for speed she prefers to drop to her elbows and knees/toes. Slithering like a snake across the floor, she is surprisingly fast. One has to be in order to grab something before a vigilant sibling can intercept.

Emery's favorite toys are stacking cups which she still loves to clack together. She also enjoys rolling cars back and forth and the occasional dump truck, if she can get her hands on it. I hear heads shaking all over the blogsphere at our poor daughter who only plays with boy toys. For the moment though, all she wants is whatever Alastair has. The Cozy Coupe is still a big hit and our new (again) toy is the playhouse/doorway that Alastair got when he turned one. She loves to put a block or car in the mailbox, close the door, then take it out. Great fun.

To placate those that think she will turn out to be a total tomboy herself (and what would be so wrong with that?) I give you this. Pigtails. Even Alastair was excited about the "piggy tails" and none of us could stop giggling as long as she left them in, which was considerably longer than bows. As for the latter, she will now crawl over to other babies to pull bows out of their hair. Emery: bow rights activist.

Pigtails!