23 months old!

It's very hard to believe that Emma is 23 months old today!

As we've said before, Emma continues to amaze us.

- Her vocabulary and pronunciation continue to get better and better.

- She has definite opinions on what she eats and what she wears.
     - One week she insisted on wearing pink and only pink every day.
      -There have been several series of days that Emma will only eat one thing. I am pretty sure that she had mac and cheese every day for a week. This week, she has wanted pasta for dinner for the past 3 days!

- Generally, Emma is happy when Kurt drops her off at daycare which is a welcome change from when she was clinging to us like super glue and fussing every morning. She is doing great in the 2-year old room and participates in all the activities.

- Earlier this week, the 3 of us were at the grocery store and Kurt and I were debating between two items while walking down an aisle and Emma was having fun taking long strides between colored tiles and babbling. All of a sudden we realized that she was counting! She counted from 1 to 11 correctly! She continued on to at least 13, but wasn't able to pronounce them very distinctly at all.

-Emma has recently started addressing people while she is talking. For instance, if I'm helping her with breakfast when Kurt comes into the kitchen, she's look at him and say, "I'm having special K, (pause for effect) DAD!" Or in the car, I'll turn to look at her while we're at stop lights and she's point her finger at me and say, "Turn around, (pause for effect) MOM!" The pauses are hysterical! We'll have to try to get a video soon. When we were at Carrie's parents', Emma finished some grapes and asked for more. I told her she had had enough for the time being. She turned to Tricey (one of my parents' dogs) and said, "I need more grapes, DOG!" I asked if she thought Tricey was going to get her more grapes, she solemnly said, "I do." I laughed for quite a while over that one.
 
- Emma is starting to make more complex sentences. The other day we got home after work/school and our neighbor, Gabby, was outside playing. After I took our things inside, Emma and I went back out but Gabby had to go in to do some chores. Emma was dismayed. She said to me, "I need (to) see Abby." (Emma can't say the G-sound very well and calls Gabby Abby) This is one example, but I've noticed several other instances recently where she will use a compound verb where previously she would have just said, I need Gabby.