Dearest Emmie,

You are such a sweet thing. You, we, everyone was sick for most of this month, yet you still were such a darling through it all. From taking a flight halfway across the country with an ear infection, to potty training yourself during the stomach flu (I KNOW), you’ve been a trouper.

I guess the big news this month is the potty training! I’ve already written about it elsewhere, but needless to say, this was big, big news in these parts. 

You’ve continued to slowly add more words to your repertoire, but I still rely a lot on your signs and context to understand what you are saying. That said, you can communicate your meaning quite clearly, even if the words aren’t clear!

We took a trip to the Carolinas to visit beloved family and friends and it was so very much fun to see you warm up to new people. Within the past few months, your personality has shifted a fair bit. Before, you used to be very standoffish with new people and would need at least 20 minutes watching from mama’s lap before you could even think of interacting. Now, while you still may not warm up immediately, you do so much more quickly and your attachments are much deeper.

However, if that “stranger” is an animal? Holy smokes, you are instantly smitten. We met Daisy (dog) and Cairo (cat) on the trip, and while you absolutely loved your great-fairy-godmother, Pat, and Uncle John, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Sasha, and Aunt Hailey, no one could hold a candle to that dog or cat. Even as we drove away from Pat’s house, you kept saying “Deezee? Home?” because you wanted to go back to “Daisy’ house.” You kept trying to give hugs to both the dog and the cat, neither of whom were really sure what to do with you. Happily, you were content to give long-distance hugs, where you just held out your arms to the side and kind of leaned your chest and cheek in toward them (even though they were a good 2-3 feet away). Adorable, and safe for all involved. Win!

You started doing puzzles this month, and got surprisingly good at them quite fast. It never ceases to amaze me how the baby/toddler brain will simply not do something until it’s somehow magically ready, and then can do that thing in spades. You’ve always been good at fine motor things, and we were even asked at your 12 month eval if you were doing puzzles yet, but at that point, the answer was resoundingly “no.” You couldn’t even match the pictures to each other. Then one day, you were playing witha 9 piece shape puzzle with GiGi, and before I knew it, you had put every piece in the exact right place without her help at all. Soon, you were completing really hard puzzles, ones that I even had to take a second to match the right pieces. And within a few weeks, you were able to identify pieces from the back, without any pictures, just a vague shape. Honestly, I had a hard time doing that.

Favorite things: Animals; having a “purse” of your own; walking around and around the “loop” in our house; birds; Jasper, or “Dog,” as you call him; dumping out ALL the puzzles (8+), then putting them all back together again; reading “If You Give a Moose a Muffin,” “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” and “If You Take a Mouse to School”; talking on the phone; Skyping with grandparents; “Row, row, row” (we can’t sing any other songs now); smiling the cheesiest smile ever and saying “cheese” whenever a camera or phone is in your vicinity; walking around dragging bags; wearing a backpack; putting things in a bag and dragging them around.

Things you got from your Dada: incredible visual-spatial skills; amazing memory (especially for where things are); your beautiful coloring & blue eyes; your need for order.

Things you got from your Mama: At this point, almost the only thing I can see is the little blip of hazel in your right eye. Everything else seems to be pure Dada right now.

I love you so much, you crazy, sweet, pirate of a girl.

I love you, always and forever,

Your Mama