i guess it’s time for an update on emma since soon, next week, she’ll be turning O-N-E !!

the year seems to have gone by faster than a falling star. The quadrantids and geminids have all passed and she has grown from 5’11 lbs. to 19lbs, with a smile that melts any anger, and with a contagious laugh that brings wonder. despite the hardships that come with parenting, there’s immense joy in every day, even though you’ve seen her smile a thousand times, or stared into her changing eyes that sometimes don’t seem to change at all. there’s always a newness to everything familiar about her. there are things she’s continued to do with each passing month, things so mundane and ordinary, that still grasp you into amazement…things like her voice…like a certain syllable she’s mastered…something so ordinary as her voice. there are times i catch myself stopping to think about what she must be saying, or what her voice will sound like when she learns to put sounds together and form a coherent idea.

lovable girl
she learned how to ‘kiss’ when she was around 8 months, but she’s learned what a kiss can do around 10 months. she knows a kiss can heal and is a sign of affection. for example, when she feels sleepy and i’m next to her, she’ll climb up and stand next to me, drawing her head to bow near mine, and offer a kiss before she climbs down again to sleep.

also, she has two best friends: Frog Prince and Penelope cochon (a frog and a pig) who she kisses every time she sees them. It’s also imperative for me to love them equally as she does, so she offers them up for me to kiss after she’s given her own affection.

emma also loves to kiss photos…esp. photos of those she knows, photos of herself, and photos of fellow babies. i believe she kisses other babies because she probably feels they may need love too, seeing grown ups may not understand them as well as she empathically does, which is completely understandable and quite admirable.

so musical
emma is so attuned to music, but is ambivalently a critic. when she hears a song from the tele or radio, she stands up and does her own version of dancing, always with a smile, and always looking for affirmation from those around her. she also has favorite songs, songs that can always without fail capture her attention or catalyze her giggles. her favorites include her favorite artist, and Noggin’s Moose a. Moose Critters song, as well as her unashamed preference to Black Eyed Peas “My Humps.” during car rides, we use music to pacify her. also, she has this play house that has her own little radio that she knows how to work, so she often presses its buttons when she craves some music or the alphabet to dance to. you can’t really blame her; the alphabet has a hot tune and catchy rhythm. i believe that is why every child learns it so easily, which makes me wonder if the person who wrote the tune got any money from such brilliance.

sharing is caring
lastly, emma is one of the most caring/sharing people i know. it amazes me because i know children get very selfish over possessions, but she understands what “give” means, and usually complies to those commands to share. when someone says “give,” she will give whatever she’s holding to the desired party. sometimes, she will even give without being told. for example, yesterday at church, she kept giving this girl who sat next to us, pieces of paper from the program. there were a couple of inserts and she would hand them to the girl one by one until perze’s hands were emptied. emma would have given perze’s watch to her if she could.

also, we sometimes give her water pops when it gets hot. she loves sucking on them for a little while. then she looks at us and probably thinks we would definitely need to taste ice so she offers us her popsicle, alternating between her dad, herself, and me. she does the same thing with her baby snacks. for example, she’d pick a few cheese goldfish crackers up, eat one, then feed the rest to us…it’s endearing.

i guess this is it for now…she’s a funny girl. not so much funny strange…more funny ha-ha…