eleven months of Emerson

Emerson turned eleven-months-old on Friday. ONLY ONE MORE MONTH OF BEING THE MOTHER TO A 0-YEAR-OLD. How did this happen?! The past year was the fastest year of my life—a blur of labor pains and first kisses, nursing a total of one zillion hours and changing a total of one zillion diapers, cuddles and maturing cries, so many firsts followed by so many lasts, laughing and dancing, family hugs and a family bed, vacations and milestones. It was the most significant year of my life and I barely ever left the house or changed out of my yoga pants. 

I am so excited to be exactly where I am with Emerson right now—her personality, her quirks, her abilities and limitations, her developmental stage. Yet. I want to hold on so tightly to everything that came before today. I don't want it to disappear into the abyss of "so long ago I can't quite remember the details." I want to somehow figure out how to live in the past, present and future simultaneously.

So much is changing around here. And that's the exciting part. Emerson seems to develop new skills and her face seems to change in appearance every day now. She is fascinated with how things work, and intense in her field work on the subject. She's been playing with our large supply of spice jars for months, mostly just pulling them all out of the cabinet, chewing on them, and hiding them in various secret locations throughout the kitchen. But, a few weeks ago she sat on the floor for forty-five minutes until she mastered unscrewing the lid and then screwing it back on. That might not alarm anyone else, but as her mama, it blew my mind. How can a baby unscrew a lid?! Needless to say, I had to put a child lock on the spice cabinet shortly thereafter. Bottle of bright yellow turmeric one, previously white infant-sized sweatshirt, zero.

Emerson is also very interested in where things go. She spends most of her day opening and closing drawers, pulling out the contents, putting the contents back in, finding new locations for the contents, etc. My bedroom floor is a constant disaster now as she delights in emptying all of my clothing drawers. She also enjoys an empty drawer (or box or cabinet or shelf) as a place to climb inside and sit, or to use as a booster to climb up a piece of furniture. Bookcases are also good. In her world, they are simply ladders to climb.

She can also unpack a box of tissues in under three minutes.

Emerson also seems very interested in all things "girly" at the moment. In many ways she is very rough and tumble so it seems quite possible that we have a tomboy on our hands. But, she also spends all her time with me (and apparently I am quite girly). She loves to watch me do my hair, and will pretend to do her own. And she just recently became obsessed with pulling my hair elastics out of my hair and trying to put them back in, which she obviously cannot, so she eventually ends up hanging them on my ears or nose. 

Hair products….yay.

Also, she loves to play with and admire clothes. She will put different outfits together on the floor, and tries to put them on herself. It's pretty adorable in my eyes, but frightens Alex (who would rather not have another clotheshorse living in this house).

Emerson has been taking steps, but seems to be in no hurry to master walking. She took a few steps a couple months back, and then seemed upset by it and became very clingy. She wasn't ready, so she stopped. But, she's back to taking a step or two at a time a few times a day. Still, it seems like she's taking her time and not anywhere close to running laps around the house (thank goodness!). 

We took Emerson to a children's museum a few weeks back and she was very interested in the older kids, mainly the older boys. She doesn't see much of the male gender, old or young, in her daily life. So, she was fascinated by how boisterous and physical the crowd of boys were in the museum's "building room." She sat observing them for a little while, then couldn't see why she couldn't join them. 

So, she crawled right in the middle of their intense building session and proceeded to jump up and down and scream until the noticed her. The boys (and Alex and I) all laughed at her call to be included, but I also felt so proud of her in that moment. I was totally thinking "rock on, sister!" Emerson has a very distinct presence of confidence, leadership and entertainment. She always seems to end up center stage. I'm so curious to see where that takes her in life…

Well, this is my final "monthly update" post before the big NUMERO UNO. And then what? There will be many more changes ahead, I suppose. Changes in Emerson that I can't quite wrap my mind around yet. And changes in my blog. Yes, there are some new blog surprises on the horizon….