She loves making the rounds, chasing and petting our neighbors pets.  There’s Cash the lovable, very child-friendly bulldog next door, and “Lolly” (Lily), the very much so anti-children cat that runs every time she sees Em.  This does not stop Em, who gleefully engages in hot pursuit.

Language development-wise, she’s talking up a storm.  She repeats *everything* (oops) and constantly surprises me with words she’ll say when I least expect it.  The other day, she walked up to the fridge, pointed to her cousin’s photo and said “Ali.”  Granted, for months, Dan and I have pointed to Ali’s picture and said her name, but Em never repeated it. So for her to just nonchalantly point and say her cousin’s name was amazing.   Just today, I was reading a Sesame Street book to her and noted Zoe’s tutu while pointing out a gazillion things on the page.  Later in the evening as I opened another book, Em pointed and said “tutu.”  I’d had no idea she absorbed that, but she did.  It was one of those rare moments when I felt like “wow, maybe I’m doing okay at this mom thing…”

She’s also started asking “Wotsdis?”  Constantly.  Even after she’s named an object correctly, she will ask what it is.  It can get downright exhausting, but it also means she’s inquisitive and interactive.  You go, girl! Another great thing is that she’s become so much more affectionate, offering up kisses and asking for hugs.  She will even say “I luh you” (I love you).  My favorite of all time was “I luh you siwy mama” (I love you silly mama).

Her best new word of all has got to be “sahj” (the ssage part of “massage”), a word her dad originally used as a wee little one.  Dan’s mom started giving Em little massages, using Dan’s original pronunciation.    Em’s become a sahj queen, making demands and either pointing to or calling out the body part she wants massaged.  (ie: saaahj toes!)  It’s pretty damn cute.

Our biggest event this month was a long stint without daddy.  Dan spent two weeks in Denmark on business.  In the weeks leading up to his departure, I was in total dread, envisioning my daddy’s girl daughter losing her mind in sadness and/or anger.  To my surprise, it went really well.  We had a couple of rough patches the first two days when she awoke from her naps banshee screaming sobbing  for “Dada.”  But she quickly got used to the change, calling for “Mama” when she awoke in the morning.  I’m back to being mama mince meat now that daddy’s home.  When I went into get her yesterday, she said “NO! DADA!”  Little shit.

We used FaceTime to ease the distance, but it became an issue later on when Em started throwing tantrums when I didn’t let her hold the iPhone or iPad when talking to Dan.  (She had a tendency to press the “End” button).  The night he came home, she heard him at the backdoor, walked up to the baby gate and said “Hi dada!”  She was great, and while I could’ve done without the 4am wakeups she had during his absence, it was nowhere near the nightmare I’d envisioned.

To compensate for his absence, she took a strong liking to her Elmo and Foofa dolls.  She started amassing a large menagerie of toys she insisted on having in her crib.  I had to put the kibosh on many of them as she’d awake in the middle of the night having rolled over one or five of them, scream “NIGH NIGH!” and go right back to sleep. Her mom took a lot longer to get back to sleep after these sudden wakings.  She’s down to a Foofa, Toodee and blanket.

As I type this, I can hear her sawing logs on the video monitor.  I took her to the doctor on Friday with a fever and clear congestion.  After a quick ear check and flu swab, the doctor diagnosed her with a normal cold.  Her snot went from yellow to green tonight, so I’m worried she’s getting worse.  By day 5, her congestion should be easing up and not getting heavier.  I’m crossing my fingers she gets well soon or else she’s going to have 3 doctor’s appointments in a matter of 10 days and that will make her one unhappy camper.

And it’ll render her pediatrician deaf for days.