Emma, and my own silly hormones

Emma is 22 months old now. Folks, she's almost TWO. Talk about mind blowing.

I know I haven't really written about her, except briefly, in the last few months. Here's what has been going down in her life.

A few weeks ago, she had to have surgery. She had been sick all summer, and got UTIs and Kidney infections on what seemed like a weekly or biweekly cycle. Her surgery fixed that, and in the month and a half since that happened, she has gained a ton of weight (Oomph!) and is doing SO well.

I see her twice a week at least, though recently it's been more like three or four times (very busy parents!) and every time I see her, I swear she's bigger, smarter, more adorable. I can't imagine life without her these days. School is so stressful that escaping to her house to play with her is sometimes all I can look forward to in the day. That's not to say that I am absolutely miserable in school - far from it. But the brief break from the monotonous, unending cycle of reading, studying, and writing papers is a welcome one.

In the last few months, Emma has become so much more vocal. Previously, the easiest way to understand what she wanted was to let her point to it. The daycare she goes to taught her some sign language (for food-related words: milk, water, more, please, finished, etc.) and so at mealtimes it was easy to understand what she wanted. Other than that, it's good old trial and error. But with her ever-expanding vocabulary, it becomes clearer and clearer to me exactly what she wants. What is even more astounding to me is that she understands me perfectly. When I tell her to stay put, she stays. When I ask her if her diaper is dirty, she responds. When I ask her what sounds a duck makes, she tells me. Obviously, I know that she can understand me, but it never fails to astound me.

She is learning how to string words together to make sentences. She is a little chatterbox, and sees fit to inform me (or anyone!) exactly what is going on in her little brain and in her world. She adores her little baby dolls, and when she puts them in the toy crib, she says to me, "Baby sleep!" When I take her to the playground, she climbs all over the structures and tells me what color everything is. "Blue wall!" When she is hungry, she will climb into my lap, get right in my face, and tell me, "Eat now!" When she wants me to follow her, she'll say, "Come on!"

When I started looking after her when she was a teeny little four month old baby, I never expected that I would find such delight in her; how she grows, how she learns, how she loves. I adore her. I love her. Her little baby hormones work on my little baby-wanting and baby-loving hormones and trick me into thinking that I am her mother, too. Recently I have realized that these tricky little hormones have been telling me they want ANOTHER baby to look after. This is a particularly strange revelation to come to, especially considering that I am absolutely NOT her mother. But my body and my brain are both telling me very different things. Brain knows I am too young and still in school. Body thinks I should go out, find a man, and start poppin' em out. (P.S. Mom? I promise I will give you a few grandchildren. In the future. As in not soon.) Brain wins this round, but that doesn't stop Body from reminding me how adorable babies are and how good they smell.

Silly hormones.

More on Emma some other time. :)