I still haven’t had a chance to do our annual Fall leaves photo shoot, too!

Ah well, Emma loves the snow!

My bald little baby with a toothless grin has been replaced by a fearless, independent, and amazing little girl who knows what she wants, when she wants it.

For example, she loves pants over dresses — though occasionally I’ll win out and she’ll wear one of her dresses in her closet.

These days I’m continually amazed at the words that will pop out of her mouth (along with a few I cringe at — let the mama-censoring begin!).

She’s empathetic and kind, and is fast with her hugs and kisses — and yet is extremely silly when she emphatically wipes away the kisses you give her.

She’s musical, and will sing along with anything on the radio, but has a special affection for the Winnipeg band The Duhks and Ingrid Michaelson’s “Be Okay” song.

She loves her baby “MaryAnne” (named after the Leonard Cohen song she sings along to), and oftentimes I’ll find random baby dolls and stuffed animals tucked in, complete with covers and kisses, all over the house.

She loves talking to her Diva and Poppa on all her toy phones, and has even started tucking the phone into her shoulder when she talks, just like her mama.

She adores her best friend Jack, along with his little brother “baby Jimmy.” Oftentimes she’ll run down the list of her daycare friends with me, and never cries when we drop her off — but the BEST part is picking her up at the end of the day.

I love watching her run up and down the hallways of my work — she owns that Engineering building, and even now I have a hard time imagining her being old enough to be a student there someday.

She’s so silly and giggles more than she tantrums.

She’s mama’s helper — even when her “help” really isn’t.

Other than brussell sprouts, there’s not a veggie she won’t eat, and her favorite breakfast is pancakes and eggs.

And that’s just a small little glimpse of the amazing person this little girl is. While at times parenting can be exhausting and overwhelming, I would never trade in the experiences I’ve had with my Emma girl.

Here’s hoping it won’t be another 6 months before giving the Internets a glimpse of where Emma is at these days!

What do you think?

Oscar and Emma, originally uploaded by Momma B.

The impossibly-hard-to-take picture of the two cousins — it didn’t turn out so bad, after all!

Checkin’ out the cake:

Present time!

Let’s see if we can recap the last month or so.

• Emma’s adding more words to her vocabulary. My favorite is when she proclaims “thee end” at the end of a book.
• I never became so interested in bodily functions until I had a kid. Emma pooped in the potty the other day. I think it was a bit of a fluke, but it’s still a start.
• She’s discovered the joys of drumming and xylophones — so be forewarned, should you come visit.
• Emma is still absolutely obsessed with Blue’s Clues. Actually, a guy at my office looks a little like Steve, and you should see how much Emma flirts with him! (it’s too cute. When we left my office one afternoon, she looked at him and said, “bye, Blue.”)
• My little one is developing nudist tendencies, right in the midst of outside being -40. She loves to take off her pajamas and walk around in just her diaper. I suppose this is an improvement from her earlier tendency to pull down her pants and walk around with them around her ankles.
• Emma loves family hugs — it’s rare she’ll let Jerry and I hug by ourselves.
• She LOVES mandarin oranges. In fact, she can peel them herself these days!
• Homegirl HATES scarfs. That is all.
• She’s counting, in her own way. We’ve been working on her showing 2 fingers for her second birthday next month.
• Her favorite song these days is “the itsy-bitsy spider.” She does the finger movements and everything!
• We have had a second episode with a tub of Vaseline. Yuck.
• Emma has her own language, which Jerry and I can translate fairly well.
• She’s starting to have a new awareness of herself, and loves to look at and point out pictures of herself on our walls.
• We’re getting her to say “ho ho ho” in light of the holiday season — yet she’s still not much of a performer on command (that stubbornness is from her dad!)