Butterflies and Hair Bows: Emily at 17 Months Old

Our little girl is becoming better at communicating with mommy and daddy and letting us know what she is feeling or wanting. Baby sign language has helped so much in trying to figure out what Emily needs at any given time. Not only is she using the sign language but also trying to say what the gesture means. When she is all done with food, she will make the sign and then try and say "all done". She is also great at pointing at what she wants and trying to say the name of the object. The names are not clear yet but you can decipher what it is she wants, which is very exciting for us. Brian alone jumps up and down when he can understand what Emily is saying to him.

Emily is learning new songs at school and the names and sounds of animals. Her teachers tell me that she is very observant and will interact with them when trying to teach new subjects even when her other peers do not. Emily suprises me all the time with things she learns at school. When asked, she can now make an elephant sound and raise her arm like a trunk, wiggle her hands in a slithering motion and make a sound like a snake, and rub her belly and scratch her head while making a sounds like a monkey. She also interacts with her peers at school very well and has become well adjusted to her teachers and classroon which worries me because she will be moving up to a nwe classroom with new teachers within the next couple of months.

Aside from new things learned at school, Emily has become increasingly more aware of Avery being apart of our family and being her sister. Every morning when Emily hears Avery's cries or squeaks she looks at me and says "sister" and will run to where she hears sister's sounds. At school when I am taking both of them home, one of the teachers will once and a while help take Avery to the car, and lately Emily will become upset when they take sister away from me. I have to assure her that sister is coming home with us and no one is taking her away. So sweet!

Potty training is still a little ways away, but Emily has now started to show signs of heading in that direction. Sometimes she will grab her diaper and say "poo poo". I'm not sure if she learned to do this at school or if she just did it by herself. Most of the time when she says "poo poo" she is either wet or pooped and then on other occasions she is dry. She isn't consistent but she is learning about herself and is more aware of her body. I've gotten some great advice to let Emily try and train herself to potty instead of pushing her so that she has an easier transition. Plus, I don't want to confuse her by potty training her early and then having her regress because her next classroom doesn't have a restroom. The preschool doesn't help to potty train until she reaches the 2 year old classroom. Either way, we are proud of Emily and how much she is learning. She never fails to surprise us.