Happy 17 month birthday, Emily.

Emily destroyed the Altar to Femininity this week. No, that’s not a euphemism. Jan and Emily go to belly dance class on Mondays and there’s this whole alternative / Indian / incense burning / spiritual vibe going on there. They have an Altar to Femininity set up in the corner of the room which consists of some cushions, some candles, a pedestal, and some mirrors. Emily trashed it. She wanted to make a pillow fort.

This delightful little anecdote is really just an introduction into what has developed as a theme this month: physical challenges. Emily is all about fearlessly pushing her physical limits. Trust falls, the continuous schlepping of heavy packages around the house, and jumping of of high furniture all make this little girl smile. Just last week, we watched in awe as Emily pushed her diminutive red plastic Ikea chair across the living room until it was flush against the side of the sofa. This tiny toddler who still walks into walls when she’s tired proceeded to scale the aforementioned chair, reach over and firmly grasp the large sofa cushion with both hands, haul herself up and over the arm of the sofa, and then launch herself from a kneeling position only to flop gleefully face first in the center of the couch. She smiled, rolled off the couch, and did it again. Twelve times.

Other than flinging herself perilously from high places, a few more of Emily’s favorite things are running up to walls with her arms extended and then bouncing off while shouting “boing!”, hanging out with B-B-B, dancing (watch out for those flailing arms), spinning to dizziness, taking things apart with a screwdriver, being chased down the hall by anyone who declares “I’m gonna get you!”, emptying the contents mommy’s handbag, and wrapping things around her neck. As one would imagine, this last one can be fairly troubling at times. We’ve tried our best to discourage auto asphyxiation at the hands of lamp cords, belts, handbag arm straps, and USB cables, but we find it rather amusing when Emily sneaks off to our bedroom and roots through our wardrobe only to appear a few minutes later with every last article from Jan’s underwear drawer cleverly wrapped around her head.

Reverse Striptease

I’m enjoying this whole verbal communication development thing so I’ll continue maintaining the popular Emily’s Communication Breakdown table so you can all play along at home. There are so many things that Emily says that I cannot in good faith include in this table because I either do not believe she understands what she is saying or I have not heard her repeat the word enough times to consider it part of her established lexicon. For example, Emily will watch her Baby Einstein video and repeat almost all of the vocabulary words that are highlighted. I’ve heard her say “tractor” every time that segment comes on. But I will not include this or any other word unless freely demonstrated in the wild without prompting. Without rules you have chaos. Also, Jan said she heard Emily say, “ring” the other day, but until I hear her say it, it’s not making the list.

Bomb Squad

Since no self-respecting 17 month old would be caught dead on the interwebs without having her very own music video, cousin Marli has stepped up to the plate and flexed her newfound editing skillz for our nostalgic enjoyment. Thanks Marli!