Getting to Know My Daughter

My little one is not so little anymore.  She turned 18 months old this week and, in the last few months, she hasn't felt like a baby.  She's forming a personality and I have to say, I like what I'm seeing.

So far, my little girl is sweet and affectionate, yet feisty and independent.  She'll rush across the room to give me a hug but she'll refuse to hold my hand as we walk from my car to the house.  She wraps her arms around my neck for a hug but she grabs the spoon from my hand to feed herself.

If Emerson wants you to sit somewhere, she'll point to the chair and proclaim, "SIT!".  And if you sit in a different chair than the one she intended, she points that tiny finger a little more aggressively and says, "No, Mommy, SIT!'.  And she does not back down.  The other day at my mom's house, she evidently wanted to go outside because when no one was looking, she opened the screen door, walked out, closed the door, climbed down two steps and plopped herself in a chair outside.  She's a woman who knows what she wants and refuses to take no for an answer.

I realize that in years to come, I may curse myself for saying this... but her independent, strong personality makes me so proud.  After all, I did name her after the man whose most famous essay is entitled Self-Reliance...

She also loves to dance.  Whether it's the Fresh Beat Band, Wheels on the Bus, or Ke$ha's latest, if she hears music, she stops to dance along.  Last Friday, Jesse, Emerson and I spent at least twenty minutes dancing to Ke$ha (the same song, over and over and over).  As we laughed at each other over her head, I realized - years ago, I spent my Fridays dancing at bars, but this was so much more fun.

Perhaps the sweetest thing, Emerson loves to kiss mommy's 'baby.'  She tells baby to "grow" and "eat" and "night night."  I don't know if she thinks my stomach is my baby or what, but she knows that under Mommy's shirt is "Baby" and almost every night, she has to talk to him/her.  It has made being pregnant so much more exciting.

I enjoyed Emerson as a newborn, but I have to admit, getting to know her as a person has been the most fun and most rewarding part of being a parent so far.