So, I have enrolled Emme in a baby movement class. It is a class designed to let one-year-olds move around on mats, jump over things, and crawl around. She loves it.
So, during our last class the instructor — who is young and skinny and way way too into this class — asked us what we hoped our kids would get out of it. What did we want from this class? The first mom talked about how she wants her daughter to experience peer interaction. The next mom mentioned a sense of structure. The next socialization. And so on. It sounded like a John Gottman seminar. As I listening, I realized that all the mom’s had only one kid — the kid in the class.
When it got to me. I looked the instructor right in the eye and said, “I just want her to be tired when we’re done.”
But she still doesn’t really talk. Her words still only amount to “uh oh” “night night” ”mommy” “daddy” and her newest word “HELLO”. Why, “hello” you might ask? Because she is obsessed with talking on the phone. Honestly, I don’t talk on the phone THAT much. I am more of a text-er, email-er kinda gal. But, nevertheless, she loves the phone.
Whereas Ty loved to turn everyday objects into a gun (click here to read that list), Emme prefers transforming whatever she can get her hands on into… a phone. Then, she holds said object to her and walks around all.day.long. saying …… “Hello!”
Here is the list of every day objects Emme has used as a telephone:
Emme has started walking. At 15 months old and the youngest of five, I am convinced that up until now she just has not seen the purpose in walking. After all, there are like a million other people at her beck and call and she has used that fact to her full advantage. So, when she started taking those first frankenstein-esque steps she received rounds and rounds of applause from her family fan club — aka eveyone in the house. Now she walks from the couch to the coffee table and claps for herself. Which, of course, elicits more applause from the surrounding masses. Her favorite is to grunt and reach until someone will offer their pointer finger (usually Jade is selected for this duty) and then she graps that offered finger as she toddles all over our house. Pulling along the person attached to that finger as if they are baggage. The last time Jade was on finger duty, her finger actually turned purple and lost all feeling. Here she is making a break for the FLIP camera on Saturday.
Other than the whining, which clearly means “Give me the damn camera!” she will only speak four words. The rest of the time she babbles CONSTANTLY and LOUDLY in what can only be described as the perfect hybrid of Chinese and Yiddish… Or Jawa (for those Star Wars fans out there). Her favorite American words are “Uh Oh” which she uses liberally. “Uh Oh” is followed by “Cookie” which sounds more German than American… as if she is clearing her throat, “KKCKCKKKCK…” Then comes “Night Night” and finally “YA YA” which she uses in reference to any and all family members. I have to admit, creating one name for every member of this family is pretty darn effecient, and I gotta admire that. Brilliant.
It wasn’t an easy thing to decide to bring another child into an already bustling family of 6. But, to be honest, my heart would not rest… I could not stop yearning for another baby. We found out that I was pregnant on the 4th of July 2008. And to be honest, we were not 100% prepared for the news. To say she was “unplanned” would be acting like a teenager – in other words, we knew what we were doing. But, the news still had a bit of a “wow” factor to it.
She came into this world and immediately changed it. When I look at my two babies, I can say I love them the same amount. That my depth of love for Ty and for Emme both runs deep, fathomless, to the heavens and back again. But whereas my love for Ty could be described as moonlight — all mystical and magical and mysterious — my love for Emme is a sunrise — bright and celebratory and joyful.
Emme at 1 Week Old by Jessica Nichols
She has taught me many many things.
Lately she has taught me that no matter how often I sweep and mop (even with my uber shark steam mop) she will find that infinitesimal speck from 20 feet away, crawl her chubby little bum right off to get to it, and consume it before any of the 6 of us can stop her.
Mostly, she has taught me that no matter what I “expect” she is going to suprise me. She put me into labor only 6 hours before my planned (yes, the “no labor” planned) C-section. I can put her down in the crib WIDE AWAKE and walk away from her and she will roll over and go to sleep for 14 hours. This still has a shock factor for us.
Although my husband was overwhelmed and worried about bringing another child into our life, he took one look at her and fell madly in love. She is drawn to him to the exclusion of others. She will smile so big sometimes that I think her face is going to break. I have never smiled like that. And, I am sure that I have never felt the joy that she feels, the exuberance for life that she exudes from all her little chubby, yummy parts. She literaly and figuratively spreads her arms wide and grabs hold of the world around her and then devours it… me… with her smile, with her sense of hope, with her pure sweetness.
I did not expect any of that. I did not expect that I would love her so much. I did not expect that there would once again be a person in my life that I cannot live without.
I did not expect that Ty would want to suck on her toes and calls her “his baby“. Or that Jade would stare into her eyes, turn to me, and exclaim, “We are so lucky to have her!” Or that Izzy would invent games to teach her how to put that darn Cheerio into her mouth. Or that Lily would crawl around on the floor, following her around the house just to keep her safe.
So, today is Emme’s birthday.
We named her Emme because the meaning of her name is “complete” or “whole.” And that is what she made this family…complete….whole.
