Competetive Parenting

Yet another Emma post; she changes so much faster than the teenagers do, it gives me more fodder for the blog.

Being parents again at a later age sure affects our parenting style.

A couple of months ago, I was having a conversation with another parent, who has a baby very near to our Emma's age, and they were very proud of their baby's accomplishments (And rightly so, as their little girl is growing admirably.). What made me giggle was the comment directed to me.

"Isn't it interesting," they carefully said, "how very different babies of the same age can be?"

They meant to gently console me on my baby's apparent lack of growth and maturity in comparison to their baby's advanced level. They sure didn't want me to feel bad because my baby isn't as far along as their baby is.

Which would be fine......... if I needed consoling!! Bwahahaha!!!

What they didn't understand, and what I didn't bother to explain to them, is that I really couldn't care less how far "ahead" of Emma that their baby is. I'm not trying to be nonchalant about it....... I really just don't care!!

We are in no hurry for Emma to reach her baby milestones. We are enjoying her at every step of the way and she can just take her time growing up. When we were younger parents, perhaps we were more competitive, but not any more.

Of course, we encourage her and teach her new things. And she is one smart cookie! Smart enough to start crawling on her own terms, learning to negotiate stairs when she was ready, and responding and joining in the fingerplays and songs we teach her.

She is a featherweight by anyone's measure -- and with her tiny bird's appetite, she'll probably stay on the small side for some time. We're ok with that.

She's also beautiful and has her own personality and her ways of expressing herself, and we love her just the way she is.

But for those of you who may be worried about her, please know that she is fine, and here's a run-down of her "tricks":

She plays pattycake well, and loves other songs and fingerplays. She is quite the musical child and loves to bounce to any rhythmic songs that have a good beat.

She claps her hands, smacks her lips (kisses), clicks her tongue, blows raspberries, blows bubbles, gives "high fives"(photo below), waves hi & bye-bye, and says something that sounds a lot like, "hi, Dad". (She has her daa's and maa's sounds down pat right now) She smiles at almost everyone she meets, and is very friendly to total strangers.

She is on the verge of walking, pulls herself up to a stand and can stand alone for a minute (another photo below), but still prefers to still cruise along the furniture rather than to step out on her own. And we're ok with that, too. She'll be walking soon enough and woe be unto us when she does!!

These pictures are a sampling from the other day, when Aunt Penny came to visit and introduced Emma to dirt. (Wouldn't you know it would be Penny that would do that!!) Then she had to explore the gravel in the driveway as well. My favorite photo is the closeup of her clapping... every once in a while I get a photo I just love, and that one is a keeper.