A Day In the Life of a 16 Month Old

The last two Saturdays have started out with some super fun mommy-daughter time. It required Emmerson to actually have to wake up before 8am so we could be ready for her 8:30am gymnastics classes at The Little Gym! She goes with the flow and doesn't seem to mind getting up earlier than normal- she just sucks her thumb a lot more because she is still a little sleepy. She has major thumb-sucking issues lately... the habit is getting out of control! However, it is something she does to keep herself calm and collected, so I keep telling myself not to worry about it YET.

So back to our new Saturday morning routine.....Once we get to South County Mall, we run and climb our way through the mall to gymnastics where Emme starts playing with all the other "birdies" (10-19 month old class name). She also likes to make friends with the other birdies' parents and she has it really bad when it comes to Miss Tiffany, the instructor... Emme follows her around excessively. The classes are action packed and Emme really enjoys the climbing and tricks. With assistance, she can somersault, barrel roll, flip, hang from rings and bars. She can already jump off the ground all on her own, but she lands on her rear more times than not. She follows directions well and is getting really good at rolling and throwing balls! Her favorite part of gym class is the very end because she gets her feet stamped- she is all about drawing lately, especially on herself. I draw little hearts on her hands with pen and she thinks it is the coolest thing ever! After we get home from gym class, Emme crashes and takes a nice long nap. When she gets up she is ready to terrorize the house and get some food in her belly. We recently purchased Emmerson her own utensils which she has really had a good time practicing with. She is usually such a mess when she feeds herself that we let her eat naked and she gets a scrub down afterwards. I think she gets so messy on purpose because she loves taking baths so much... or she just likes to taking 'playing with food' to the extreme!After lunch and a good bath, the rest of the afternoon is full of goofing off. We tickle, chase, climb, hide, and get into lots of things that are off limits. We usually devote some time to 'school' which is when we practice our colors, numbers, animals, body parts, and reading. Lately Emme has been enjoying being 'beautified'... I recently painted her toenails for the first time and she now sits still long enough for me to play with her hair. This past weekend we gave 'piggies' a try for the first time and she loved them. She kept touching her hair, but very gently as if she knew it was pretty and she had to be careful or she'd mess it up! In the picture below, her 'piggies' look like they might as well be little horns coming out the top of her head.

Emme usually takes another late afternoon nap before dinner and the same afternoon routine happens after dinner... play, laugh, play, giggle and play some more. After helping to clean up her toys, Emme usually hits the sack by 8-9pm.... not a bad day in the life of a 16 month old!