Yesterday, Emma had her 15 month Dr. appointment/checkup.
Amidst the sirens of the police cars escorting long semi trucks full of sandbags to the south part of Fargo, we made it and it was a successful appointment.
Emma is hitting all of the expected benchmarks for the 'average' 15 month old.
She is a whopping 30 1/2 inches long--51st percentile.
She weighs 22 lbs 12 oz--48th percentile.
Her head circumference is 18.5--80th percentile!

A few updates:

She walks forward and backward, climbs up the stairs, and even attempts to climb down them (we haven't quite mastered this one yet).

She officially had her first time out at day care today. She pushed a little boy (20 months old). Brigitte (our daycare provider) moved her away and told her pushing wasn't okay. A few minutes later Brigitte hears Emma and a little girl (also 20 months) fighting and sees Emma push this little one too. Brigitte moved her again back into the Kitchen where she was cooking lunch and Emma pushed the little boy pretty hard and he bumped his head on the chair....Needless to say, she was in timeout and we think she learned her lesson. She cried for about 30 seconds then waited for Brigitte to tell her she could get out of the chair. She was an angel the rest of the day.

We often catch Emma talking in what seems to be complete social mode--to her teacup or a book. She is imitating what we do and is fairly successful. The next step is for her to say more words that are actually comprehensible.

Emma follows commands really well. We can ask her to go and get almost anything and she does it. She has successfully put one sock on, she tries to put on her shoes, she helps us undress her for the bath, and gets her pajamas and a blankie from her bedroom when she's ready for bed. She even knows how to turn the shower on when the bath water is running--it scared her the first time, but now she does it intentionally.

She is still quite the eater. She goes to her high chair when she's hungry. She loves fruit-we haven't found any kind she doesn't like. We are still working on getting her more vegetables.

She loves brushing her teeth. She cries for her toothbrush and points at it when she gets out of the tub. She also strolls into the bathroom in the morning when mommy and/or daddy are brushing their teeth--asking for hers too.

Emma loves to read books. She's getting a lot better at sitting through a whole book now too. She loves to turn the pages and starts imitating reading if you get distracted and stop.

Our gate at the top of our stairs has been a lifesaver. Whenever Emma hears a noise right outside the house, she runs to the top of the stairs to greet whoever is home. She gets so excited when its daddy. She's getting used to yelling downstairs with him since he's been working so hard on the basement. We hired someone to tape/texture the walls downstairs. She's yelling daddy down there as we speak--thinking its Elliot making all of that racket!

Emma still has no care in the world for the television. She loves her Fisher Price learning house and her Fisher Price tea cup set. They have offered her hours of entertainment.

We are missing daddy as he is out fighting the flood with the North Dakota National Guard. He's on 12 hour shifts now, so we don't get to see him very much at all. Emma has been staying up a little later than normal so daddy can tuck her in at night--and she can splash him while she's in the bath.

We hope all is well with everyone. Thank you for being a part of our lives!