... Making Friends

Now that a big, yucky teething phase (4 molars!) seems to have subsided, Emmy's back to running for president, or Miss America, and making friends everywhere.

Yesterday morning, Emmy devoted much time to working on her relationship with Amina, one of our cats. Emmy won over Buddy, another of our cats, long ago when she first pet him, gave him kisses, and then laid on him. Boo, yet another cat, tends to stay away from loud, quick-moving children. But back to Amina-- this kitty was sitting on the bottom shelf of our rolling kitchen cart thing, so Emmy climbed in with her and had a conversation. The only part I could recognize was that Emmy was informing Amina where her nose was. Then Emmy was set on reading Amina a book ("book, book!") and spent the next couple hours chasing Amina with a book, telling her "no, no, no" so that she would stay still. Amina would pause, Emmy would sit down, begin reading, and then Amina would get back to making rounds through the house. Still, a determined effort on Emmy's part.

Next, Emmy wanted to snuggle up with the inanimate objects. She found a very large, unopened bottle of Scope mouthwash underneath the bathroom sink and gave it a big hug and kiss, calling it "baby." Maybe she notices her parents' morning breath afterall...

Finally, on to spending time with her closest kid-friend, Marley (almost age 4 now)... While I was changing Emmy's diaper, I was telling her that Aunt Jennie and Marley were coming over soon, and Emmy's eyes lit up (even brighter than they are already). "Ma-yee! Ma-yee!" she exclaimed, saying Marley's name for the first time. And as soon as we were done she ran to the door to wait for Mr. Marley. At the end of Marley and Emmy's time today, Jennie asked Marley if he would give Emmy a hug. Emmy put out her arms, waiting patiently for a suddenly shy 4 year old to give her some love. "Ug, ug," she reminded him. We decided that Marley might be okay with Emmy hugging the knee of his crossed leg, so she went along with that, laying her head on his knee, while Marley pretended the whole thing wasn't happening.

The girl's got love to give! Who wants some?!

(Aunt Misty took this action shot while we were in Tennessee)