Denver Developmental

Emmaline had her eighteen month appointment yesterday. It was her first visit to our new pediatrician and it went remarkably well. The room was decorated with lithographs from Lion King, Snow White, and Monsters, Inc. This not only distracted her during the lead up to the moment when needles were stuck into her legs, but also provided a backdrop against which to display some of her more remarkable verbal skills.

"Ah, ah, ah," declared Emmaline, pointing at Rafiki.

"Roar!" she said later, gesturing to Simba.

Finally, and this was the culmination of having watched the Monsters, Inc. trailer only yesterday to celebrate her brand new word, "Monstah!"

Later, to make sure that Dr. Matthews fully appreciated her prowess in the random noun category, she pointed to Sully and said it again.

Emmaline excelled in all arenas. Her height and weight and her freaking big noggin. Her ability to throw play dough. Her propensity for walking up and down the stairs holding onto the banister with only one hand. Her newly acquired talent of drawing with crayons more than eating them. Her ability to reach that last sock at the back of washing machine and hand it to you when you ask.

That's the good stuff.

Of course I already knew she was doing great, but somehow having her perform so well for her new pediatrician (and that's what it was, a play in which I was cast as the really kick ass mom) meant something to me. I especially enjoyed the part where she paraded out of the office in her fabulous pink dress with a bicycle on it and light green ruffled collar peeking out from underneath and all of the staff stopped to wave and say how adorable she was.

I do the same thing when I am at work. And to be honest, I do it even when the child is only kind of adorable and not even super adorable. So I knew the accolades might be empty, but at the same time I was completely taken in by them, my chest was puffed up and I must have been beaming one of those smug mommy smiles.

She has six months before she has to go back to the office again. If the last six months have been any indications, she will be an entirely different person by then. And hopefully we will have fully conquered geometry and moved on to multivariable calc.