Forks and Spoons

Emma started holding a fork or spoon while we fed her a few weeks ago and now she is starting to figure how to keep the utensils upright while there is food on them.  Yesterday I started scooping whatever we were eating then handing the utensil to her, to feed herself.  She is very joyful about feeding herself!  Once she took her bite, she would hand the fork or spoon back to me, clap and then grunt for me to get her next bite ready.  Sometimes she tries to grab whatever is on the silverware vs. putting it in her mouth, so I have to keep a close watch.  This morning she grabbed a fistful of oatmeal as I handed her the spoon.  She still doesn't have enough focus or control to scoop up her own bites without flipping a plate or bowl, so for now this will be our meal time routine.
 
She likes to know what everything is right now, but no new words have been spoken.  At every meal, she points to my watch, ring, shirt, table and light fixture.  If you say watch, she will point right to it.  Everyday we pull out our "word books" and she points to each object, "asking" us to say the word.  I think one day the word flood gate is just going to unleash, but for now, her only words are Mama, Dad, ball, cat, ba, bite, hi and bye.  About once a day, she gets very animated and a long babble of who knows what comes out.  Whatever she is saying, she is cracking herself up, because she bends over, slaps her knees and laughs.  When I run the vacuum, she follows behind me, practically shouting a stream of babble.  It's funny that she knows she has to "speak" louder when the vacuum is running and thank goodness she finally likes the vacuum!  She can't not touch it now when I pull the vacuum out.
 
This week we attempted a visit with Santa.  I have been talking him up for weeks, pointing at his figure everywhere go and telling her how nice he is.  Emma has a Christmas "first words" book and I would point to him, say how nice he is and she would give him a kiss.  After all this prep, I was thinking the Santa visit might have a better chance....NO CHANCE.  As soon as she felt me removing her from my body, she started kicking, screaming and turning ruby red.  I have to say, I felt like a complete butthead for the rest of the day doing that to her. 
 
To add to the trauma of Santa this week, we had our follow-up eye appointment yesterday, lol.  She knew where we were as soon as we stepped into the exam room and panicked.  Thankfully we were able to calm her down enough for them to see what they needed, without dialating the eyes.  For now, the eyes are symmetrical with her specs on, but we have to go back in June.  With her being so young, she is going to have growth spurts that may change her prescription needs, but hopefully in June the eyes will have remained stable and we might not have to go back for a full year.  Emma still won't wear the glasses as much with Dad around, but the Doc said as long as she wears them 50% of the day, it's fine.  I'm thankfull she wears them at all and I think the days she is with me and wearing them, makes up for the days she is solo with Dad.  
 
Next week is going to busy with Christmas and I am keeping my fingers crossed we don't have night time issues with all the bustle.  We have 3 days of events and we are trying as much as possible to keep all meals and naps on schedule.  A schedule is definitely Emma's magic...if we spend too much time away from the house visiting, she still gets out of sorts, so we are schedule maniacs, which is ok with me, because I have similar issues, lol.