Emmie's New Tricks

So apparently Emmie grew a few inches last night!  Today, after an interesting morning in the OBs office (so glad I didn't have Emmie with me...thank you, thank you Chessnee for keeping her!) where the girl in front of me to have her blood drawn was throwing up everywhere, I headed home only to discover this afternoon that Emmie has learned some new tricks.  (My doctor's appointment went very well by the way...the other girl's appointment was not so much fun.)
Trick #1: being able to reach the water dispenser on the refrigerator...and push it...thus making water go everywhere...luckily she also likes to clean up...we also had to have a talk about how only mommy can get the water...not sure how much of that sunk in.  So now when Emmie's water cup gets about half empty she takes it over to the fridge and tries to fill up her cup.
Trick #2:  While I was getting dinner ready tonight she saw me put some food in the oven.  She proceeded to get one of the oven mitts (we'll get to that trick in a minute), put it on her hand, and attempt to open the oven (fortunately she was unsuccessful but I'm sure it won't be long before she figures that one out)...this is a pretty scary trick.
Trick #3: She can now reach the kitchen counters.  Luckily I discovered this when she pulled a stack of kitchen towels (and the oven mitt) off the counter.  This trick isn't too bad, I just have to keep things pushed to the back of the counters.

Also Emmie has learned where her tongue is.  She's really funny about it.  If you ask her to show you her tongue she sticks it out and wiggles it around (I know, I know, how is this any different than how she normally is...haha).  She will then point to you (meaning you stick out your tongue) and then she laughs at your tongue...it's pretty cute and good for a few minutes of entertainment.

Also, she's been going back and forth between wanting me to rock her to sleep at night and naptime and just wanting to be a silly wiggle worm.  Today she wanted to be a silly wiggle worm so at naptime I finally just put her in the crib with her book and she screamed for about a minute and then settled in to read (I'm assuming...she found some way to entertain herself because I could hear her talking).  I'm not sure what time she went to sleep but she eventually did and when I went in at 3 to wake her up she was laying in her bed on her back kicking her feet and laughing (her new thing to do when she wakes up).  This evening she didn't want me to rock her so I put her in the crib with a book and she cried for 2 or 3 minutes and then got quiet.  I don't think she even looked at her book, just laid down and went to sleep.  I feel like her going to sleep on her own like this is such a huge accomplishment.  Even as an infant I couldn't put her down in the crib or swing if she was awake, I always had to rock her to sleep and then put her down so I feel like her going to sleep on her own is such a big step!  We've been going back and forth the last couple weeks between her wanting to cuddle and be rocked and her just wanting to go on in the crib and I'm very happy either way.  I love when she wants to cuddle and I love watching her go to sleep but I'm also not willing to wrestle with her for 30 minutes to get to that point!