Emma’s first birthday

541It seems like a lifetime ago that Emma was born. Well it was – her lifetime. But that lifetime only reached one year yesterday. With Christine’s parents here we were able to have a bit of birthday tea and, in keeping with Norwegian tradition, flew the Norwegian flag outside our apartment. I’m fairly sure Emma didn’t have a clue what was going on but she loved the attention.

Many thanks to all those who went to the lengths of sending cards and presents to Norway – the mailbox was groaning under the weight when we got back from Fredrikstad. Emma soon got in to the habit of ripping off wrapping paper and even managed to look more interested in the contents than the paper! I’m sure Emma will get round to writing to thank you all sooner or later…

538Whilst I’m writing about Emma – a quick status update on her progress. Still no sign of walking but she seems to want to do everything else first. She’ll happily haul herself up on to the seat of our balcony furniture, up on to the arms, and then on the back, leaning against the balcony railing if giving half a chance. One saving grace is that Christine’s mum seems to have managed to teach Emma to come down again backwards rather than her earlier preferred approach of diving off head first! Emma is also happy to stand unaided when something distracts her from holding on. She also does that baby thing of going up on all fours and then looking backwards between her legs.

She’s still as chatty as ever but only with a few recognisable words and dadda for almost everything else. She also likes imitating noises – everything from blowing raspberries to clicking her tongue. She’s also getting the hang of waving and will do so without prompting when it gets to the "Goodbye" page at the end of one of her books. Much to her granny’s distress, still no sign of clapping though.

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