Cupcakes and noses

Man. What a busy summer it's been. We don't have a free weekend until September, I think. I'm totally behind on blog updates, pictures, and, well, just about everything else in my life (laundry, anyone?). I just had a conversation with one of my coworkers, however, that definitely stood out as blog-worthy. She asked me how Emma was doing, so I told her that Emma just learned how to stand up on her own and that she's become so much more responsive to my words and gestures. Donna (my coworker) said: "Well sure. She's as smart as you are. She's just less experienced." Donna was definitely right. I'd just never thought of it that way. Emma is a little person with little thoughts and desires and opinions. She just hasn't learned how to verbalize them yet. She uses sounds (volume, tone, and sometimes crying), she points, and she shakes her head "no" or pushes things away. She can't actually say the word "cupcake." But when I ask her if I can have a cupcake, she finds her cupcake toy and hands it to me. She can't say the word "nose," but if I ask her where her nose is, she points right to it. It's amazing. She surprises me every day. But I guess my whole point is that I shouldn't really be so surprised. She's smarter and more observant than I think. She's not just a baby anymore. And she's only going to keep growing and learning. Eleven months is a really fun age.