It was nice having over a week off with Sue and Emily. Both parents got some excellent quality time with Emily.
Last time we had this much quality time was in October when we went to France. When we came back, Emily had made quite a decent amount of progress in her learning and development. She started using "read" to annoy any adult in earshot.
No such progress was made this time around, but she did shine in using her vocabulary. Well, shine for Emily. We visited with friends who have children of a similar age to Emily and they were comparatively scholarly in their speech etc, composing full sentences and actually making their needs and wants known, as opposed to licking their lips when thirsty and yelling "no" and flailing arms until you understood what exactly was needed.
Whatever progress Em is making, she's still behind what a 2.x year old should be doing. I keep hoping for the silver bullet that will let the words spill out, but sometimes I do wonder if that will ever be possible. I have to keep believing it is.