All About Emma

I feel like somewhere along the way these past few months, I’ve been hyper focused on myself in this space and not so much on my motherhood journey which it is really what this space is intended for. Thus I give you a post all about Emma for any inquiring minds! 

This kid continues to amaze me every day. I can’t even explain really her quiet confidence or her ability to seemingly understand complex concepts. Sometimes her father and I think she is an old soul. I know this because there have been times when weeks after I have explained a concept to her, she has repeated it. One of the most interesting times was when we discussed the concept of moving. Since we have been looking at houses on and off for a few months now, I had to explain to her why we are going to move to a new house one day (because of course she asked). I explained to her that we wanted to move to a nicer house in a nicer neighborhood and that the house we are living in is not ours, it belongs to her Grandpa and Grandma Carole. We are just borrowing it until we find our own house. So the other day, when we were out with my mom, Emma out of nowhere says, “Nana our house does not belong to us it belongs to Grandpa and Grandma Carole and we are just borrowing it.” I was proud to see she seemed to understand the reasoning behind our move (in part). 

She is also very stubborn and opinionated and has mentioned a time or two that she does not want to move (she dislikes change…sounds familiar as well.) The stubbornness is sometimes very difficult to handle. The other day, we got into a heated discussion after going to the science museum about how Emma thought we shrank and that’s why the dinosaurs were so big.  She would accept no other explanation for this phenomenon and I was not up for a battle so after a few attempts to set the record straight, I dropped it. We had another stressful exchange when I went to brush her hair the other night. She insisted she do it herself and I had to explain several times that while she was capable of doing it, she does not get all the tangles out so I need to still be involved in that process. Again, this did not sit well with her. I tried to explain that if she did not get all the tangles out, her hair would turn into a big knot and we would have to cut it all off. I told her I was speaking from experience but again these were fruitless attempts at achieving the task at hand. Let’s just say the disagreement ended with tears being shed but no hair needing to be cut. I’m all for letting her learn through suffering the consequences of her actions to a point. Chopping tangled hair that has taken almost four years to grow is not something I want her to learn through trial and error just yet (maybe when she’s 5….)

I see the stubbornness is not going to go away and unfortunately, Emma will have to learn some things the hard way but that builds character I guess. Luckily, she has an incredible sense of humor to fall back on. I think it’s the cutest thing when some cartoon makes her throw her head back and laugh a big belly laugh. Most of the time I end up laughing with her, her joy is that contagious. We also have a few inside jokes between us which is something we have always had and is one of my treasured mommy, daughter things. Currently, one of the funnier ones is when one of us will say something funny like “oh poopity poopers!” and then the other will follow up with “Awww blewpity blewbers” or something ridiculous like that and we will go back and forth cracking each other up to see who comes up with the silliest combination of rhyming nonsense. 

She starts Pre-K in the Fall and I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet. I made the decision to leave her at her current school next year even though we will have moved out of the area. It is one year I will have to suck up and be in the car with her for 30 minutes to and from school every day. I’m hoping we can work out a fun routine that won’t exhaust everyone.  Emma and I both love her current preschool so much that I just could not bear to move her for the last year. I might hate myself for it later but for right now, it was the best decision for our family. (I’m sure a follow up post on this is to come.) I also dread the next step, Kindergarten, public school, and the fight for before/after care and summer camps! But again, that’s for another post to come. 

This is also the year of the growth spurt apparently. Every day now Emma eats all of her lunch and most of her dinner and has been asking for a million snacks in between. We have seriously had to up our produce game around these parts. It also came to my attention the other day that Emma no longer needs her step stool to reach the sink in the bathroom L the saddest thing ever. While I’m glad she won’t need to use a step stool for life it is difficult to see her needing me less and less. In fact, just the other day on the playground, she was running and climbing and bounding up the equipment without needing me to be right there. She talked to the other kids and moved from one thing to the next without paying attention to where I was. I’ve never been a mom who sits looking at her cell phone at the park because let’s be honest, I’m a helicopter threw and threw but I suddenly understood why the other parents were sitting on the sidelines. Their kids were independently playing and enjoying themselves as it should be. I guess I will be bringing my adult coloring books with me to the park from now on. 

Lastly, Emma has pretty much outgrown her tricycle. I remember we got it for her 2^nd birthday and she could not ride it too well then. Well she has certainly mastered it now and it’s time to move on since her knees are hitting the handle bars and all. Her dad actually got her a bike at the thrift store and removed the petals to turn it into a balance bike but she has not been too comfortable riding it. She might prefer the old fashioned training wheels route and that’s fine by me. Either way, I think this birthday will bring a new bike. Man this kid has no idea how awesome it is to have a warm weather birthday. Freakin awesome! 

Ok, have I rambled on enough? No, you want to hear more you say? Well don’t worry I have a post full of first world problem complaints on deck to share with you next!