Our Little E

Just some thoughts about Emma as she turns 3 years old:

-she weighs 28.6 pounds (we go to her well-child check-up on Friday)

-she has a grin that melts your heart

-she is saying new words and phrasing more all the time

-she loooooooovvvvves her brother and smothers him with kisses all day long

-she can hear him the instant he begins to make any kind of noise and will shout, "Gaynan awake! Gaynan awake!" then run down the hall to his room. 

-she and Mackenzie play well together most of the time, but they have their moments of mutual dislike for each other

-she does like to follow MJ around and do what she's doing, in fact she likes to follow all bigger kids around. The other day at the park she latched on to a little girl (her dad said she was 10) and followed her around, doing whatever she was doing. And at swimming lessons, she wanted to do what the big kids were doing. She'd sit on the side and put her arms up like they were when they were practicing diving. 

-she's quite physical, whether it be playing tball, kicking a soccer ball or even wrestling her sister

-she likes to stand behind me in my office chair and comb my hair

-she never wants to be left and always says, "I go" whenever someone is leaving

-she loves to have books read to her and has started getting a book and pointing to the words as if she's reading. (She sees MJ do this with her books.)

-she loves her horse Zani and calls her "Gani". Almost every day she looks out and says "Gani home?!"

-she has so many little inflections in her voice that she sounds a little southern when she talks. Or at least there is some sort of accent

-she likes to be funny and make people laugh

-she is left-handed

-the other day at her bday party Joe asked for some headache medicine and water. MJ had come to get it for him. Emma then said, "Me, wawee (her word for water)" Then, she said plain as day, "I have a headache." It was so cute. It was a little hard explaining to her that no, she didn't have a headache, but to hear that word out of her mouth was too funny.

-she has always said wawee for water and is very adamant about it when we say water. I can get her to say "wa" and "ter" separately, but when she says it together it's always "wawee!" Although today (5/4/09) she did say "wa ter" together a few times. I think once she starts saying water all the time, I'm going to miss hearing her little voice saying "WAWEE!"

-she loves all babies, both dolls and real babies. At a BBQ the other night, she kept going up to two babies who were there and saying, baby and tried to give them hugs. She also found a little boy her age and began chasing him around. They played together all night. She only has one little friend her age so far so it's neat to see her interact with other kids

-she has her last lesson with her speech therapist on Tuesday and starts preschool on Wednesday (We're going to miss L. She's become a friend to all of us.)

-she carries MJ's ballet bag around and pretends to dance like her sister. She also does gymnastics like her too.

-she likes to feed the horse and knows how to go into the garage, get the oats it the bucket and take them out to the fence to feed Zani. She also throws hay through the wires to her. She is starting to want to pet Zani and has even sat on her a few times. This is a huge step, as she has been afraid of most animals for a long time.

-the other day she looked outside and saw a cat. She started asking about Blackie, a cat we had at the other house. I said you want Blackie? and she said, "Yeah, I want a kitty!" I've been asking around about kittens so the girls may be getting another pet soon. 

-she's been wanting more "mom time" lately and asking me to hold her a lot more

I know there are more things I want to remember so I may add to this list later. She has brought us such joy (and I'd be lying if I didn't say some frustration too). She has challenged me in ways I didn't expect, but I hope that I will be a better mom because of loving and raising this little girl. I can't imagine life without her (or my other two kiddos either). Nothing beats hearing her little feet coming down the hall to our room in the morning and seeing that grinning face. Boy I will miss these days!