Thursday, October 13, 2016

Emma: 4 Years Old!

Dear Emma Lou,

You have really shot up this past year, and are becoming quite the beautiful little girl.  You love to wear dresses and jewelry and fancy shoes.  You are definitely into fashion over function.  It's so fun to watch your personality grow over the years.


You remain our sweet girl and you have taken on the middle child role like a champ.  Squished in between two sisters with very strong personalities, you are the lover, the giver, the peacemaker.  I feel like I can see into the future with you always having these precious qualities.  You are always thinking about everyone else's feelings, and you have such a kind, compassionate nature.  Sharing seems to come easily to you.

And already, at the ripe old age of three, you became boy crazy.  Yup, you LOVE boys.  From the time (almost a year ago) when you asked a high school boy to sit on your lap at the cheese steak restaurant, to the time you were obsessing over the 8-year-old boy behind you on the plane home from Disney, to the time you followed our waiter around in Ocean City.... there is already a long line of boy crazy behaviors.  Not to mention that in your eyes you are already "married".... to two boys.  Collin and Evan.  Your "marraige" to Evan was fleeting, but Collin seems to be your true love.  And the feeling is mututal.  You two are so darn cute I can't stand it.

This was taken about 6 months ago at the end of the year preschool picnic.  You picked that headband because Collin's favorite color is blue.  It is wild the number of outfits you pick based on what you think Collin will like.  To think that a 3-year-old's mind can even think that way is wild to me.  But it's all so innocent and sweet.  Collin's parents and Daddy and I get a kick out of it.

You are sweet, and fun, and super cute,,,, but you have a really hard time focusing.  You are not the best listener on the planet, and most of the time I truly believe you don't even hear me.  That's why it's so hard to get mad at you for it.  I don't think you are ignoring us on purpose, but you are the prime example of a kid you have to tell multiple times to do something.  And then you'll look at me like you had no idea I've already asked you to do said thing 4 times.  I wonder how many times in a day I say, "Emma!  Focus!"  You just twinkle around in your own little happy Emma world.  Oblivious of what is going on around you.

We still affectionately call you "Monkey" because you are such a silly lady.  You love to make people laugh with your silly antics, and you have no problem being the center of attention.  We also call you a little elfkin, because you flit around like a little elf.

You love to sing, and we really want to get you involved in the church choir, but you aren't quite old enough yet.  You seriously just sing all day long.  You make up songs about anything and everything, and we often put you to bed at night and hear you singing for a long while until you fall asleep.

You are a bit of a night owl, but that could be attributed to the fact that you are still taking a 2-3 hour nap every day.  Because when we put you to bed at night, you flit around your room and/or sing for an awfully long time before you fall asleep.  But we put you to bed at 8 and you get up around 7-7:30 (as well as still taking a nap), so we'll take it.  And you never protest going to bed, you just hang out in there until you fall asleep.

There are times that you miss your nap, and on those days it becomes obvious to us that you still need one because you become very weepy.  That is the telltale sign that Emma is tired.  You cry at the drop of a hat.  And you are a fairly emotional child to begin with.  If we so much as raise our voices at you, you start crying.  But like I said, we are not often angry with you anyway, so you don't have to worry about it much ;)

You still sleep with that purple woven blanket, and I have a feeling that you will for many years to come.  You don't have a baby that you sleep with, just the blanket, and as soon as you get a hold of it your thumb immediately goes in your mouth.  Just like Addy, and now Izzy too.  I have three thumb suckers.  Your blanket is your comfort item and I am OK with that.  It's very sweet.

Your best friend is Emily (and we already talked about Collin).  Emily is such a cute little thing, just like you, and it's so fun watching you two play together.  You are in preschool at St. James and you love it.  You are able to participate in lunch and play this year, and you love staying and eating lunch with your friends.


You are quite a picky eater, and we have a tough time getting you to eat healthy things.  You don't like veggies, but you don't really like fruit either.  We force you to eat it, but it's tough.  You would live on PB & J and mac and cheese if we let you.  But you are growing well, and you've been very healthy, so we are so grateful for that.  You have gone through a big growth spurt lately and just shot up in the air.  Your 4T pants are getting kind of short on you, but there would be no way we could move you up to 5T because the pants would slide right off of your teeny, tiny bottom.

At your 4 year doctors appointment, everything went well except your willingness to focus, ha ha.  The PA was asking you lots of questions and you just stopped paying attention after awhile and started acting silly.  And that eye exam, phew!  I just wanted you to stand still and follow directions, but you had a hard time with that too.  The same thing happened with Addy at your age and we ended up at the eye doctor because of it.  Luckily we didn't need to go the same route with you.

You were so brave at your appointment, and you loved being examined:

Such a sweet moment when Addy jumped in to help you with your gown

My little elfkin :)

You got three shots and it tore my heart out to watch you sitting there so still, just silently crying.  You are such a good girl Emma, and we went for donuts afterward at Duck Donuts to celebrate.

Here are your 4-year-old stats:
Weight: 36 lbs (54th percentile)
Height: 40.5 inches (50th percentile)
BMI: 15.43 kg/m2
HR: 84
BP: 84/52

Here is a little side by side comparison of you at your party last year and this year:


3rd birthday party                                                     4th birthday party

Yup, you chose Monkey Joe's two years in a row.  It was so very fitting for you.  You had a great time
both years :)

   
While so many kids are afraid of Monkey Joe, you love him!


A look at all of your friends :)

Your gifts from Collin

Your gift from Emily

And here are some of my favorite pictures of you from your fourth year of life:

October:


You were a monkey for Halloween, of course ;)


November:


December:





January:




February:



March:




April:




May:






June:





July:




August:








September:





Emmy Lou, words cannot even describe how much joy you bring to our lives.  You are a silly, sweet, kind, compassionate, loving, caring little girl, and you are beautiful inside and out.  You love to sing and dance, you thrive on being the center of attention, and you bring smiles to everyone you meet. Emmers, you light up the world and I absolutely adore you!




Keep on singing baby girl, and do me a favor and never grow up!

Love,

Mommy