We are now in the months leading up to Emry’s 4thbirthday. To her, it might as well be days. This is the season of birthdays in my family. My sister Jenny was December. My sister Grace and my Mom are January. My nephew Jay, Ethan, my sister Sally and myself are February. My brother Caleb is March. With so many birthdays, Emry keeps counting off who has already had theirs and when hers comes in the order of it all. She simply can’t wait to be four. Because after that she will be five.
Yes, Emry is 3 going on 13. Somedays I mean that quite literally. She can be a drama queen. Already if something doesn’t go her way, she dashes off to her room, shuts her door, crawls up into her bed to cry and tells me to go away if I attempt to talk to her. Only last week after one dragged out episode, Ed came into the living room where I was working and asked desperately, “I only had one brother – and a much younger one. I don’t know what is happening. Am I doing something wrong with Emry? Is this normal?” Honestly, this was a question I didn’t expect to hear for at least another six or seven years – hopefully ten. So either she’s getting it all over with now or we are in for a long haul in a decade or so.
But other days, she is simply three and learning that life is a lot bigger than three. As she learns to count beyond ten, infinity is beginning to lurk but without any concept. Recently I was trying to explain that even Grandma and Mama get a year older on their birthdays. Her basic grasp of this conversation ended with the fact that her hair will be white when she is old and Mama is old since my hair is turning white. I’m pretty sure a few strands were added to my growing collection at that very moment…
Then just a few days ago, she sat at the dining room table over breakfast and informed me what she was going to do when she grew up. It began with going to space. I’m not exactly sure how she came to this idea, but she seemed quite certain that this was the career path to take. She further informed me that she would then have enough money to become a beekeeper. If nothing else, her career choices thus far are certainly eclectic.
As the holidays are now over and everything is unpacked, we have been trying to get back into routine. This has included at least fifteen or twenty minutes of school every day. Most days we spend time in her workbooks that simply go over colors, pencil control and other things as well as a page or two of her phonics which also includes penmanship. Every day includes a reading session before she has her rest time. This moment of the day was hit-and-miss during the transition and it was easy to tell how quickly she forgot what she had learned. Fortunately, she has been able to recover within a couple of weeks and is now proceeding quite well. She is sounding out words, reading short sentences and I can ask her to sound out a word in just about any book we read now. She has also started instructing Ethan in his colors, as you can see from the picture below.
In reading, she is certainly my daughter. In her girly fashionista ways, I’m not sure where she came from. Aunt Abby (whose hair is just like Emry’s and my own) told her when we moved here that she needed to get something to smooth out all those fly-away wisps of curls. Emry completely agreed and Abby said she’d give her something, but forgot. That’s okay, though, because Emry has discovered conditioner and some of my hair stuff that does the trick rather well. I have introduced her to a curling iron, mostly to help the curls look less fly-by-night on Sunday mornings. She is enamored. She likes makeup and already informed me that her nails are in need of some paint even if it isn’t sandal season yet. Sparkly is her favorite form of attire. Most days necklaces and bracelets are a must.
Truly, I am glad she is only three. I am dreading thirteen…
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