She is Three

It's hard for me to write that title! It will be interesting to see what three brings us. Two has been twice as much.. twice as much sweetness and twice as much trouble.

Emerson has got to be the greatest big sister around. She has always been a tremendous help and very sweet with Harrison. I'm not sure how that will change when he can start taking her toys... but this past year has been so fun to see the little mommy in her. I adore how she talks to him and how much he adores her too.

She amazes me with the things she comes up with and remembers! I mean really, the things she remembers and figures out! She has really grown a ton in this last year. She's getting pretty creative and loves making up words and really loves making up songs but also has started pretending and imaginative play. She's even creative in her naughtiness. I try not to let her hear me say this but her creativity cracked me up. One time I told her to do something and she looked at me and said no (not okay in our house). As I got up to deliver some kind of consequence she quickly said, "Noah! I was saying No-ah!" I didn't actually process what she was trying to say until after, which is probably good. Then one time the same scenario but she shook her head instead. Again, I get up to 'remind' her we don't tell parents 'no' and she says again, "Noah, I was saying No-ah, like Kinoah (one of our librarians)." Ha! It doesn't work when you didn't actually verbalize the 'no' sweetie.

Here are some of her stats for this past year:

• She can recognize and write most of the upper case letters ('K', 'S', 'X' and 'Y' are a little tricky still)
• She can recognize all and write a couple of her lowercase letters
• She can recognize 1-10 and writes 1, 2, 4 and 5
• She counts 1-12, 14, 16-20
• She can write and spell her name (although sometimes she insists there's only one E: Emrson) and she can spell Papa <3 li="">
• She can recognize the words: Emerson, 'yes', 'no' and 'papa'
• She can cut straight, diagonal and a pretty rough circle. 
• She loves music. I couldn't even tell you her favorite song, there are so many. 
• She still loves to read. Favorites this year have been anything Fancy Nancy, the Francis books by Russell Hoban and The Hat, The Mitten and Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett (She sees a Jan Brett book and says, "Oh! This is a Jan Brett book!"); she also really loves Read-Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall; Ree Drummond's Charlie books, and In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest was a favorite for quite some time. Ohh, and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers. We read that so much in preparation for Harrison and it's continued to be a favorite since.
• She doesn't seem to have a particular 'thing' anymore. She still likes rocks, but not as much; she likes her babies but it's not an everyday thing. I suppose singing and making up songs is probably what sticks out most about her day-to-day activities. 
• She still loves art: playdough, painting, coloring, dry erase board, sidewalk chalk; but she's juuust starting to draw freehand. 
• She is still my little helper and still a bit of a shadow. She does play independently more now, especially if it's structured and I set her up with a quiet activity while I'm feeding Harrison. Yet I still rarely make a meal, clean a surface or do a load of laundry without her 'helping' me. 
• She likes to play with her kitchen, legos, puzzles, games (The Winnie the Pooh Game was a non-stop favorite for quite some time in there and now we have the original Chutes & Ladders in the rotation) and ride her trike, but she's really not that into dress-up yet. I think art and cutting probably take up most of her time. Now that it's summer she's also pretty obsessed with her wading pool and swinging on her big girl swing. 

Sometimes the days are long but they are also full of sweet moments, the occasional snuggle and usually some book reading. She's so spunky, funny and enthusiastic. She gets so tickled at the littlest things. If you tell her something with wide eyes, hers are immediately wide and full of wonder.

I just also have to say that this was our most fun photo shoot in a really long time. She was so into it, suggesting poses and saying, 'just one more'. There was no bribery or fake compliments. She was so sweet! 

And lovin her room :)

Her barely legible alphabet <3 td="">