from the corner of my couch: 4 years old!

Dear Emmie,
You are 4 today and I just can't believe it. It seems like yesterday you were born. I still remember falling in love with you the first time I saw you. This has been a year of new adventures in your life. You tried sledding, had your first swim lessons, were a flower girl in Emily and Blake's wedding, started preschool, got a bunk bed and started sharing a room with Ellie, went to Disney World, started ballet/tap, went to the Nutcracker and within 10 days you will have a new brother or sister.

You are an intense child. You feel everything so much more than the rest of the world and that can be hard for you (and me!). You are very dramatic and can go from laughing to crying in seconds. You can pitch a royal temper tantrum. You sometimes laugh and laugh over the smallest things (you and Ellie have started telling each other knock knock jokes which you both find hysterical). You are so tenderhearted and you have so much compassion for others but your heart also gets broken so easily.

This year you have really exploded academically and you love to learn. You've been very interested in letters and letter sounds the last few months. You also love to work on writing your letters. You taught yourself to write a "m" so now you can write your name and you're so proud of that. You are really good at finding your name anywhere it is written. With some help you can count to at least 60 (you usually get tired of counting somewhere around there). You can sing the days of the week and you're starting to really grasp the concept of a day and the passage of time. You still love your books and we read all the time. You have most of them at least partially memorized and you love to "read" to Ellie.

This year you have been going through some separation anxiety. You missed that stage when you were a baby/toddler so I guess it was bound to happen eventually! You need to know exactly who's going to be with you if Daddy or I aren't home and when we will be back. If we deviate from the plan you get very stressed out.

Emmie, you are definitely my little helper. You love to have a job to do. When I potty trained Ellie this year you helped take her to the potty and frequently asked her if she needed to go to the potty. You love to help put up laundry and are always organizing your drawers. You are always wanting to help me cook and most nights you set the table for dinner and take your plate and Ellie's plate to the table. You love to sit and watch me sew and then you pretend to sew with the fabric scraps.

You are a very social child. You LOVE to play with your friends. A few weeks after school started I was talking to one of your teachers and she said that you were a good friend. I can't tell you how proud that made me. To me, being a good friend and being kind to others is so much more important than the academic side of life. I love to watch you when we go somewhere you don't know anyone as you tend to have at least one new friend within about 5 minutes! You tend to gravitate towards older children in a social situation....you've always wanted to be older than your age! Some of your favorite older friends are your second cousins and you love when we go to NC for family events and you get to play with them!

You are my artistic child and I love it. You sing and dance all the time! You love any kind of arts and crafts and you're very good at coloring and painting (and you've finally decided to be right handed...you went back and forth for quite a while!) and you've recently started drawing pictures of people which keep me entertained. You are also very imaginative. I love to listen to you play with your toys...you are always making up different scenarios!

You are not a super snuggly child but every once in awhile you ask to snuggle with me and I love that. Yesterday you came in my room during "nap time" (you just have quiet time now) just to get a hug...I love that.

Emmie, you are growing up so fast. Sometimes I feel like time is just slipping away. As I mentioned before you have always wanted to be older than your age and I feel like you're pushing farther and farther away from being a baby and you need me less and less. A few weeks ago you told us you didn't want to sit with us during the children's sermon at church (we usually sit beside you at the front of the church). Then you went a step farther and said that you wanted us to stay at the back of the church while you went to the front (actually we compromised on that...you wanted us to open the door for you and then go back to the balcony to sit until you were done). I think watching you walk down that aisle so little and alone broke a little piece of my heart...so I followed you and sat in a pew at the front instead of beside you...you were not pleased with me! This past Sunday Daddy let you walk the whole way by yourself while he waited at the back and he said you did GREAT. You are our little Miss. Independent and I know that your independence is a good thing but sometimes it is really, really hard for your Mommy!

Emmie girl, I can't wait to see what 4 has in store for us!