Emma's blue birds

Annessa. . .Kathleene. . .Lacey. . .America. . .Anastasia. . .Margarita. . .Janessa. . .Cafffline. . .Daven. . .Joleen. . .Janette. . .All names of Emma's playdough eggs that will soon hatch into blue birds and swans.

I was just marveling today at this little girl. She has grown up so much this year. She has always had a wonderful imagination. She was always my girls that was happy to play by herself with her little toys, making up stories and songs for them. She is my "free spirit" floating in and out of her imaginary world as she likes, often getting lost in play half a minute after being asked to clean up or some such chore. It has been a bit of an adjustment reaching her attentions. I used to get really frustrated that she did not rush to obey like her older sister. But after talking with her preschool teacher, I realized that Emma might just need a little more guidance and supervision in completing tasks. It was such a comfort to realize that she is a wonderful kid and she just gets lost in play, and she is not being disobedient with evil intentions(I guess that is true for all kids). She is kind and friendly and she loves to do good.

For a while this year, we were also concerned that maybe her speech wasn't coming along as well as we liked. She was nearly four and we still were having such a hard time understanding her. Her preschool teacher had the same concerns and so a testing was scheduled. The testing wasn't schedule till nearly the end of the school year. By the time it came around, we were all wondering why we even asked her to be tested. Her speech has just blossomed lately. In the beginning on the school year Emma would often still play on her own with her little toys, but by the end she was engaging with the other students all the time. With just a little old fashioned practice, she is talking so well. And so much.

I love to listen to her stories about her day. Today she was telling Grandma on the phone all about the birthday party she went to this weekend where they got to build their own teddy bear. She named hers Friendly and she has a pink dress and so does Ellie's, but they have different shoes.

I love you Emma. I'm sorry your name isn't as fancy as your little eggs, I know how much you love them. You are just like Jo in Little Women, "such a small name for such a big person."