All about Emerson :)

Also known as Em, Emmy (Reese started this nickname), Em the gem and Sweetie!!!

Emerson is LOVING preschool.  She flourishes in this environment!  She is outgoing, friendly, helpful and such a pleasure according to Mrs. York and Mrs. Chong ;)  They have told us they can not believe she is not 5 yet and thought for sure she'd be going to kindergarten next year.  She could go to KG but she would be the youngest in her class, being only two weeks away from the March 1st cut-off.  And we've decided she could benefit from one more year of preschool!  We feel that most especially, emotionally she will mature more next year and be better equipped for longer days at school.  She knows all the letters of the alphabet but is still getting the hang of writing them and working on writing her name (I feel bad for giving her such a long name!!).  Anytime I've volunteered in her classroom, I have been very surprised at how many questions she can/does answer!!  She's a wealth of knowledge ;)  And so polite and follows all the classroom rules!  I think this is definitely one of the reasons she is such a nice student to have!  We've registered her for the three morning's a week program (M/W/F), beginning September 2013.

Em had her 1st play date at a preschool friends house a few weekends ago!  She was very excited but a little unsure too.  But once we got to Samantha's she ran off and did not want to leave when I came to pick her up ;)  In fact, she wanted to sleepover!!!

Emerson continues to enjoy dance class but even more so, dancing around the house and putting on 'performances' for Cal, Blake, Reese and I!  She is quite the performer and very precise with her dance moves and foot placement, etc!!  She came home from dance last week with a sheet that had her year end recital performance on it, so she can practice at home :)  She's very excited for her year end recital, especially to dance on the BIG stage!!!  And big stage it will be, her recital is at the Jubilee!!  I don't think she has any idea of just how big that stage will be, hopefully there will be no stage fright ;)

Em loves playing soccer at home and is really excited to start soccer at the beginning of May!  She kicks the ball around at home and is always saying, "I'm really good at soccer!"  She told us the other day that she wants to play goalie so that she can use her hands!

Emerson continues to enjoy swimming lessons!  She is very proud of her bobs and how many bobs she can do ;)  Blake and Em also recently started going to Mighty Munchkins again!  They enjoy the sports, games, crafts and free time at Mighty Munchkins!  I love how Blake watches over Em, always by her side and making sure she is not left behind :)

It is adorable to see Em and Reese playing together.  I really enjoy listening to their interactions.  Their play time often includes building forts, going to the swimming pool (the bath tub - without water in it), going to the spray park (Reese's bedroom), playing in Blake and Em's room, going camping, dancing and putting on performances and taking care of their babies and husbands (seriously, Em named one of her dolls "Husband" and Reese followed suite!  It's quite hilarious - especially when they put their husbands for a nap ;)  LOL!!).  They rarely argue, Emerson often gives in to Reese ;)  And Reese knows that and plays it up, in my opinion!!!!!  She'll start the tears and Em will be all, "It's okay Baby.  It's okay Reesey!"  Hmmmmm ... something about the 'baby' in the family, maybe?!  JK!!  I'm glad they play so well together and very happy they have each other - a sister is one of the greatest gifts :)  Add to that a kick a$* brother and they are both very lucky girls!!!

We did go through a troubling time with Em last month :(  It started with night terrors, which sometimes lead to middle of the day tantrums.  I used to think Blake had night terrors but no, I now know what night terrors are!!  At her 4 yr check up she had, had a few of these episodes and from what I could describe to Dr. Radisic, he also thought they were night terrors.  She starts whimpering, kind of crying in her bed, her eyes are closed, and then it turns into all out screaming, kicking, hitting, etc.  If she gets out of bed or we move her, she opens her eyes but the 'episode' can last anywhere up to 20 minutes.  It's terrible.  Absolutely terrible.  And stressful.  We would bring her downstairs because we didn't want her to wake up Blake and Reese, sit her on the couch and try to calm her down by turning off the lights and the t.v. and staying near but not interfering too much.  She'd all of a sudden snap out of it and want Cal to put her back to bed.  And she'd fall asleep in an instant and in the morning when we ask about it, she had no idea.  Of course she makes up stories!  We'd ask, "What happened last night Emerson?  Why did you wake up so upset?"  Some of the answers we received included, "My lips were chapped and bugging me.  I had to go pee.  I didn't like my covers."  Did I mention how terrible and stressful it was?!  It was hard because Cal and I both got instantly angry but we learned to just let it play out for the most part. For a week it was almost every night.  Thankfully she seems to have grown out of it!!  Not only was it hard on us but we noticed it was also quite hard on her :(  The morning after she looked quite tired, I'm sure it took a lot out of her.  We've been making a special effort to spend a bit more one-on-one time with Em and Cal and I both read 1-2-3 Magic, a great book on discipline.  I think sometimes Em might feel a bit left out, I totally get the whole middle child thing.  Blake is older and more involved in extra curricular activities, which equals more one-on-one time with 1 parent and Reese is alone with us quite a bit too (parented swimming lessons with Cal and every Tuesday morning with me) but Em is often with us and at least one other sibling!  Not that this should constitute throwing a MAJOR tantrum but I do think some special time with just her has helped, as well as us keeping our cool and using a specific discipline technique!!  Ahhhh the challenging side of being a parent ;)

I had a great time accompanying Emerson and her class on a behind the scenes field trip to Sea Live Caverns!  We had never been to the cavern's!  We fed the sea turtles, learned all about the penguins and had a private seal lion show.  It was great, Em loved every minute!  The preschool does so many great field trips, a few weeks ago they visited Rutherford House.  Rutherford House was Em's first field trip without Cal or I.  She enjoyed it and had some stories to tell about the infamous Rutherford mouse!!!

Emerson is super excited for camping season!!  She regularly wants to start packing and often refers to time lines as, "Is that when camping season is?"  :)

~ Tracy