Mommy Kahdib

Dear Emerson (50 months)

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Hi Dunking Girl!

You're a fish!!! I real live little fish :) You often ask people who are near the water if they feel they are fish or cats...cats, obviously, are the people who don't really love to swim. You're definitely a fish. Daddy is a cat, Chasey is a cat if the water is cold and a fish in warm water...and Mommy, well, I've always been a fish, too! You often refer yourself to a professional dunker, a professional bubble blower, a professional swimmer and you will proclaim that you have professional mermaid hair. You often wear goggles in the tub and dunk and far down as you can go in the tub. You're a little hesitant to dunk in the wide open pool but you like to dunk over at the stairs. But let me, for the record, state that you will ONLY dunk on your own terms. If someone asks you to dunk or suggests it might be a good time to dunk you will often refuse and give me a big pout. You, my dear, have a very strong will and a very strong opinion!

You're taking swim lessons on Monday and Wednesday and you love your class and your teacher and the pool at One Stop Fun. You throw and retrieve little puffer fishes, kick playing red light green light, scoop ice cream in the water with your arms, swim ALL.BY.YOURSELF (with a noodle or a kickboard...lol!) across the pool and even in the deep end! You also loved the ocean and really really wanted me to keep bringing you out deep where the waves weren't crashing so you could just hold my hands and kick your legs. You liked the river in NH because you would swim (with your vest) and start to drift a bit down river and I would have to scoop you back to us...and you LOVED the kiddie pool at Attitash and the water slide. Have I mentioned that I think you might be part fish? Actually you will complain that you just want to be able to breath under water...and you even asked me how the fish can do it...and we talked about how they have gills that help them get the oxygen from the water and then you wanted to know where you could buy some gills. Funny girl! In these pictures you're wearing your swim vest because you can swim, explore the water off on your own, feel what your body can do to make you move...and you're mostly safe as long as I'm nearby so I can wrangle Chase and you can still enjoy your body moving in the water while keeping safe.

So yes, you love swimming...and this month you've fallen in love with country music and ask for it often. You like to sing along and one of the songs that gets stuck in your head goes like this, "Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, and whiskey makes me honey feel a little frisky." Thankfully you don't really know what whiskey is or what frisky means other than being silly...but it's funny to watch other people react when you're singing it. You're also still a pop fan and the song of the month is one about, "I'm going to break break break break break your heart..." and this lead to many discussions about heart break and what that means and when it happens. You certainly do ask a lot of poignent questions for a 4 year old and I feel as though if you're big enough to ask the hard questions you deserve the answers...so we talk. You were a little bit nervous about heart break and also integrated it into your vocabulary pretty quickly telling me one night when I was going upstairs to make some dinner when you really wanted me to play that I was just, "Breaking your heart!!" So cute.

You're a bit bossy at times, a bit whiny other times...but you're 4. I think you're supposed to be those things at 4. You're also very funny, and witty, and cute more of the time than not. You're fun to be around and say some of the darndest things. Sometimes we differ in opinion and I've learned that you're just as determined and stubborn as I am...and I'm ok with that...I like that you know your wants and needs and have a voice to declare what they are. You don't always GET what you want, but at least I know loud and clear what that is and can discuss with you. You're mostly very patient with your brother even though he sometimes kicks and pinches and we're working on letting him know in a clear loud voice that you're not ok with that and you often come up with a suggestion for him as to what he CAN do and the funny thing is? He'll do it! I think he might be your biggest fan. He will copy you until the cows come home and he is happy to do it. If I really need him to do something and he's not compliant I can ask you to show him and then bam, he'll just copy you and do it. It is so wonderful to watch you two grow and learn from each other and form a relationship that will last a lifetime.