As a former teacher and grateful mother, I truly believe that each child is uniquely and wonderfully made. My Emma Grace is no exception. Today, on her last day as a two-year-old, on the eve of the big 0-3, I want to take some time to reflect on the little things that make her her.
For instance, Emma loves food the way that some kids adore their favorite blanket. She doesn’t want to leave home without it, wishes she could have it anytime and anywhere, and finds it to be comforting after an injury or when she’s especially tired. Her favorites are bread, Grandma’s applesauce and squash, cheese and crackers, and for a really special treat, Goldfish, pizza, or chips. Each morning, often before anything else, she asks for her morning oatmeal when I go in to hug her. When she finishes her oatmeal, she immediately requests Wheat Chex. She enjoys rice, asks for broccoli, and likes an occasional bite of cookie. She could do without mushrooms, cucumbers, and ice cream. There is quite a dedication to eating on both sides of her family tree, so her allegiance to food is not a surprising trait.
Also, Emma has a natural curiosity for the alphabet, wanting to know how words are spelled and telling you what sound each letter makes. So far, numbers hold limited interest for her, but letters are fascinating. We have to be careful when we spell words, because occasionally she interprets what we are saying as though we shouldn’t have gone to the effort of trying to conceal it.
Speaking of language, Emma adores books. She has been turning the pages and closely following stories since before she could talk or walk. For the past year, she has had over a hundred stories memorized and will “read” them to her dolls or to herself when we’re not able to stop and read to her. She reads with intonation and conviction, and it is a delight to watch.
She also thinks that videos and DVDs are fascinating. She watches intently, memorizing the lines of the video and using them throughout her daily life with a frequency that would make you think she’s plopped in front of the TV much of the day instead of for half an hour. Sometimes the lines are sweet like her “I Love You” song from Barney. Sometimes they inspire imagination like her pretending to be Tusky the elephant who falls down and gets stuck on Wee Sing Trains, and sometimes they make us cringe with embarrassment like the “I’m not very good at (fill in the blank)” from another Barney DVD. We have never used those words with her, but to hear her talk, you might think that we let her know regularly where she falls short. Each time she learns a new line from a video, she looks for every opportunity to use it.
She really finds interest in drama, being especially drawn to stories and videos where someone cries or gets hurt. She is concerned and compassionate when these things occur, but she is also curious, trying to figure out how the world works. She says things like, “It’s okay. His Mommy will help him feel better. She will take care of him.”
Her sweetness is one of the things that melts us about her. She has hugs readily available for her sister, kisses at the ready for Daddy and me before she goes to sleep at night, and frequent compliments for whoever cooks the meal: “You make the best cheeseburger pie, Mommy” or “Daddy, this rice is delicious!” Yesterday, at her birthday party, she opened clothes from Aunt and Uncle and said, “They’re so cute. I just love them.”
She loves to take care of her dolls in her pretend play, taking them on trips to Valli Produce, Woodman’s, or Target. She pulls up her shirt to feed her doll if it’s crying, reassuring me that the doll just got hungry, and she will feel better soon.
Emma and I have a close bond, which is something for which I am grateful but also makes it hard for her to leave me. Once a week, she goes to a two-year-old class at church, and she often has to be pried out of my arms while screaming. It breaks both of our hearts, but by the time we go to pick her up, she doesn’t want to leave.
She has a pretty strong sense of right and wrong for herself and others (“Mommy, no standing on the couch, remember?” when I’m dusting a high up frame on the wall.) But, like any two-year-old, she has natural lapses (like throwing a pink piece of chalk in the toilet to see what happens. She talked about that “bad choice” for weeks afterward!)
Her honesty is so fresh, sweet, and funny: “I like to share Lily’s toys, but I don’t like her to share mine” or “You can have the broken Wheat Chex, Daddy.” She is thoughtful and giving in many ways, but when she isn’t, she is totally open about it.
Lately, it’s been tougher for her to share toys when friends come over, but she is learning to snuggle Mommy until she’s ready to join in and play, too. She enjoys going over to friends’ houses for play dates and quickly finds any dolls to play with once we arrive. She is interacting more with her friends as she gets older, and she totally looks up to my third grade cousin.
Emma loves the people closest to her more than books, toys, or food. She will choose to see Grandpa, Grandma, Mommy, Daddy, Lily, Aunt, or Uncle whenever she possibly can. If Grandpa and Grandma show up and she didn’t know they were coming, she’ll cheer “Woo hoo! Woo hoo!” When we leave their house, she’ll say, “Can I come again?” in a voice that makes all of our hearts puddle on the floor.
Her favorite family time activities are family dance party (Daddy and she do a mean swing dance to “Jump, Jive, and Wail”), playing parachute, baking with Mommy (especially granola), and snuggling up with a good book.
Emma’s favorite toys are her dolls, doll stroller, play kitchen, and anything new and novel. Above all of these, though, she will often choose books. We let her keep a book during naptime, and she falls asleep with it on her or cuddled beside her.
She loves music, too, and will sing along as Daddy plays guitar. She has definite opinions about which CD she hopes will be playing when we get into the van, but she also will (usually) willingly take turns with Daddy between her music and his. She spends much of her day singing both familiar songs and songs she makes up.
Emma does not like to be messy, but she’s learning that the world can be messy, so she has figured out how to comfort herself: “I’ll just wipe my hands after this. Mommy will help me.” Speaking of comfort, she never sucked her thumb or used a pacifier, but she would put her arm to her nose and sniff for comfort from the time we saw her on ultrasound. This becomes more frequent when she is tired or sad, and it is often our cue that naptime or bedtime is approaching.
Emma has an elite club of people that she is comfortable with, and she has a special way of snuggling in and fingering their clothes when she’s feeling especially close to them. She is not one to give out affection in huge quantities, so when you receive it, you feel it really means something.
She is both silly and serious. She can be so giggly, wanting to make other people laugh. She likes making up rhyming jokes, like changing the words of a song to “Twelve Months of the Ear” rather than “Year.” On the other hand, she tends to be serious and focused much of the time, taking the world in. She often whispers a line to herself that she hears someone saying, memorizing it and storing it away for later use. Sometimes this causes her to form thoughts that make us hold in a giggle, like the other night when this was her prayer before bed: “Dear God, please bless Grandpa and Grandma and Great-Grandpa and Grandma W. and B. and Uncle Jason and Aunt Amanda and baby cousin and Cousin Aidan as they travel and….Go Pack Go. Amen.” My family members are definite Packer Backers, and obviously Emma has been listening and decided to take it to a higher power.
At home, she talks or sings almost constantly and often follows us upstairs and downstairs just to be near us. Other times, she plays or reads on her own but still checks in with us. In new or less familiar situations, she grows quiet and keeps to herself, preferring to observe rather than interact.
Like many kids, Emma is proud to be getting bigger, excited to be using a big spoon now, to get to use toothpaste for the first time, to be able to play big kid games. She likes to ask, "Am I big enough?" As she tries something new, she'll sing, "I can do it, there's nothing to it. I can do it by myself!"
She has definite opinions about things and is not easily swayed by peer pressure. She takes pride in choosing her outfit each morning. She is not a picky eater, but we have tried to get her to eat mushrooms, one of the few things she’s adamant about not liking. Each of us will say, “I love mushrooms!” Emma will say, “I don’t like them very well.” She stays strong, and we hope that this will carry over into her teenage years.
She wishes that we didn’t have to brush her teeth or give her baths, but as she’s getting older, she usually accepts that these are just part of life. When I cut her nails, she reminds me, “Gently, Mommy.” When she gets hurt, she cries hard and needs a kiss from Mommy. When she gets her feelings hurt, she cries harder and says, “I’m not feeling very well.”
Emma has a reverence for teachers, imitating her Toddler Time teacher, the library story time teacher, and her Music Together teacher. I’ll hear her say, “Okay friends, it’s time to…” or “We’re going to sit criss cross applesauce” as she holds a book outward for her imaginary students to see.
Her favorite color changes daily, weekly, or hourly. Usually it is pink or purple, but sometimes it is blue.
She likes to know what other people are thinking, asking, “What was your favorite part of dinner, Daddy?” or “What are you thinking about, Mommy?”
Sometimes she likes to ask questions she already knows the answer to, just to feel the satisfaction of hearing what she expects to. Other times, she won’t know the answer to a question, and she’ll say, “I’m eating (or playing) right now” rather than answer.
Like most of us, she enjoys compliments and will gladly sit for me to put pigtails in after others have said they’re cute, or she will remind me of who liked her shirt.
She is so proud when we are proud of her, and we are often proud of her. There is so much about Emma that is special, delightful, and changing every day. Though this is detailed, it only captures a small portion of who she truly is. This is a snapshot of her on her last day as a two-year-old, but I know that she will grow and change as the story of her life unfolds. I feel privileged that I’ve had these past three years with her. Though there are some days that fly by and others that proceed more slowly, I have not had one uneventful day since the moment I first held her. She has given me some moments that have stretched me as a mother, but she has filled more of my days with joy and all of them with such love. She is uniquely Emma Grace, and I thank God every day that I get to borrow her for these years as she slowly grows into who she is meant to be.
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