Emily at Three and a Half

Emily is most definitely our sensitive child.  She has the biggest heart but gets hurt so easily.  I have never seen a child who is in tune with people's feelings more than Emily.  Ama was sick a while back with a bad cold.  Emily came up to her and asked her if she was feeling sick and when Ama told her she was, Emily started stroking her hair and offered Ama her blanket for comfort.  Anytime someone is in pain or is sad Emily goes up to them and asks what is wrong.  She is so caring and thoughtful but at the same time she is so sensitive when it comes to her feelings.  If little sister Avery doesn't want to play with her, Emily will start to cry and come running to mom to help her persuade Avery to play.  Likewise when daddy is getting upset with Emily when she is doing something that may hurt her she starts to cry.  Never when mommy gets upset with her or starts to yell only when daddy does it and he doesn't even raise his voice.  Emily will always be a big softy.

Our little girl is growing up so fast, and I know I say that in all my blog posts but it is never more apparent than now as she is starting to sprout and is taller than some most of the other three year old's in her classroom.  Legacy preschool is teaching Emily well and she is doing great in her class.  Right now she is learning her alphabet and is starting to trace letters.  She can trace her name really well but we are still working on writing out her name freehand.  Emily is starting to recognize the letters of the alphabet and she recognizes her name.  Although she can't write her name yet, Emily is really good at drawing her shapes.  She loves to try and draw houses and is always asking me to draw with her on her board.  I had no idea she was so good at drawing her shapes until I asked her to draw a square which she drew perfectly and then followed it with a circle, a triangle, a rectangle, and even a heart.

As a big a memory as Emily has she is always coming up with things that blow me away.  The other day as I was putting her to bed she had a small ball in her hand which she placed under her pillow.  I asked her why she was placing the ball under her pillow and she said, "So the tooth fairy has something to find when she comes at night."  What?!?  She obviously saw a show about the tooth fairy or was read a story about her.  Recently Emily and Avery have been taking an interest in dinosaurs.  We have two dinosaur movies, "A Land Before Time" and "We're Back" which they both love.  Plus some of the girls favorite shows have touched on the subject of dinosaurs.  Emily is really good at remembering some of the types of dinosaurs and their popular names, like T Rex and triceratops.  She and Avery love to run around the house pretending they are dinosaurs and roaring, but of course one of them is a baby dinosaur and the other is the mommy dinosaur.  I know Emily is really paying attention to all that is around her and especially her shows that she watches.  Just the other day it was foggy outside and as we stepped out the house to leave for school Emily said, "Mom, it's foggy outside.  I can't see."  There is an episode of Peppa Pig where daddy pig explained what fog is.  I didn't think she would remember his explanation but I asked anyway, "Emily, what is fog?" and without taking a second to think, she responded, "Fog, is a cloud on the ground."  I couldn't have been more prouder at that moment!!