I Love You...

I believe that "I love you" is the sweetest phrase a four year old can utter.

Lately I've been feeling very nostalgic about Emer's baby years. She is no longer a baby, though I constantly tell her she will ALWAYS be my baby. No matter how quickly she outgrows her pants...no matter how old she talks...no matter how much she wants to ride the bus to kindergarten next year...she will always be my Tiny! (Compared to many other kids her age she is Tiny. She seems tall to me but then these three year old kids will come into the Y for swim lessons and they are way bigger than her! I am curious to see where she is on the size scale this summer.)

And boy has she grown! It's so funny because we'll pull pants out of the closet for her to wear and they are almost all high waters. She prefers dresses so I don't have a lot of times to see her in pants. Just this weekend it was finally warm enough for her to wear a dress without leggings. I realized then that the dress was a mini skirt length! I just wish the weather would warm up so she could wear summer clothes and we can worry about pants fitting later!

Alright, back to the point of this blog. Emer is completely her own person and I love it. My best friend is pregnant and I am definitely a little jealous! Emer would be a fantastic big sister, and wants to be. But I understand that this is not an option, and the older I get, the less I can really argue for it. So I spend a lot of time reminding myself to be thankful for the beautiful Tiny I have. I tell her often that I love her. I remind her of her talents and the things she most enjoys. I remind myself that she is a happy, friendly, and well-behaved little girl. I cannot think of anything I would want more from her. I tell myself I do not need another baby. I tell her she can help with Auntie Kelli's baby. And we accept, love, and treasure each other. I can only hope that when the teen years hit she will remember this.

Emer is amazingly good at surprising me. My favorite surprise is when she quietly, completely out of the blue, says "Mommy...I love you". One of these days I'm going to just cry when she says it and she'll think I'm insane! It is the sweetest, most wonderful statement a four year old can make...