Year Six Update - Just a bit late...

Dang time flies lately!  Last month Emer turned 6 - YES 6!!!  Then, at the end of the month, she had her 6-year Well Check with the doc.  So let's start with the stats:

Height = 3ft, 10in (60th percentile - what?!)
Weight = 45 lbs, 2 oz (40th percentile)
Car seat = moved  into a booster recently!
Academic Development = right on target!  She was selected for the High Ability program at the end of kindergarten and after a long debate we kept her at New Augusta South.  More on that later...
Behavior = right on target.  Independence is growing, as demonstrated by her exerting herself more at home.  It makes for some fun "discussions" over TV time and treats between me and her!

Moving onto friendship, Emer is a super friendly girl.  For her birthday she had a fun group of kids come over.  It was a freezing day (well, freezing for July!) but they all played on the Slip N Slide, threw water balloons, and had fun in the sprinklers. Here they are all enjoying cookie cake and getting ready to watch Emer open her pressies:

Speaking of gifts, the cards from the kids were priceless!  About half the kids made her a card and wrote the nicest notes in them.  I'm so proud of how friendly and caring she is!

The last month was super busy with a vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, Colts practice, and getting ready for school to start again.  Everyone loves pix so here are a couple from our fun summer adventures:

4th of July at the Lake!: 

Great Wolf Lodge!: 

Little Cowgirl hanging at Gigee's!: 

Colts are #1!: 

Towards the end of summer we invited Emer's best friends over.  Amia stayed the night (first sleepover!) and we walked Lharielle home after dinner.  Here they are posing in the backyard: 

First Grade,

was much easier than kindergarten!  She shed 3 tiny tears on the first day.  After that, it was all smiles and hopping out of the car!  There are quite a few kids from her kindergarten class in her first grade class.  Sadly her friend Amia moved and Lharielle is in a different class.  But I think about half her class was from kindergarten and half of those who weren't were friends she knew from recess last year.

We're 13 days into the new school year and she's so happy.  I think she's told me more stories about what's happening at school so far than all of last year.  She's willingly reading books to Steve and Poppy and I've even heard a couple of them!  At Meet the Teacher Night she heard Sunshine Math was coming back and she gave me a big smile!  It's definitely going to be a good year!

To summarize this blog...

---> I love that Tiny loves to learn.  

---> I love that she loves school.

---> I love that she is learning so much.

---> I JUST LOVE EMER!!!!

The Perfect Day

How often can you sit back and think, "today was a perfect day!"?  For me it's not very often.  Something always seems to be forgotten, misplaced, an argument ensues, or all chaos breaks out!  But today...well it was perfect.  Here's what a perfect day looks like for me:
I slept in...was woken up a little after 8:00 by my sweet Tiny quietly asking her Daddy if she could watch something on his Kindle.  She lay down in our bed and watched, as quietly as she could, "Scooby Doo".  About 9:00 we decided to head downstairs for breakfast.  No arguing, just peacefulness.  After breakfast I did dishes and Emer played.  I played with her a little after the dishes were done and then started to get some cleaning done.
Emer helped.  Without arguing!  This should have been my first clue it was going to be a perfect day.  Usually it's one big argument when I have to clean and can't play.  But today she tidied up all of her toys so I could sweep the floor.  Small victories!  :)
After this was finished it was nearly lunchtime.  So we played for about 10 minutes then I made lunch.  You guessed it - we still weren't dressed!  But it's all good b/c we had a plan for the day.
Following lunch we finally did put on some clothes - over our swimming suits  :)  A quick stop at the neighbors to feed and visit with their cats and then we were off to the pool!  We spent the entire afternoon there.  Emer swam 2 laps which were much more tough than usual (turns out the new pool is twice the size of the pool we usually swim in!), played with her dive toys and, and made a few new friends.  She would not take the swim test for the lifeguard, though, and therefore wasn't able to go down the new slide.  I was bummed and tried and tried to get her to take it, but no luck.  (BTW, she is perfectly capable of passing the test b/c she swam it and treaded water for me; just didn't want to do it for the lifeguard...)
When we got home Ems was so tired she did get a bit crabby.  But it was only about 5 minutes of impatience b/c she wouldn't help me get the snack together.  As soon as it was all set up, we ate and talked and all was fine again!
Our evening concluded with an early shower, playing, homework, and dinner outside.  As the evening came to a close we decided to make a few Vine videos then relax in the hammock learning Spanish until it was time to go up and read in bed.
As I figured, Tiny fell asleep within 2 minutes of me leaving her room.  A sweet, beautiful girl, sleeping away before she wakes up to her 5th to last day as a kindergartener...oh this year has gone so fast, and perfect days like this are such a wonderful memory to have!
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Time Capsule!

Last week we got a letter from Emer's teacher talking about the monthly home project.  This month it is a time capsule that we can open Emer's senior year of high school.  How fun!!!  We have to send in a shoe box and any items we want sealed inside by May 30th.

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Emer's first reaction: Steve asked if we had any shoe boxes.  I said we did not.  Emer simply said, "Well I guess we have to go buy shoes!" LOL!!!!!
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I thought it might be fun to include the blog posts I've written from her Kindergarten year of school.  So, of course I needed to write a new one catching us up on everything that had happened since the January post. I have had an absolute blast helping with Mrs. Roger's class and meeting Emer's friends.  I've gotten to go on every field trip, I went to the wedding of Q and U, I've been very involved with the PTO, and will be helping with Field Day soon!  We love her school.

I have to say that it's getting more and more difficult to write these blogs.  I have a new smart phone and am loving the pix I can take with it.  I have considered joining Instagram b/c I document Emer's life in pix so much!  (You actually can catch her on Vine if you want.)  So, without further ado, here are some of those pix:

We went to Hilton Head for Spring Break where Emer finally met my cousin Sarah.  Along with her daughter, Claire!

One night we all enjoyed S'Mores by the camp fires!

Here's a little photo editing my awesome new phone did with a cute pic of Emer and Hayden:

She's still going strong in gymnastics.  We have also added tennis but I don't have any pix to share right now.  She's just the cutest little thing, isn't she?!

What is this?!  Sunshine?  FINALLY!!

And here's me and my babies on Easter :)

Well look who outgrew her carseat and graduated to a booster!

She also outgrew her CARES so we have sent that to Sarah to use with her girls.  Ahhh, stop growing up!!!

Before I finish this this blog, I just want to share a few other tidbits and predictions:

Social = this year Emer has made so many new friends.  She has friends at gymnastics who have come and gone, friends at tennis, a new neighbor friend, and friends in her class.  I predict she will keep a couple of these friends from class through high school.  It will be fun to see who those are!

Academic = Emer qualified for the High Ability program this year!  This awesome discovery led to a struggle on my and Steve's part.  So many things would change for her and we weren't sure if those changes were for the best.  I did a ton of research, even going to visit the HA school and observing the classes.  In the end we decided to keep her at NAS b/c we love it there, 2 other kids who qualified were staying, and we felt it was the right decision for her, emotionally.  I predict she will end up in Honors or HA classes in middle school. Based on what she enjoys the most in homework right now, I predict she will excel in math.  She may even decide to go into science or math in college!

Sports = Emer goes back and forth with gymnastics.  Some weeks she is showing improvements and loves it.  Other weeks it seems she has lost skills and will never move up!  So we started tennis.  She is enjoying it and is kind of impressive with her forehand.  It's hard to help her, though, b/c she's a lefty!  Good thing she works hard on it  :)  And she continues to improve in swimming.  Get this - she did 4 somersaults in the water without taking a breath!!!  She can swim 25 yards free style and 25 yards back stroke.  I need to teach her side stroke and continue working on breast stroke.  Who knows, maybe she will torture me by being in a swim club, haha!  I predict she will find a sport she enjoys and it will be something we haven't even tried yet.

And that's it for now!  Stop back after the end of the school year for a final Kindergarten update!  (That will be in July.)

Happy 2014!!!

You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.

— Barbara DeAngelis

I subscribe to a Daily Inspirational Quote email and sometimes they are really good quotes.  The above was one that made me go, "yep!".  I have never been the "need a relationship" type of person.  But let me tell you, once you have loved a child, there is no going back!  I love this girl with everything I have!  This feeling of total love makes me think of my childhood and how I totally understand why my parents still love me, even after the sh** I put them through as a teen.  It makes me ready to deal with the terror that is coming in about 10 years.  But mostly, it gives me patience to deal with a Tiny who won't get dressed b/c she'd rather lay in bed, run around nudey, or play dress up in anything but her school clothes.  It gives me patience to keep trying to create behavior plans that might encourage her to take a quick bath and get to bed on time instead of soaking until the water is cold then throw a fit when it's time to wash and get out.  Yep, those are the main struggles in our lives right now  :)  Not too bad, really?  I know I am winning!  (But, trust me, I know what is coming!)

Too Much Fun Partying, Not Enough Time to Blog!

Last we left you, Emer had a loose, wiggley tooth.  That is no more!  On the 20th of October the wiggley tooth became the first tooth lost!  It was crazy!  She was in the tub messing with it, as usual.  But when she got out I could see it was bleeding.  So I said, "Oh My Gosh, Emer!!!  I think you're tooth is coming out tonight!!!"  She looked in the mirror and turned back to me, shocked that it was bleeding.  I told her that of course it was bleeding, b/c that is what happens when the tooth is ready to come out.  She was actually fine with that until I tried to pull it.  Apparently I am not a master tooth-puller b/c she cried harder and said it really hurt.  Her dad, on the other hand, is great at pulling teeth!  He came upstairs all annoyed that she was crying and I was yelling for him to come b/c there was something exciting going on.  But then he was able to pull the tooth out on the second try :)

 As expected, the Tooth Fairy stopped by and left $5 for Tiny!!!  Apparently the Tooth Fairy hasn't been hit by the poor economy...

Being toothless didn't stop her from being Super Girl at the Colts Kids' Club Halloween Party!!  Here she is with Hayden (one of the guests she chose to bring) posing for pix at the party:

Hayden had such a great time (and Emer really enjoyed him being there) that we have decided he needs to be a Kids Club member as well  :)

Before being Super Girl, however, we broke out the duck costume.  This is probably the last year she'll be able to be a duck and she wore it with pride at Zoo Boo: 

 We also hit up the Children's Museum Haunted House where she decided she had to have vampire teeth.  Goodness we look like vampires, don't you think?! LOL!  ---->

And just days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins.  We used stencils this year and I am quite proud of our creations!  The Halloween season is so much fun I hope it is years and years before Tiny outgrows the fun.  With any luck, she will never outgrow it! As much fun as I have making her costumes, it is clear I will never outgrow the holiday  :)  Is this not the cutest spider you have ever seen?!?!

And now we are moving into Thanksgiving.  Bats, witches, ghosts, and monsters are gone...turkeys, gourds, and leaves have replaced them.  We will be hosting Thanksgiving this year at our house and it should be crazy fun!  Then, next month, we're headed back to NYC before Christmas so we can pay a visit to Santa at Macy's again.  Hoping to take Tiny to see the Rockettes this year, which I'm sure she will enjoy every bit as much as she did Annie last year.  Oh how much do we LOVE that city!!

Until the next update, happy holiday season and thanks for checking in  :)

Teeth and stuff...

OCTOBER!!!
We started October a little bit early at Lake Rudolph this year (end of Sept). Steve went with us this year and we had a great time! It turns out, if you add a continuous campfire to a camping trip you have a happy Steve, haha! So the first trick or treating of the season brought us a Tiny witch:

Next up we are hosting our Annual Halloween Party! It's slow going inviting people bc there is no easy way to get the contact info for Emer's new friends in school. I have invited only about half of Emer's guest list and gotten RSVPs from about half of those. I'm waiting for contact info from the rest, hopefully this week, from her teacher. It'll be a fun party, no matter what, though!

Then of course we are going to the Colts Kids Club Halloween Party! Emer has invited Hayden and Gigee to go with us and she wanted to be a Super Hero - Super Girl! Just wait until you see the costume!

Finally, we'll be trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, hopefully with one of her friends from school. She keeps going between being a witch and a ghost for this event. We shall see!

Now about those teeth...Emer has her first loose tooth! Shortly after school started we invited her friend Karis and her family over for dinner. Karis had a loose tooth and Emer was fascinated. We then went to the dentist a few weeks ago and were told that Emer has her own loose tooth! We had no idea! So she has since been obsessed with wiggling this loose tooth. At her sleepover at Gigee and Poppy's they were all excited that they would see her lose her first tooth - yes, it's that loose! So the Tooth Fairy will be paying a visit to the O-C house very soon, I predict.  How much does the Tooth Fairy pay for a tooth these days??

Keep checking the blog for teeth updates :)

Five Year Stats

Today was Emer's annual Well-Visit check up with Dr. O'Nan.  We were a little late this year b/c I waited too late to call and schedule it.  Ooops!  She's just so healthy and awesome and I didn't know they scheduled 2-3 months in advance...
We'll start with the stats:
Height = 43 inches tall
Weight = 40 lbs (45th percentile)
Eyesight = just fine!  (First time checking her eyes with the chart, she was a little nervous, haha!)
Diagnosis = "perfect!"

I asked about her car seat - turns out she can stay in it until she's 100 lbs.  Well that could be until she's 18 or so, lol!  So basically, we can get a booster seat for her which she can move into as long as it makes the seat belt hit at the appropriate spot.  I'm thinking, b/c she seems tall, she can probably move into that pretty soon.

She did have to get vaccine boosters today, which we were NOT expecting.  You will all be so proud of both of us!  This was the first time I actually stayed in the room with her (no choice b/c I was the only one there). I didn't look at either of the needles but instead held Emer's hands and helped her stay calm by talking to her.  The nurse had her lay down and wanted me to hold her hands by holding her down.  I felt terrible doing it but I didn't know what else to do.  Emer kept leaning her head on my arm so she could watch.  She cried when the second shot went in and was very sad for a short time.  That was also incredibly heartbreaking to me.  I know that vaccines are important and keep her healthy, but there has to be a better way to get them!

After the appointment we went for ice cream.  Because nothing makes a sad girl feel better than ice cream with her mom!  Love this girl  :)