At school, they are reading Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. At home, Emma is reading the 5th Harry Potter book. She goes through phases with reading...sometimes reading nothing, other times jumping around from book to book to book. She loves to go to the library, plus she has a lot of books at home she has yet to read, so I think she suffers from the same thing I do: A feeling of so many books, so little time. One of her challenges is focusing on just one book at a time; she likes to read two or three simultaneously, which I don't get. But hey, she's reading! All is well. (Yes, that's an intentional HP nod.)
Current Music:
Well, she has her own ipod. (Yes, we caved...although she bought it with her own money and we made her save up for a year and a half.) She has a lot of artists on there, mostly pop music. She's recently downloaded songs from all the judges on The Voice - Adam, Blake (yes, she digs some country!) and Adam...although Cee Lo is her favorite. Around Christmastime, she would happily listen to Cee Lo's version of "The Grinch" on repeat for hours.
Current TV/Film:
She doesn't watch nearly as much TV as she used to. She enjoys watching old episodes of Modern Family, and she's pumped for the new season of The Voice. We are all sad to see Disney's Good Luck, Charlie go. (I admit that I might be the saddest.) She still gets sucked into cartoon shows that her little sis watches, although she denies she likes them.
For movies, both the girls loved The Lego Movie, and especially Frozen. They've seen it twice and know the words to all the songs. She got all eight Harry Potter movies for Christmas and is excited to watch the ones she hasn't seen. (We have a rule: can't watch the movie until you've read the book. THIS SHOULD BE A RULE FOR LIFE. In my opinion.) Other recent family-night movies we've seen that she's really liked: Secondhand Lions, Alaska, The Rookie and School of Rock. Oddly enough, we tried to watch Hugo for family movie night last Friday, and she informed me that she "just isn't really a movie person" and played with her sister for three hours instead. Mixed emotions on that one.
Current Pleasures:
Emma loves learning new skills, and she particularly loves learning them on her own. For months now, her main obsession has been making things out of duct tape. Pocket lockers, wallets, purses, bags, notebooks, folders, etc. She has gotten very good, and she briefly tried to make a business of it. She was all geared up to sell things on her Youtube channel and everything. Her business aspirations ran smack dab into reality when she came home from school with 17 wallet orders and we had to explain about supply and demand. Once she realized she had to buy the materials to make those things for everyone, and that she wouldn't really come out ahead, she changed course. For now, she's focusing on making instructional videos. (I think she's working out a new entrepreneurial approach in her head, though. I sense a round 2 in the works.)
She is now moving on to baking and cooking. For Valentine's Day, she made us all cupcakes. This was a big deal to her. She found the recipe and wrote up an ingredients list, and then Chris helped her shop and supervised her in the kitchen. She was so damn proud of herself, although there were tears when things didn't go her way. All in all, she seemed to enjoy it because this weekend, she wants to make us a surprise dinner.
Most recently, she asked for crocheting supplies. I have no idea where she is getting all this domestic craftiness from, but it is definitely not me.
Current Color:
"Blue, black, and any darkish color...oh, and hot pink."
Current Links:
Youtube and Instagram. She loves to watch how-to videos about crafting and baking on Youtube, and there is one site in particular where she gets all her duct tape ideas. And she loves posting Instagram pictures and videos for her friends. Of course, her account is private, and followers must be approved before accepted. Frankly, Chris and I are still finding our sea legs on how to monitor her Internet usage. I am nostalgic for when I was a kid and no one had to worry about this stuff. The vastness of the Internet is still hard for me to wrap my brain around, which makes it all the more challenging when tasked with explaining the potentially harmful aspects of the Internet to a nine-year-old.
Her Instagram profile photo is the one below, with the accompanying caption: "Me and my sister!" Seeing that made me happy. The first comment on the pic below was a "friend" of hers from school who wrote, "THAT'S A GIRL???" (For everyone who wonders why Sophie wants to grow her hair out...Exhibit A.) Emma wrote back: "Excuse me, but don't talk that way about my sister." That made me very happy, indeed.
Current Fetish:
She continues to have weird quirks where clothes are concerned, especially pants. They can't be denim, must be a soft knit of some kind, preferably leggings, no odd stitching in the legs or crotch, tight against her skin, tight against her ankles, not too long, ABSOLUTELY NO TAGS. She has also developed some annoying habits that she's trying to break. It used to be chewing on the skin of her fingers. The behavior became so frequent that all her fingers were red and puffy; they looked disfigured. It's gotten better, but I'm actually concerned she may have done some lasting damage. Now, she licks her hands. She looks like a reptile when she does it; the visual is very odd. When questioned, her answer is that she licks them because the skin is dry and chapped. (Oh, this winter...don't. get. me. started.) And she is absolutely convinced that lotion makes it worse. So the new rule is, if I catch her doing it twice in a row, she must use lotion. Yes, lotion is now a threat and punishment in my house.
Current Outfit:
Multi-striped leggings, oversize t-shirt with peace signs, giraffe socks, cheetah-print sneakers.
Current Drink:
Grape juice at school. Soda whenever we are weak and say yes (which isn't often). Water (yay!). Green tea still, sometimes. Kiddie cocktails at restaurants. A fruit smoothie almost every day.
Current Wish List:
- Crocheting supplies
- A refrigerator in her room. (See addendum at bottom of this post.)
- Sleepovers with her friends every single weekend.
- Learning karate, ice skating, cooking, basketball, baseball and ballet, while continuing to do swimming, gymnastics, girl scouts, and SWAT (after-school tech group). Honestly, if we were independently wealthy she would do it all and somehow clone herself to make it happen.
- The ability to make her sister apparate and disapparate at will.
- Unlimited ipod time, no restrictions.
- No bed time.
- 10:00am start time for school.
- Her own phone.
Current Triumph:
She just taught herself all of "Ode to Joy" on the recorder and was pretty proud to play it for us and friends last weekend. She takes great pride in each new craft she creates. She is trying hard to master a flip flop in gymnastics; she can do it with her teacher spotting her, but not yet on her own. She has gotten all A's in school this year.
She just came home from school today all excited because her band Music 5 (Em and four friends...hence the name) performed Bruno Mars' song "Grenade" in gym class for all the fourth graders. She was glowing when she told me. She said she felt "throwing-up-nervous" beforehand, but it went really well and everyone clapped and her gym teachers said that Music 5 can take the stage anytime. I really wish I could have seen that.
Current Bane Of Her Existence:
The ISATs at school. They start next week, and she has a lot of anxiety over them. Also...me, honestly. I think I'm a bane of her existence. We butt heads a lot, and she does not like being told what to do. Cleaning her room, taking a shower, conditioning and brushing her hair, cutting her nails, doing her chores, not being late to school...all these reminders are on a constant loop coming out of my mouth, and she is not very appreciative of my input. :) We have been talking quite a lot about Responsibility in our house lately. So probably, more than anything, the concept of Responsibility bugs the shit out of Emma right now.
Current Celebrity Crush:
She loves this girl Allison who is in all her duct tape Youtube videos. I don't think she's a celebrity to many people, but she sure is to Emma. Yesterday, Emma told me that her friend J is going to take her to New York for her birthday because Allison will be at a craft show there and they want to meet her. When I asked who was paying for this trip, Emma replied, "Well, J's Mom, of course. It's my birthday present." Last year, J got Emma an outfit from Justice. That's quite an upgrade. When I pointed out the discrepancy, Emma retorted, "Yes, but my next birthday is double-digits, so I'll be getting extra special presents." I better start saving right away, I guess. Hell, it seems I should have started saving two years ago.
Current Indulgence:
I hate to sound repetitive but really, it's duct tape. Those suckers cost $4.99 a roll! Major indulgence indeed.
Current Excitement:
Emma is always excited about everything. Here are just a few things that are generating excitement at the moment:
- Her marble reward. (Every twenty marbles she earns, she gets a reward. This time she got a sleepover with Mommy and Daddy. I thought her head was gonna explode. Sophie, on the other hand, burst into tears. Ah, sibling jealousy.)
- Her friend's book club that starts this Thursday. (Super cute - her girlfriend sent an invite and everything. Fourth graders starting their own book club? I love it.)
- To see her Grandma and her cousins this weekend.
- To share all her newest creations with us.
- To visit her Grandpa and Grandma Kitty in Florida next month.
- For her whole class to take a field trip to Mommy's work and see our new show.
- Auditioning for the solo in her Spring chorus program.
- Her birthday. In June. She usually starts talking about it right after Christmas, so we are already two months into discussions.
Changes daily. Euphoric, generous, defiant, caring, sweet, hostile, sunny, enthusiastic, engaged. Overall...delightful. Even during the dark periods. Emma is coming into her own, and it is truly awesome to watch.
Addendum (conversation from a couple of weeks ago):
Emma: "Sometimes at night when I am lying in bed, my stomach feels so empty and I know that it is sad, and I want to cry. I hate sadness, it just breaks my heart. Don't you agree?"
Me: "Well, of course. I'm not particularly fond of sadness."
Emma: "Yes! You know what I mean. So...that's why I think we should put a refrigerator in my room."
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